Feature request: Weather overlay over usage graph

I wish there was weather (temperature) data overlay over the power usage graph more specifically for AC device. This will give an idea of how the device is performing.

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As I use Wunderground for my weather collection, I would like to be able to grab a screen shot of the Usage page to overlay on my weather page.

You guys might be better off with something like an Ecobee thermostat for that usage - The Ecobee thermostat gives CSV dumps of outside temp, inside temps (multiple sensors), aggregated temp, on/off cycles. Here’s a sample of one view from the Ecobee web app.

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The ecobee readouts are great, but the outside temp may be a little off, depending on where the readings are coming from.

I’ve got a calibrated temp sensor outside in the shade I trust more :slight_smile:

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If you have not put a thermometer on the intake vent and a vent output one might be surprised by the increase in cooling with cooler temperatures. Also if duct work is in the attic there is a difference on a sunny day or time of day.

I would also like some type outdoor temperature or maybe cooling degree day each day. I also like the weatherunderground.

Ok i admit I am cheap or just not a lot of extra money to spend and am trying Sense to save money. Does it cost less to cool in the morning and then let it get warmer in the house during the day?

This is just a guess I have not done a great job tracking but, I can get up to twice the cooling in the morning before daylight compared to say 3pm.(I have an extra long return which done for looks and not energy usage, I am almost tempted to move it, but then I would have to add some extra vents.) And in the morning (70F) it draws about 2450 watts vs 2800 watts at 3pm, 95F. But so for Sense give an average wattage usage of about 2500 watts all the time and I also have two units. I was told a fix is on the way. Also how well a house is insulated would make a big difference. On the other unit it is like a 30% more efficient with lower temps.

Yes IMHO outside temp could be helpful in knowing if a unit needs freon or not, or that was my hope in buying Sense.

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There was a story here on the news recently about “supercooling” your home. I suppose it works a little like watering your lawn - not much sense wasting a lot during the day when it evaporates, we typically water a few hours before dawn to give it a chance to soak in while the sun’s down and it’s still cooling out.

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Sure. I do have ecobee for one of the HVAC system. The other one has OEM thermostat.
In any case, having it with SENSE will bring together everything.

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I’m a fan of “supercooling” but did not know that it had a moniker.

Summertime has everyone at home during work hours and we have peak pricing hours so I try to keep the A/C off till at least 5:30PM so I supercool the house to 70F just before the 7AM higher pick cost.

Hard to say how much it helped but my daily usage split now has most of the cooling kWh during off-peak when it is cheaper. :grin:

It would be good to overlay weather data onto the charts showing energy use for the AC in order to learn more about how the weather affects energy consumption in the house. Even overall temperature would be interesting.

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My suggestion would be to get something like an Awair which logs temperature/humidity/CO2/dust and use IFTTT to make triggers between that and the Sense (using Smart Plugs). The Awair (and other IoT options) log everything like the Sense so you can do waveform comparisons to your hearts content but in general I suspect you’ll find things like min/max triggering is all you need and the most effective way to save energy.

It would simply only require some data integration on the backend to get the weather info from some free weather api using the zipcode and then add a dual axis line to the chart showing the temperature.

There are a few threads on this already btw going back a couple of years, e.g. …

If you want to get into the juicy stuff this is a great place to poke:

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A simple graph to see average outside temp plotted on the same graph as the daily consumption would be very useful. I am aware of significant correlation in my case, but haven’t had time to make the plots.

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It would be great if the system calculated and reported air conditioning KWh per degree day in the summer months. This can help users monitor air conditioning expenses and maintenance issues. Integrating data collected from several temperature sensors located outdoors, in living spaces, and in the ducts would provide better insights.

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Several folks have done this using exported
data from Sense, Ecobees and online HDD/CDD data. Not that hard to do if you in Excel really want it.

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