Two “other”?

I got a massive electricity bill for last month ($2000!). I’m trying to figure out why. When I look at the device utilization for last month in Sense, it has two entries for “other”. One used 54% of the monthly electricity, the other used 8%. I thought Sense grouped everything it couldn’t identify under “other”. Why are there two others?

Can you post screenshot?

Strange, the first Other is using the Always On logo. I would go into Devices and look more closely at that first Other.

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Ok, yes, I seem to have two “Other” devices – one for always on, and one for not always on. But this isn’t normal behavior, right?

Seems like your Always On is mislabeled as Other for some reason. What does a screenshot of the Always On or Other in the Device list look like ?

Yes, you’re right - that’s it. I don’t have always on listed in the devices. It’s the other device that’s really the always on device. It’s a bug in the sense app. I didn’t rename always on to other, I don’t think you can even do that.

Does it look the same when you pull up your data in the desktop?

You’re right - you can’t rename it yourself. But if the icon is right, there’s a chance that it will behave like Always On in the device list (look for the Other with the two arrows in a circle icon). Always On is has a distinctly different Device entry vs. Other.

Bottom line - you should check in with support@sense.com about the mislabeling. But you want to find the cause of the 2000$ bill ASAP, you should probably start treating the cause as big Always On. One method, here:

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@dpt, did you ever figure out the Always On that was eating all the power ?

Thanks for checking in. Coincidentally I was just looking at this. I was going around the house and flipping breakers. Unfortunately, many of our breakers aren’t labeled, so it’s hard to figure out what they go to. I was able to identify one big culprit - the pump for our pool. That’s using 1600 watts. Then I have something that Sense calls “AC 10”, that’s using 1200 watts. We don’t have any A/C on right now, but we have a large dehumidifier going, and I suspect that’s the culprit there. Seems like a lot of power for a dehumidifier though!

I also have a large aquarium with a lot of support systems (pumps, lights, …). That’s on a seperate breaker with its own Sense monitor, and that’s using 1300 watts.

So I have 4200 watts accounted for, of the 6700 watts we’re pulling right now.

I suppose the remaining 2500 watts could be explained by more normal things, refrigerators, etc.

Any thoughts or suggestions would still be appreciated!

Thanks.

  • Dave
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Maybe time to look at a screenshot of the details in your Always On. Mine looks like this and is a little high right now because I have two inflatable dragons on continuously in my front yard.

Would it be useful to move your sense main monitor clamps onto individual circuits to help identify where your unlabelled circuits go? If sense detects heat pump on that circuit now you know where at lease some of that circuit goes.

Somewhat related more important question:

If you put the sense main line monitor clamps on individual circuits sense would detect the usual on off patterns of your devices in the real world environment of your house with much less background noise of other devices cycling. After a couple days or weeks on each circuit would you then be able to put sense back on your main power to the breakers and keep all the learned device signatures? I would think sense would identify the clothes dryer signature much faster if it was monitoring the dedicated dryer circuit and only had one device cycling on and off. Small perturbations from the house load environment on the on off cycle would still be present. The random noise of other devices cycling at the same time coincidentally would be removed and I would assume lead to more accurate devise signature identification more rapidly. Could some one from Sense clarify if this would be helpful? Thanks!

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