Back from the dead, it's a ZOMBIE DEVICE!

Technical Questions
1

Greetings, my HVAC blower disappeared from the device list, then reappeared a day later, but it’s a zombie device. By that, I mean to say that no recent activity is being displayed, the wattage shows up in Other, and previously entered device details are missing. Why is this happening?

I’ve had my Sense monitor installed for less than a week. Sometime around the end of day 3, it picked up the blower as “HEAT 1”, drawing around 450W (it’s a 20-year old natural gas furnace). I renamed it to “HVAC Blower”, and added the device details for manufacturer and model number of the furnace.

The device was gone by day 4, and returned about 6 hours after I made a support request through the iOS app.

And now it’s a zombie. What’s going on here, and what can I do to get back on track with this blower motor?

Thank you –

2

I performed a data reset. We’ll see what happens in the next 2-3 days.

3

I had entered a support ticket though the app, and I heard back today…

Unfortunately, it’s a known bug that Sense can sometimes delete devices that have been discovered. There’s no way to bring back these deleted devices, we’ll just need to wait for it to be discovered again.

Wait…what? Sense is losing customer data and the problem is not being addressed? Please help me understand.

4

Hey Tim,

Sorry if the response you got came across that way! Our team is always working to improve detection algorithms and systems to provide the most accurate and smoothest device detection possible. With regards to the deletion you experienced, this can sometimes happen unfortunately. When it does, it usually happens in the early stages of detection of a device. Early on, Sense is still working to collect enough data on the device and is still refining its model around it. You’re right that it shouldn’t have appeared, disappeared and reappeared, and this is a piece of detection experience that we’re working to improve.

We strongly recommend not performing data resets unless a support team member has taken a look at the data and suggests it, or there is a change to the hardware installation of your monitor. In order to accurately identify devices, Sense needs enough data on those devices. Some devices will be identified in the first week, others in the first month, and others may take longer.