Is anyone using the Everspring AN163 switch and does it have power metering?

Hi All,

I am looking to buy some Z-Wave plug in wall modules and I want some that will not deny me the use of the 2nd plug on the wall plate and that can monitor power consumption and of course work with Vera.

I was thinking about the Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Smart Switch 6, Gen5 for $ 50.00 on Amazon. Its nice looking and small, but is expensive at $ 50/each

Then I stumbled across the Everspring AN163 which while not as nice looking is $23 cheaper that the Aeotec. I can almost buy two Everspring units for the price of one Aeotec. The description for the Everspring seems to indicate that it will monitor power, but when I read the details I’m not sure. (See links below).

  1. Is anybody using the Everspring AN163? Does it monitor power? Does it play nice with Vera?

  2. Does anyone have any recommendations for a plug in unit that will meet the above criteria that they are using other than the AN163 or Aentec Smart Switch?

The reason I want these as opposed to additional in wall outlets as I have some where I want to be able to have both plugs controllable.

Any thoughts, experiences or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch

Gordon

Everspring AN163 Z-Wave On/Off Appliance Module with Power Meter (improved AN128) which is $ 27.00 on Amazon,

Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Smart Switch 6, Gen5

Did you end up buying the everspring? I found your post from google but I was sad to see no one replied…

Hi CopeKyle,

Yes I bought them, but then things got crazy at work so I haven’t had a chance to try them out yet, but I hope to do so soon.

I’ll report back on my experience if anyone is interested.

Gordon

[quote=“owensct, post:1, topic:188901”]1. Is anybody using the Everspring AN163? Does it monitor power? Does it play nice with Vera?

Any thoughts, experiences or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a bunch

Gordon[/quote]

I’m using the AN163 for my Christmas tree. It does monitor power consumption (tree currently drawing 89 watts)

I’m also using the AN128 which does not display power consumption and the Aeon Labs DSC06106-ZWUS which does monitor power. I prefer the AN163 and the DSC06106 (for behind furniture against the wall.)

I have installed some GE outlets but a lot more work for not much benefit. All of my house switches and dimmers are GE, which are great.

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the response. Good to know. I haven’t set mine up yet, hope to do it this weekend. My outlets and wall switches (in wall) are a combination of GE and Iterrmatic. I’ve had good success with both. The majority are Intermatic. I purchased a handful of the GE units as I needed some devices that would support encryption for my front and garage door locks as my locks are downstairs and the Vera is upstairs and just couldn’t seem to consistently maintain a connection. Since I installed them my door locks (Kwikset) haven’t missed a beat.

Gordon

Does this unit support “load sensing” (the ability to turn a connected light on and off via the lights own switch?)

Hi Patsonrt1,

I have a handful of these I bought and so far I have one of them up and running. I am using it with a saltwater Aquarium so I can monitor how much power it takes, (Saltwater tanks are notorious for being power hogs).

Anyway back to your question. The unit plugs into an outlet and has a large red LED/button on it. The button is used to pair the unit with the Vera and when I just now tested it the button does act as a power on/power off toggle. Obviously, the use of that would depend on it being readily reachable. On my aquarium it is plugged into a easily reachable outlet, (see picture).

On a side note it seems to keep track of power usage well, stays connected and was easy to pair with my Vera Lite.

Gordon

[quote=“patsonrt1, post:6, topic:188901”]Does this unit support “load sensing” (the ability to turn a connected light on and off via the lights own switch?)[/quote] The load sensing feature is typically a point of pride for manufacturers and they make it known when they support it. This feature is not mentioned in any of the marketing material for Everspring AN163. It is therefore highly unlikely that load sensing is supported.

But, why would you not contact the manufacturer or a dealer directly with this question?

Hi Patsonrt1,

I went back and re-read your question and realized that I total misunderstood what you were asking. Sorry about that, guess I was suffering from vapor lock of the brain.

Anyway, I tested again to see if it has load sensing and unfortunately it does not. I tried it with an appliance, a bedside fan, (which works great with a load sensing outlet I have installed, Intermatic CA600)and a lamp. No joy with any of them.

Power metering - Yes
Load sensing - No

Z-Waver I can’t speak for Patsonrt1, but I tend to query other users and the forums instead of the just relying on the manufacturer for a number of different reasons:

  1. Many of the support lines are located in non English speaking countries and they may not clearly understand what your asking
  2. Many of the people who man the support desks are making next to nothing and unless they are a fellow enthusiast are not always very familiar with the products their company sells
  3. Many times the documentation which you can usually download in PDF is very vague on the feature set of a device
  4. Companies sometimes add new features to later models, but don’t bother to update their docs, especially the PDF’s.

Since so many of us buy stuff online anymore instead of getting it at a brick and mortar store where we can hold, touch, examine and test something, (and easily return it) I find that if you really want to know what something can or cannot do, your best bet is to talk to someone who actually has and is actively using a product.

I thought that was the whole point of these forums is so we can help one another fill in the blanks on the tech we’re using. :wink:

No offense intended, just my (Newbie) two cents. ;D

Gordon

Thanks guys!

owensct,
I agree. I have noticed that some Zwave manuals leave a bit to the imagination :slight_smile: so it never hurts to double check with the experts here.

Hate to bring up an older thread, but for those of you that are using this device, could you confirm whether or not it resumes last power state after a power failure? I intend on putting this in line with a refrigerator, and need to be certain that it doesn’t default to off after power restoration.

Same question as erkme73. Anyone know the answer?

[quote=“bside, post:12, topic:188901”]Same question as erkme73. Anyone know the answer?[/quote]Sorry @bside - I should have come back and updated my original questions. I ordered 5 of these in hopes that they would return to their previous state. I suppose I should have played the lottery the day they came in, because my luck is usually not that good. But, yes, they do return to the state they were prior to the outage.

FWIW, I had one that would constantly lose connection with my Vera Plus. Since it was a spare, I simply ignored it. Right around that time, my VP was rebooting DOZENS of times per day. It took days of trial and error, and Vera tech support, but eventually we figured out it was this device flooding the zwave network. I unpaired it, and tried again, and a few days later the same thing happened. I smashed it and tossed it in the trash.

That said, the ones that work, work great.

Thanks much for the update! I actually ended up ordering the Aeotec Smart Switches instead, as I was able to confirm they had the right behavior, definitely report instantaneous usage (was some question about how to make the eversprings do that, but they claim to support it) and they’re just a lot less chunky. Good to know though, since these are a lot less $ I might get some of these too.

I didn’t have to do anything to activate the instant reporting. If the switch is toggled at the device, Vera sees it immediately.

By ‘instantaneous usage’ I mean “reports current wattage draw at this instant in W” and not just “rate of draw in kWh” averaged over some time period. This was apparently an issue someone had.

I’m actually migrating to OpenHAB too so while I know Vera has great support for these, I’m trying to stick to stuff that seems proven on OH, which is definitely not a 1:1 thing :frowning: