MTS Generator Issues

Technical Questions
1

I love what you did with the app. It’s clean and works great. I’m upset the generator feature does not properly operate with a manual configuration. Even though the install manual claims it works on both ATS and MTS (manual transfer switch). Support doesn’t seem to be able to tell me why it doesn’t function properly? Being a switchgear commissioning engineer I would be willing to help get it sorted out. I’m hoping in a true utility fail it will actually still function. How would it know the difference if it’s a manual MTS or ATS? I also noticed when troubleshooting the CT’s oddly one had to face one proper direction and the second needed to be reversed. So I’m guessing something in the setup software must invert the signal or something. Or maybe someone installed the sticker wrong.
I might return this so this is my last ditch effort. Here are some recommendations to make this product awesome

  1. More of a troubleshooting page. I want to see current KW of both sets of CT’s. Also little math and convert to amps. Add those features on to that same page that shows that data for mains.
  2. Get that generator feature operating correctly.
  3. Embedded web page to access the data.
  4. Modbus TCP support. I would love to be able to send that data to my home PLC and would be game changer on what can do from there.
1 Like
2

Actually, I think it would be cool to see a conversion to Amps from Watts as an option/toggle.

I also agree that the app is very well done; it’s clean but informative, you just have to know which page you need to get to to see what you wanna see.

There haven’t been any/many updates to it lately that I’m aware of, but maybe it doesn’t need any?

To the generator switching points, I could also tie this into any kind of home backup. I have a Tesla PowerWall+ and even though the Tesla App will tell me if/when the grid is out, it would be kinda nice if the Sense app could also show me this info on the Meter page or something…maybe change the color of the graph when it senses that the frequency has changed, indicating that the PowerWall is now powering the home, not the grid.

2 Likes
4

Hi,

Sorry I’m late to the party responding here but wanted to follow up. There has been some questions on why MTS doesn’t work with Sense when ATS does. I hope this explanation helps.

Why MTS setups don’t work as expected

The issue with most MTS setups is that they don’t route generator power through the part of the system that Sense monitors. Typically, MTS setups come after the main panel or go directly to a subpanel. This means generator power bypasses the CTs Sense is using to try and detect generator activity.

With an ATS setup, the generator is installed upstream of the main panel—so whether power comes from the grid or the generator, it flows through the panel and can be measured.
In that setup:

  • The middle CTs are placed before the generator, closest to the grid.
  • The left-port CTs (main CTs) go on the two phases of the main panel.

When the grid is active, both sets of CTs measure signal.
When the grid drops and the generator starts, only the main CTs see current—the middle CTs drop to zero. That’s how Sense knows the generator is on.

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In your MTS setup, this doesn’t happen. The generator doesn’t flow through the panel in a way that lets Sense distinguish between grid and generator power. That’s why the calibration process gets stuck at “waiting for generator to start.”
Here’s the official Sense guide if you want to review it:
https://sense.com/guides/generator/

For your requests below here I recommend following this link if you want to provide feedback to the team directly responsible for this. They are interested in hearing directly from users. https://help.sense.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=14481007173779

  1. More of a troubleshooting page. I want to see current KW of both sets of CT’s. Also little math and convert to amps. Add those features on to that same page that shows that data for mains.
  2. Get that generator feature operating correctly.
  3. Embedded web page to access the data.
  4. Modbus TCP support. I would love to be able to send that data to my home PLC and would be game changer on what can do from there.
1 Like
5

Hi Edison,

I recommend to you as well to fill out the feedback form to make sure that the correct team sees this. https://help.sense.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=14481007173779

Thanks again!