aeon labs energy monitor

[wseverino]

Weird beast....its now started reporting Watts.

[oTi@]

Weird beast....its now started reporting Watts.

Sensible Watts I take it, not 16023?

[wseverino]

Yes, it is showing 1797 watts currently. However, not getting any kwh reading.

[fronobulax]

Yes, it is showing 1797 watts currently. However, not getting any kwh reading.

Forgive me for asking a newbie question in the middle of the conversation, but my understanding via observation is that the "Home Energy Monitor" device should be a sum of the Clamp1 and Clamp2. If this is true have you noticed that the numbers do not add up?
Sample 1
Leg one is pulling 6.6 Amps
Leg two is pulling 13.9 Amps
Home Energy Monitor is reporting 13.3 Amps

Sample 2
Leg one is pulling 6.8 Amps
Leg two is pulling 7.5 Amps
HEM is reporting 20.2 Amps

Shouldn't the Home Energy Monitor report 20.5 Amps for sample one and 14.3 for sample two, have I forgotten something about electricity, or does the device on the dashboard not report what I think it reports?

I know it's just a pet peeve of mine, but I really wish they would change their reporting units to current, because it is what they are actually measuring with a clamp on probe. Just put a variable on the settings page for voltage then report KWH from that.

Above things said:
The monitor installed in about 10 minutes and works great so far. Just trying to figure out what it is reporting and why the numbers don't seem to add up.

[vw]

I'm having similar problems.

I installed the 3 phase version a few days ago. With white clamps.

1. Total doesn't add up at all.
2. Updates are very infrequent.

As a result I can not trust any of the numbers and the whole thing is pretty useless.

Haven't found anything in the forums so far. Except strangely mentioning updates every 5 seconds! That's what I want!

I changed the polling settings, but that doens't seem to do anything. And manual polling fails most of the times, as has been mentioned in lots of posts.

sigh...

[strangely]

I'm having similar problems.

I installed the 3 phase version a few days ago. With white clamps.

1. Total doesn't add up at all.
2. Updates are very infrequent.

As a result I can not trust any of the numbers and the whole thing is pretty useless.

Haven't found anything in the forums so far. Except strangely mentioning updates every 5 seconds! That's what I want!

I changed the polling settings, but that doens't seem to do anything. And manual polling fails most of the times, as has been mentioned in lots of posts.

sigh...

Do you have yours USB powered or via battery? Maybe the updates only come in frequently on USB power.
Also which version are you running on your Vera?

[vw]

Hi,

USB powered. Using Vera 2 which automatically updated to the latest firmware.

Is yours still working correctly with updates every 5 seconds? That would be so good!

Although Vera only sends samples every half an hour to the website. Are there any alternative sites (or applications) to handle the data? Some plugin to send the data into an RRD or something?

(Yes, I received my Vera+HEM the exact day Google announced killing off Google Power...)

Thanks

[strangely]

Yep mine is still sending updates about every 5 seconds or so, I have some other issues though, but that's another subject.

Did you update your Vera to the latest firmware before adding the HEM or afterwards?
If the HEM was added before you updated Vera, then you may want to try clicking the "Configure Node right now" button for it in the settings tab of the device.

Vera has to send it a bunch of configuration parameters to get it to start flowing the information out, and this would not have been in the original firmware that your Vera shipped with (1.1.1047 most likely).

regarding Google etc, AFAIK there is no other 3rd party where this information is sent or could be used.

[vw]

Good to hear there's some hope left

I tried the "Configure Node" button and healing and whatever. Tomorrow I'll try to delete the HEM from the zwave network and then reassociate it.

Next on the list is filing a support ticket and have them have a look at it.

I did find out how to get the Watt values in a simple format with a simple http request. Shouldn't be too difficult to pump that into an RRD. I suppose a plugin would be possible too and probably more efficient.

But the values need to be non garbage and updated regularly before there's any point in doing so.

[vw]

Just to keep you guys up to date: I received a reply from micasaverde tech support today. They know about the problem and are working with Aeon labs to fix it. Hopefully in a next version.

In my situation the total seems to be giving a correct value, while the individual clamps don't, so it's at least somewhat useful.

I'm now thinking of experimenting with some custom commands using the info here: hem.xml

Whenever I have time...

[rcnap]

As far as Bulogics goes, we are working with them on both their Shutdown Stick and PowerStrip however they have been very busy with shows and meetings. I will work on an update for that as well.

Any news on the Bulogics PowerStrip?

[Chris]

I just thought I'd make a few comments on this after having installed the HEM today.  I initially had some confusion similar to that noted by others in this thread, but I think it's working, and I think I understand what's going on... (although it will probably do something to prove me wrong now!)

Firstly, I ended up removing the batteries - I don't know that this made any difference, but I found the unit was acting a bit strange when it wasn't USB powered, and also if I plugged in the USB after the batteries. There's a configuration setting inside the unit that disables (be default) accumulating energy when running on batteries (parameter 12).

I then found it wasn't updating very often. After a search, I found a programming reference and changed some of the units configuration. Since then, it's been working reasonably well. In the device options tab, I changed parameter 101 to 00003f0f (setting to a 4 byte hex). This should enable all reports. The default (7 I think) didn't send the clamp readings automatically.

Now, when I turn something on, within 20 seconds (the report period) I get an update.

A couple of other observations that may answer some questions people have.

• The kWH is accumulative - it's not an instant reading (it's in Hours). So, you won't see this change dynamically.
• I think the reason that the main reading doesn't necessarily add up to the sum of the clamps at any instant is due to averaging and reporting times. Currently, mine now agree, but when I didn't have the clamp being reported at the same time as the main reading, they were different. I think this is just a case of averaging between reporting periods, and not a case that the sensor is rubish (necessarily).

Anyway, that's just my 2p worth following quite a short play with the unit, but it does seem to be working fine (now).

Also, I see someone on this thread asking about graphing data more often than 30 mins. I've just written a "dataMine" plugin that allows logging and graphing of data direct from the Vera - it's posted in the programming board (although it still needs some work!).

Cheers
Chris

[guest13549]

Excellent Chris!

I have just ordered a HEM, and I'll certainly try your dataMine as soon as I get it.

One question though. I'd like to have a few HEM's, one for the boiler, and one for the heat pump, as well as one for the incoming/total.
Is this supported by Vera? By a plugin?

Cheers,
 Micael

[Chris]

I don't see why multiple HEMs wouldn't be supported - they should just associate as a separate device/sensor, so it shouldn't be a problem (although I'm not 100% sure as I can't test it).

Cheers
Chris

[harald]

How did you guys connect the hem to the cables?.. I have the 3-legged version and have tried multiple ways of connecting it.

tried 1 clamp on 3 different devices (boiler, oven, dryer) and nothing reported.
tried using just 1 clamp over the main powerline before circuit panel and nothing reported.

There's absolutely no information on how to use this beast... I guess I should have read more about it before ordering.. any advice?


I have vera2 fw 1.1.1350 the hem is controlled by a z-stick connected to vera.