I had my Sense a month now. 1st Detection was the AC about 48 hours in. Single Speed Compressor 5 Ton Heat Pump.
As I put more items on smartplugs, it became more obvious that something associated with the AC wasn’t registering on the “AC” device and remaining on after the “AC” cut off.
Obviously the Air Handler.
So, ordered the Sense 2CT Expansion Kit.
Found the circuit the Air Handler was on and connected it up. And that explains the “other” 400-500 watts just as I had suspected.
Now, I go into the CT device management setting and Sense wants to know what circuit this is monitoring so it doesn’t duplicate the readings. I cannot chose AC as that detection is on a different circuit.
No merge button on the CT Devices Management Tab.
Trying the opposite approach, I open my detected “AC” Compressor Management Tab. Open merge, but I’m only given option to merge with detected devices, which the CT does not qualify as.
So how do I merge my AC and my Air Handler into 1 device for an accurate reading of my true AC use and costs?
In order to “merge” these, you would have to be monitoring the device that Sense has a native detection of (your AC Compressor). If you still have an extra flex add-on CT, you could remedy this by using it to monitor your AC Compressor and selecting the original, native detection in the What’s Being Monitored? section under your AC Compressor’s ‘Device Settings’ > ‘Manage’
Thanks for the screenshot, the verbiage you used is a bit confusing so i appreciate you taking the time to break it down.
This is correct - you cannot merge a natively detected device with a device that’s connected via an integration (this is true for smart plug devices as well.) The merge functionality is meant for native device merges that detect separate components of devices.
If both of these (your AC compressor and Air Handler) were detected natively, you would see the option to merge.
Dedicated Circuit Monitoring is meant for “dedicated” circuits - entire circuits that are dedicated to a single device (like an entire AC unit, not just the air handler.) There is not a “merge” option for devices monitored via Dedicated Circuit Monitoring at this time, only the ability to include natively detected devices as part of the DCM detected device via What’s Being Monitored?.
@Beachcomber,
Is your air handler just an air handler / heat exchanger, and not a furnace air handler as well ? For me, I prefer to keep air handler separate (unmerged) for a bunch of reasons. One of them is that my air handler can come on independent from AC, both in fan mode and in heating mode. And when it comes on in heating mode, it is mixed with 3 other components that I want to treat as part of my heating.
Believe it or not, I’m trying to help you . With only text and some images, it’s still difficult to parse out what I haven’t already covered here. I should have asked you for a photo of your panel earlier on in the conversation.
…Going back to your original question, you asked how you can combine your AC (I’m assuming compressor) and your Air Handler into one device when one has been detected natively and one is being detected via Dedicated Circuit Monitoring.
No, you cannot merge a Dedicated Circuit Monitoring device with something else. Dedicated Circuit Monitoring is designed to monitor a single circuit. You can, however, tell Sense “what’s being monitored” by a Dedicated Circuit Monitoring sensor but this should only be done for natively detected devices that are on the circuit that the Dedicated Circuit Monitoring sensor is attached to.
What you’re asking for (I believe) is some sort of grouping functionality, which is not currently available (but we’re interested in adding at some point.) In the meantime, you should be able to see your total costs by adding the cost of both devices.
Nope - NorCal where we need a little of both AC and Furnace, sometimes all I one day.
pa: I would love Sense to offer categorization on top of merging for this kind of reason, where you have a set of distinct devices that you want to see together. It would be great to group all AC or even all HVAC together, especially for the higher level reporting and tracking. And lighting, and other user defined sets.
. With only text and some images, it’s still difficult to parse out what I haven’t already covered here. I should have asked you for a photo of your panel earlier on in the conversation.