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$15 for Aeon Labs DSB09104-ZWUS - Z-Wave Smart Energy Meter


blueman2

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Posted

I believe this version is battery operated, so you wont get accurate readings due to having to average household current. The v2 of this device plugs into a nearby outlet.

Unfortunately even the v2 only reads / displays one leg of the power until we finish multichannel device support in the ISY.


Sorry for brevity - posted using mobile Tapatalk

Posted

I'm using this device and it is working OK. Batteries are an option, it also comes with mini usb power adapter.

Easy way to reset total power would be nice and logging without messing with parameters would be icing on the cake.

Posted

I was looking at this to connect inside my circuit breaker box to see entire home usage.  As for the one leg of power, I guess that means only one of the 120V legs coming into the breaker box, right?  I guess that would make this much less interesting.  

 

I guess I will continue to wait for multichannel device support since I also need that for the Intermatic PE653 Pool Controller I have as well (it has 5 circuits and has temperature reading and settings).  Multi-channel support is the only issue holding me back from buying the add on module for my ISY.  

 

Unfortunately even the v2 only reads / displays one leg of the power until we finish multichannel device support in the ISY.

 

Posted

Incredible price on a whole home energy monitor.  $30.00.  How hard will this be to get supported on ISY?  

 

http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-DSB09104-ZWUS-Z-Wave-Energy/dp/B00DIBSKFU/ref=sr_1_1

 

edit: price went up, so no longer $30.  

 

The price is back to $30 apparently. I just installed mine today, it has the option to be battery powered but comes with the usb plug as stated earlier. So far i have the total house wattage from both legs, and total kwh as well. I am scouring thru google trying to get the correct parameters to get the reporting to work correctly but have some more digging to do. So far i like what i see though, it won't take long to track down the parameters, i had to do the same thing with the single outlet version. Let me know if anyone comes across the parameters that actually work for this.

 

Thanks.

Posted

I too would appreciate any help on getting this set up correctly. I only just ordered mine and don't know if I will need anything outside of my ISY to monitor daily power use? I'm also very very new to HA in general, though tracking my energy use has been part of my weekly routine for a few years.

 

Thanks to everyone in the UDI forums, just spending the past month reading through posts has been so helpful as I plunge into all this. I can't imagine taking it on without all of you!

Posted

I'm curious about those that are using v1 of this device.. Without a direct connection to power, I'm guessing it just estimates Kw for it doesn't know the voltage. US voltage can vary from 110-130 so that would up to a 9% margin of error if it estimates 120v.. Correct?

 

 

Sorry for brevity - posted using mobile Tapatalk

Posted

Hi Mike,

 

I have a V1 of this device and it does have a USB connection for full-time power. If you remove the back cover, you can access the battery compartment if you want to use it as battery powered, by default the reporting behavior changes when battery powered though. One of the parameters for changing, i think it is 1, sets the input voltage. Mine came set to 110 but you can change it to whatever you like to get accurate reporting. Thanks

Posted

This is a great low cost energy monitoring solution for those on an extreme budget. If you're looking for any kind of accuracy or meaningful details of where the power is being consumed.

 

This isn't the device to have or use for the long term.

 

I know the $30.XX price tag is very alluring and attractive but the reality is none of this information will really help you since the variance is so huge you could never really know what is the actual load.

 

People can certainly turn off all the breakers one at a time and monitor what the captured output is. But, again the lack of accuracy and the ability to track this information much less graph it is not very helpful.

 

I have pretty much played with all the cheap solutions out there and given where I am in my life live by *Spend my money once* and do it right the first go round.

 

My suggestion is to save up and purchase a Brultech ECM-1240 or a Green Eye Monitor (GEM) and a ISY IZ enabled controller. This will allow you to monitor and control Insteon enabled circuits in the home based on ISY programs etc. If you're feeling even more adventurous you can purchase the Brultech Dash Box (DB) which is a low power, self contained, Linux data server which can also relay the same energy readings to Smart Energy Groups (SEG).

 

The reality is once you start to track and monitor your energy there are two types of people that shake out of the tree. The first one just like the novelty of having the ability to say they can see and track energy.

 

The above is more of a fad and nice to have and once the novelty wares off their interest also goes away. The next group are those who have tried every type of cheap method known to man (this includes me) and have aspired to really understand, know, and do something with this knowledge.

 

For this group its not a fad, nice to have, its a lifestyle and ultimately the investment will save you money because you can factually know what loads are operating with in normal specs, running too long due to improper settings, or just bad user habits etc.

 

If you're the ladder group and really want to know, track, and react to your homes electrical energy consumption the only tried and true method is using the ISY-994 iZ / ZS. This coupled with the DB / GEM will provide you more insight then you could ever gain from this toy.

Posted

Agreed Teken, nicely put. I have the Brultech as well. The information provided between the two aren't the same, nor are they really in the same category. I would equate the Aeon Labs to being able to quickly know where your house consumption is at, roughly anyway. If people want to truly track and have gobs of info to work with the Brultech is definitely the way to go. I would still like to get the parameters and reporting working correctly for this device though!

Posted

Agreed Teken, nicely put. I have the Brultech as well. The information provided between the two aren't the same, nor are they really in the same category. I would equate the Aeon Labs to being able to quickly know where your house consumption is at, roughly anyway. If people want to truly track and have gobs of info to work with the Brultech is definitely the way to go. I would still like to get the parameters and reporting working correctly for this device though!

 

First, I hope no one takes what I stated the wrong way.

 

My feed back was provided so others who may be considering using this device. Would go into it with open eyes opposed to thinking it would give them all the details they seek.

 

Having said this, there is nothing wrong with using this device for general purpose monitoring for awareness. Everyone has to start from some where and even if its this device.

 

I too am interested in what you find as it could provide those on a limited budget more insight then they ever had from the on set.

Posted

Hi. Can you guys please elaborate what do you do with information brutech gives you. Like if I find that my AV equipment uses too much power I'm not going to limit myself to say 1Hr a day of using it. If I find that my fridge or freezer runs more than it should- ok replace or repair but there are much cheaper solution out there that are accurate enough for it.

Brutech looks really nice but how would it allow me to save ~$2000 ?

I just do not know what would I do with the information is residential install.

As for Aeon Labs HEM v1 yes it assumes 120v  (or 115v whatever it assumes) but it displays power usage of both 120v legs so it is not accurate but at least you can see the changes when something comes on or off.

Posted

Hi. Can you guys please elaborate what do you do with information brutech gives you. Like if I find that my AV equipment uses too much power I'm not going to limit myself to say 1Hr a day of using it. If I find that my fridge or freezer runs more than it should- ok replace or repair but there are much cheaper solution out there that are accurate enough for it.

Brutech looks really nice but how would it allow me to save ~$2000 ?

I just do not know what would I do with the information is residential install.

As for Aeon Labs HEM v1 yes it assumes 120v  (or 115v whatever it assumes) but it displays power usage of both 120v legs so it is not accurate but at least you can see the changes when something comes on or off.

 

First, no one will save $2000.XX just by monitoring their energy usage alone, none. What it will do for you is first provide you with a insight to obtain a base line of what equipment / loads. From there, either you're going to modify your life behaviors or you're going to replace equipment.

 

Normally its a combination of the two above that gets a person to a target goal.

 

Speaking for myself only, I was able to determine what vampire draws were present and remedy them. I was made aware there were gear that needed to be replaced due to (no energy star) design or build. I was able to determine that my buildings envelope was very tight but could improve in key areas.

 

This helped in reducing heating / cooling costs etc.

 

I later realized based on the GEM via temperature monitoring that if I used passive heating to its full potential that I could save even more energy vs relying only on setting back the TSTAT. It goes with out saying having the ability to control a load via the ISY based on energy consumption has helped me get to the last few miles stones in energy management.

 

If people look at this from a ROI perspective this will never equal out or make sense. If you rethink this methodology to being how can I reduce my long term costs, while being more green, and more efficient then it almost makes sense.

 

There are few things in life that doesn't cost money when talking about energy. The only tried and true method is either to generate it via wind, solar, hydro, or to reduce your costs via passive heating / cooling.

 

These are design elements that need to be planned ahead of time and considered prior. At the end of the day awareness is the first key, the next is understanding the data, then doing something with it later.

 

Few people get past the awareness and simply leave it as too hard, not worth the effort, or it was just a fad interest. If you get past the understanding portion you're on the correct path of doing something about it.

 

This for me is the last plank of energy conservation and that is being in control of my costs and making a difference in how we live and how my home reacts to my needs. 

Posted

Now we're getting somewhere, key parameters for me were 101 & 111. I compiled this from a few other forums and seem to have a combination that is reporting as requested. I had to set parameter 101 to 6, this shows up as reserved under the tech specs, but just like others it seemed to be the one that opened the flood gates. 111 will determine the reporting cycle, for testing i had it set to every 10 seconds but dialed it back once i was confident it was working as it should. I did change a few other parameters but they didn't seem to impact the reporting as 101 did. Hope this help the other guys. It also seems like this device has a few different software revisions and depending upon which version you have, then you'll need to track down the tech spec for that revision regarding your parameter options. The following link was a great resource.

 

https://code.google.com/p/open-zwave/source/browse/trunk/config/aeon_labs/hem.xml

Posted

I have to say, I used to use a v2 of this, but it does indeed estimate voltage (even when using the adapter). There is no supply voltage measurement, necessary for accurate kWh calculation from the measured current.

 

Michael.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

Now we're getting somewhere, key parameters for me were 101 & 111. I compiled this from a few other forums and seem to have a combination that is reporting as requested. I had to set parameter 101 to 6, this shows up as reserved under the tech specs, but just like others it seemed to be the one that opened the flood gates. 111 will determine the reporting cycle, for testing i had it set to every 10 seconds but dialed it back once i was confident it was working as it should. I did change a few other parameters but they didn't seem to impact the reporting as 101 did. Hope this help the other guys. It also seems like this device has a few different software revisions and depending upon which version you have, then you'll need to track down the tech spec for that revision regarding your parameter options. The following link was a great resource.

 

https://code.google.com/p/open-zwave/source/browse/trunk/config/aeon_labs/hem.xml

 

Great info!!!  I just got mine installed.  I changed the 101 and 111 parameters per your note.  I am running on batteries since I did not want to wire the 5v transformer into my breaker box.  I am able to query and get instantaneous wattage.  However, the KwH total usage does not climb above 0.01.  Just sits there.  Also, I have to query to get an update.  It never sends on itself.  I have 111 set to 10.  Also tried 1.  But it does not make any difference.  Is that normal?

 

Thanks again!!

Posted

Great info!!!  I just got mine installed.  I changed the 101 and 111 parameters per your note.  I am running on batteries since I did not want to wire the 5v transformer into my breaker box.  I am able to query and get instantaneous wattage.  However, the KwH total usage does not climb above 0.01.  Just sits there.  Also, I have to query to get an update.  It never sends on itself.  I have 111 set to 10.  Also tried 1.  But it does not make any difference.  Is that normal?

 

Thanks again!!

 

I know that if you aren't using the USB power and are running on batteries then it changes the reporting habits of the device. My recommendation for testing the parameters and setting it up would be to provide full time power (USB) until you have everything set up the way you want it. Easier to troubleshoot as well. If it isn't updating it's values to the Isy per your parameter settings then it isn't set up correctly yet. If you need any help PM me.  

Posted

I would appreciate some help decoding the link you included, if you know.  For example, for parameter 101, here is what the link gives (below).   So which Byte are we working with?  I only see in ISY selection for Parameter Number (101), Parameter Size (1,2 or 4 - what the heck do these do???) and Parameter Value (6 in this case as you recommend).  I am not sure how we tell it we want to set byte 4, which I assume is what we want to set.  

 

And, when we set it to 6, I am assuming you are 'turning on' bits 2 and 1 (00000110) which equals 6 right??  If so, why not also turn on bit 3 which would imply a value of 14?  

 

Much to learn on these parameters!!!

 

<Value type="int" index="101" genre="config" label="Group 1 Reports" units="" value="0">
      <Help>
        Which reports need to send in group1. Format is as follows:
        Byte 1 (msb): Reserved
        Byte 2: Reserved
        Byte 3: Bit 7: reserved
                Bit 6: reserved
                Bit 5: Auto Send Meter Report (for kWh) at the group time interval (Clamp 3)
                Bit 4: Auto Send Meter Report (for kWh) at the group time interval (Clamp 2)
                Bit 3: Auto Send Meter Report (for kWh) at the group time interval (Clamp 1)
                Bit 2: Auto Send Meter Report (for watts) at the group time interval (Clamp 3)
                Bit 1: Auto Send Meter Report (for watts) at the group time interval (Clamp 2)
                Bit 0: Auto Send Meter Report (for watts) at the group time interval (Clamp 1)
        Byte 4 (lsb): Bit 7: reserved
                Bit 6: reserved
                Bit 5: reserved
                Bit 4: reserved
                Bit 3: Auto Send Meter Report (for kWh) at the group time interval (whole HEM)
                Bit 2: Auto Send Meter Report (for watts) at the group time interval (whole HEM)
                Bit 1: Auto Send Multilevel Sensor Report (for watts) at the group time interval (whole HEM)
                Bit 0: Auto Send Battery Report at the group time interval (whole HEM)
      </Help>
    </Value>
Posted

I know that if you aren't using the USB power and are running on batteries then it changes the reporting habits of the device. My recommendation for testing the parameters and setting it up would be to provide full time power (USB) until you have everything set up the way you want it. Easier to troubleshoot as well. If it isn't updating it's values to the Isy per your parameter settings then it isn't set up correctly yet. If you need any help PM me.  

 

Well, I finally got it working really well.  I think I messed up some parameters and had to do a factory reset.  Now by just setting 3 parameters, it works great:

 

1: set to my home voltage which is 121V

101: set to 6 as you recommend.  However, I later changed to 14 so that it also reported Kwh on same update frequency. Or, you can set to 8 if you want it to report only KWh used and not instantaneous watts.  .  

111: set to 10  which causes it to report every 10 seconds (updates Watts if 101=6, Watts and KWH if 101=14).  

 

I am running on USB rather than batteries.  

 

 

 

I believe this version is battery operated, so you wont get accurate readings due to having to average household current. The v2 of this device plugs into a nearby outlet.

 

Unfortunately even the v2 only reads / displays one leg of the power until we finish multichannel device support in the ISY.k

 

On my v1 device on USB, both legs appear to be working and reporting.  It of course only reports one number, but that number is the correct total of Watts across both legs.   To confirm this, I plugged them in 1 by 1 and they both report wattage individually and as a sum total.  

 

And by the way Mike, THANK YOU (or whoever did it) for the support on this device.  I was frankly very surprised that the device worked in ISY, much less that you appear to have created a 'page' for it already.  I am curious just how hard it is to create a new 'page' for each device that comes out.  Must be quite a support nightmare over time for so many devices.  

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Blueman2, maybe you could assist me with mine......

I have installed mine on the inside wall of my garage and run the cables and USB power out through a hole into the main panel. The USB is fed from a power supply hooked up to a breaker in that panel. I paired it with my isy and I see current power and total power and that's it. I have tried going into the zwave configuration parameters and I see three items: parameter number, parameter size, and parameter value. They show 0,1,0 respectively. I have attempted to adjust them and click "set", but nothing happens and it always reverts back to these values. I can click on "query" either in the configuration parameters or from the energy meter screen, but again, nothing seems to happen. The current power and total power do seem to be registering something, but I've no idea what it is nor how I might use the information.

Ideally I'd like to see some type of graph with a historical trend showing....something!

Anybody?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Posted

Hi GuitarTexan,

 

Please try the following parameters :

 

Parameter 1: set to home voltage such as 120

Parameter 101: set to 14

parameter 111: set to 10 which causes it to report every 10 seconds

 

With kind regards,

Michel

Posted

Ideally I'd like to see some type of graph with a historical trend showing....something!

 

Anybody?

 

 

 

 

I know you're just getting your feet wet in all of this HA stuff. But wanted to let you know since 4.3.1 firmware you have the ability to send this data and have it tracked in pretty graphs / charts.

 

This set up guide is for another product but the basics and premise is still the same: http://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/16095-autelis-bridge-pushing-data-to-smart-energy-groups-seg-guide/

 

I still have some information to add and edit but the gist of the data points are in the thread.

  • 3 weeks later...
Posted

FYI, HEMv1 is now  back on sale for only $24.99 at Amazon.  Free shipping with prime, and no tax in Ca for this item!!

  • 4 months later...
Posted

Can someone explain how to reset the total KWh?  Or is it possible to program that number to match my electric meter?

 

I have V1 and accuracy appears to be about 97%  - is that what others are seeing?

 

thanks, John.

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