Data Reset: 2021 vs 2017

[pswired]

I wanted to share my experience so far after resetting my Sense monitor and going through the device learning process again. I first installed Sense in December 2017. Since then, Sense technology has progressed substantially, and my device learning process has been very different this time around than it was ~3 years ago.

I decided to do a full data reset on my account for a few reasons:

• I renovated my kitchen and all the appliances are now different;
• Last year, I replaced my main electric panel, and some devices are now on a different leg of service than they were before;
• I got rid of one device (a peltier-based wine fridge) that was introducing “usage noise” into my readings;
• My device list was full of usage from the various tools used by contractors during the kitchen renovation, which I no longer wanted.

After the panel replacement, several devices that had switched to different legs of service were no longer detected properly, such as my heating boiler. Others were not detected as reliably as before. I figured this would be a good time to start fresh.

I’m just about to hit the one-week mark since pulling the trigger on the data reset. Since signal check took 14-48 hours to complete, I have about 5 days of actual device learning at this point. Sense has picked up 8 devices via native detection. I also have 7 HS110 smartplugs and two devices being monitored by dedicated circuit CTs. This native detection rate is much faster than I experienced back in 2017. It could help that there’s generally more device activity at home these days with the WFH situation, but I think that’s a minor factor compared to the generally improved back-end learning situation now. Here’s my current device list:

I should have many more devices that are Sense-detectable that haven’t shown up yet due to limited usage or no usage at this time of year. I also have some devices that I haven’t been able to figure out yet, either because they weren’t detectable previously, or they are subcomponents of new appliances or devices I didn’t have before. It will be fun to get these identified.

[whee]

I recently got Sense set up for the first time and have been pleasantly surprised by the learning speed. I have read a ton of posts where people were unhappy with detection, so I was prepared for the worst. I’m up to 5 devices in about a week and have already gotten a lot of value out of it. Some of my less frequently used items will require more time, but I’m sure it will pick them out eventually as they are pretty standard items (pumps, stove/oven, motors).

[brian5]

Why did you do about your old data? Did you simply not care about historical device usage, or did you download it all? Did any of it, like smart plug names and energy usage, historically populate, or was everything blank? I feel like I have a noisy house and am debating resetting mine now that I’ve had it exactly one year now.

[pswired]

I didn’t bother to download the data (though I could have using web export) because at this point I have a pretty firm handle on what’s using what in my household after 3 years of observing Sense on a regular basis. I did manually note a few things, such as my historic refrigerator consumption, so that I could carefully compare it to my new refrigerator’s usage.

Smartplug names did automatically repopulate (they’re stored in the smartplug itself), but usage did not. Dedicated circuit monitoring had to be set up from scratch.

I’m not sure I’d suggest a data reset unless you’ve made substantial changes to the devices in your house or the layout of the electrical system.

[brian5]

Thanks! I feel my house is noises because some things have been weirdly difficult to pick up. Keurig was originally found fairly quickly, but we moved it’s location and it hasn’t been detected in several months with almost daily usage. My furnace gets detected…half the time. I was monitoring it the other morning and it kept turning on and off but the Sense saw none of them. I have a 100w motor and is very visible on the power meter and that hasn’t ever been detected in a year. I’ll give the Sense more time before resetting. I do love my data.

[pswired]

I noticed the same thing when my oil-fired boiler moved to the other leg of service during my panel upgrade. The boiler was super quick for Sense to learn, since it’s a unique and consistent pattern that is repeated often. But when it was moved to the other leg, it was never re-learned. I forget if I tried deleting the device or not. At any rate, after the data reset, Sense picked it right back up.