johnstonf Posted August 4, 2016 Posted August 4, 2016 Hi Folks... I'd like to do some "wholehouse" (at the mains) simple monitoring of my house, but be able to use it with my ISY somehow. Maybe also possible ability to integrate some receptacle level monitors (if possible) (so i can run around, unplug, and and plug a cheater cord in, and the original cord back into it...). I'm not wanting to do a lot of programming, etc... no problems opening panel and installing some stuff in there, such as clamp-on amp sensors, power to box, etc... and network setups no problem. Have some programs on the ISY running (nothing OVERLY complicated). I'm thinking to get the TED5000 or TED-PRO-HOME... http://www.theenergydetective.com/compare http://www.theenergydetective.com/prohome http://www.theenergydetective.com/tedprohome.html They say it can footprint up to 5 devices, hopefully it works somewhat. Do you consider this a "toy" or a real product? What would YOU recommend? I currently have ISY994i/IR and Zwave module installed, using it for door lock, and a lot of Insteon switches and dimmers, etc. All working quite well. Thanks! Fred
MWareman Posted August 4, 2016 Posted August 4, 2016 Brultech GEM, by a landslide.This. No question about it. Either, GEM connected to a Dashbox - which feeds data directly to ISY variables so you can trigger events.... Or Zigbee GEM and the Zigbee ISY - they can talk directly and natively. However you go, if you want to use energy data in ISY programs - nothing but the Brultech GEM will do...
io_guy Posted August 4, 2016 Posted August 4, 2016 This. No question about it. Either, GEM connected to a Dashbox - which feeds data directly to ISY variables so you can trigger events.... Or Zigbee GEM and the Zigbee ISY - they can talk directly and natively. However you go, if you want to use energy data in ISY programs - nothing but the Brultech GEM will do... A third option. http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php?/topic/17230-NodeLink-&-GEM
MWareman Posted August 4, 2016 Posted August 4, 2016 A third option. http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php?/topic/17230-NodeLink-&-GEM True enough, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend non-developers go with v5 just yet. Definitely worth considering though!
KeviNH Posted August 4, 2016 Posted August 4, 2016 If your power company has installed a smart meter or AMR transmitter, you might be able to track your usage with about a 1-minute granularity by picking up the usage data transmitted from the meter using a simple "RTL-SDR" radio receiver and some software. I tested this idea out last night with a Raspberry Pi; the CPU couldn't keep up and then the Pi crashed the USB driver for the RTL-SDR and wouldn't talk to it again without a reboot (known bug with the ARM usb driver for Pi). I think the new Pi 3 might be just barely fast enough to work, maybe... I'm thinking to get the TED5000 or TED-PRO-HOME...They say it can footprint up to 5 devices, hopefully it works somewhat. I started out with a TED5000, recently upgraded to TED-PRO-HOME. I never had any real success with detecting individual appliances, either using the "Load Profile Wizard" or using a third party posting that makes load profiling claims. So I sold the TED5000 and got TED PRO hardware to monitor specific breakers. Waiting for this: https://sense.com Given the difficulty in appliance profiling from whole-house data, I do not have high hopes for sense.com's product. See reddit for more on Sense.
johnstonf Posted August 4, 2016 Author Posted August 4, 2016 Wow, you guys are helpful! (thanks!)... Holy Crap, this is a whole new language lol... And i am very confused by where this points... io_guy... (Is this a pointer to a pointer somewhere???) A third option.http://forum.univers...-NodeLink-&-GEM Brultech GEM support can be found in NodeLink. ISY firmware >= V5 is required. The module supports receiving data from the GEM wi-fi or Ethernet module and has the ability to send the data to SEG or Emoncms. Please place GEM related topics in this forum (not NodeLink).
johnstonf Posted August 5, 2016 Author Posted August 5, 2016 This. No question about it. Either, GEM connected to a Dashbox - which feeds data directly to ISY variables so you can trigger events.... Or Zigbee GEM and the Zigbee ISY - they can talk directly and natively. However you go, if you want to use energy data in ISY programs - nothing but the Brultech GEM will do... So, if i go this route (I like what i'm hearing), and already have an ISY-994/ir with Zwave module (not Zigbee) added, and go the GEM option, and I'm running a MacMini (MM) full time for camera operation, etc, and run XP in a VM using VmWare Fusion, do i need the Dashbox, or is there a way to use my MM for this? (I like the sound of the GEM... those guys could SURELY use a better website!, trust you that their stuff is better lol). /f
MWareman Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 If your Mac mini is capable of running emoncms, then you will be able to graph power usage. You'd need the GEM with a network module, then you could configure GEM to send data to emoncms for graphing. However, this doesn't get the data into ISY, which is something I make a lot of use of (fridge door left open, laundry alerts etc...). I'm not aware of how easy it is to get emoncms to set ISY variables though. Or you could wade into the v5 alpha ISY software, run nodelinc to bring the data into ISY. You'd still have to graph the data - there are a couple of options on here. Personally, I've found the Dashbox to be a worthwhile investment - it connects over a serial cable (reliable), graphs usage and posts data to ISY, all in one power efficient device. I didn't buy it initially, but never did find a good way to get the data into ISY without it. I do not regret buying it! As you've noticed, the Brultech site is somewhat underwhelming. That's OK. They really are the best in the business at power monitoring! Michael.
io_guy Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 If you are running ISY V5 firmware you can install mono on your Mac mini and run NodeLink. It will connect your GEM and ISY.
Scottmichaelj Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 +1 for a GEM and Dashbox. I use and love it. Teken was a huge help to me setting mine up.
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