Wondering if you have any other recommendations or thoughts on the below.
Use case: I have a solar array and want to track in one spot all the energy produced, energy imported, energy exported, and where energy is being used.
Both of the following seem to do what I want with some nuances. I am looking at:
1) Sense [0], which identifies energy use patterns of different devices to determine what devices are on different circuits (apparently even multiple devices on a single circuit) and how much energy each device is using. It is the most expensive option, uses proprietary tech that I am concerned means the company either goes belly up and I’m left with a brick, or forces everyone to switch to a SaaS model and I get held hostage if I want to continue using it in the same way. The other concern is that reviews are massively split - either it’s the greatest thing ever or it simply doesn’t manage to identify energy draws).
2) Emporia Vue 2 [1] which uses traditional CTs clamped on individual circuits. It is more cost effective than the Sense but is limited to 16 circuits and doesn’t provide any insight behind the circuit (so for example if a fridge and freezer are on one outlet, they are grouped together, which apparently the Sense can disentangle to varying success) so the data produced would seem to be less useful. There seem to be options for pushing the data to local storage [2] so if the company goes belly up or trying to force users to SaaS there seems to be an escape hatch.
Anyone have any experience with either product or an alternative? Any insights? Much appreciated!
[0] https://sense.com/ [1] https://www.emporiaenergy.com/how-the-vue-energy-monitor-works [2] https://github.com/emporia-vue-local/esphome
https://community.iotawatt.com/t/sorta-larger-than-average-i...
I have all of the data going into influx, with grafana for display.
During the build of my house I planned for this by adding additional space below the panels: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/jeffs-mountain-s...
However that was more of a nice to have, not something you have to do.
On the solar side, if you want per panel measurements that is something you can really only do with micro-inverters. I'm using Enphase 7A micro-inverters on each panel, so I also get direct data from enphase/enlighten about power production from each panel.
There's also SPAN Panel [1]. I don't have firsthand knowledge, but the entire panel is "smart", so you can toggle each circuit individually on/off, monitor power utilization, detect patterns, set schedules, etc.
Quite expensive thought -- $4.5K for the device + a massive installation of a new panel, requiring city permits, inspections, etc. I guess the target audience is new constructions and major remodeling, and not existing homeowners.