Using a Wemo to assist with learning?

Hi everyone. New Sense user - first post.

I know Sense says we can train or identify devices in the traditional sense, but I have a question about that. This is as much for the community as it is for Sense (if they are reading).

Since Sense states that we can use Wemo smart plugs to help identify devices, can I buy one or two to speed up that process? Ideally I would not use them continually or forever, but would it help to plug a television into one (for example) and turn it on & off a couple times to get that data into Sense? Would Sense still know those electrical signals once it was OFF the Wemo? I could do that do all my major devices in my house if it would help. How long would it need to be in use on one device?

I don’t want to buy twenty of those WEMO’s, but I have no problem buy two if it helps the cause.

Would that work?

Welcome @valnar

Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work that way. Moving a plug around won’t help Sense with native detections at all and I feel does hinder detection because Sense doesn’t see what’s plugged into the smart plug the same way as devices that are not.
Using a smart plug as a satellite is useful tif there is knowledge about about a device you are looking for, personally.
It’s best to use smart plugs for the devices that are known to never be detected. A lot of people (myself included) use them for devices that are a low power source or produce waveforms that fall under Sense radar. Things like computers and peripherals, TV’s and other entertainment center devices.
It’s not really the case that Sense needs “help” detecting. It’s more we need help with patience while Sense does it’s thing.

So if I buy a Wemo, plug a TV into it, and eventually “identify” that device… are you saying it would no longer be identified once removed from the Wemo?

Yes, that is correct!
If you then took that same smart plug and used it for another device without resetting it, the data would be a combination of the devices it had been used for.
Always reset when moving.
Keep in mind, some smart tv’s are detected by Sense natively.

When using a smart plug Sense detects the smart plug within minutes. You then tell Sense what is plugged into the plug.

What you are wondering I believe is explicated here:

In general a lot of questions have been giving long thought and you might find doing a search in the forum for, for example, “@SenseHelp smart” will be fruitful:

https://community.sense.com/search?q=%40SenseHelp%20smart%20

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My view is that you should be more “selfish” and think in terms of which devices you would like to know more about, especially if the are entertainment, networking, computing or other DC electronics, that Sense is not likely to detect for a while. That way you will get value from the WEMOs (remember, only the Insight model is integrated) while also helping the cause. The integration with smart plugs is very cool and useful for this,

And if you are really not concerned with specific devices and would just like to gain better info on all the devices around your house, use the WEMO (or HS110) as a “traveller” device to look at different devices around your house. A lot like a Kill-A-Watt, except you get to see the full time history of the device currently on the “traveller”

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