Microwave ghost

I gave been very patient waiting for Sense to identify my over 6000 watt “Other”
I know it is the oven and microwave when cooking.
A microwave is a very common device in most kitchens.
Why can’t Sense detect this device?
Must I settle for a monster “Other” load?

6000 W seems too high for a microwave?

Our microwave was detected within days of installing Sense (Bosch microwave, ~5 yrs old).

My oven is also a problem for sense. It has either more than one element or multiple levels. I had an “oven” detected but it was only for 1500 watts. When preheating, mine is 3700-4800.
I deleted hoping to find all of this time. Been almost a week and it hasn’t but I did get the floor heater that was the “one” I really wanted today. My other is 453 right now. Hang in there!

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I think he was referring to microwave and oven. I do t believe they make anything larger than 1500 currently. 6000 isn’t t possible on 120 volts.

Just checked my top of the line Kenmore running on hi with my Kill-a-Watt. It registers just over 1200 watts.

Can’t easily check my oven(s), because Sense hasn’t discovered them in over two years, but it could easily be over 6kw with just the big oven…and more with both of them running.

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Sense does not like my microwave.
It does have a “inverter drive” whatever that is.

My “inverter drive” microwave and Bosch oven team up to over 6000 watts.
Sense says: “Other”

My inverter-based Panasonic microwave has not been detected. Others report reliable success with conventional microwaves.

We have two microwaves, one of which is identified like clockwork (newish non-inverter Sharp Model) and one that has never been detected (20 year old KitchenAid).

All microwave ovens use a magnetron tube to generate food-moisture-heating microwaves. Older microwaves power the magnetron via a transformer that puts out something like 3000V, but in those models the magnetron is either on off. Med, Slow or Defrost cooking is done by decreasing the duty-cycle of on time. With inverter microwaves, the magnetron is fed by an AC-DC-AC electronic inverter that can be better controlled. Unfortunately, the power supply electronics hide the characteristic signature of older, simpler microwaves

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My newer kitchenaid is not inverter powered and is a good, reliable detection. It’s rated at 1,000 watts. The magnetron is where all microwaves get their stated rating. Mine is detected on Sense at 1200 watts as Sense is seeing th carousel and magnetron together.

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You are not alone. I have had sense from about July 2017, and I still have 70% of my load as “other”. Only a few things, about 15 of them, are identified consistently, while others are often mixed together. My duel fuel oven is one of these. I sporadically see the thing identified, when it is not in fact in use. Heating devices are a bit of a problem for Sense. I have five or six of them identified by Sense that never show up as being in use, so I can’t track them down to identify them.

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@rgmichel
I don’t know if this interests you but I deleted 10 detections one day last week for the same issues you were having. Most were detected with maybe a day or two of history from weeks ago and never come back up. Or so badly conflated with other devices, I wanted to see if it would fix itself. Now I hav a lot Lee’s detections but the high accuracy of what I do have has been really nice. I haven’t had anything rediscovered yet but I’m experimenting.
Have you thought about throwing out your bad ones and keeping the accurate ones?

I tried that with a couple of my appliances, and they have not been detected since. Its seems like if you throw something out, then it is never discovered again. I don’t mess with it anymore. I value it for the things that it detects and that are useful knowledge for me, and ignore the fact that some stuff it never detects well. I am at a sort of hiatus right now with it.

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I was somewhat afraid of that because I believe sense values data like gold and doesn’t want to get rid of any. I would hope they would just disassociate the data I don’t want with my account.
I actually have a question into suppooaboit this exact question.
It’s been a week or longer and I haven’t had any new or rediscovered devices. I’m being patient

Yes, the first 10-15 devices detected come quite quickly, but as time goes by the hits slow down considerably. I think this is because its not the device itself that does the detection, its the people at sense. Once they find a pattern that looks reproducible, they broadcast it so everyone’s sense can detect it. So, for example, we know they are working on the Chevy Bolt EV, but even after nearly two years, mine is not detected, even though I can see quite clearly, accurately, and reproducibly when the Bolt is drawing power. We are waiting for the Sense people to be happy that they can detect the Bolt reproducibly. I would like a sensor on every breaker, then we are talking about something that might be accurate and reproducible. Maybe if a more sophisticated Sense device could work by running a wire to each breaker, then it would only have to untangle the patters for appliances that are on each identified breaker. As we know which appliances are on which breaker, we could really sort things out.

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It has trouble with the burners on my electric range. When they are on 1/2 to full power, it identifies them: otherwise…other. I I really dislike (and it happens way to often) is when it identifies and tracks something for 2 or 3 weeks and then all of a sudden it loses the device and it suddenly becomes “other”. I have a smart meter from my power company and an energy device they provide. Their device is much more accurate in tracking “always on” than Sense. Sense will vary (no change to what I am actually using) day day by as much as 100 watts while their tracking is fairly constant,

@rgmichel
I’ve heard others state their thoughts about sense and the detection process that match your theory. Being that it’s all proprietary, it held pretty tight lipped in mine. I can understand the reasons they would have to be secretive and respect that. Doesn’t stop my curiosity though.
Had a conversation earlier today with another user and having sense made or supported add-on devices for helping with detection. If they were available then I would probably buy into that idea. I started out not caring for the smart plugs because I wanted sense to do it all. I do think Sense will be able to do it all someday but now I realize that the smart plugs are helping to get there faster.
Something is different for users of two years vs users today. I have had sense since January 15th and currently have 21 solid detections. I have just one that gets mixed up occasionally. I have actually had over 40 in all but sense removes some and I others. The track record for someone like you at 2 years is what made think that sense is hanging on to too much data and it’s working against more detections for you. If I stall out too long I’ll be resetting mine. Might happen not too far in the future as I’m wanting to run two monitors side by side drag from the start and compare results.
What charger are you using?
The 32amp appears to have better detection across all brands.

Hello,
The sales pitch was, as more users sign on your detection will improve.

I do not see this happening or Sense is not getting enough new users.

At this point, I have invested a good chunk of my money and now my time to get some meaningful information about my electric usage.

I have had some success, but not what I expected.

Something that appears unfair to me is they are right about more users get more detections but it’s the new users (like me) getting them and not the base crew that got this off the ground.
If a year from now I’m stuck and new users are getting double what I have I probably would t have mich good to say

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