Question on Smart Plug With Power Monitoring & plugin

[paulbates]

I have a second-floor laundry with an exhaust fan / vent in addition to the dryer vent. I working to automate the fan operation better when the dryer is running.

My questions are:

• Can I use the plugin to sense power consumption with the "Smart Plug With Power Monitoring" when the dryer is on and use it in iox program "Ifs"?
   
• If anyone has used it, how much space of the outlet does it consume? The washer is also powered by the same outlet, standard sized 3 prong plug, but I need it to be plugged in there and not be blocked by the Smart Plug.

Maybe the vibration sensor is a better solution? I'm open to alternatives that lead to the same end.

[Panda88]

I have not tried the specific use but it should work - the plug reports power and you could even use the Yolink alarm for power to create triggers in case the power reading does not work 

There is room for a normal plug in the second outlet if needed

 

[paulbates]

Perfect, thank you

[paulbates]

@Panda88 I'm implementing my power sensor for my laundry fan, outlined above, and hit a snag.

The plug-in eventually shows the operational load 2.286kWh in iox:

 

The problem:

I have this program. Even though iox shows the above energy value, the program will not run, including using a "run if"

1- Laundry Fan run Start Copy - [ID 005C][Parent 0063]

If
        'HVAC / Dryer Monitor' Watt > 2.00 kW
 
Then
        
        // Start the laundry fan based on power sensor, shut it off based on temperature returning to normal range
 
        Set 'HVAC / Laundry Fan' On
        $Laundry_Fan_Start_Temperature  = 'HVAC / Laundry Temp Humidity Sensor' Sensor Temperature °F
        
        // Let laundry area warm up a little
 
        Wait  15 minutes 
        $Laundry_Fan_Auto  = 1
 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')
 

 

I pulled a debug level log where I had the dryer stopped, and then turned it on.

• Like the temp/humid sensors, it can take a long time for the module to report
• If I turn the plug on and off with iox or at the plug, the starting kWh come through
• I tried query and see messages in the log
• I can use iox and turn the module on/off remotely, so its working, but I plan to leave it on always
• It's a gas dryer, so the module is only powering the motor, not heating elements

 

Edited October 21 by paulbates

[Panda88]

Can you send me the log as a file - you can pm me

[Panda88]

Did you try to use yolink power limit to see if it triggers.  I would guess that to trigger faster.  My guess is yolink just treats power as data so it follows the update sad chedule for the device.  Note if you start polling to fast they will throttle the access

I think using the alarm in yolink is the way to go

I do not understand why it would not trigger but it could be resultatet to unit conversion in isy

 

[paulbates]

I'll get the log file to you in a pm. I did think about changing the range to force it to report more frequently like I did with the 8003 Temp/Humid sensors.

The "out of the box" alarm range for the plug is as wide as it goes. It's also a little confusing as it reports kWh, but the control for the alarm says it's in watts.

I admittedly took a gamble seeing if this would work for this application and it's looking like no. FWIW it does function similarly to Insteon an on off module if wanting to use it that way

[Panda88]

i think you can use the alarm to trigger your function - i.e. have Yolink report an alarm if power > 2KWh and then trigger on that .  I wonder if there is a bug in the ISY on how to compare numbers - maybe I need to make it report W and not kW.  

 

[paulbates]

The alarm does work as expected and quickly! Thanks @Panda88!