I’m new to Sense, I installed it about 2 weeks ago, and it has discovered only 3 devices so far: my fridge, toaster oven, and furnace. I understand that patience is required for Sense to discover devices, but this still seems really low, particularly for devices that get used frequently. My microwave typically gets used at least once a day, and consumes around 1500-1600W. I have a humidifier that cycles on and off at least 20 times a day, using ~50W. I have a PC, 3 laptops, and 4 monitors that are powered on every day or every other day, usually for many hours, and sometimes power cycled multiple times per day. I have a ceiling fan and a box fan that consume 50-90W each and are used every day. Other devices are either always on, too low power to be reliably detected, or used infrequently enough that it makes sense for them to have not been detected yet.
A possibly complicating factor for the PC and laptops is that I have all of them plugged into UPS’s to protect against power failures. I’m not sure if that would impact the ability of the Sense to detect them or not. Allegedly, the UPS’s that I use are straight pass-through when the UPS has power, but I don’t know if that is really true. The models in question are bXterra BM1350AVRLCD and BM1500AVRLCD, if that helps inform answers.
I’m looking to have my expectations set for:
if these devices will be detected at all
if they should be, what is a reasonable time period/number of power cycles/whatever metric to expect them to be detected in
Is there anything I can do to help with the detection (he asked expecting the answer “no”)?
Is there a way to pry apart the “Always On” devices and get Sense to report them individually?
@asgallant571, I’m gonna point you over to another thread that should help set your expectations a little more precisely, though Sense has been expanding their detection approaches over time.
Big patience experimental approach - try unplugging a device for 48 hours or more. See if that has reduced Always On
Measurement approach - buy a Kasa KP115. Mark it as a roaming KP115 and turn on the Sense integration. Try it on different devices in your house for at least a 24 hour period. Sense will show you the usage waveform over the past 24 or more hours, plus give you an Always On reading for just that device on the KP115.
ps: Once you are through reading and doing all this, you’ll have learned enough about your home devices to intelligently add some Kasa smartplugs to fill in some of the expected blanks.
That explains most of the missing device detections. I’m pretty sure my fans are not DC motors, so I’d expect them to still show up, but maybe they don’t use as much power as I thought they did? Will run some tests to see.
Thanks for the feedback @asgallant571, I’m going to figure out a way to add some things from Kevin’s comment to the New User Guide and Resources listed here: