ISY programs to save power

[Lore]

I have everything on Insteon switches or modules and have been slowly adding programs to lower my power bill.

At sunrise, or if I leave, I turn off any lights left on.

My bathroom fans default to 70% which uses half the power and will turn off after 40 minutes if left on.

My recirculating pump turns on before I wake up at 60%, which uses less than half the power but still gets the job done.  It turns off during peak pricing.

I'm looking to add mmWave occupancy sensors as soon as something is supported in PG3.

What are other people doing with automation to save power?

[gregkinney]

You've got some great ideas. I can't offer any further help with programs that will save power. However, I read an article recently about someone who was trying to minimize their usage of their newly installed LED light bulbs. However, they realized that there were two incandescent bulbs they didn't replace yet. Just replacing these saved them a multitude vs. the time they were focusing on automating existing LED technology.

The point of their story was to focus on the big offenders. Start from scratch and think outside the box. Are there any other bulbs to replace or big energy offenders? For instance, my LED TV uses a lot of energy. This goes down significantly if I watch it at a reduced brightness.

Edited November 23, 2023 by gregkinney

[Lore]

On 11/23/2023 at 9:07 AM, gregkinney said:

..The point of their story was to focus on the big offenders..

I agree completely, however the new SCE rates (averaging over 50 cents a KWh during peak pricing) and us crazy smart home folks change the math a bit.  My Insteon switches, for example, cost me more per month on my electricity bill than my pool and spa filters because the Insteon switches draw power 24/7, right through the peak billing hours and I have 125 of them.

All my lights are modern high lumen per watt LEDs and are set to come on dimmed unless I ask for "work lights."  My winter average draw right now is 600 watts, 200 watts of fridges, home theaters, lighting, pool filtering, etc, and 400 watts of which are power vampires like Roombas, Alexas, sensors, cameras, alarms, power failure units, GFCI outlets, Insteon switches, and other things that bleed power 24/7.  Leaving a 50w bathroom fan on is nearly 10% of my average usage, more if I'm away, and will show up in the bill.  My recent tweaking cut 200 watts from my average usage and should save enough to buy an Insteon Module a month, but more importantly, it gets me closer to a practical off-grid system.

[gregkinney]

Wow, that's impressive. Sounds like you've got it figured out. Have you seen smart power strips? A friend of mine is an installer for an energy audit company and he was telling me about them. You plug all your devices into them and it uses a control to determine whether power should be on. Let's say the TV is your control, so when you turn your TV off it cuts power to the other vampire devices.

[bgrubb1]

I am fortunate to live in AZ with SRP (Salt River Project) for a POCO

on the E-27 solar rate , power is (Winter) .0564 per KW off peak and .0604 per KW on peak (5-9 and 5-9)

the killer for me is the demand surcharge (max KW per half hour on peak)

UDI turns off washer, dryer, dishwasher, air compressor on peak and adjusts thermostat.

All that leaves for big draws on peak are microwave and damn fridge's defrost cycles. I really wish "smart" refrigerators would let you set times for that.

[Lore]

 

1 hour ago, gregkinney said:

..Have you seen smart power strips?..

That's a good idea.  I still have a smart power strip I bought at Radio Shack 35 years ago to solve a TV/amp problem.  I always see it at the bottom of my power strip box, but I hadn't considered it for power savings.  I can think of at least two places where smart strips might help to save a few watts.  Most of my vampires, however, are tricky to kill without losing something.  My Apple TV is also my homekit hub, for example.

[Lore]

45 minutes ago, bgrubb1 said:

All that leaves for big draws on peak are microwave and damn fridge's defrost cycles. I really wish "smart" refrigerators would let you set times for that.

I've been tempted to plug my fridge into an on/off module.  From it's perspective, it's just a random power outage that happens during peak rates.

[Brian H]

6 hours ago, Lore said:

I've been tempted to plug my fridge into an on/off module.  From it's perspective, it's just a random power outage that happens during peak rates.

Use care if you try an on/off module for a refrigerator.  It may have a momentary power surge current at starting. It could be over the on/off modules rating. Resulting on a short life span or maybe even a welded contact in the modules internal relay.

[jec6613]

On 11/22/2023 at 8:28 PM, Lore said:

I'm looking to add mmWave occupancy sensors as soon as something is supported in PG3.

These are a thing, been around for decades.  mmWave occupancy exist for alarm systems with a normal dry contact closure.  I just got rid of one from the early '90's in favor of a more reliable microwave one, but yeah.

One thing I've done is to use Z-Wave relays to power down amplifiers and subwoofers whenever the house is unoccupied or we're asleep.  With a whole home AV system, that adds up quite a bit.

I'm focusing on chasing down some big draws in my equipment racks though, it's about 1.5kw, and the all-in electricity price is $0.60 peak and $0.55 off peak.

[tazman]

My biggest cost savings is to use node servers / plugins with programs I wrote to charge an electric vehicle using excess solar and not use electric from the grid.