I’m with you. Sense isn’t identifying devices to the level I would like yet either - my house is only at about 50% identified and 10% Always On (40% Other) even with some judicious smartplugs in place. But I knew going in that this was a hard problem to solve, regardless of marketing pitches, so my expectations were fairly low. Plus I know another 25% in that mix is EV car charging for cars that haven’t been identified yet.
As far smart plug advantages vs. a Kill-A-Watt meter:
- Integration - you get to see the readings from the smart plugs in the Sense app just like any other Sense device. The smart plug usage is part of the % calculation and $$ calculation, plus all the associated summaries and Device Power Meter
- Smarter Always On - Sense pulls the always on data associated with the smart plug device(s) out of the Always On bubble/data and into that specific device. Instead, you’ll see an Idle power associated with always on power for each relevant smart plug device (my Furnace pulls 8W when it is off, goes up 130W when it is On).
- Better picture of what whole devices are doing. Sense was able to identify my furnace fan automatically. But once I hooked the furnace to a smart plug, I was able to see 2-3 additional components that happen at the start of a heating cycle (igniter, ignition fan, etc.), that Sense wasn’t seeing (and aren’t there when AC or fan is on).
- Control - you can turn the smart plug on and off from within Sense.
- Future Learning - The best way for Sense to improve learning for devices is via “ground truth” data - that’s exactly what the smart plug provides. That’s not a now feature, but I know from my background, that Sense is will be most likely to improve on devices that it has “ground truth” data for.