A couple basic questions from a Newbie

Hi, I’ve had it for about a month. I share the general device detection frustrations that others have encountered. I’m disappointed and confused. I will work on my “patience” but I have a few questions:

  1. I have two sub-panels. Will they confuse Sense?
  2. As I continue to make changes (add circuits, eventually delete a sub-panel etc.) will that confuse Sense? i.e., if it detects an item on a circuit and then that item is moved to another circuit will Sense remember its signature and readily remember or will it have to re-learn?
  3. I was reading about being able to “correct” Sense - e.g. labeling something as “not on” when Sense says it is. That’s disconcerting to me. It’s measuring power the system isn’t really using? My first inclination would be that it must be a mis-identified appliance to begin with! :frowning: How do I know?
  4. During the month I’ve had it we’ve also run a dehumidifier continuously. There’s been nothing close to an identification of it… - frustrating.
  5. A simplified Blog post on the component parts of some basic appliances would be a good idea - along with both a refresher on how to merge such items and/or when/why/how to keep them separated. It would be nice if say like “Quicken” finance software, one could see a display of a Device (Refrigerator e.g.) and its total usage along with a list of sub-categories and their usage (compressor/light bulb/defroster/fan/etc.)
  6. I have one “identified” item that I can’t “find” - (seems crazy to me) - Essentially always on at a continuous 405w with 5 to 60 min. off periods. I walk around shutting things off and on - nothing stops it… :frowning:
  7. I’m kind of surprised by the water heater “signature.” I “get” that it shows 1 element at a time at 4500W but the two of us are FAR from having “routine” schedules. Why would the heater be pretty consistent about turning on a 7am, 1pm, and 7pm …?
  8. Lastly - I am both tempted and dreading ever hitting the reset button. I’d imagine that is a true “ground zero”? - nothing is remembered?
    That’s all I’ve got for now - any thoughts, insights, advice welcomed.
    Thanks!!
  1. I have two sub-panels. Will they confuse Sense?

I have two subpanels of 200A each and Sense works fine when it is connected to my house mains

  1. As I continue to make changes (add circuits, eventually delete a sub-panel etc.) will that confuse Sense? i.e., if it detects an item on a circuit and then that item is moved to another circuit will Sense remember its signature and readily remember or will it have to re-learn?

Typically, changing circuits should only make a difference if you move wired device from one house leg to the other (L1 → L2 or L2 → L1). But wiring and crosstalk are tricky - some changes might change the on-and off-signatures as observed by Sense, just enough to make them fall outside of the original signature. If you do lose a solid detection, then you’ll probably need to delete that device and let Sense find it again.

  1. I was reading about being able to “correct” Sense - e.g. labeling something as “not on” when Sense says it is. That’s disconcerting to me. It’s measuring power the system isn’t really using? My first inclination would be that it must be a mis-identified appliance to begin with! :frowning: How do I know?

Sense is indeed measuring a transition when it mis-identifies a device as on. But that doesn’t mean it mis-identified a device in the first place. It just means that under some conditions, another device turning on looks enough like the originally detected device to be perceived as that same device. Lot’s of possible scenarios for that - you’ll see plenty of incidences of “conflation” on this forum. Hitting “Device is not on” in the Manage tab for the erroneously detected device is on way to deal.

  1. During the month I’ve had it we’ve also run a dehumidifier continuously. There’s been nothing close to an identification of it… - frustrating.

Look at the main Power Meter to see how often the motor/compressor is shutting on an off. If the actual motor/compressor is on most of the time, Sense might not be seeing enough on/off cycles of the motor. There’s also a chance that the dehumidifier is part of the Always On, if your dehumidifier never hits it’s humid goal.

  1. A simplified Blog post on the component parts of some basic appliances would be a good idea - along with both a refresher on how to merge such items and/or when/why/how to keep them separated. It would be nice if say like “Quicken” finance software, one could see a display of a Device (Refrigerator e.g.) and its total usage along with a list of sub-categories and their usage (compressor/light bulb/defroster/fan/etc.)

Here’s a recent blog on that. Consider looking through all the technical blogs - they will help you answer your own questions.

  1. I have one “identified” item that I can’t “find” - (seems crazy to me) - Essentially always on at a continuous 405w with 5 to 60 min. off periods. I walk around shutting things off and on - nothing stops it… :frowning:

Sometimes manually shutting a device off doesn’t make the bubble go away, generally in cases where a manual off waveform looks different than the “automatic” off - things like refrigerators, furnaces, etc. The same for turning circuit breakers off / on. The best tool for identifying that 405W device is to wait until it’s on, then power things down while watching the main Power Meter, not the bubbles. If you power something off and see a 400W drop, that’s likely your culprit.

  1. I’m kind of surprised by the water heater “signature.” I “get” that it shows 1 element at a time at 4500W but the two of us are FAR from having “routine” schedules. Why would the heater be pretty consistent about turning on a 7am, 1pm, and 7pm …?

What kind of water heater do you have - on demand or tank ? More info useful.

  1. Lastly - I am both tempted and dreading ever hitting the reset button. I’d imagine that is a true “ground zero”? - nothing is remembered?
    That’s all I’ve got for now - any thoughts, insights, advice welcomed.
    Thanks!!

Don’t hit the factory reset - that’s a last resort. Best first step if detected devices are misbehaving is either the “Device is not on” for conflation or deleting that device if it’s not be recognized reliably. Have some patience, learn that there are devices that won’t be reliably detected using current techniques (most DC electronics - use smart plugs like the HS300 for them) and work with Sense support if you have a specific problematic device.

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Thank you!

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