New Members/Old Members: Introduce yourself!

Getting Started
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Welcome. I haven’t popped in here for a good while, but nice to see the community still growing. I have had my sense for about a year, and still discover new things about it and my house occasionally. Here is a bit of information that may help a bit:

Lutron Caseta is awesome I run about 95% of my lighting through it. I hope one day Sense will build a partnership with Lutron. That said, if you are like me, and have LED lighting everywhere, Sense may never discover your individual lighting. You will still see the impact in “other” to always on when you turn lights on and off, but that will be a tough puddle to break down. I use a lot of automations to turn off all of the unnecessary lights that my family loves to just leave on … always…

Hue Lighting - Also awesome. I have Hue in any location it is too difficult to get Lutron switches installed without punching hols in my walls to expand the electrical junction boxes there. My home is over 70 years old and there are some multi-light switching that works on conventional double switches but will not accommodate a single Lutron switch for each light / bank of lights). The Hue integration with Sense is solid and provides both control and power data :0)

Regarding computer equipment you may need to look into investing in some Kasa KP115/KP125 plugs and KP300 power strips. These integrate with Sense and provide power information Sense can read. Through those you can get more granular with the more power efficient devices that may never get detected. I use one as a “traveler” power plug from some devices I want data on until sense discovers that device. As an example, I used it on a dehumidifier in my basement until Sense natively discovered the dehumidifier. I then moved that to a Meross non-energy detecting smart plug for automation controls, and moved the “traveler” to my bottled water dispenser… Still waiting for it to discover that natively now, but I can see the and attribute the power use and therefore keep it out of my “other” bubble.

Regarding “always on”… this and “Discovered a new device: heat 3 or pump 9” will become your new detective game to play when they pop up… Fun and exciting.

Regarding the CT’s Sense was good about discovering my dryer, but is struggling with my washer… I have a Kasa KP 115 on that. You can increase future accuracy of you perhaps have a sub-panel you want to monitor or throw it at a large breaker… remember you can move those over time as well

Hope this helps a bit and welcome to the community.

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494

Greetings!
Thank you for your contributions to this Sense Community Blog.
You have created a treasure trove of extremely valuable information; especially for someone like me.

What brought you here?
A benefactor helped me expand my off-grid solar electricity system so I could better age-in-place while also continuing my off-grid R & D development projects. The Sense Monitor was a part of that generous gift.

I dove into this blog because the Sense Labs Power Quality data revealed an unusual number of voltage dips and spikes. I wanted to learn everything possible, especially as it pertains to Off-Grid applications, while pursuing troubleshooting steps.

I also wanted to do my due diligence and read everything recommended, and more, before reaching out for assistance.

How long have you been using Sense?
The Sense monitor was installed two months ago and triggered my obsession with the power quality issues.

What do you do for work?
I am the owner, manager and laborer within the Broadwell Hill Forest Farm and Off-Grid Learning Center. I am also a RN community health advocate and educator with a background in preparedness, public health infrastructure and pandemic planning.

What other smart home tech do you have?
I do not have any of the smart home tech often mentioned within this community, e.g. alexa, hue, smart plugs, etc.

However, I do have two very smart SMA inverters, two Tesla Powerwall II batteries and the Tesla Gateway 2 with the Tesla mobile app that tells me about my solar generation, battery charging, usage patterns, etc.

But, fundamentally, all the electrical gadgets, equipment and appliances, seem like smart tech after my time being a cave dweller. Living without is a great way to learn energy conservation :slight_smile: :nerd_face:

I stripped away all addictions to electricity, running water and other modern conveniences. I then started over in a more balanced manner as I designed and built my passive and active solar shelter systems.

My electrical consumption is still minimal, except on sunny days!

What’s your favorite type of barbecue?
I love campfire gatherings with fresh caught fish from the pond, venison and dry-aged beef tenderloin slices cooked to raw perfection on the grill with nothing but the hickory smoke with sprinkles of salt and pepper complementing the blissful experience. The memories, including the laughter of kids echoing across the pond and the smiling chatter of adults rising up around the flickering campfire brings a smile to my face.

Thank you for asking about my favorite type of Barbecue!

Do you post on Reddit? No
Have a Twitter handle? No

But, I am active on Facebook with education and advocacy.

Do you have any other questions?

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495

This sounds awesome, @Kathy ! Welcome to the Sense community. Our team at Sense would love to reach out to you in the new year to find out more about your set-up and how Sense has been of help.

One of the best answers to the BBQ question I’ve seen on this thread! It’s only 10AM here but i could really go for a fish cooked over an open flame…

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Hi Justin,

Thank you for your warm welcome to the Sense Community!

I would love to interact further with your team; especially in the Sense Lab - power quality realms.

Ah yes; the campfire gatherings.

The photo is from 2014, still a treasured barbecue memory <3

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497

Hello all!
I am brand new to Sense. I just installed it yesterday and am waiting for it do the initial “Signal check”.

I have become a Sense user to leverage the power of my energy data for a variety of purposes… To start with, I am interested in collecting data about how often and when my sump pump runs as well as to create some automation to indicate when it isn’t running though it should be.
Another use case I am interested in is early detection of failures of appliances (like a refrigerator or deep deep freezer). Of course, I’m also interested in reducing my power consumption where possible.

As one might gather, I am looking to use the data to avoid unwelcome situations… could this be based on past experiences? :thinking:

I have a lots of technology around the house, but likely none receives more attention than my reef aquarium :tropical_fish: :blowfish: :octopus: :crab:. I have a controller from Neptune Systems called APEX which provides me a lot of flexibility to monitor environmental conditions with probes and to automate pumps, fans, skimmers, peristaltic dosing pumps, calcium reactors, etc… in response to conditions.

I also have a variety of ZWave light switches which are managed by a Samsung Smart Things Hub and integrated with Alexa.

I work for a global IT solution provider/integrator and am a Solutions Architect and work with a variety of technology solutions and customers across all industries. I started out in IT as a Systems Administrator and Network Engineer and became data-driven and fascinated with the power of data along my career journey.

I love BBQ… and Brisket is King! I’m a fan of a lot of styles of BBQ, though lately I’e been favoring the mustard-based “Carolina Gold” style.

I am a collector of hobbies :blush:, but love none of them as much as traveling, or photography, or gardening, or cooking, or reefing (the aquarium; come on guys, not that other reefing), or learning new languages, or SCUBA diving, or… I digress…

I don’t do much of the social networking so I won’t bother with any reddit, or twitter handles…

Look forward to sharing experiences once this is up and running.

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498

Welcome @Philip ! You sound like a data enthusiast. I’m going to point you, and hopefully additional new users to some expectation-setting education that I think is helpful for most tech-literate users. LMK if it helps.

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@kevin1 This is helpful, thank you. I can appreciate the challenge the data science teams have for modeling all of these things. My expectations are hopefully already set and in line with this reality. I know it’s a journey we’re all on, and I’m glad to contribute to it and appreciate Sense taking on the challenge.

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Sounds like you have quite the setup. Reefing sure is an expensive, time consuming, delicate hobby that feels more like mad science experiment. A little less mad scientist and more data scientist if you have the Trident. I have neither, always trying to win one at local fest raffles, but I always seem to end up winning salt & cheap test kits. I’m determined lol

As far as Sense goes with aquariums, Sense probably won’t natively detect anything other than the heaters. All mine have been detected behind a basic temperature controller. Heaters have a stable on/off signature whereas most everything else uses 12v, is always on or uses minimal wattage. Most of my equipment is on a couple Kasa HS300 powerstrips that integrate with Sense, anything critical is also on UPS’s. Nothing compared to a Neptune system that does soooo much more. I highly recommend Sense add on CT’s clamps if you reef is on a dedicated circuit(s) & you don’t have solar or whole home generator you want to monitor.
The biggest electrical expense with tanks is naturally the heaters. Tight lids and enclosed skimmer help a lot, I was surprised. I run my skimmer air intake outside, the stable co2 helps with the PH but does negate some of the savings when it’s freezing out.

Sense is pretty good detecting Sump pumps (the non reefer kind) a major bonus knowing when it eventually fails before the house floods.

I’m sure you will find Sense labs power quality graphs extremely useful with all that critical equipment.

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@obscuredtrip @Philip this might be a selfish request, but I’d love to see a photo of your reef aquariums!

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Hello my name is Walter J
New user
I am a master electrician. I recently built a home with all electric utilities including variable speed air source ducted heat pumps. 22 kw of solar and a backup generator. I was hoping to evaluate what my appliances were using and see what I was generating. So far after a week, I am not really understanding what sense does except show me in real time my total consumption. Is there anyway to manually add devices within the house? So far after a week sense has only detected four appliances and I can’t find them despite turning circuit breakers off. Any help would be appreciated

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Hi there @walternowicki - welcome to Sense! There are a few things that could help you here that I’m sharing below.

  • 10 Steps to Getting Started with Sense : If you haven’t familiarized yourself with the features in Sense, this is a great resource for a step-by-step breakdown of how you can get the most out of Sense including how to set your electricity rate and how to track progress and set goals.

Here are a couple resources on how we recommend tracking down unknown devices.

  • “I can’t find a mystery device”
    “What’s that Unnamed Device? ” is a deep look at some of the potential mystery devices in a home that could be part of a larger appliance (like a motor and a heating element). If you’re still having trouble figuring out a mystery device, you can post detailed information to the Device Detection category so community members can help!

Here are a couple features/integrations that can help you add more devices to Sense.

  • Using Sense with Smart Plugs : Our smart plug integration allows for instant detection for devices. I currently use several Kasa HS-300’s to monitor my entertainment center and office. With the smart plugs we integrate with, you can name the device plugged into each individual outlet and that information (and data) will be visible within Sense. Learn more about the types of Smart Plugs that Sense supports here. @kevin1 published a great response that highlights the different status of a smart plug in Sense here.

  • Sense Always On Estimates allow you to enter in Always On wattage estimates for devices that are “always on” in your home. You can learn more about the feature here:

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I’m Nikkolai and I’m new to Sense!

Just had it installed a month now and still figuring things out.

Happy to join the community to learn from you all and share my experiences with smart home devices.

I work in logistics and transportation in the Caribbean

Irie!

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Hi, my name is Ken and we installed Sense in October of 2019. While I love the idea/concept of the device, it’s certainly taken a lot of patience to extract useful data.

Recently we started using smart plugs and discovered our TV was terribly inefficient in standby. So I configured IFTTT to turn off the switch when the TV disconnected from the network, saving us about $40/year! Now I’m looking for other devices to do the same and continuing to learn more about Sense.

I work in the insurance industry as a software developer. While we face many of the same challenges as other industries, the wide spread of data inputs, rule variations, and complex formulas, make for interesting problems to solve.

As for bbq, well I like to grill unique things like pizza and lobster, but I love a good pulled pork or brisket :slight_smile:

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How do I create a topic?? The system does not seem to want to let me do so… ?

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Welcome Ken!

I have a similarly shocking experience when i added an energy monitoring plug to my TV stand equipment.

Now i run a routine in Alexa to turn off the plug outside of watching hours.

Irie!

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Hi @petzany - there’s a 24 hour hold on new users permissions to post a new thread while they learn about the breakdown of the community forums. I’ve adjusted your permissions and you should be good to go!

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Hi @DigitalKen - welcome to the Community! Your story about your TV savings sounds perfect for sensesaves.sense.com!

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PS this is how mine solar/usage displays - weird… ideas?

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Hi my name’s Jim - I’m a film editor/producer and own a post production company in LA. At home we do our best to steer towards carbon neutral - 6kw of solar panels, EV, use green power supplied by Edison, eat vegan/vegetarian about half the week (we call it ‘reducitarians’), composting at home (but buy way too much crap on Amazon…). Installed Sense for Solar about a month ago and just haven’t gotten it working right - it shows usage either tracking solar generation exactly or solar pushes usage below zero - it alternates back and forth. Been emailing with support for a while and hopefully will fix it? But I love the data. And while BBQ is nice I lean towards pizza these days… got an Ooni and love it.

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Hi, my name is Dave. I am an engineering director at an automotive supplier making systems for EVs. I wanted to gain some 1st hand experience and bought an EV for personal use. Trying to understand the impact of charging on my older home brought me to Sense, most interest in the Sense Labs projects. We seem to have some kind of EV charger interaction happening at night. I can’t get it to reproduce during the day, and staying up all night to watch a battery charge → well, you can guess it was an easy decision to get a data logger. 24 hours in and one EV charge later, still no problems detected. Looking forward to support from this great community if/when something is detected.

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