Ongoing device detection issues

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141

I’ve had mine for about 9months, and I’ve given up.

It’s interesting, and has a ton of potential, but the inability to help tell Sense when things go on/off is frustrating.

I get there is a lot of aspects to detecting, especially when one is not monitoring each specific outlet, but there seems like there are things we could be doing to better help out their logic.

Each house would be different, since just the wiring in a 1940s home is characteristically different than one built in 2018…I’m guessing the exact same fridge in both houses look different, but I could be wrong. Heck, depending upon how the house is wired, I’m guessing the exact same fridge in two different houses built in 2018 is also different…probably close, but (again) I could be wrong.

My suggestion would be to:

  1. do a circuit panel learning
  • turn off every circuit breaker, and then bring them online Individually, having me indicate which breaker # it is, the size of the fuse, and every known item on the breaker
  • if I really wanted to learn the signature of just the wiring, I’d have the home owner unplug everything, and use a supplied Sense Learning item that when plugged into each 120/240 outlet helps sense know that outlets pattern (I’m assuming that with a Sense known test signal, this is possible)…track by outlet # upper/lower
  • I’d then have the home owner indicate what is plugged into that outlet (make & model), if that outlet is switched, and/or if nothing is plugged into it
  • empty outlets I’d ask for common uses (typically where vacuum goes? Or the waffle maker?)
  • then I’d have Sense guide me bringing the whole house online, which breaker in what order, including having me wait (30min if needed) before the next breaker is flipped on
  • this seems like would be a great baseline for Sense to start from…just to know the signature of the house wiring…MY unique house pattern
  • use that learning device again on all outlets when the whole house is online (back to outlet # upper/lower) to get an after pattern of my house
  1. device Learning Pattern wizard
  • based upon the type of device, I’d have the homeowner perform various tests
  • fridge ex: open and close doors (light signature), run ice maker & water dispenser
  • micro ex: stove light (high/low), stove fan (high/low), boil water for 2min (at various power levels), etc.
  • same concepts for ceiling fans, garage door openers, dishwashers, dimmer lights, etc
  • when I plug my RV or boat into my garage to charge their batteries
  • small appliance (waffle iron) tests
  • technology charging (laptop, iPhone, etc)

All of this wouldn’t be the final signature when the whole house is alive, but I’d assume would help MY Sense learn MY house. I’m willing to spend the time training since it benefits me knowing what everything is doing.

At the moment, MY Sense needs help. It has recognized my dryer as 2 unique devices, an AC when it first starts (the spike), and then as a dryer when it runs its cycle.

It has yet to find my furnace, but did find my AC. In fact, it thinks I have 5 AC units (only have one)…after sleuthing, dryer was one, portable dehumidifier was another, stand-up freezer was another, and I can’t locate the 5th yet (which is where my curiosity on could Sense let me know which circuit it’s on if it went through a circuit learning test). 5 AC units? Really? Makes me wonder how smart the Sense logic truly is when it doesn’t recognize (and inform me) that more than one AC has been found…I don’t know any homes with more than one AC. Maybe a Zip code of multimillion dollar homes, but c’mon, put some common sense smarts in the app too!

For me, I’ve not really gotten the monetary value I’ve invested in this. It now just sits and listens, I rarely open the app or see where I’m at. Why bother when I really can’t tell what (beyond which of my 5-“AC” units) is sucking my power?

Mike

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142

I have given up as well - it’s an expensive meter reader. It would be so easy for the engineers to implement MSBENDTS assistance idea but my guess is the engineers/management think their little machine learning algo is what will get them promoted or some big IPO money - i haven’t seen a single ML solution work in the wild without both good human design and realtime human feedback to drive refinements/learning.

143

They are going to have to find a way to incorporate “product wishlist” items with what their goals are for Sense. I understand they have their hopes and dreams for Sense but they can’t get there without the customers.
When my wife opened her business,
We spent tons of money on marketing and advertising. It was all wasted, word of mouth will make or break a business. We haven’t spent a penny on advertising in 10 years, customer service and satisfaction are the priority.

I’m still happy with my Sense experience mostly, but i do understand where others are coming from.

144

We have incorporated many Wishlist items from this forum. I’ve posted the link before and shared with your personally. There’s currently 36 in the Released Features subcategory. More could be added, but people are combining requests into a single thread, thus I cannot wholesale move the thread over.

https://community.sense.com/c/product-wishlist/released-features

145

Everyone:

We absolutely understand the frustrations, but this thread is veering off the rails. I would encourage everyone — new users and old — to read through the Community Guidelines: New Sense User? New Member? START HERE.

This forum was built as a place to for users to help each other and to pass feedback on to the Sense team. Infighting and complaints do not add to the conversation, whether they are directed at other users here or the Sense team.

Please, for the sake of all users and especially for the sake of new users who just come here to get some help, keep things constructive. If you solely want to voice an opinion — positive or negative — to the Sense team and not join a larger conversation, shoot me a PM or send Support an email. That is a better avenue to reach us directly.