Multiple unfound devices in home after 6 months

So, can we get back to why a non-variable speed pump could be having difficulties getting detected? It runs 9 hours a day, every day.

The LG refrigerator was already answered, it technically has a variable speed motor. I’m curious about the other major appliances too although they are indeed models from a little over a year ago. The garage opener is probably just rare, I’ve never seen a direct drive until I got this one, plus it also does not run very long although that didn’t stop the Sense from seeing the juicer immediately after I used it and it only runs for 5 seconds at a time.

1 Like

@chris.angeline.gross I think this rests on me (and not people that volunteer their time here to answer questions) to add a stickied post to the New User thread that shares examples of previous times this has come up.

On the technical side, I understand frustrations from the people here that have an abundance of knowledge on the subject and have to answer similar questions in relatively high-level language. The subject gets technical very quickly, and there’s no easy response to what sounds like a fair question.
It leads to both sides getting frustrated very quickly. I’m going to do some work here to build out a few bullets that we can direct people towards when this question comes up.

1 Like

There are quite a few things that could be happening - any causes I share would just be speculative on the cause of a missed detection of your pool pump. I have a few questions for our Data Science team before I share some of the things that could be happening here.

Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about the Direct Drive garage opener. The 63 page product technical specs i looked up for it look like it’s a 3/4 HP / 1HP motor.

You can see how difficult this gets based on the variations of available residential electronics and appliances - there are tons of options out there and reviewing each of the technical specifications get pretty untenable.

I believe the Sommer Direct Drive 1042V004 has a DC motor. If so, that would be the limiter on current Sense detection.

1 Like

I knew i forgot to mention something else here - I’m going to grab your longer explanation on DC motors / detection from a previous thread and add to the Community FAQ posts for tomorrow.

1 Like

One more note. It’s not how long devices run, but how many times they turn on and off, that educates Sense. In some ways, running for 9hrs continuously could impair learning - the on is separated by the off by a lot of time, and that also reduces the number of repetitions. But a lot depends on the overall shape of the on and off transitions as well.

1 Like

That is why it feels logical that if you could switch something on/off 20 times you could “learn” sense something about a device.
I would bet people would be willing to even turn off the rest off the house ( no other traffic on the highway). To let sense listen to it in detail.

I understand that is not how it works IRL

1 Like

@kevin1 @DevOpsTodd I just started adding these and will add more. You can find them in the New User Resources and Guides section under “Community FAQ’s”. Open to adding more here.

2 Likes

chris.angeline.gross… Wanted to chime in right away, but I waited to let the smoke settle… Hi… I only come to the board in the morning once…EDT… Sure a lot has been said what I am going to say, But not going to sort it out… Just a couple of things…

Think the pool pump has to have a number of cycles everyday in order for it to be found. Once or twice a day is not going to cut it… Just my thought here…

The LG frig… We have had 2 with the linear compressors. Also both have been going through APC UPS’s. The first LG was about 6-7 years ago. Put it on a computer type APC UPS… Tall narrow. Maybe modified square wave… 1000 watt… This was on it 24/7…(more later)… Sense found it…frig and also found the defrosting cycle separately. I think the defrost comes on about every 20…Twenty… hours or so… Crazy cycle.

The second LG frig… LRMVS3006S…Was put into service last April '21. It is going through a different APC UPS… It uses a APC Smart-UPS C 1500VA LCD… Believe it has a transformer in it and will give more of a ‘pure sign wave’. It is low profile and boxy square. And heavy… Now this is not on the ‘grid’ 24/7. Got our solar going last summer with the stay home… It is not being seen by Sense from about 7 in the morning until 11 at night. That is when it is on our solar generator. So not being picked up by Sense because of the new APC or the less time on Sense. Not sure yet, but hope one day Sense will pick it up.

My spin on the pool pump and frig… 3 cents…Gerry

Ok… Please don’t put a refrigerator on a UPS. They are not rated for the startup draw that a fridge can pull. They can catch fire if over drawn. I’ve seen this happen in server racks a couple times.

Second, the UPSs that you can purchase under 2k do not have always on inverters and therefore only deliver pure sine wave while on battery. They will however attempt to condition the power or supplement when there’s a brown out, but it’s a complete move from grid to battery.

There’s really no reason to have a fridge on a UPS. The max run time wont equate to spoiled food without it. If you’re concerned about food spoilage grab a small Honda inverter generator. They are quiet, very efficient and have a low total harmonic distortion making them suitable for sensitive electronics.

Lastly, a residential grade UPS has no impact, positive or negative on Sense discovery as it only passes power through, unless on battery.

3 Likes

That actually makes a lot of Sense.

OK, I’ll see myself out :rofl:

1 Like

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one that was curious or concerned about that statement. Looks like concerned is the correct one of those two.

Based on your statement, what should Sense determine “Heat 2”is?

BTW, after 2 weeks of getting nowhere turning breakers off and on, I’m not closer to figuring it out.

And it’s not anything Sense has suggested.

And before you state Refrigerator or Freezer Defrost, I have KASA KP115 smart-plugs on all those units and nothing matching up with the times on.

I’ve set a KASA Schedule for my single stage pool timer to turn it off and on 8-12 times a day in an effort for Sense to detect it. No luck. Just went back to normal operation.

FWIW, It’s very consistent wattage. Not a surge at Startup to “fingerprint” which I believe is the issue with detection.

1 Like

I read that smart plugs are NOT recommended for refrigerators. A couple of reviews claim that they can cause fire hazards. I also have a high end LG fridge (LRMDC2306S) with wifi. I communicate with LG ThinQ phone app. Could Sense communicate with the LG in the future just like ThinQ?

@joeengr ,
That would be cool if Sense could make Sense of smart appliance power usage, especially since I have an LG smart washer and dryer that talks to ThinQ as well. But I’m not holding my breath. Why ? Most of these smart appliances use proprietary communication and likely provide samples at far too slow a rate to fit cleanly with the Sense UI. My smart fridges (SubZeros) once offered a “true” industry standard, Smartgrid-ready: ANSI/CEA2045 and the USNAP alliance, for power measurement and management. But that standard went defunct due to poor targeting and lack of value to enough stakeholders.

Not sure where you saw that, I know of no such limitation and as an electrical engineer can’t think of any reason that should be a problem. I’ve had my Sears variable speed refrige on a Kasa plug for years and it works great.

Thanks. I purchase 4 KP-125s today and will get several more.

You need to Kasa K115 plugs. Those are the ones that work with Sense.

If you’re in California, Texas or New York you can purchase from this site because it much cheaper than amazon.

I’ve not tried KP125’s with my Sense, but according to the Sense web site it should work fine. Let us know what you find out.

2 Likes