I owned a couple of TP-Link HS110s before I even bought Sense, so I was overjoyed when they added the integration. The bottom line for me is that Sense has discovered many of my biggest consumers (EVs, AC compressors, furnace fans, oven, one of two microwaves, central vacuum, garage door openers, and the Nespresso), but I also realize that pretty much anything that is driven by a power supply (DC garage openers, general consumer electronics, communications / PC gear, and various chargers) are unlikely to be detected by Sense in its current inception so smart-plugs fill a valuable role.
My recommendation as someone who has about 30 devices on smart plugs (12 HS110s, and 3 HS300s).
- Highest priority - Use smartplugs on larger usage devices that Sense is going to have difficulty with - I have on my digitally controlled washing machine and furnaces (gas-fired but plugin for the electric). Sense eventually found the furnace fans.
- Next focus on high usage electronics - PCs, laptops, monitors, big TVs, plus any other devices you suspect of having greater than 30W of consumption
- Dedicate one “Traveller” HS110 to sampling the remaining electronic and other devices in your house. Look for the ones where you can glean the best long term info. Some people like to use a Kil-A-Watt for sampling individual devices, but 24-48hrs on a Traveller HS110 will give you far more insight in the Sense GUI.
- The “Traveller”, plus all the other smartplugs in the house, are also ideal for finding Always Ons, since they can the monitor and calculate the Always On of each individual device, something the central Sense unit can’t, as long as the device uses a 120V plug and draws under 2kW. Even though Sense quickly detected the opening/closing of my 3 garage doors, but it took the “Traveller” to find the 7W Always On that each of the garage openers consume listening for the remote control.
- Use on modern consumer electronics sparingly - not super useful to individually monitor a device with very low standby and active power (Apple TV = 2W standby, 6W active, cable amplifier varies between 4 and 8W). HS300s givevyounmorevbang for the buck, making it expeditious to sample all the devices in the given location, but some are less interesting than others.
- The max for smart-plug outlets is actually 20, but Sense has helped me with a less than perfect workaround, since I accidentally exceeded the limit.
A bunch of hourly device power profiles from many of my smartplugs here.
https://community.sense.com/t/continuing-analysis-of-always-on-calculations/6785/2