Changing breaker box + reset + creating new account = intact history?

[brettabailey]

I’m going to be changing my 40 year old breaker box this weekend from something very old. Adding a couple breakers too. I imagine that means that I need to reset my device, right? I’ve read that resetting erases all historic data. Can I create a new account and connect the device to it as a way to safeguard my historic data for now. It would be nice to continue to be able to access my data via the app for at least a few more months… Thanks!
-Brett

[ixu]

Setting > My Home > Sense Monitor > Reset Data will wipe all your historic data.

When should I reset my Sense Monitor?

We do not recommend a data reset unless something has changed with your Sense monitor’s hardware setup. For example, if you have moved homes or have made changes to your electrical panel configuration, you should reset your monitor. If you are having issues with a specific device, refer to this article on device deletion. To reset your monitor’s data, go to Settings > My Home > Sense Monitor and select “Reset Data.” Keep in mind that a data reset will wipe all historical power data and devices …

Your options are:

1. Export the data prior to a reset as outlined here. i.e. Use the web browser login and export everything (at 1-hour intervals to maximize available data)

Features in the Sense Web App

The Sense Web App (found at home.sense.com) allows you to access your energy data right from your web browser. You can see how much power you’re consuming (and producing, if you have solar) in real time, view your timeline to see when different devices turned on or off, track historical usage, export historical data, and more. While many of the functions in the mobile app can also be found in the web app, there are some that haven’t made it in yet. Just visit the mobile apps for iOS/Android to …

2. Read this (you should probably do 1. anyway)

Save & Restore Sense State

Having voluntarily replaced my Sense unit this past April after a couple years of operation, I’m all for ways to gracefully transition between hardware units. But I think it is more complex than you think, because all the data you enter into Sense is already stored/saved on the cloud. That’s why you are able to make changes in naming in the phone app and see the data hot-updated in the web app (and vice versa), under your account. The real trick is to gracefully swap in a new device under the …

3. If you really want all the old data you can (theoretically) scrape it … if you are truly brave and play nice along the way. I won’t post links here but there’s plenty of discussion on the forum about how to proceed there.

4. Add another Sense and keep the existing account. That would be my choice.

[ben]

@brettabailey,
Have you checked with Support about this?

I’m curious - if you made a point to track specifically which two lines the CT clamps were on and which way they are facing, and which lines the red / black power feed to the Sense are on - and you make sure to put them back the same way in the new panel, would you have to reset.

I expect that all of your previous detected devices would no longer be detected because impedance in the new panel would be different, but the data would be there. Sense is always listening, so as long as the signals are all going the same direction / way that the Sense expectes, but I’m not sure why a reset would be needed. The reset starts a new signals check, which as far as I know, is really just checking the CT’s and “sensing” lines to map out how to process the signals.

But you should still check with support.

So to be clear about what I mean - if you have Leg A and Leg B coming into your panel.
Sense CT X is clamped to Leg A and the sticker is facing in the direction of power coming from your meter.
Sense CT Y is on Leg B, but with the sticker facing the panel.
Then your dual pole breaker, is touching both legs, so red is on Leg A and Black is on Leg B.
To confirm which leg your dual breaker is on, you may have to pull all the breakers so you can see the bus bars behind to trace it.

When you get your new panel, make sure to put it all back the same way. The breaker doesn’t need to be in the same “spot”, but you want to make sure that Red is on A and Black is on B (or whatever).

[ixu]

Apart from likely changes in impedance being uneven, the main issue I see with that is the electrician pushback (harder to pay attention to circuit leg matching when installing breakers) … there could also be the initial rationale behind the upgrade to deal with: new panel and breakers may well need to go on different legs.

Still, it would be interesting to see what matches immediately after a new panel goes in without having reset Sense.

BTW: My #4 thought above goes something like “A couple of hours of an electricians time costs the same as a new Sense”

[ben]

@ixu

there could also be the initial rationale behind the upgrade to deal with: new panel and breakers may well need to go on different legs.

I don’t quite track that. Its quite literally 30-60 seconds of the electricians time while the panel is open to check what leg the old breaker and clamps were on. In the new panel, I would think there would be extra spots, so no reason a double pole can’t slide up or down a slot, or flip sides of the panel. But point taken. Of course, if new mains are being run from the street, then all bets are off as I can’t imagine any way to track which “leg” is which if new wires are run.

[samwooly1]

I don’t believe it will work @ben.
I had a 120 floor heater on a 15 amp breaker that was detected and 100% accurate and reliable. I changed just the breaker and nothing else but lost the detection. It was a different brand but all else the same and I went as far as to measure how far the wire was inserted into the original breaker and inserted it the same in the new one.

[ben]

I am not suggesting that existing detections will work. In fact, I assume they will NOT, but the OP wanted to maintain historic data, so what I’m suggesting should allow the historic data to still be present since there won’t be a reset. Then if/when the old devices get detected as a new device, you can merge original historic devices with the newly detected ones.
All I’m saying is if you can make sure that you get the phasing correct, then there should be no need to reset as you should not have to perform a new signals check. But I’m not sure if support has been contacted to confirm this.

[samwooly1]

I see. By using names that haven’t been used before or maybe renaming all his current detections by placing an “.old” to them, he could keep the historic data.
Take dryer and make dryer.old

[RyanAtSense]

A data reset, in this case, would be recommended. To save your data, you could always export it via the web app. Of course, that means it won’t be available in the app. You could certainly try the renaming strategy, but you may run into some signal check issues. If you haven’t already, I would also suggest reaching out to Support. In any case, it can’t hurt to try not doing a data reset. If it ends up not working out, you may have to go ahead with a reset however.