More flex inputs

Not seeing this request after a quick browse, but please merge if I’ve missed an existing equivalent.

I’d like more CT inputs. These could be used to enable more dedicated circuit monitoring, monitor a generator when solar is present, or use a 400A setup with solar monitoring, for example.

This could take the form of a new hardware rev with more ports, or a software change to allow the use of an additional monitor box on the same account.

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This is probably what users in the “Sense Pro?” thread are asking for. I personally have (1) Central Air, (2) Mitsubishi mini-splits, and an electric oven as 220 devices, plus have dreams of adding solar and moving the hot water heater to a 220 heat pump in a decade when this brand new unit dies. At least I only have 200 amp service and no generator, but still, that’s possibly seven total CTs I’d need. I’m not complaining and haven’t had the system a year yet, and don’t feel like swapping out a box even if a pro version came out.

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I sort of want a combination of Sense and Curb. I’d happily buy a curb-like add-on box for Sense with numerous CTs.

https://energycurb.com/shop

Similar to the Pro version as mentioned above

I think a few more connections would be nice. Say
Two to support a 400A setup.
One for solar
One for some sort of battery (like a Tesla Powerwall, Generac PWRcell etc)
One or more for monitoring specific circuits (EV charger, AC, Pool pump, Pool heater/HP etc).

Plus maybe 5Ghz wifi for those of us that are surrounded by dozens of 2.4Ghz WAPs.

AFAIK the Sense team uses like counts on threads in the “Product Wishlist” subforum as a factor in prioritizing feature adds, so I think the posters in the “Pro” model thread should either like this thread or have the two merged together and put into the wishlist forum so that we can get all of our requests in one spot.

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Hey all,

I’ve been using Sense for close to 2 months now. I’m pretty happy with things that I have seen so far on it. It has allowed me to track down some extra usage, and decrease my bill by being more aware of some of the things going on in my house. I definitely need to get in and clean/retighten all of my connections sometime soon when I have the opporturnity since I am having so many voltage dips reported by Sense Labs, and the light dim/flicker associated with that. Anyways, one thing that was popping into my head, I know that it would add A LOT of extra cables, and maybe take up too much space, but what are thoughts (more of directing towards the Sense team) on something like a “Pro” model, where instead of just the mains, there are smaller CT clamps on each individual circuit? I know even with some of my already detected devices, sometimes it does not show up as being in use because of extra noise, so I think this would help with that, as well as speed up some of the initial detection time for new devices, since it will be separated by circuit. Also, you could potentially find out if something that gets triggered by the “Sense Labs” is on a specific circuit. I know probably already been asked on all this (couldn’t find specifically though), but just thought I’d throw this out there. The AI/ML is pretty impressive as it is, and by being able to further “clean up/separate” the signal, I think it would just make it that much better.

  • Tom
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Hey there @wildbuzz2k. Great question, semi-complicated answers.
We haven’t pursued a completely individualized circuit monitoring version of Sense for a variety of reasons (panel clutter, ease of installation, accuracy, etc.) but there is something that we’re going to be announcing within the next couple of months that partially addresses your request. My recommendation would be to check back towards the end of this month for any updates here :wink:.

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@JustinAtSense, appreciate it. I’m looking forward to what the new improvements will be.

  • Tom

Well, guess we now know the answer with these:

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Which doesn’t do anything for those of us with solar. I wish I could individually monitor my AC. It’ll likely never be detected and it’s probably my biggest energy user.

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I also have solar which is great that i can track it BUT it would also be nice to have the option to track maybe two or three other things in the panel with flex connectors like my drier, A/C and stove.

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We recognize there’s still a gap here for Solar users looking to utilize this feature, and I would kindly remind this thread that this is the first iteration of this feature :slight_smile: . While there are no additional developments on the short-term roadmap for dedicated circuit monitoring, I would recommend adding a post to the Product Wishlist subforum so we can gauge the demand for solar + circuit-level monitoring compatibility from the user base.

Will the new flex feature allow sense to learn a device on its own circuit and then allow us to switch those sensors to a different leg to learn another device on its own circuit?

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Not in the near term… Read this other thread:

Threads merged :slight_smile:

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I guess to clarify, I am referring to a single device on a single circuit using the flex sensors. So sense without any extra sensors has identified our dryer along with some other heat components. These other heat components will be active if the dryer is running and also when it’s not running and maybe the stove is on. It hasn’t been good at identifying the complete picture of an appliance and will pick up a stove burner as the same thing as a mode in the dryer for example, if that makes sense. So it’s been hard to “combine” devices to a single device.

So if our dryer and stove are each on their own breaker, I could use the flex sensors on these two breakers to more accurately identify the device. I would hope then Sense would take the readings from each sensor to build a profile of the dryer and one of the stove. Over time when Sense has confidence the sensors could then be moved to two other circuits each with a single device that sense is having a hard time identify between. So next example is our pool pump and sprinkler pump. Sense sees these currently as same device, but they’re two different models of pumps and on two different circuits. So sense could start learning the difference between them.

So while this is most likely not possible or the case with the new flex feature, maybe it could be a feature suggestion to improve sense’s ability to identify an appliance as a “whole”.

unless I’m misunderstanding you, what you are describing is what is in the post I wrote that Kevin linked to as well as what Ryan commented. The Smart Plug program and the Dedicated Circuit Monitoring program are all collecting data that the data science team is using in various ways to grow the abilities of Sense. The Sense team has said that they would hope that some day, that data could be used to provide the feature you are talking about, but there are no promises of that.

So yes, maybe some day, you can clamp a CT on to a circuit and say “this is the oven” and after a month or two the Sense will say “ok, I feel good that I know what the Oven is. You can move the CT clamp and I’ll still be able to track the oven”.

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i have an Air Source Heat Pump Mini Split and solar and currently and i have no idea if sense is monitoring it properly. It is variable speed so I would really love to be able to have an individual circuit monitor for just that so I can track its usage and be confident that it is tracking it properly. I would suggest adding an extra breakout box to accommodate a few individual circuit monitors along with the solar and then that could plug into the sense device or adding an additional set of ports on the next version of Sense hardware you release? I have also thought about using the sense as the as Luke 1 suggested above to be able to help sense learn more definitively about a device based on direct usage data as opposed to sense looking through all of the noise to find something and periodically moving the clamp around to different circuits. I am interested in the smart device monitors and will look into that but adding a few direct circuits i think would be a nice feature to have.

@toadman03, here’s a thought if you really want to know and don’t want to DIY. You can get a second Sense monitor and repurpose it for DCM.

I have solar so I can’t use DCM on my primary Sense, but I purchased a second one for experimentation. I have been able to test an approach for Solar users, by using the second Sense monitor for its DCM capacity. I currently have 2 x 240V devices monitored by my new Sense, a Tesla charger and sub panel for all my floor heating coils. A few caveats upfront:

  • Pricey - you have to buy a second Sense monitor and a set of Flex cables. But for me, this was still way cheaper and easier than a CT per circuit approach.
  • Requires a second account and blending data between two accounts - Most of of my data comes from my main Sense, but when I want to sum up usage by all devices, I have to resort to data export and spreadsheet or R.
  • Setup was a little tricky - Setting up a second monitor without the second port on my solar backfeed gave problems during the initial setup. Sense support helped me get through setup. I should also comment that this is not an officially supported configuration.

Here’s what I had to do:

  • Buy second Sense monitor and Flex cable (either from Sense or from another users who is reselling - I have done both)
  • Install the Sense, with the mains CTs on my mains, and the secondary (middle port) CTs installed on a single hot line of my two BALANCED (no neutral connection) 240V device.
  • Run setup on the Sense, by creating a second account. For me, the setup process got stuck, then support eventually pushed it through, but it jumped to a Solar configuration, even though my second set of CTs weren’t on a solar backfeed. I suspect that Sense sees negative power on my mains (solar producing are than I am using) and automatically trips to solar.
  • Ask Sense support to disable the Solar so I could go through the DCM setup process. They did.
  • Execute DCM setup - for both devices, I couldn’t use the breakers to turn the devices on. I had to use the thermostat to start a floor loop and had to manually start the charging process for the EV. But in the end, setup worked !

I now have two 240V DCM devices registering on my second Sense account.

BTW, the second benefit of my second is that I placed it on my main network, vs. my IoT network, where all my other Sense / smart-plug stuff lives, which means that I can also see my Hue devices. My IoT network isn’t wired, so the the Hue can’t report to my main Sense on that network.

So I can now see details of both my charging

and my floor heating.

https://community.sense.com/t/nuheat-heating-coils-with-nuvent-thermostats/12651/2

ps: I suppose, if I were very careful with polarities and L1/L2, I could move my second Sense’s mains CTs to another balanced or unbalanced 240V circuit for monitoring. I would have to treat the Power Meter and Total Consumption as my third device, since it wouldn’t show up directly in devices. Gonna have to try sometime. That would give me 3 240V devices on of my second Sense.

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As Curb has 18 CT connections and Emporia has 16 CT connections, would there be any way to use either (or both) of the aforementioned with HA to send info to Sense in KASA data allowing for many more CT in Sense? In theory this could give you 18 CT (Emporia Pro 16 + Sense 2), 20 CT (Cutb 18+ Sense 2), or even 36 CT (Curb 18 + Emporia 16 + Sense 2) :man_shrugging:t3:

In the grand scheme of things it’s cheaper than what @kevin1 did for far more CT inputs.

@DevOpsTodd