Hello,
One of my goals for sense was to measure how much electric I use splitting wood. I bought a smart outlet thinking that would speed detection.
I knew I had two panels, but did not know until the sense installation that they were independent, and one is NOT a sub-panel.
At the moment, I think my two choices for outlets connect to the panel W/O sense. However, the Kasa app shows the two outlets, and my Linksys network shows them.
I guess that if sense can’t physically detect the flow of energy, it’s probably too bad for me.
If your TP Link is on a panel that is not being monitored by your Sense, I expect that the Sense would still find it because its looking at network traffic to “find” the HS110. But your power numbers would be all out of whack as the HS1100 would be telling Sense that power is being used, but the main CT’s of the Sense would not see that power. I don’t know how the Sense would handle that situation, but it doesn’t seem like a good idea.
Since the HS110 tracks power on its own in the Kasa App, for now, I would leave the TP Link integration off on Sense. If you have other TP Link devices that you want Sense to track, I would probably suggest creating another TP Link account and add the Wood splitter HS110 to that. Keep that accouont logged into the Kasa app so you can view it when you want. Link the other TP Link account to Sense so you can see power stats in Sense.
But actually a question - you said the Sense doesn’t currently see your HS110. Have you turned on the TP Link integration in the Sense app and paired you Kasa login?
Thanks for the response. I went through the Kasa app and found very little there. Just my luck, I plugged the HS110s into outlets to the non-monitored panel. I put one upstairs and pluged the entertainment center power strip into it. In the Kasa app, there are no “events” in the activity log. So maybe I’ve missed a step there.
To your question, I don’t think I’ve done TP integration. Just went through everything I can find in the Sense app but don’t see anything resembling TP Link integration.
OK, things are getting interesting. The entertainment center has shown up and is idling at 23 watts. Just turned everything on and see it using about 130 watts.
Just a funny FYI. With the old CRT 32" and a Kill-A-Watt meter, I discovered it was cheaper to watch a show like X-Files where they’re always in a dark room with a teeny flashlight than downhill Olympic skiing, where everything is bright white!
Maybe I’m all fixed up? Will go try the splitter.
OK, the splitter is just whining and the motor won’t start and it’s popping the breaker. So I have to figure out what’s going on with that appliance.
I somehow expect that I’m all fixed up, except for one repair.
OK, Sense is seeing the splitter on the smart outlet in the garage.
The splitter is idling at 675W, and I’m seeing 900W on the power stroke.
Going to the device’s power meter, and see the very sharp spikes that are displayed with a “1,400W” legend presented. Guess it’s too fast for the real time display.
Now the next task will be to assign the cost function to it. Maybe that’s easy!
Thanks.
Glad you see it now. But would write into support and ask them about it not being on the same panel as the Sense. I worry that you are going to throw off the rest of the Sense functionality because it will be receiving data that it can’t match / tie to power actually traversing its CT’s.
One of my favorite discoveries so far with Sense was that the waveform of my LG OLED TV directly corresponds to what’s on the screen (just like a CRT!). LCD TVs with constant backlighting don’t vary as dramatically in energy consumption. No fun there. The OLED will use near TWICE the energy for bright stuff.
In theory Big Brother can now figure out what station I’m watching from my energy signature. I know there are people working on that one!
Congrats on having a 32" CRT still running! The best form of holistic energy conservation is probably keeping the old gear running for as long as possible but did you make a cool graph for that? … so what we’re thinking is that Summer is cheaper than Winter if you watch sports? There are people passionate enough in this community to do that for you …
Shout-out to Sense Graphics Department: Would love to see your cute green wood splitter solve!
Not having chopped wood in a while I have no idea how much juice an electric wood splitter uses. What is the spec on it btw?
In theory you could use a set of Solar CTs (if you’re not using them already) and loop those on the wood splitter circuit … assuming it’s dedicated.
I’m clocking my Hot Water Heater & AC in that way as discussed here.
Thanks. I don’t have the CRT anymore. It went to recycle. However, I am maintaining a 2002 Tacoma in very good condition. Original owner. Am proud of that.
The splitter is nominally rated at 7 tons. Some smart guys on a stove forum did some math with the electric motor specs and 15A outlet, and you can’t get to 7 tons w/o a little mathematical hocus pocus.
The smart outlet let me see the splitter electric right away. 675W at idle, and up to 1400W the second the round cracks open.
This is correct. What you’re doing @jbell2005 is not recommended. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t make it work for you. Sense uses the mains wattage to calculate whole-house stats, and per-device wattage for each device’s stats. So your whole-home wattage will be only for your Sense-enabled panel, but you’ll see a bubble for this smart plug which will be too big for the whole-home wattage.
There might be other weirdness as well. It’s not a situation we test. Definitely keep us posted on how things go though.
Well, since I have two panels and not a sub panel, I’m already missing a great deal of data. I’ll be really happy to find out the cost of a serious splitting session. That can last several days over a few weeks.
And as a percentage of total household, it’ll still be minuscule. So since my total data is hosed before I begin, I can live with this aberration.
Sorry, i’m confused. Are you looking for where in the app to enter electric cost (Settings / My Home / Electricity Costs) or something else since you say “seems straight forward enough”
