Good questions:
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Yup, smart plugs help reduce Other. Other = Total Usage - Always On - all detected devices that are on. So as you add more detected devices via smart plugs, Other will go down. The Always On part is a little trickier. Sense will calculate the Always On part of every device on a smart plug and itemize in the Always On device, so Always On doesn’t really reduce, but the Unknown Always On listed under the Always On “device” shrinks. Unless/until Sense says otherwise I also believe that smart plugs introduce some double counting of Always On - Always On is calculated at the house level, but devices on smart plugs include both dynamic power and always on power, unlike native detections which never see the always on power of a device. This means the always on from smart plug device is likely seen in both Always On and in the device, so Other might end up a little too small due to double counting of always on from devices on smart plugs.
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The limit is sort of a guideline - I think a number of us have more than 20. But I would also say if you do a little earlier analysis using a couple of Roamer smart plugs before you more fully instrument your house with smart plugs, you might need less than you think. I have about 32 in my house, but probably only need about 20 to get near the same level of accuracy. There are couple cases where you can really consolidate or avoid using smart plugs:
- For a bunch of devices that are always used together and you are unlikely to turn off. I put all my networking stuff - modem / router / main switch / a couple bridges / cable amplifiers on an 6 outlet HS300. If I had to do again, I would just use a dumb power strip attached to a single smart plug.
- Many pieces of home electronics are mainly Always On. Those you just need to measure once and add manually to the Always Ons on itemization.
- Flex is pretty much the main way to measure 240V usage. There are some folks here that have used other types of sensors from Shelly EMs to Tesla EV internal charging measurements to backfeed Sense using SenseLink software that emulates how a Kasa smart plug sends the data too the Sense monitor. One other option might be to use the Flex on the breaker in your main, that runs to the sub panel. I do that today.