Energy Management Service for MobiLinc!

[InsteonNut]

UPDATE: MobiLinc HD, Pro, and Orchestrated MobiLinc version 3.20.00 is now available from the iTunes App Store.

 

Hi Everyone,

 

We are excited to announce that we've completed work on our new energy management service and have submitted the next round of MobiLinc for iOS updates to Apple for approval. We expect to receive approval from Apple in early April.

 

Overview:

View and email real-time energy consumption and historical graphs ranging from the previous 2 hours of energy demand to 1 year of energy consumption.

 

Features:

Utilizing our MobiLinc Connect service and a powerful built-in charting package, MobiLinc offers the following features for energy analysis:

- Real-time energy instant demand by channel in kW.

- Previous 2 hours of energy demand by channel in kW.

- Previous 24 hours, 30 days, and 1 year of energy consumption by channel in kWh.

- Email capability to email out rendered charts and associated data points by channel in a CSV file.

- Channel selection. Hide or show channels as needed.

- Charts are interactive. Pinch and zoom into the data for closer inspection.

- Option to auto-calculate "other energy" channel from whole building channel minus monitored sub loads.

- Option to set the "max" kW value for the speedometer view.

 

Requires:

1. MobiLinc HD, MobiLinc Pro, or Orchestrated MobiLinc for iOS.

2. MobiLinc Connect account.

3. ISY-994i Series Controller with Zigbee and internet access.

4. Compatible Zigbee energy device(s) paired with the ISY. Compatible energy devices include:

- Brultech ECM-1240 (Zigbee version)

- Brultech GreenEye

- iTron and other Zigbee smart energy electric meters (check with your utility company)

- Universal Devices EM3

5. Energy Subscription service for MobiLinc Connect; purchased inside of the MobiLinc app for iOS as a yearly add-on to your MobiLinc Connect account.

 

Check out our sneak peek images on our Facebook page or head over to our website for more information on the energy management feature for MobiLinc:

http://mobilinc.com/features/energy/

https://www.facebook.com/MobiLinc

 

Wes

[arw01]

android?

[InsteonNut]

Hi arw01,

 

This announcement was to announce our new energy service and support for our iOS products. We are currently working on Android specific features, like Tasker integration, to bring to MobiLinc for Android.

 

Wes

[arw01]

I bought Tasker waiting for the integration. Have a alpha/beta tester group yet?

 

Wes, i would also like to see some logging about the communications to the ISY both via mobiconnect and when it's directly connected. It's just flakey for me. Yesterday I was able to turn on some lights and then just would not stay connected to keep status going. With everything hidden behind the closet, I do not know if it's the firewall for the free wifi I am using, flakey verizon 4g, my modem/router, what is going on.

[InsteonNut]

Hi arw01,

 

I'm not sure that logging from MobiLinc's perspective will show you anything more than what you are seeing now. If you can't get status or control devices from MobiLinc all that indicates is MobiLinc or the device hosting MobiLinc can't reach your ISY through the active internet connection. There could be a dozen or so reasons for that. Unfortunately the log would just read "could not reach ISY". No real way to have MobiLinc diagnose all the difference networks parts/firewalls along the path to the ISY. There's just no visibility beyond the hosting device.

 

I'd start with the ISY's error log and see what it says during the time period you couldn't get access as a starting point and work your way out from there.

 

Wes

[GuitarBuilder]

Sounds great, but why the $99/yr subscription fee?

[InsteonNut]

Hi GuitarBuilder,

 

Thanks for the question.

 

Our pricing is based on balancing the development costs, license costs, and most importantly the on-going data warehousing costs (storing over a year of energy data per channel) with what the commercial and large residential market is willing to pay to add energy monitoring services to their buildings or products/portfolio/services for their clients.

 

Wes

[TJF1960]

Hi Wes,

 

Congrats on the new addition!

Question, is the Basic Energy Mgt currently available for ios and android with a new look coming this month? That how I read the webpage on your site anyway...was just looking for confirmation. http://mobilinc.com/PlugIns/

 

Thanks,

Tim

[InsteonNut]

Thanks Tim!

 

The basic (instant or real-time) energy monitoring new look is only coming to iOS. The Android version isn't changing and still supports real-time energy monitoring under its current charting implementation.

 

The iOS upgrade to the new charting package (internal OpenGL graphs solution) was necessary on a couple of fronts, but mainly to accommodate the deep historical views (2 hours, 24 hours, 30 days, 1 year) we wanted to offer with the energy monitoring service.

 

Wes

[InsteonNut]

Hi Everyone,

 

UPDATE: MobiLinc HD, Pro, and Orchestrated MobiLinc version 3.20.00 is now available from the iTunes App Store.

 

Wes

[Shadowcomp]

Am I missing something?

 

I have an iMeterSolo that the previous version gave me several points of information. Now I see a purple circle showing me 0.16W with no load or with load. I don't see what my usage is over time, as I could before. I can't calculate my energy cost...other words I have LOST functionality with this upgrade. Is this correct? If so, how can I revert back to the old version? I already paid for the functional app, don't want to pay for a service.

 

It reminds me of buying a car that works just they way I want. The dealer tells me to come in for an upgrade and removes the gas gauge and then tells me that I can get that information back for a monthy fee.

 

Michael

[InsteonNut]

Michael,

 

Just to be clear, the energy management service will not add anything if you only have iMeterSolo device(s). The energy service currently only works with auto-reporting energy sources like Zigbee energy channels and some Zigbee utility meters when paired with a Zigbee enabled ISY. Since the iMeterSolo doesn't auto-report we did not include it in our backend for support for long term energy management.

 

The iMeterSolo support is real-time only. That's how it was supported previously as well. There appears to be less information, however, we believe we've streamlined the critical information into the new view. The important metric is how much power is being used now. That's the 0.16W you see in the pie chart. With the ISY, we recommend that you write a program that queries the iMeterSolo every 60 seconds or so. That way you have access to the most up to date data in MobiLinc and can use this information in other ISY programs if you choose to do so. The dollars datapoint was removed as well from this view since this number was only an approximation and was especially inconsistent with the way the iMeterSolo (does not) regularly report it's data. We kept the $/month metric in MobiLinc HD on the iPad as this lends itself to a better roll-up of all energy channels.

 

Admittedly, you did lose the the total kWh number from the iMeterSolo. We aren't convinced how useful that is/was to end users. In our research, the instant power was what was being tracked and used. Also, the direct query option was removed in favor of having the ISY query for this data on a regular basis through a program.

 

If you'd like to discuss further, please contact me directly at: support@mobilinc.com

 

Wes

[ccclapp]

Hi

 

I have been looking at Energy monitoring/reporting solutions for both Circuit and Device monitoring with a great end-user interface Michel recommended I being this to your attention. The thread on this is here:

 

Energy Monitoring: Panel, Device, Display Interface? viewtopic.php?f=46&t=13880

 

Would you please look at that and reply as to whether MobiLinc is the answer. (I am an existing user with some of your addons, but not energy at this point.)

 

Thanks for making a nice product!

[InsteonNut]

Hi ccclapp,

 

I read through your post and it appears that MobiLinc can do most if not all what you are looking for.

 

See our energy site here: http://mobilinc.com/features/energy/

 

In a nutshell, MobiLinc will display real-time energy data from your Brultech or GEM circuit channels as well as from iMeterSolo energy monitors linked to the ISY.

 

If you are interested in historical energy and charting with MobiLinc (iOS), we offer this as an advanced service as an add-on to our MobiLinc Connect cloud service. You'll get historical chart access to all your circuits (Brultech/GEM) from real-time to 2-hour, day, month, and year. See our website for more details.

 

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email us at: support@mobilinc.com and we'll be happy to help.

 

Wes

[ccclapp]

Hi Wes

 

Thanks for another quick reply!

 

I know of your energy plugin but have not sprung for it, yet, at +/- $100/year. Also, I don't yet have my Brultech, as I want to finalize my implementation before the purchase.

 

Would you please clarify the following:

 

1) Would your enhanced service integrate BOTH my circuit panel feeds AND my individual plug feeds? If so, what Total usage would I see, i.e. would it double count the plug feeds, which are already in the circuits' total?

 

2) You have a couple of screenshots of the module, but not quite enough for me to take the leap. Is there a way a user can do a 30 day trial. Until one kicks-the-tires of real life use, its very hard to know. I note, that unlike your other subscriptions, the energy module is a flat yearly see vs a month-by-month option.

 

Thanks

[InsteonNut]

Hi ccclapp,

 

1. The real-time view does/can integrate the circuit and iMeterSolo views. You get this at part of the MobiLinc app. The historical energy charts will not include the iMeterSolo data. Primarily due to the iMeterSolo not auto-reporting it's data to the ISY without a manual query.

 

2. We only have the year option for advanced energy charts: 2-hour, day, month, and year views.

 

Wes

[ccclapp]

Thanks for the clarification, Wes

[InsteonNut]

Sure thing!

 

Wes