I think I have it somewhat worked out. I had to use Kasa to delete. But when I went back to sense, it still showed two instances of the same device. If I turned it to “on”, one of the instances would stay frayed out and the other would move up to be highlighted in green showing it was “on”. While I had the heater plugged into and doing this, it was showing the heater pulling 2300 watts although it is only 1500.
I went and made sure the plug was physically turned to off, went back to Kasa and deleted again( it had rediscovered on its own. I. Went back to sense agin and this time, there was a single smart plug. I then just took that plug and threw it, just kidding, I just decided not to use it for now.
After cycling the heater (plugged into receptacle) a few times, it’s tagging again sometimes.
So what fixed it or got me this far? I don’t know, a bunch of trial and error.
Back to reading before I mess with this type of smart plug anymore.
This brings up an interesting question: if you add a smartplug to a device that’s injecting random usage noise into the system (like your well pump), does sense then use that to cancel out that random usage and improve device detection? If not, it sounds like a promising possibility.
You might use the “signal” of a noisy smartplug as an input to another detector’s neural network, to desensitize it to the noise. But with the sampling rate difference, I don’t think you could do a direct mathematical cancellation.
I have two devices that Sense found prior to me getting the HS110s, LG OLED TV and a Frigidare chest freezer. The usage numbers shown by Sense were never accurate, showing flat usage. I plugged both devices in to HS110 outlets and told Sense that the TV and Freezer were plugged into them. Usage numbers were now accurate and different then what Sense had reported before.
Now every week or so, Sense doubles up the usage numbers. It shows the HS110 numbers and what it thinks the device plugged in is using. Sense will report usage even if I turn the HS110 off or unplug it.
To fix it I have to remove the devise from the HS110 in Sense and then reattach it. The numbers will then be correct.
I’ve reported his to support. They say it’s a known bug and will fix at some point.
Anyone else seeing this?
Ken, Dan, where does it show the double numbers ? In the Bubble view, or also in the Power Meter and Usage summary data for that specific device ?
ps: I have seen an occasional double bubble for on of the three HS110s I have plugged into previously identified devices (my upstairs furnace), but I don’t think I have ever seen the doubled up data moved to the device Power Meter or Usage summary.
@pswired The answer is a solid NO. I have a HS110 on my same ‘noisy’ VFD deep well pump and detections have been stagnant to worse.
The VFD is too fast for how fast Sense polls the HS110 so the bubbles (well pump and other) get bigger and smaller out of sync. Part of me thinks I’m actually hampering other detections because of this…?
Interesting question, but since I can’t (and won’t hack around electrical codes) plug my noisy deep well pump into a current generation smart plug, I can’t find out. What’s really needed is a smart module for 220v circuits…someth8ng that can go into my electrical panel or a separate box with cover. Then all those power consuming devise that Sense is unable to (accurately) detect can at least be monitored.
Not holding my breath, though.
Thanks. Much appreciated…another reason not to try and hack the connection. And, perhaps a reason not to try “smart module” technology when it does emerge.
Fortunately, I have a very accurate home energy monitoring system (welserver.com) which has revenue grade monitoring for my total use and my solar generation, plus “on/off” sensing for pretty much everything that draws lots of power. I calculate consumption from the on/off times and the average measured draw. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work for the deep well pump, which varies all over the map due to variable consumption and the geothermal use…one of the primary motivations for buying Sense in the first place.
Sense has failed to provide me the consumption detail I’d purchased it for, and it hasn’t improved much in my situation over the two years I’ve had it, though I kept hoping.
When Sense found the freezer it showed a constant 97 watts, no spike on start up and etc. Last night Sense showed the freezer using more then the HS110 said using the Kasa app. It was 97 watts more. I removed the freezer from the switch, added it back and the numbers were correct.
It does it to my LG OLED TV too.
That is a lot of bubbles @kevin1, wow!
How many of these bubbles are detections by sense vs smart plugs?
I noticed in a conversation you were having with @Grandpa2390 that you used the term “identified” instead of “detected”.
Are you using different terminology for how devices are identified?
I also have the small bubble problem but only with one device that was detected by sense. My washing machine shows 1 watt whenever it finishes a cycle and the LED panel is lit alerting to the finished load.
@samwooly1
identified or detected idk which one is correct. the way I was using it, they mean the same thing. If I use the term “identified” and you use the term “identified”. is the term “detected” the correct one? If so then I guess we’re both wrong.
edit 1: oh that was directed at kevin. whoops. I can’t read apparently. lol. still, I think the words detected and identified are pretty interchangeable. if we want to split hairs and get pedantic. detect is probably the more appropriate term since Sense technically only detects devices and we are the ones who actually do the identifying.
Holy Cow!!! same question as sam…
at 16 dollars a pop it’s not terrible, but I don’t have anything specific to put in a smart plug that I think would be worth it. Unless plugging a power strip into a smart plug improves detection. if the smart plug can communicate specific data to Sense that helps Sense to hone in on specific usage and detect the users.
I have my tv, modem, router, Nintendo Switch, Apple TV, and VCR plugged into a power strip. some of those devices are “always on” I never use the Nintendo Switch since I played the most recent Zelda game on it. so it technically could be unplugged. the TV is pretty much the only device on there that frequently turns off and on.
I was curious only because I was curious if @kevin1 used “detected” for when sense picks up a device and used “identified” for when he named it through the smart plug.
Sometimes, I will be reading and both terms are used. I’m trying to understand better because I’m trying the smart plug approach and I’m trying to make sense of everything in my head.
Like you, they mean pretty much the same thing to me.
When you see the bubble screen of @kevin1 posted, does it make you as envious as it does me? Whatever he is doing is working really well.
yeah I’m curious how he managed to get those devices. must be the smart plugs.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out. But I don’t want to buy a bunch of smart plugs and have the sense. If the smart plugs can be managed in one place (KASA APP) and usage monitored, why have sense at all?
I have one smart plug and tried it with sense. I’m not impressed. I can do more with the smart plug app on its own.
So 5 of those bubbles, mostly the largest ones are ones that were detected and identified by Sense. I have about 20 HS110s, but I already owned a bunch before the Sense integration happened because I was experimenting with devices that Sense wasn’t finding. I don’t thing there’s a hard and fast rule for use of the words “detection” vs. “identification” with Sense, though I tend to thing of “detection” as the first time Sense “finds” a device, while “identification” is the event that happens (hopefully) each time the device turns on.
One important things to recognize about smartplugs - Sense has seem special analysis for devices that are attached to smartplugs to determine whether a device is “off” (no power), idle (using a low, relatively constant amount of power, and on (active power usage that is above the idle). Many of the bubbles there are in an idle state, using a near constant 1-13W.
BTW - if we were talking machine learning terms, we would be using even different words like “classification” and “activation”…
Here is an example of Sense adding usage to a device on a HS110. My TV is not on, the HS110 is actually off.
I tried to use one of the HS110’s. Not only was I not impressed with sense integration but the range on them is terrible. The cheap smart things plug I was using for the device I wanted to monitor has zero range issues. I don’t get the monitoring but I’m not buying their “range extender” plug to go with it. Appears to me by them even offering the range extender that the really poor range of the HS110 is by design.
32 feet is how far I needed to go, Bluetooth will do that.
Must be some signal strength issues with your router then as I have one HS110 that is probably 50-60ish feet (plus several walls) from my router (in my garage) and it works just fine.
I don’t believe that is the case. I would also have connectivity issues with other devices and everyrhing else works fine. Other devices are as far as 55 feet away and the cheap amazon plug works great. A dud possibly? I searched google to see if it was an issue and all I found was reference to the range extender. But not any real “complaints” having to do with range or anything else.
My router is in a two car garage, I moved the plug closer and closer until it worked. It’s will reach a bedroom next to the garage.