I’ve had three banks of multiple lights on each identified by our Sense and I’m happy with that. One set has a mixture of 6 CFL and LEDs, another set is 10 CFLs and a third is (I think) a mixture of 6 CFLs and incandescents. We have very few switches in the house that have only a single light on them and LOTS of light banks still to identify. As CFLs burn out we replace them with LEDs (as we did with incandescent to CFL years ago) so we are probably presenting Sense with a moving target. As such I don’t expect much from the Sense in that regard as we aren’t really following the rules.
That said, Sense is providing a benefit that I never expected. I bought the Sense to track usage on large consumption devices and in that it has done well for us with some 33 devices found. Yes, there are many more to go including my Tesla Model X, which was the primary reason I bought the Sense, but even the detection of the lights have served a purpose. I’m crazy about turning lights off when not in use, my family not so much. I love that I can sit at my desk and see even the few lights that have been detected whether they are on or off. One of the three sets are on an Insteon switch and so if I find that they are on and I know no one is in the room, I can switch them off without even having to get up from my desk. And if I have to get up for the other two that’s fine also, although I will be putting another one of the three sets on Insteon soon.
My house has all LED’s and I never expected it to be able to pick up a single bulb. It did, however, pick up my back deck lights, which has 6 bulbs on the same circuit (54 watts).
One of the first things sense found at my place was the LED bulbs I put in my bathroom. I think there are eight of them at 6 watts and it finds it every time. It’s found a couple of my incandescent bulbs as well.
Interesting the different results. In six months mine found almost all the big stuff: dryer, washer, water heater, heat pumps, sump pump, all refrigerators (4), garage door opener, others…and recently the fluorescent workshop lights.
It seems to work for some folks, but not for all. I’ve seen many other users with experiences like mine and from what I haer, there are those of you getting good results.
I had my first set of LEDs show up a couple of days ago. 4 9w bulbs on an on/off switch. I have 2 other rooms with the same bulbs, however one is on an Insteon dimmer switch and the other on a slider dimmer. I’m wondering if the 2 will get picked up because they are more of a soft start vs. the instant on of the on/off switch. So far Sense has been consistent at detecting this set of LEDs when they are turned on and off, although the bubble takes longer to show up than other devices.
For those that are experiencing issues with device detection - I had wonderful success in resetting my data and letting it discover again. It rapidly found devices it had not the first time.
@Caspan, @senseinaz, MachoDrone’s 1975 full bath double sink vanity contains 12 bulbs. Bathroom fan contains 2 bulbs, 14 bulbs in all. I can see the likeness that @Grandpa2390 could be using LED bulbs. In addition, the best priced LED bulbs at big box stores are usually 9-11W each, so his bath could be using as few as 6-7 LEDS bulbs.
However, MachoDrone exclusively uses 0.85W LED bulbs throughout his home… So our 14bulb bath lighting totals 11-12W by using 0.85W LED bulbs.
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It happened that the light fixture in by bathroom has a couple of the last remaining cfls in my house. It might be 2 large cfls, and an led… either way… sorry for the false alarm. I got so excited that it finally detected lights, I didn’t pay attention to what kind they were.
For what it is worth, I am having some good success with Sense finding my major power hogs and some of the other devices that have a unique pattern. My Master Bath sink area has 6 bulbs (450+ watts) and Sense picked up on it pretty quick and identified it. I can completely understand that Sense would have an issue with LED bulbs because they draw such little power. In my house, all the closets have the exact same light in them, so I can see that Sense would have an issue potentially differentiating the different rooms. If it can identify the type of light, I could live with knowing that a closet light is on. Odds are it is my son…
Just bought some LED bulbs and a wafer thin LED spot for a test to replace some can lights.
Big difference in consumption. Here is a variety of colors you can get and it looks like to prevent some hum you need to spend a little more on dimmers. Once I go thru the paces I will post some pics and a review on what I got. So far the dimming seems good. Years ago I tried this and returned them because of the strobe light and flicker affects when it was dimmed. Things have come a long way!
I feel Sense could be drastically improved by providing a tool to accept educated input from customers to identify current/voltage patterns. LED identification seems insignificant to me. I would like to provide help to identify what should be detectible loads such as an air compressor, vacuum cleaners, welders, etc. Example, if I could turn on my range one burner at a time and then the oven, record the current and voltage patterns and then send the info to Sense labs you could easily identify common ranges except for the induction type cook tops. I understand accuracy of the data would be critical. I would like to help. Please feel free to contact me personally.
