Is there an API that smart devices can use to report power consumption to Sense? I have several energy hogs such as a dehumidifier and driveway heaters that sense doesn’t recognize, and that are wired directly into breakers. So I can’t use a smart plug. What I’m thinking is I could build a device using a raspberry pi and a current clamp that would report energy usage to sense, like a Wemo smart plug does. Or has someone done this already?
Some discussion of that here.
Nothing ready-built. The best route would be to develop arduino software that emulates the few commands of the TP-Link protocol that Kasa setup and Sense need, while continuously querying or calculating device power of your wired AC device.
Update on this - I have built the monitoring device, and it works! Thanks to forum member ramon for some code I used for testing.
So what I have is a device built using a raspberry pi connected to a current clamp. It monitors current usage in realtime, and reports the data over wifi to Sense, by emulating an HS110 smart plug.
What I have now is on a breadboard, I’m going to make a little circuit board and an enclosure so this can really be used on the wiring in my house.
If anyone is interested in collaborating on this, or in getting a sample when I have something more “productized”, let me know!
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Nice job getting that working!
I am new to the Sense community (three days into my first setup) but I can see myself needing one or two of these in the future. I’m planning on installing a Geothermal Heat Pump and it would be fantastic to be able to monitor the 240 volt variable speed compressor.
In the meantime however it would be great to test this on other devices that are known to have issues being seen by Sense.
I already have a few Raspberry Pi kicking around from older projects, what current clamps and other pieces did you use? I’d like to get the pieces together so that when you are ready I can start putting something together.
Lots of time on my hands right now …
Why don’t you PM me your email address and we can continue this discussion over email.