What is the Sense in using KASA?

[kevin1]

Hi @bobfa, and welcome to the community. Good question. I’m going to extend @DevOpsTodd’s excellent answer.

• There are many devices that have either high active/dynamic power usage, high Always On usage, or both, that the current form of Sense just can’t detect. Smartplugs help fill in the blanks (or reduce Other). Sense data is more complete with smartplugs, especially for the device types outlined in the second list here:

Device Detection Testing My Patience

Based on the way the main detection mechanism of Sense works today, and my experience, you should probably look at your list this way: Likely to be detected over time Dryer heating element (if electric) Maybe washer and dryer motors, but only if the are AC old school motors (neither of mine are) Oven heating and range heating elements (if electric and if Sense sees enough cycles) Some kitchen appliances - dishwasher heating element, trash compactor, coffee maker, instant hot water heater, old…

• Sense also provides additional analysis specifically for devices on smartplugs. It will calculate the Always On for the connected device, plus let you set a Standby threshold so that bubbles only appear for the active On state of the device.

• I have a couple KP125s plugged in back to back right now. The continuous draw is about 1.25W for a device that is continuously reporting to Sense. So one should deploy smartplugs judiciously as you suggest. At the same time, capturing the time history of devices vs. the one time snapshot of a Kil-A-Watt can be invaluable for some devices that sporadically use bursts of power (one of my LCD TVs has a super low standby, but blinks on to 20W every 6 hours or so). That’s why I advocate using a dedicated “Traveller” smartplug in your house to observe the power behavior of all devices of interest for at least 48 hours. That should tell you whether a dedicated smartplug might be useful and worth it. And with KP125s on sale for 13$, it’s a no-brained in my mind for any Sense user.