I have seen many suggestions/requests to add probes to plug individual devices into, to monitor their signatures directly.
But this proposal would not address the issue of 220v direct-wired devices like my induction cooktop, built-in oven and microwave, water heater, central air conditioner, heater, and hot tub.
These hard-to-probe devices account for the majority of my electrical usage.
Maybe the probes are not a whole user base feature or item. Instead they can be used by users who want to spend the time to help train Sense to be more accurate.
These can be a loaned out item to users to help train Sense on new devices or they can be bought by power users who want to more accurately track specific loads. I would not see this as an every day user item.
A common theme I see here is that there are “power users” who want to do more but it looks like sense may not be in a position to support more of the advanced stuff the power users want to do. This is not an issue or problem, its just state of the company and product.
I think it might be useful to take another look at this idea for a subset of users who are willing to put in the time and effort.
In addition to all my hard-wired 220v devices, I also have half a dozen hard-wired ceiling fans. Plug-in probes wouldn’t help them either.
You’re totally right. There’s some fantastic, enthusiastic users here and we could do a better job supporting them. It’s tough middle ground to tread, as you can imagine. But I’m always passing on the insight I gain here and hopefully some of the latest updates are pleasing even our power users.
New Sense user, online less than a week, and I’ve already made a similar suggestion directly. I guess I will also post them here as individual ideas, yet wanted to acknowledge my interest in this category as well. Seems others have thought along similar lines.
My suggestions will be similar, yet I believe different enough to be reviewed separately.
You can also look for suggestions in the Product wishlist forum and like the first post of each to help guide development.
Please feel free to add your comments to the threads but voting is one of the best ways to drive developer awareness of how important an issue is to the community.
Home Details, including Device Inventory, was added back in June 2019. Not fully integrated yet, but a great starting point for this Wishlist Item.
They have smart devices that work with 120 and 240. I use both and would love if senses could use a a api or some form of integrated trigger. That say hey look this is on. Let’s monitor’s. After so many times it should build a profile that would be usable. Only concern there is the possible change in the noise floor. By having a device in between.
when we add details like model numbers are sense using this information. Let’s say I have a air fryer I input the model number. Now I know and sense knows the wattage that it pulls. With a few simple math formulas we can also calculate other electrical ranges and out puts off the device. While this may not be accurate when looking at the actual signal. The frequency and range should be very close. Thus improving detection.
I think a step we could add during installation that should really help would be:
Label the clamps, say A/B or L/R.
Then, manually input the breakers, Current, name.
For example, my left side (120v) has a 20A breaker, number 28, labeled “bathroom GFCI”. This is all the outlets in all the bathrooms.
Breaker # 27, on the Right 120v branch, is a 20A breaker leveled “bedroom #5.
I see the benefits as multiple efficiencies.
First, Sense knows which side the 120v power is coming from, so it would reduce, by roughly 50%, the loads it needs to “guess” are running. Obviously, if power is on the left leg, the load isn’t on the right leg.
Second, and pretty important as a homeowner, or for your electrical contractor. You have an app that can immediately tell you, without guessing, which breaker to open when replacing or doing maintenance on a fixture…and if it’s coded correctly, it could tell me what ELSE I’m removing power from while I’m doing that maintenance!
Cool huhh?!
I think that would be useful if Sense was actually trying to pick which device out of the Inventory once it does a detection. But that’s not how it works today.