Adventures in reducing baseline power usage with my Brultech Power meters...

Other Devices & Integrations Power Management
#21

Sean,
Hard to say how ready it is without having one in my hands. I’m still hanging out for it, as I’m sure more than a few are. They indicated production delays in their forum a few weeks back, and some trial units went out to specific folks.

I have a copy of the API spec, and I’m gradually changing the code over to support it directly, but there’s also a “compatability mode” setting that can be used to make it look like 4x ECM-1240’s, so I imagine people will be able to run it like that for a while. I also have a copy of the config tool, which I need to provide review feedback on, it’s quite different from the previous tools (and it runs on my Mac, which is nice)

I already talk IP, as that’s how I talk to my ECM-1240’s now, so that’s not going to be an issue.

The new API has a lot of flexibly, so I need to tweak my parsers to deal with all the cases that someone could configure against it (although, I’ll still focus on the URL-like format, not the binary format)

In the meantime, I’m just using my existing devices to tweak the power. My Baseline load is now down to 204W :wink:

#22

A few extra items to add to the list of recent changes/additions to the setup:
a) put the DVR explicitly in standby when leaving the house.
It doesn’t save that much power, but it goes down by a few Watts.

b) Put the hot water recirculating pump on an Appliance module
Use timed scenes to control when its needed, and use Luup to disable it when the house is armed. This spikes power usage quite a bit when the pump motor is active.

c) use correct power management settings on Mac mini.
Specifically set it to timed Standby, and wake on Network. It wakes when you call upon it, but it draws 20W less in standby mode.

#23

All good information / intel – good post.

I’ve been off air on the MCV site for a few months (work calls), but also in part because I’m on hold awaiting i) Brultech GreenEye; and ii) Aeon Labs micro-energy switches (ones that go in fixture or behind switches). Sleuthing latest status on i) got me to this post – sheesh, these guys, with the ‘should be out in a few weeks’.

Will see if news from Aeon is any better since I last communicated with them. They were prepared to take order from me for 50, but wanted to get small batch to test first and hadn’t gotten into channel yet. Fingers crossed.

#24

[quote=“guessed, post:22, topic:170989”]A few extra items to add to the list of recent changes/additions to the setup:
a) put the DVR explicitly in standby when leaving the house.
It doesn’t save that much power, but it goes down by a few Watts.

b) Put the hot water recirculating pump on an Appliance module
Use timed scenes to control when its needed, and use Luup to disable it when the house is armed. This spikes power usage quite a bit when the pump motor is active.

c) use correct power management settings on Mac mini.
Specifically set it to timed Standby, and wake on Network. It wakes when you call upon it, but it draws 20W less in standby mode.[/quote]

I just added a Recirc pump when changing out my tank water heater recently (I’ll have to wait for tankless, in order to do it right I’ll have to relocate it to the other side of the house on the exterior), so you know I’ll be adding a Z-Wave appliance module. I’m weighing the option of locating IWC scene controllers or a push button on a door sensor at the most used sinks, to run the pump on demand for however long it takes to get hot water to the furthest sink. With my Home Depot pump, the valve placed under that sink will stop the hot water from entering the cold water pipe once the hot arrives there, saving water and power at the expense of manual activation.

I liked the idea of on a tankless using the igniter to trigger the demand pump, but I didn’t see how this would save the water you usually waste (unless you turned on the tap to trigger the igniter/pump and then turned the tap off until the hot water arrived). I guess it all boils down (pun) to how close you are to the water heater. I tried one of those under sink pumps, www.chilipepperapp.com, but they were really noisey.

p.s. I’m also going try your idea with my Mac Mini too

#25

@shady,
I’m planning to swap out the Light and Fan switches in the bathrooms for Z-Wave ones.

I never saw a reason to do this in the past, but with the recirculating pump now on a timer it would be handy just to “turn on the Fan or Light”, something you’d do anyhow, and have it engage the pump… Also a good excuse to buy some more Z-Wave switches 8)

No idea why Instant hot water units are so expensive in the US. They’re definitely the natural choice to save energy given you place them close to where the Hot water is needed. You also never run out. We’ve had them back home for 20+ yrs, and they’re amazing, better than any tank-based solution I’ve seen, and a whole lot less likelihood of flooding :wink:

#26

[quote=“smilligan, post:20, topic:170989”]So the questions are as follows:

  1. Is greeneye production worthy?
  2. Does your plugin allow for IP comms to GreenEye? (the vera will be no where close to the GreenEye, but will be IP connectivity is not an issue)[/quote]Sean, should know shortly, I ordered one this week. It’ll have to run in compat mode for a while, since I’m busy, but I’ll definitely get some data out of it.
#27

So, an old thread, but I just had some new wiring done and took the opportunity to update the Monitoring stack… so I figure I’ll update folks on where it’s at, at least from a components-level standpoint.

I cutover to the Brultech GreenEye (GEM), from the original ECM-1240 units, and have been running it reliably for about 18 months now.

I’m utilizing 24/32 of it’s power measurement channels, and one of it’s DS Temperature channels (to record the garage temperature, and eliminate the unreliable HSM100).

For communications, I substituted the GEM’s XBee for a RN-XVee WiFi module, since my XBee was socketed. This allowed me to decommission the EtherBee Adapter, and it’s plugpack. Brultech has made some board changes since mine was manufactured, so that may no longer be an option.

The GEM is used on the SubPanel, but some of the heavy loads (Oven, AV, etc) are attached to the Main Panel outside so I’ve not been able to monitor them… but I was having a new circuit added to the Main Panel this month, so I took the opportunity to re-purpose one of the ECM-1240’s to monitor it’s circuits.

I now measure an additional 4 Circuits, which include some of the biggest point-in-time consumers (Oven, AC, etc)

I’ve attached some pictures showing the ECM-1240 board, now repurposed for the Main panel, and the GEM, handling the SubPanel.

I put the ECM-1240 into a Orbit sprinkler case from Home Depot, and gave it a temporary RovingNetwork (Microchip) RS-232 <-> WiFi bridge as a mechanism to get it’s data to Vera. Longer term, I’ll substitute in a RaspPi to act as both a Serial-WiFi bridge as well as a Data Collector for both Energy Monitors. It’ll also give me a platform for some local control/monitoring of the Water channels.

Anyhow, pictures attached, from Mr Blurrycam :wink:

#28

Ok, note to self, don’t patch RovingNetworks firmwares on stuff that you want to keep running…

Made the jump from 2.3 to 4.0 of the RN Firmware, and it decided it didn’t want to play with my Apple WiFi WPA2 Network anymore, sigh :frowning:

So that hastened the cutover to using a RaspPi instead (see new/attached picture replacing the one above).

A few quick install steps, and it’s cutover:
a) Run the following on the RPi

apt-get update apt-get upgrade apt-get install ser2net
d) Plugin commodity PL2303 USB-Serial adapter
e) Edit the [tt]/etc/ser2net.conf[/tt] file to include:

    2000:raw:600:/dev/ttyUSB0:19200 8DATABITS NONE 1STOPBIT banner

f) Restart/reboot the RPi, reconnect, and tell Vera to use the new IP Address for the Brultech Power Monitoring Plugin…

At least I’m a step closer to being able to monitor it via something more stable than Vera… 8)

#29

and some interesting observations from the new CT’s:

[ul][li]The AirConditioner pulls ~4.2 - 4.5kW
This is a medium sized Carrier unit, that looks a lot like this model:
Carrier Residential | HVAC Systems for Homeowners
[/li]

[li]The Fan unit that’s associated with the AC pulls ~0.9kW
The run together, so that’s quite a draw. The Nests use Air-Wave to run the Fan longer than the actual AC unit, but it’s only a few minutes difference.
[/li]

[li]My Whole AV Stack (Plasma, Amps, Sat, Sonos, etc) only consumes 0.8kW
Still, probably a good idea not to watch TV :wink:
[/li]

[li]The oven bounces between ~3.7kW - 4.7kW during the heating phase.
Luckily, I don’t cook that much and the Range is gas…
[/li][/ul]

So with normal TV watching, cooking, washing (etc), but without AC, the lowest repeatable level that I can get my weekday usage to is ~11kW/day. I’m happy with that, given some of the transient appliances I have on the circuits. Will be interesting to see how this goes as we roll around into Summer (it’s 90F here today already)

Overall I’m still staying out of PG&E’s 3rd tier (T1=$0.14kWh, T2=$0.16kWh, T3=$0.32, T4=$0.36) but only just, and with summer on the way it might be time to spring for a 3-5kW Solar system…

… and @strangely, I’ll be tapping on your shoulder for experiences there 8)

#30

Having the Brultech is certainly fun to watch the loads when you have it on every circuit, and even more fun when you have some random text to speech things that are triggered when the better half starts to cook (Yum Yum, food is being cooked was her fave)… I’ve since been made to stop this scene firing to preserve my Marriage :slight_smile: However I do have a couple on the solar circuit that tell me when the panels hit maximum output etc (also annoys my wife).

Since my Utility Panel is now maxed out, I’ve been meaning to do some max loads tests to see how high I can get it all up too :slight_smile:

Between the A/C, Electric Oven, Induction cook-top and Electric Vehicle Charger, I’m already exceeding my paltry 100A supply (on paper from the circuit max totals), however I really would need to turn everything on simultaneously (and on max) for this to occur I guess, also luckily my Nissan leaf is one of the older ones that is current limited to about 15A amps anyway, so despite the 40A circuit, risk is low currently.

As far as baseline usage, if we go out for the day the house was also around 11kW baseline, however now with the solar, I always over produce, and in last years 11 month billing period we ended up over generating about 1100kW extra. The daily overage varies a lot with season and whether conditions etc, but at least 9 months of the year here in SoCal I’m negative, and my best month (see attached pic) I was -287kWH ;D

Its interesting how much the electrical companies rip you off when you are a solar customer, and how much they mark up the energy you produce and sell it to others. I was showing about -$500 for the year (you are billed annually when solar), but my refund was only $50 since they only refund you their generation rate for your excess electricity generation.

I went off on a tangent, but anyway yes @guessed I can give you some good pointers to specifying a system, and how to estimate how many panels you need in relation to your usage, and the direction and angle of your roof. Probably best to chat on the phone, or I’ll catch up with you next time I’m either up there, or if you are down here next.

Bottom line I love the fact I don’t have a bill and although I still have to pay a transmission charge, I’m not held hostage by these crazy hikes they are making in pricing.

#31

Yikes, I was feeling the crimp with a 200A Panel, at least by their Load Calculations, for adding stuff. It’s interesting to see how they run those numbers, especially when you compare it against the real #'s you have… but it’s more about what the House is capable of, instead of what you’re [currently] doing with the house I suppose.

Will definitely catch up with you on this one. Tons of options out there, but it’s always easier to follow the path well trodden :wink: I’d image that you’re loads will match mine fairly well.

For now, I’ve just moved all my measurement stuff over to SEG. It’ll give me a better way to “see” what’s going on, as well as hopefully adding some stability to Vera.

#32

Yep, I’m due a load center upgrade at some point very soon, and since I need to also get permits etc for the other loads in the kitchen and the car I fitted, it has to start with the panel :slight_smile:

For now, I've just moved all my measurement stuff over to SEG. It'll give me a better way to "see" what's going on, as well as hopefully adding some stability to Vera.
Did you manage to get it logging in Vera and SEG? I could never get mine setup with SEG and I guess I need a second WIZnet or similar to do it. This is something I want to revisit.
#33

Yup. I was going to poke my temperature data through as well. I have a Garage Temperature sensor hanging off my GEM, so that data flowed automatically, but I’m interested to see the correlation between temperature (Upstairs, Downstairs, Outside, Garage) and energy use.

eg. driving a car into the garage quickly raises it’s temp by 3-4F, how does that impact the house?

#34

Well, I suppose that depends how quickly you drive it into the garage. I mean, very quickly and the would be a big fireball and that would certainly do it…

…oh, sorry, I see… How quickly it raises the temperature, not how quickly you drive the car.

Funny old language.

#35

[quote=“akbooer, post:34, topic:170989”]Well, I suppose that depends how quickly you drive it into the garage. I mean, very quickly and the would be a big fireball and that would certainly do it…

…oh, sorry, I see… How quickly it raises the temperature, not how quickly you drive the car.

Funny old language.[/quote]LOL.

Reminds me of a team I used to work in. The manager (jokingly) indicated to one of the lads from the team that he’d find a pink slip in the top drawer.

1/2 the team took it one way, and the other 1/2 took it another way 8)

#36

Wow, checking Bidgely, mine is about ~28 KwH/day… And I am doing all I can think of to limit. Other than running my WMC DVR 24x7 - too many stability issues with sleep and there is a large WAF on a DVR. And my pet lizards have lights on 24x7 as well, but with their new cages I have cut that usage down to 1/3 of what they previously needed…

But beyond that I am not sure where to turn… Time to get out my Kill-a-Watt and start looking for unexpected issues! Course I have two AC units and 2 hot water heaters - for no good reason really. I plan to disable one of the hot water heaters as it feeds a single, rarely used, bathroom sink…

#37

Well, that’s on a normal day. Of course, the day I posted that we had a high of 90F, and I ran the AC all day… which topped me out at 28kW also :wink:

Looks like we have a 1wk long cycle of 90+ starting next week, so that’ll be interesting.

Yikes, that’s a lot bigger set of loads to tune. I’d love to see this type of exercise run against a bigger place, since I’d imagine there’s a lot more loads to work on, and things running out-of-mind, out-of-sight.

I keep finding myself asking “what’s causing that?”, even when the #'s are tiny.

It’s quite interesting once you start getting the automated feeds. You see all sorts of stuff you never expected (but then later find explanations for online)

Some interesting recent examples:
a) Defrost cycles in the Fridge-Freezer unit (100W becomes 200W) for a total of ~1.2kW/day
b) 50%+ duty cycle for the Fridge-Freezer unit (when the house is only 70F) switching several times/hour
c) The Dishwasher only consumes ~1kW/run, but takes 1 hour to fully cycle
d) My AV stack chews 0.75-0.85kWh, and the variability comes almost completely from the TV
e) My Espresso Machine burns ~0.5kW to get ready (drink more coffee, watch less TV)
f) My Mac Mini consumes 20W, and the monitor adds 30W. The Mac cranks to 60W during Video encoding :wink:
g) My idle HP AIO Printer, and external/powered Mac Speakers, combined were using more power than my Mac

Of course, these figures that are all dwarf’d once I turn on the AC 8)

Love to hear what you find with your Kill-a-Watt unit.

#38

Have you thought of adding some measure of energy usage for your vehicles? These probably dwarf your home’s usage, and would be a challenge to measure directly. As a proxy you could use fuel consumption, but it would be great to automate this, and later integrate it into electricity usage in the home as you switch to all-electric or plugin hybrid vehicles.

Anyway, lucky you being able to power your AC by PV… not such a happy combination of weather and energy needs here, as the heat pump is working hardest when the sun is not shining.

#39

My main driver was to measure things that I could offset (eg. with Solar) or things that indicate a problem (Water, Gas).

Next are Water/Gas measurement and overall alerting to any significant deviations from the norm. I’m pushing this all into SEG, so I’ll write something to get back the critical bits and put them into Vera for alerting (through Prowl)

I could use the OBD port of the car to measure fuel economy, which I hadn’t considered, but making savings there means I’ll have to drive better 8)

I’d considered using a WiFi-based OBD port adapter for presence at one point, but gave up on it due to complexity. If you wanted to do it for energy the devices are readily available, but any data collection would require something permanently in the car.

Anyhow, I worked out a simpler/more secure way to presence so I abandoned the OBD-based option.

[quote=“akbooer, post:38, topic:170989”]Anyway, lucky you being able to power your AC by PV… not such a happy combination of weather and energy needs here, as the heat pump is working hardest when the sun is not shining.[/quote]Ouch. I’m very interested to hear how you manage/control/integrate this.

I’ve only lived in countries/locations where Solar is the default option (either PV or Thermal), and Gas has been plentiful (for heating), although we had oil-fired heaters when I was growing up. In summer, we’d just open windows and play in the pool to cool down :wink:

#40

[quote=“guessed, post:39, topic:170989”][quote=“akbooer, post:38, topic:170989”]Anyway, lucky you being able to power your AC by PV… not such a happy combination of weather and energy needs here, as the heat pump is working hardest when the sun is not shining.[/quote]Ouch. I’m very interested to hear how you manage/control/integrate this.

I’ve only lived in countries/locations where Solar is the default option (either PV or Thermal), and Gas has been plentiful (for heating), although we had oil-fired heaters when I was growing up. In summer, we’d just open windows and play in the pool to cool down ;)[/quote]

We’re in rural UK, no piped gas available. Anyway, I’m trying to keep our carbon footprint as low as possible. We used to burn oil, but several years ago installed a heatpump and that is now our only source of heating and hot water (apart from a decorative wood burning stove.) Installed PV two months ago (a bit of a challenge since this is a listed building in a conservation area.) It’s actually a whole new roof with the old tiles removed and solar ‘slates’ replacing them. Looks very discrete for PV.

The house is over 175 years old (new for the area: the house next door is over 800 years.) Solid stone walls - so heat loss is a nightmare. However, doing the best we can, the heatpump, with underfloor heating, runs completely autonomously - I wouldn’t dream of automating (further) its controls. I’ve convinced myself of the quality of its control algorithms though correlating energy usage with a calculation of ‘heating degree days’ and get a correlation coefficient of 0.98. About the best you can have.

So really, it’s all just about monitoring, and modelling the thermal properties of the house. I need something like your Brultech, because with only an import meter and a generation meter (both logged with NorthQ into Vera and DataYours), and no export meter, I can’t now tell how much I’m really using. The old clamp-on sensor can’t tell which way the power is going! Someone mentioned that they do a 50Hz version?