smartenit 5010T ZBPCM Support?

[binaryman]

Any plans for the ISY-994i to support the "smartenit 5010T ZBPCM" to retrieve power usage information from the "Blue Line PowerCost Monitor and Energy Meter II"?

[Michel Kohanim]

binaryman,

 

It should already be supported in 3.3.2.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

As background, I have an ISY994i with about 60 INSTEON switches, outlets, keypads, etc.

 

I purchased the "Blue Line PowerCost Monitor and Energy Meter" and then the Smartenit 5010T ZBPCM. The Blue Line unit works well at reading my meter and I am able to link the 5010T to the ISY and receive updates from the Blue Line unit. The ISY displays kWs and Total kWh with a "Reset" button when I view the device in the Admin Console (which is configured like an iMeter Solo).

 

I guess I am confused here. I was under the impression that I could utilize the kWs and Total kWhs values in programs to turn off scenes, send alerts, etc. as part of my home automation. It appears that all I can do is view this data in the ISY Admin Console. Am I correct here? What is the value of this unit if you cannot perform automated actions based on power usage?

 

What I would like to do, for example, is:

 

If

5010T_kWs > 10

 

Then

Set Room Lights Scene Off

Notify Me with Text Power_Exceeds_Target

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott MS,

 

You should be able to. BugID #55.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Do you need any separate modules to access the values?

 

I am also trying to access the values in native ISY programs, not the REST interface.

[Scott MS]

I'm not sure what Bug ID#55 is.

 

In another thread it was mentioned that support would include (at least for iMeter Solo):

 

a. You can define a query interval (iMeter Solo does not send status updates to the PLM)

b. Publish meter events to clients (such as HomeSeer or a portal)

c. Be able to use meter information in programs

 

 

Right now I can only see "Current State" and "Accumulated Power" and I am unable to do anything with these values.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott MS,

 

Bug ID means that I have submitted it as a bug to be fixed.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi,

 

This is fixed partly in 4.0.2. Total accumulated power is still not in programs for neither ZBPCM nor iMeter Solo.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Great news. I assume that the value will be queried in watts? For instance. 2.5 kW will be queried as 2500 as it is displayed from the console.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott MS,

 

You will have a list of values to choose from starting from 1 all the way up to many KWs.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Thanks for fix. I did upgrade to 4.0.2 and I found the conditional status for the ZBPCM which goes up to 3,000 watts.

 

Can I make a request? The ZBPCM is designed to measure whole home power and my meter runs anywhere between 900 watts and 16,000 watts depending on the time of the year. Is there any chance you can add additional values in the selection list up ot 20,000 watts? Or another option, is if you can add in the accumulated power, I can simply continue to reset the value every 5 minutes and accumulate the incremental values in a integer.

[Scott MS]

Also, in my opinion, accumulated power is a more useful number. Using accumulated power avoids having to constantly query the ZBPCM to calculate power within the ISY.

 

The ZBPCM is being updated every 30 seconds and the accumulated number can be queried and evaluated in longer increments by the ISY (like every 15 minutes).

[Michel Kohanim]

Thanks for fix. I did upgrade to 4.0.2 and I found the conditional status for the ZBPCM which goes up to 3,000 watts.

Umm ... 4.0.2 is not out yet so whatever you are using is neither official nor supported!

 

Can I make a request? The ZBPCM is designed to measure whole home power and my meter runs anywhere between 900 watts and 16,000 watts depending on the time of the year. Is there any chance you can add additional values in the selection list up ot 20,000 watts? Or another option, is if you can add in the accumulated power, I can simply continue to reset the value every 5 minutes and accumulate the incremental values in a integer.

Yes.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Thanks for the new firmware. I have a couple of questions.

 

I see that I can now Reset Total Power in the programs, which is nice.

 

Also, I see that if I check the status of the ZBPCM to see if the power is > 3000 watts, it is that evaluating the "Current State" power. Is there any way that that Accumluated power can be also added as an option to evaluate?

 

Also, can we add in power levels up to 20,000 watts in 500 increments for the Current State power?

 

Thanks again.

[Scott MS]

Fixed my typos above. Thanks again for your help with this.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott MS,

 

Yes, we will be adding those in the future (REQID#55).

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[KenN]

Question to those with the ZBPCM unit ... have you had any difficulty pairing the ZBPCM with the PCM sensor? I've had the PCM working fine with the handheld unit for several months now, just tried to get a new ZBPCM working tonight with no luck. Connected to the ISY just fine, though. The instructions are of little use. Any tips?

 

For the record, what I have is the Black and Decker version, which by all indications is identical to the Blueline unit - except for the branding across the face.

[KenN]

Okay, scratch that ... it works. Kind of. I'm now getting a value from the ZBPCM and it reports on the ISY main console (and the ISY dashboard). The value matches the display on the handheld. Yay.

 

However, it doesn't seem to update dynamically. Is that normal? I have to query the device to get an updated value, and I did a test program that flipped a light on when power > (a value). The program did not execute unless I manually queried the PCM when current reading was more than that value.

 

Note that I also upgraded to 4.0.3 tonight, I did the upgrade after my previous post about the PCM not working. At this point, it's hard to do after the fact troubleshooting - can't tell if it's working now because of the upgrade, the ISY reset after the upgrade, or if I had just failed to try the query prior to the upgrade.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi KenN,

 

Yes, it's normal for you to have to query ZBPCM.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[KenN]

Okay, after a day of introspection, I guess that makes sense. Power consumption has the potential to change very frequently, so constantly updating could very easily flood the Insteon comm system I suspect. With that in mind, if I write a program to query the PCM regularly, are there any guidelines on how frequently this should execute without risking comm problems?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi KenN,

 

I do not recommend polling more frequently than every 20 seconds.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Any ideas when the additional functionality in REQID#55 will be available? If you could expand the range of power levels up to 20,000 watts in 500 increments for the Current State power, I could start using this device.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott,

 

Yes, it will be in our next firmware release (4.0.4) to be release by the end of next week.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Scott MS]

Thanks for the enhancement. I just put together a series of 97 programs to set up target kWh usage per day (based on month), calculate hourly kWh usage from 12-7 p.m, provide alerts if the targets are exceeded, and provide a daily peak power usage report. All is working great using the 5010T and the status and watts.

 

I am, however, having one issue. When I save the programs, exit, and return to the Admin Console. It appears the "Watts" values are not saved.

 

For instance, if I enter this in the program:

 

Status 'PowerMeter / ZBPCM' > 1400 Watts

 

then exit and open the Admin Console again. It will show:

 

Status 'PowerMeter / ZBPCM' > Null

 

It appears that the Admin Console is not saving the "Watts" values.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Scott,

 

Please do make sure to clear your Java cache before retrying.

 

With kind regards,

Michel