My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

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Teken
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:00 am

This is a copy of the Energy Monitoring thread I created at the Garage Journal located here: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... Monitoring

I will be posting the same thing here along with relevant updates. I hope very much this install thread proves helpful to those interested in pursuing energy management. During the course of several months I will be editing out old data that no longer pertains to the current generation of Green Eye Monitor, Dash Box, ISY-994 iZ Pro, Smart Energy Groups, and Insteon.
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During the last two years I have been slowly adding new devices into my home to allow me to enjoy many comforts. Yet in the same breath provide convenience, safety, and security.

In general terms its called Home Automation (HA).

One of the missing elements in my HA system has been energy management, power control, and energy use. With out knowing where all of the power is going to, and what devices draw down the most power.

At best, its a guessing game for most when dealing with power use, and knowing how much you actually use given a specific task.

In the past I have used various devices which allowed me to measure, capture, and record historical electrical events. This was done using anything as cheap as a point of use Kill A Watt meter, Fluke clamp on meter, Fluke Scope Meter, or various other smaller energy management systems.

All of them have their respective strong points, but none of them could provide me the long term accuracy, flexibility, or wealth of data collection for all of the circuits in my home.

I needed to find a device that would monitor at least 32 electrical channels, pulse devices such as gas / water, and temperature. After much anticipation and waiting a great product has come to market called the GEM (Green Eye Monitor) this company has been producing energy monitors for many years and is also Canadian.

This great Canadian company is called Brultech . . .
NOTE: To see the offerings from this company please follow the link http://brultech.com/
http://www.greeneyemonitor.com

With this device, I am now able to monitor 32 discreet electrical loads in my home and see real time data as it happens. With the help of a free third party site I am able to push the data from the GEM to this site for historical retrieval of my energy usage.
NOTE: The free data hosting site is called Smart Energy Groups and can be found by going here: http://smartenergygroups.com


Currently the system is only monitoring 28 live circuits. The eight temperature channels have not been installed yet as I still am waiting for the respective sensors to arrive from China. Once they arrive I will deploy them in various areas, floors, and zones of the home to assist in the HA reactive monitoring status.

The pulsed channels for water and gas will be incorporated once the basics are all in place.

At the end of the day, the end goal is to pump all of the live data to the HA controller. This live data will allow the home to react to temperature, light, and power use.

Given various programs and predetermined values the house will ensure all electrical loads, temperature, and various other security systems are met, and performing as required.

Below are a few screen captures of various loads of my home, along with the stated resolution of such. At the bottom of this thread is a direct link to view the live data for my home.

You will have the ability to click on a few tabs to see the daily, weekly, and monthly energy consumption. Some of the bar graphs will allow you to see the actual energy being consumed as you hover your mouse over the graph / charts.

https://smartenergygroups.com/groups/teken_energy

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This graph is from monitoring the refrigerator which draws 111 watts. As you can see the fridge runs for 20 minutes each cycle, and stays off for aprox 30 minutes in between.

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This next graph is showing the defrost cycle of the fridge. As you can see, during this event the power spikes up to 472.33 watts! It appears the fridge goes into this mode every 8-10 hours.

I was not aware this sort of event was present in newer styled fridges, nor aware of the increased power use to complete this task?

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This next graph shows 180.13 watts is used each time the central exhaust is turned on to vent the home. In most cases this is done when taking showers etc. I was under the impression that this was all that was being consumed during this event.

I was wrong!

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Please see the below graph which illustrates the entire system at work.

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What happens in newer homes is that the central exhaust is coupled with the furnace. This allows the home to intake and exchange the entire home with fresh air, while exhausting the dirty air.

Because the furnace is tied into this exhaust system it draws on a whopping 419.40 watts each time the bathroom fan is turned on! I had already placed a 10 minute timer on this circuit to ensure it would never turn on any longer than required.

With the assistance of the HA controller the home can monitor, and adjust the exhaust to the required run time to ensure the preset humidity is always maintained. So, in essence if the home detects that the bathroom is well within the humidity range, it will turn off the exhaust before the 10 minute set interval.

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The next graph shows the low level resolution of the GEM. As you can see the energy monitor can measure power levels of 0.27 watts and below.

Having this level of accuracy and low level resolution has allowed me to confirm and know what vampire draws are in use. To then place these devices in a *Just in time use* or to have HA controllers turn them on and off to ensure power targets are met.

I will update this thread as more historical data has been obtained and gathered. My friend Luvit has inspired many GJ members to be aware of their respective power use, and to challenge each and every one of us to be aware of our own energy use.

My home was built, designed, and planned to be very energy efficient from the onset. I knew there would not be a lot of head room to save in some areas. As my monthly electrical bills have been very consistent in the range of $40-80.00 depending upon season(s) and climate.

I average 500 Kwh per month in electricity, which does fluctuate depending upon weather conditions etc.

The end goal for this new Energy Monitoring System is to allow me to record, and recall historical events and to see the trends. The GEM has has already informed me of several defective items in the home.

Case in point, after the initial install one of the garage circuits were showing a rock steady 48 watts? For what ever reason (just lazy) I did not investigate why there was a 48 watt load present. The next day I found out the motion sensor for the Liftmaster garage light was broken! This essentially left the remote light on 24 hours day!

It was quickly disabled and repaired the following week.
Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:18 am

Another low level graph of one of the counter circuits in the kitchen.

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I have many point of use surge alarm outlets. They all include a LED and mini siren which alerts the end user of a protection fault.

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As you can see these point of use surge protectors draw down a very small amount of power when installed. The GEM can detect this low level power use and that information can be captured at the SEG website.

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Having this level of resolution has assisted me in deploying more efficient and power saving devices through out my home.

In one instance I had a 48 port network switch. Unknown to me the rated power consumption was 35% higher than label affixed to the device. This switch was replaced with five smaller and *green* switches which combined together still used less than 80% of the other switch.

This allowed me to have redundant devices for my network, but also provided me energy savings in the long run. After some short diagnostics of the 48 port switch it was found two fans were defective which were causing the device to draw down more power to keep going.

After the fans were replaced along with a few changes in system board it was measured to be well within the stated power consumption use.

Teken . . .

This graph shows the dryer circuit being monitored by the GEM. As you can see there is a continuous 2-3 Watt load present at all times? This dryer when off does not draw any power when not in use.

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What you see here is a phase coupler for my HA system. This device couples / connects both service feeds to allow the power line signal to traverse the homes electrical system.

The maker claims the current draw is 2-3 watts and the GEM does support this claim.
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The next image you will see is the LG's smart sense dryer technology.

In this screen capture you can see the dryer consumes 2658.60 Watts. What you can't see (because I forget to record the historical event) is that the dryer cycles up and down from 45 Watts to 900 Watts.

The dryer stays in the lower 45-250 Watt range for 80% of the drying cycle. Only when the heat is called upon will it draw down the 2658 Watts. Because it has a sensa dry system if the unit detects the clothes are dry, it will turn off.

It doesn't matter if you set it to 3 hours. If the dryer detects the clothes are indeed dry, it will turn off the system. These are some of the large initial investments I have made to ensure long term savings would be realized. Measuring my fathers very ancient and old dryer his beast stays on the entire cycle and consumes a whopping 4800 watts the entire time.

Teken . . .

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:29 am

The Brultech costs for the CT's are as follows:

Micro 40 CT $4.99, Micro 80 CT $5.56, Split 60 CT $26.80, Split 100 CT $34.00, Split 200 CT $41.40

Keep in mind I received a bundled discount when I purchased my GEM. As Ddawg16 stated correctly the GEM uses mA CT's to capture the data to ensure no line level power source is ever present to the end user.

The GEM has 32 electrical channels, 8 temperature channels, 4 pulse channels to monitor water / gas. Can be configured to communicate via Ethernet, wireless, Xbee, and of course serial connection.

My GEM is configured for a straight tethered connection over Ethernet, and future data will be relayed via Xbee communications.

Below are some of the install portions during the prep and also completion steps:

This is the whole GEM package out of the box.

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This is the power supply for the GEM. It consumes 3 watts, and the GEM can also be powered through two other ports with in the device it self. One is through a mini USB port, and another is through the push pin ports which you will see later on.

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This device is called a potential transformer (PT) and inserted into a standard electrical outlet. Its purpose is to reference the line voltage from the building / utility to calculate the power being consumed with in the home. As you can see it uses a stereo jack to receive this input source.

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This is a huge assz bag of CT's for my project. Some of you may be wondering why there are so many CT's in this parcel? There are some circuits in your home which use a neutral. These circuits will require two CT's to be able to capture both sides of the 240 feed / load.

Depending upon the load it could be the stove, water tank, boiler, etc In my case I needed two Micro 80 CT's to measure my stove. One was for the top convenience outlet which my GF uses for the four man grill, crock pot, etc the other is simply for the stove itself.

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This is the Split 200 CT's which measure and monitor the two sides of the electrical feed entering the home through the service panel. I could have combined both CT's to one channel to see a total combined use. But, I opted to have more resolution / granular to be able to see and say *Hey the left side of the panel is using more power today etc*

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These are the Micro 80 CT's which are used for the stove, dryer, and any future large load that requires up to 80 amps.

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This is what all of you have been waiting for. This is what the GEM looks like from the outside. Just one little grey box which has two LED ports to inform the user of various status states. It is used to inform the end user of data stream *sent* intervals, as well as diagnostics during the firm load process.

My system has already been flashed with the latest firmware and there for has all the fix's in place.

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This is the bottom view of the GEM case. Through out the case are knock outs to allow the end user determine the best installation and routing of wires to the device. In my current install my panel board is extremely packed and there for I was not able to take advantage of the rear KO's to feed the wires / comm connections to keep that clean look.

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The back of the GEM which would have allowed me to keep my install clean and wire free from the bottom.

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This is the magic in the box that allows me to capture, record, and monitor live and historical events about my electrical, temperature, water / gas events.

As you can see the module is not very big. Aprox dimensions are 12 x 6 x 3 it weighs aprox 1-2 lbs?

The PCB is extremely high quality multi layer wafer. The green blocks are the 32 channels you insert the CT's into. The majority of the left side is dedicated to the 32 channels. The remainder are used for various other functions such as the temperature / pulse channels. Also for any future expansion of the GEM device.

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This is just the cover of the GEM. It has two plastic dowels to allow the LEDs to be visible from the outside.

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 11:45 am

The red PCB above is the Ethernet card. I opted to use a hard wired solution to ensure 100% data transmission and avoid any connectivity issues, or RF interference from microwaves etc.

In the future I will be purchasing the wireless card to ensure I have more flexibility to connect to the other two networks in my home.

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Below is the very small Xbee wireless card. This little card will allow me to transmit captured live / historic events to my ISY Series Controller. Right now it is still in the planning stages as I have several other projects on the go and resources are not available to get this going at the very moment.

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Close up shot of the GEM board. On the right hand side you will see two black connectors along with a micro USB port. These ports are used to power and obtain line voltage reference readings from the home.

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This picture was taken to show what the PT transformer consumed. I used this in a pinch to take the picture just for illustration purposes only. The same power consumption was measured by the Kill A Watts, GEM, Fluke Scope, and this blue planet point of use power monitor.

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This is for the power supply for the GEM module. As stated to the other GJ member this GEM module consumes 4.7 watts. It does however consume over all 5 watts when in full production use. I do expect the power to increase a little bit when the Xbee module and the wireless module is installed.

At the end of the day its not consuming 100 watts to do a simple task, or negate the whole point of saving power!

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This is the warning label from the main service panel. Indicating the supply cables are live at all times. Its one of those things that really don't settle in your noggin until you're the one sticking your grubby hands in the panel!

Our friends like Norcal / Aceman who do this for a living just accept it and do their jobs with out getting too skittish. But, know and respect what can happen if one was to forget.

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This is the top of the service panel with the two service feeds coming into the home from the POCO's outside meter base. For what ever reason I was NOT expecting to see any bare metal at the lugs for the two sides of the feed.

Because even though the Split 200 CT's have clamp on jaws to go around the wire. They did not open quite as far as I would have liked. They also had a very stiff closing / locking mechanism which did not allow a one hand operator to close them in one snap.

It goes with out saying I was pretty focused during the clamping event. I was just getting over a head cold and literally just woke up to do this install. In hind sight that was epic-ally stupid on my part and should have waited until I was a lot better, before committing to this project.

But, most of you can relate: When a new toy arrives, you want to play with it right F'N now!

All joking aside: Safety gloves, boots, eye glass's are in order just in case. Most folks don't even bother, but because I have them from work I did in fact wear all of the above. Also do to the fact the basement was very humid and I was sweating like a MOFO bear do to my cold.

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My virgin panel before all of the CT's are installed and placed into the service panel. At this point I am simply running on flash lights as my emergency lighting have not been installed at this location. It is on my *To Do* list as its required for my UL certification for the future.

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Once all of the individual CB were turned off. I proceeded to turn off the main breaker. From there I removed the service panel cover and as you can see I after heeding the warning label and dawning on my safety gear I clamped the first 200 amp CT's into place.

The one of the left was a freaking bear to close with one hand. For what ever reason the jaws would not align with the metal teeth in the CT when I was standing there.

It literally took me 7 minutes to get it clamped and locked in place. All the while noting the exposed wire at the bottom of the lug nut. For every ones reference the wires coming out of the CT's are NOT left in this position with in the service panel. They are properly routed and tied off to ensure no movement should it happen.

There is no way for any low signal wire to touch any high voltage circuit within this panel.

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This is the temporary routing of the two CT's.

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All of the CT's come pre tinned so they can be inserted into the GEM's ports with out prep work. Some of the smaller Micro 40 Ct's require the user to remove a few MM of wire to ensure the correct length is available for insertion. I had to prep 28 channels like this to ensure the required length was met to ensure a tight and secure connection to the GEM ports.

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This is the initial massive wiring mess I had on hand for the install. Rest assured all of the respective wires have since been grouped, tied off, and labeled as to what wire is connected to what.

It was a complete gong show to wire in so many wires into such a small hole. But, with a lot of patience and planning it was done with out too much cursing or stompering.

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As you can see if an electrical inspector was to come on site. He would have not only cited me, he would have pulled the plug on my power!

As stated this was just the temporary wiring for the GEM. I actually had to do this portion over a 4 hour event. As I was getting really sick and didn't get much sleep due to the fact I couldn't breath, and was also leaking like a siv due to this nasty head cold.

I was fortunate that I was all alone in the home and it didn't inconvenience any of the family members during this install.

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After a short break I continued the install: At this point the GEM was simply laying on my service bench and the amount of tangled wires became too much for me so I decided to mount it in its final resting place. This allowed me to get some sort of idea of how to group the wires also. As some of the CB's would be further away then others.

This would affect the over all outside length of the cables. In short, from a visual point of view it would have looked really retarded and messy as some wires would be longer / shorter than the rest.

This would require some wire management to ensure the outside leads were all the same length on the outside of the box, but not so long inside of the box. In the interim I tied them off for safety and neatness. But, did not cut any of them short due to the fact I may move this box else where in the secure room.

For reference: Many owners have used CAT5e cabling to extend the CT's due to need or preference. I did not require this sort of extension, but should note that the proper termination of said wires is paramount.

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At this point I have installed the bulk of the CT's for all of the circuits in my home in which I need to monitor. As you can see the tangled mess is being addressed slowly, but rest assured this is NOT how it is now.

I have installed isolated mounting tabs to restrain the wires to ensure no movement or contact can be had.

For reference for others: The micro CT's require the user to remove line voltage wire from the CB. Once removed, you simply insert the CTs into place and reinstall the wire ensuring a tight connection at the CB.

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At this point I am getting into my anal stride! What may not be apparent to some of you is that if you look very closely. I have started to *orientate* all of the wires to ensure the white / black is facing all of the same direction.

This is being done to ensure *At a glance* I know all wires are properly orientate for polarity, along with the correct insertion of the wires into the GEM ports.

This is critical as if you insert the CT wires in reverse order your readings will appear as a (-) negative value. It will also affect the addition / subtraction of the *combined* 240 volt loads such as the stove, water tank, etc.

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At this point after all of the CT's are in place and some what secure. I have finalized the install by inserting the power supplies, reference supply, and the Ethernet connection. This was done to ensure once I went live the GEM would operate as expected. Any wiring modifications at this point could still be done while the respective panels / access was present.

I am happy to say all of the prep, planning, allowed me to go live that very moment.

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:04 pm

This is how the service panel is currently labeled. In my mind it is labeled pretty good given the amount of space on the white tag. But, as most of you're aware when you see the one's indicated (CB 17 & 19) lights and plugs.

Which lights and plugs??

I have since created several spread sheets which indicate first at a basic level what each CB does and controls. Then, there is a more detailed chart which indicates the exact appliance / load attached.

The next chart is a even more granular *At a glance* chart that tells me what each load will consume when turned on. I have done this so I have a baseline as to what these devices consume when operating.

For reference: My father has a very old bar fridge which I have known is about to kick the bucket and is drawing down more than the label indicates it should.

For testing purposes I borrowed this fridge and put it on a dedicated circuit which had no loads. The label from the maker claims a steady power consumption, minus start up power, and any defrost cycles of 100 watts.

It was found, and measured this poor bastard of fridge was truly dying and consuming 327 watts! The compressor and associated parts that make this fridge run was at its end.

I was fortunate enough that our POCO has a program which allows us all to retire these power hogs, and receive a $40.00 credit for removing these power hogs from the system.

For Reference: If you look at the CB 1 it states it powers the panel plug, pull chain lights, and central exhaust. In the very near future all of the alarm, network, and security DVR loads will be using a dedicated circuit.

This will allow me more detail and granular monitoring of these loads. As I have to subtract the combined loads on the fly when looking up certain historic events such as the above stated devices.

The primary reason is also to ensure I have a isolated circuit dedicated for those mission critical systems. I have a lot of sensitive electronics which have to be protected against surges / spikes.

So, having the central exhaust come on 4-8 times a day isn't really being too careful with respect to my gear.

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This is the daily energy consumption for this month since I went live. From the left, fourth column is the highest peak use 16.83 Kwh for the blue line which monitors the main right service feed.

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This is the same day, displaying the green portion of the bar graph 8.18 Kwh for the main left of the service feed.

What will happen in the near future is that you will see graphs that correlate the temperature and the energy being used. This will help the end user truly understand why one day was more expensive or power was being used so much.

In this case that single day was hotter than hell. I had just purchased a portable Danby 13000 BTU AC unit. It was running for approx 6 hours that faithful day.

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This is the monthly summary along with the carbon foot print my home is using. It also shows if I am above or below previous days, week, or months of energy use.

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This is a live energy capture of my home right now. I have my SEG account set up for *At a glance* for some of the big numbers, along with live power feeds.

Right now, the two speedometers at the left & center are showing that my hot water tank has just kicked in. At the very bottom it displays the current costs for this very moment.

In my home I average $1.00 a day for electricity . . . So for a typical month my electrical bill will be $31.XX not including the fixed POCO fee's. The typical electrical bill is aprox. $45-80.XX depending upon seasons etc and what I am doing at home.

When I was building my queen sized bed the electrical bill was almost double as I was working with the table saw, chop saw, and miter saw for more than 8 hours a day.

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Another GJ forum messaged me and ask why there was a small spike in the captured readings for one of the charts I provided for the fridge. This spike you see is each time my teenage daughter sticks her head and opens the fridge door!

It is the bulb in the fridge that is causing the spike, and is being captured live by the GEM. Because the fridge is already cooling and consuming aprox 111 watts, the difference from 166.60 watts is 55 watts. This is what the light bulbs consume every time the door is left open.

It also makes the fridge kick in sooner as the temperature has dropped, causing the fridge to run longer

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This is power consumption of one of my communication closets. This comm closet consumed more than 450 Watts prior. I have since retro fitted 80% of the gear to use SSD (solid state drives) which consume 1/8th of the power, and also provide immediate data retrieval along with increased reliability from a hard drive crash.

I have two 32 Terabyte drives systems, along with various other computer systems which are extreme power hogs. I have since retired some of the computer systems and deployed micro computers which use a simple 5 volt cell phone charger to power them.

Some of them simply run on AA batteries now and have no power draw from the home which is being trickle charge via solar panels. This has allowed me to cut the power down to a more reasonable 76 watts you see in this chart.

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Another GJ forum member asked me what a Sycom was? The Sycom is a whole house surge protector which is wired into the service panel. This is considered a *secondary* protection device. Its goal is to protect the entire service panel and its associated devices against a large electrical surge / spike.

I have a primary surge protector installed at the meter base as a first line of defence. The Sycom there for is another level of redundancy in place. Through out the home, there are point of use surge / alarm outlets. In other mission critical areas there are dedicated UPS back up systems in place to ensure a stable and graceful shut down of power.

These UPS vary in size from 500 VA, to 18000 VA to ensure long term and consistent power is available for all systems in the home. Almost 2.5 years ago prior to starting on this whole HA journey my home (area) was struck by a two week long thunder / lightning event.

At the end of the day my first Sycom unit let out the magic smoke and sacrificed itself to protect my entire home. When all was said and done more than 200 plus homes were damaged due to this electrical event.

As strange as it sounds, I have a CT monitoring this lone circuit.

Why?

Because one day I may suffer another electrical event. It is my hope, in a strange way, to record this event(s) and truly know what amount of power was seen during this God for saken event!

As you can see the GEM to date has never recorded one single watt of power being sent to this circuit. I hope to never see it either!

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This is the Sycom 120/240 whole house surge protector which is a Type 2 secondary device.

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The other day I received my fist eight 1 wire thermo sensors from China. These are DS18B20 Waterproof Digital Thermal Probe which are one meter long. Here is the first photo of the entire sensor cabling.

I was able to find a EBAY seller who sold them for a very reasonable $4.94 each, along with free shipping world wide.

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Here is a close up of some of the sensors per-labeled with their associated tag numbers, getting ready to be installed an deployed in my home.

As standard issue I am using the tried and true IDEAL wire marker kit. The kit contains 450 wire markets with A-Z, 0-9, +/- etc. The IDEAL part number is 44-101 & 44-102 respectfully should you require them.

I have used these wire markers for ages simply because they work. The nylon cloth tape is super sticky, and never unravels. The alpha numeric ink they use takes a lot of beating before you could ever wear them off.

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The seller states these sensors are completely water proof and are fully encapsulated for diverse installs and environments. The stainless steel tips are machined extremely well and have a nice weight to them.

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BELOW: To enroll the 1 wire sensor to the GEM the user will launch the Green Eye Monitor Setup 1.7 Java application. Which is indicated below, from there you will select the Temperature tab. Once the window opens, you will select the 1-8 channels you wish to enable.
NOTE: The Green Eye Setup Tool has since been upgraded to v2.8. Please login to the software section at Brultech to obtain the latest release. 3/22/2013
Once the channel has been selected you will select *enable sensor* the GEM will process this request and in a few seconds you will see the channel you enabled will show a *ON* value on the right side of the terminal. At that point you will select *SET SENSOR* the 1 wire serial number which is assigned to the sensor module will than be displayed.
NOTE: Each 1 wire sensor must be enrolled one at a time, prior to hooking up all sensor(s) to the GEM module plug jacks.
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Below is the temporary hook up of the sensors to the GEM via CAT5e cabling which will be ultimately mounted through out the inside and outside of the home.

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One of the problems I am trying to solve is how to wire all of these 1 wire sensors into the GEM. While allowing me to perform maintenance to them should it be required in the future.

I have seen various people use devices as simple as a telephone distribution block, to multi terminal blocks such as these listed below. I have considered using these terminal blocks due to the fact they are small, accessible, and very clean looking when mounted on a service board.

I know lots of people could care less about what a distribution terminal block looks like. But, I believe it is the small details that one puts into an install that makes all of the difference when problems arise and service is required. This will allow me to remove each sensor from the GEM system with out entering the GEM module or having to unravel 16 sensors from one massive bundle.

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These are the alternate ones I have considered using. All of these terminal blocks are $4-5.00 with free shipping. If anyone has any suggestions with respect to a better method to combine 8 wires into one slot, while allowing each 1 wire sensor to be removed with out impacting other sensors. I would love to hear the feed back.

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Here is some preliminary temperature readings captured by the 1 wire sensor in the GEM and translated into the SEG website.

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
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Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:24 pm

So almost ten days a go I received the terminal blocks from China. I have to tell you the build quality and value from this vendor is simply outstanding. For under $5.00 I was able to purchase two sets of these terminal blocks to complete the temperature probe connections to the GEM.

Below is one photo:

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This is a close up of the terminal blocks exposed from the clear cover:

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For the purpose of scale here is how big they are with a standard spoon:

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The goal here of using these terminal blocks was to have some form of method to install 8 remote temperature probes into the 1 GEM terminal PJ block.

All the while having the ability to remove just one single sensor from the GEM with out affecting the others. As the GEM has only one PJ data port to insert these sensors into. As these 1 wire sensors each have a serial number which allows them to be placed on one single addressable channel yet operate separately.

I believe if properly arranged and wired I can achieve this goal.


With the continued support from Brultech (Ben & Paul) they have added a new feature to the GEM. Below is a voltage capture from the GEM of my homes primary lines.

Now I can see the fluctuations and recall them at will with the power of the GEM and SEG website. This is one of the primary reasons I decided to spend the extra money for the GEM. To have a vendor who is able to extend and provide support and feature advancements.

Paul from Brultech made some code changes to allow this data stream to be captured and outputted from the GEM.

This first reading is before any corrections or calibrations to the SEG site. Hence why the reading is a insane 1218 volts AC?

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The next image is after receiving the correct calibration factor for the SEG site. Which for those interested is entered as 0.1 into the Calibration portion of the SEG site listed below here:

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To make the change to your SEG stream. You will enter the SEG site and select that particular data stream. Once in that stream at the upper left is the Edit button.

You will see in this photo the various correction factors to make the changes you need.

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My goal is to be below 20 kWh a day. As you can see I am under 20 kWh a day pretty consistently during the the month of December. There were a few days that broke 20 Kwh due to the X-Mas season of cooking, baking, and endless entertaining!

My personal goal has been to be below 600 kWh per month. For the month of December the combined power use is 576.66 for both green & blue bars. I have both service feeds separately being monitored due to specific needs for the future.

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Below is the graph for the months of Aug to January 2013.

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the SEG site allows the end user to see very granular, and bulk data reports.

Right now, this is just set for a *at a glance* view to know at any point in time what devices are on, and how I am doing as a family.

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So members have asked me what are some practical uses for the GEM module? Below is a quick snap shot of my mini solar array. I am just in the beginning stages of deploying my solar system to off set my daily consumption.

With the GEM & SEG I am able to record and display my daily, weekly, monthly, yearly costs and solar generation.

The day is not over and I have already generated $0.11 from just four solar panels.

In my GEM system I have set it up so I am able to monitor each electrical feed separately. On the left side is the *Main Left* at this moment in time it shows total consumption of only 0.11 Kwh

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Below is another chart that shows the difference in terms of consumption and the amount of power I have been able to generate to offset my daily costs. You will note *Main Left* is down 78.4% in power use compared to the previous day.

The *Main Right* is down 15.1%, not bad for a mini solar set up. Also with beautiful blue skies, and warmer weather!

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This is just a snap shot of the kwh generated at this very moment. Again, just from my small solar array which I hope to grow in the next 24 months.

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The next graph is the power generation for the up to the minute solar generation. You can see clearly what time I start to make power, the peak, and as the day goes bye how it tapers off. You will notice one quick dip in power generation.

That was me standing in front of the panels for about 30 seconds to secure a few cables in place. My fat ass blocked the sun, the GEM & SEG was able to capture this drop in production / consumption.

This is how a person can tell if something is out of sort, amiss, or needs attention.

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In this chart it shows you how my solar project was progressing. Because it was so cold and the snow in my back yard is over 5 feet. I was only able to install one solar panel. During this whole period it was cloudy and not a sun spot could be seen for more than 3.5 weeks.

The chart clearly shows the crappy weather I had. This chart displays the *mean average* of power generated. On the right you can see after some nice days with a mix of sun and cloud my *mean average* has risen for a average of 98.35 watts.

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This chart shows you the total solar generation I have produced since install. So far 13.4 Kwh for this mini system in place for about a week. I hope to get the next 4 solar panels up in the next few months. From there the other 8 units when I figure out the best mounting arrangement that can harvest the most sun for my area.

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And just another view of how I am doing as a family. Seeing all of the blue negative arrows makes me smile!

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So, as I am writing this entire post here is a live view of what the GEM is doing for me and how my electrical use is being diverted and costs reduced.

Main left is the power being sent back on this circuit. It was at 0.07 Kwh, Main Right 4.41 Kwh.

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As you can see in this image *Main Left* continues to drop to 0.06 Kwh, and *Main Right* which has the normal standby loads is steadily going up and is at 4.44 Kwh.

At the bottom of each meter is the daily costs. As you can see the *Main Left* is at $0.00 up to this point. The *Main Right* is currently at $0.33 for the day.

My family uses about $0.68 - $1.25 a day in electricity. This also depends upon the season. But the mean average is about $1.00 a day, which is $31.00 per month before any tax's etc.

Regardless, we are a very energy efficient family!

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This last image is where my solar generation day is just about over. On the *Main Left* you will see that I am still producing enough power where it shows -4 watts. Once the sun goes down this meter will show aprox 26 watts in standby consumption.

All these years watching others make free power, and reaping the rewards for doing so. I would like to think in the next 10 years this whole solar generation thing will be more financially doable for all.

Right now in my neck of the woods its been about small milestones. Those who have been able to do the whole thing in one shot. I solute you, and the Government who made it possible for those, I am indeed jealous!

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This will be pretty much the last few minutes of solar generation: The 26 watts the solar panels generate is the 0 mark of what this circuit consumes. Right now the meter below is at zero, but will climb back up to 26 watts once the days over.

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:37 pm

One of the reasons I purchased the GEM was to monitor our local power supply. I have some portable and expensive monitoring devices I use on occasion to confirm for clients if their problems are due to bad power.

The only problem with using a portable ACR device is that it can only capture 3000-5000 events, and this is dependent upon the amount of data you require. Setting the ACR to capture all events which encompass: Sags, over voltage, surge / spikes, noise, interference, etc will reduce the amount of data points you can capture.

Below is snap shot over an extended period of months for my home. As you can see our hydro electric is very steady and clean.

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Below is the resolution for the day. Power fluctuates from 120 - 123 volts during the transmission period into the home.

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This is at a 6 hour interval. Again more resolution to determine how the grid is performing and what impact there may be on your home and its electronics.

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Finally, we have a live up to the minute snap shot for the hour.

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Below is a tracking and notification area from the SEG site. If communications is lost from the GEM to the SEG site, an e-mail alert will be sent to the user. I have many monitoring / alert devices which inform me of a power condition.

But, having another layer of notification is always great and welcomed. In this snap shot there was a firmware update to the GEM. The reason for this update was to allow me to apply the net metering you see in the graphs today.

There was some sort of lock up after the firmware upgrade which left me out of service for more than 3 hours. So what do you do if you're out and not communicating to the SEG site?

The beauty of the SEG is that all is not lost. You can enter / import the lost data to ensure your captured and rendered data is as accurate as possible.

During the next few hours I will be adding in the missing information to ensure accuracy. This is also another reason I have opted to use the SEG site, instead of just a stand alone home based data capture tool.

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So I have been trying to resolve a strange problem that was not quite apparent to me. I have a software gadget configured on the SEG site to monitor my daughters electrical feed.

She has a ancient Dell laptop that is about to die. But, I am in the mist of saving up some cash to replace it. Because its so old I have to monitor and manage her computer use as its power supply and brick consume an insane amount of power when on.

What concerned me was when ever her laptop would ramp up and start eating 200+ watts the increase in consumption was not appearing in one of the two main feeds?

Why does it matter?

It matters because the Kwh and costs will not be accurately reflected.

So, below is a screen capture of this one circuit at idle before any changes.

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Below is the same circuit once I figured the GEM correctly. This reading is obviously almost 3 times lower. This would affect the Kwh and the costs respectively.

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The problem lies here with in the GreenEye Monitor Setup V1.7. Each channel is configured with the type of CT's (current transformers).

You will see this circled in red under *Presets* The channel 28 is the one in question that was giving wrong readings. Normally when you select the *Update Summary* tab in the window.

It would inform the user of the CT settings applied and used. In this case the CT showed a Micro 40, but in reality it was set to something else??

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Once this CT entry was corrected everything was pretty much spot on.
NOTE: For the sake of clarity the following was observed. The power consumption below 300 watts would show on the independent SEG gadget correct but would not show up in the main feeds.

If I used a larger load like a 1500 watt hair dryer the true load of the hair dryer would show up in the independent SEG gadget but only half of the load would appear in the main service feed.

This is how you will know a CT range has not been set correctly.
The next screen capture is related to how the information is captured and displayed in the SEG site. For everyones reference I have two 200 amp CT's connected to the main service feeds.

Below you can see the round power dial called 1 - main left & 2 - main right. In this instance you see my electric hot water tank. I created a thread about the expected behavior and what I wanted to see etc here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=191527

My concern was having the ability to see and capture the true *power* being consumed. After checking all my wiring and confirming how many CT's used to monitor this circuit.

In this case its only one CT. The remaining issue is that again there is a setting in the GEM not selected correctly for a 240 volt load.

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Below is the *Internal* web page to the GEM. To allow me to accurately capture and record the electric hot water tank the following changes need to be made as this is a 240 VAC appliance with no neutral.

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By default the 2 CT/ 240 is selected which is not correct. So the solution is to enable 1 CT / 240. This I hope will render the correct information on the SEG and track my real world consumption.

I will report back if this is right, wrong, or completely off base.
Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:47 pm

So quite a few of my friends who are getting into this whole Energy Monitoring thing have asked me to post up what the new GEM web page is able to render and provide. For reference this new internal website to the GEM is only available starting with the following firmware updates.
NOTE: Firmware COM 1.88 & ENGINE 1.41 will provide you with the new *Internal Configuration Web Page*
If you're below the following comm / engine firmware levels the following must be done after the firmware process has been completed.
If updating from a comm. version earlier than 1.70, and/or engine version 1.41 you'll have to do the following after updating:

- Being by updating both the Comm. and the Engine firmwares. If done one after each other with the firmware upgrader program, make sure to wait 10 seconds in between firmwares.

First:
- If you need to save your Wattseconds counters, navigate to the GEM web page by putting your communication method on the GEM into Server mode and accessing its IP/Selected Port in any web browser.
- Under Advanced Settings, click the "Backup Data" button.

Next:
- Remove the battery (tip: use a qtip or plastic pen lid to push at the back of the battery holder).
- Unplug your unit and wait a minute to ensure power is completely removed.
- Plug your unit back in and put the battery back in.

If the above procedure isn't done, your unit may lock up at some point. If this happens, just follow the same procedure above.

A change log is currently being worked on.

Ben


NOTE: Firmware can only be obtained from Brultech which is stored in their internal website. You first need to register yourself a user name / password along with the GEM serial number.

This number will start off with a 01 and is eight digits long.

Once you're registered you can access the latest user manuals and firmware for your respective gear found here: http://brultech.com/software/


Below is the home page of the GEM's new internal website. Several key things must be noted about the new internal web page. When you enter the web page you must also press the *Exit Setup Mode* failure to do so can leave the GEM in a none responsive state.

What that means is that the unit will come back up, but will not send any data to your server or any third party hosting site. You can confirm this is so because the left LED will not blink at all and will stay solid green along with the other LED.

If you fail to exit properly the GEM by default will resume operations in 15 minutes. You will also note on the top right is a at a glance of what firmware level you're on etc.

Always keep your Engine software up to date as it ensure new features are added and any lingering bugs are resolved.

In the same top right where it indicates the COM / Engine firmware is the *Packet Send Interval* this is important to confirm and be aware.

Why??

Because if you use a third party hosting site as I do at SEG. Some of the gadgets will only update every 30 seconds. The GEM captures all live data every second, but only pushes this data to the SEG every 30 seconds.

This is done to ensure there are no rounding errors, or flooding of data to the SEG network. Reducing the time to less than 30 seconds will results in power readings to be either too low, or too high.

I have been told a send time of 30-60 seconds is ideal based on the Java code that rounds the SEG engine YMMV.

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Below is the *Channel Options* tab. In this window you can set the PT Type and PT Range. The PT Type is important to note because this is what references the GEM to the grids power line.

If you ever notice that the power readings are out of range. Using a RMS DMM to confirm the homes electrical feed will allow you to fine tune the voltage to the GEM.

This will ensure the measured and captured values are correct and consistent with real world voltage / Kwh consumed. In the same window you can change the channels to be standard or net metering.

As some of you may know I have channel 5 in my home which is back feeding solar power to the grid. The process is quite simple and all it is required is to select the channel in my case (channel 5) click on the net metering, hit save.

Below this option is the single channel polarity. This will allow you to send data in (-) negative values so it can deduct its production from the SEG website. If this is done you also need to change the channel 5 in the SEG and select *Green*

This will ensure the charts show green and is also going the opposite direction.

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Below is the Channel CT tab. This tab is important to note because this determines what attributes are applied to the CT's you're using to capture your power consumption.

If some of you recall I had at least two channels giving me wonky numbers and it was not reflected in the GEM / SEG correctly.

For any appliance which is 240 you will select 1 CT or 2 CT which applies to your setup. Once done there will be a 1 in the 240 column.

To make changes to a channel you will do the following in this order:

Chan: <-- Enter the channel you want to change.
Select CT: <-- Select the correct Micro CT that is attached for the device
click save and you will notice that the CT Type & CT Range will change.

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Below is the temperature tab which will allow you to configure C / F. It will also allow you to enable / disable each sensor separately for maintenance etc. The one wire MAC code is also displayed for reference should it be required.

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Below is the packet set up and send intervals as stated above. The GEM can send various data packets like ASCII, Binary, SEG, ISY etc. As noted before the send interval determines when the GEM will push, broadcast its captured data.

For a home server setting it to 5-10 seconds may be OK. Doing so to a third party service like SEG can impact the accuracy of the data presented to the end user on the site. As I understand it the Java code used in the SEG has limitations and there for can not accept a flood of data lower than 30 seconds.

Doing so will result in values being hundreds to thousands of watts to be displayed!

The internal GEM website also allows you to see live electrical consumption on the fly. This is helpful in trouble shooting initial set up to a data server and to a 3rd party hosting service like SEG.

It also allows you to skip the delay and see live events as they happen. Very handy in testing and diagnosing electrical faults.

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Below is the area where you can select channels and devices to be broad casted to services like the ISY HA controller, SEG, your own hosting service etc.

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Below is a larger and expanded view CT Settings tab. You can see and confirm at a glance the GEM channel, type, range, CT model, and if a channel is indeed programmed for 240 monitoring.

As stated some where in the process my two channels got buggered up. Thus giving wrong and inaccurate data from these two channels. Next month will give me a 100% snap shot of my power consumption, I hope!

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Below is the window to enable the Zigbee options for the Brultech and the ISY-994iZ home automation controller.

I have been informed by both UDI / Brultech that this area is still under development and progress continues to be made. There has been conflicting reports, feed back about the two units working together.

The following facts are these: The ISY-994iZ IR Pro can communicate with the older 1240 Brultech energy monitor and can *see* and communicate with only 7 channels.

The GEM can be configured to send data to the ISY using the legacy 1240 standard. But, at present can not communicate simultaneously with the SEG, ISY, and Dash Box.

Ben at Brultech has advised me that this aspect is being developed and I hope its forth coming soon. As we are so very close in gluing all aspects of Energy management with Home Automation for the little guy!

As I have been informed the long term goal for me will be to have the Dash Box connected to the GEM. The ISY HA Controller will send data via Zigbee, the Dash Box will be connected via RS232, and resolve the data through its own Ethernet ports to send the data to the SEG site.

This will allow all three devices and services to work in unison . . .

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Below are options in the Advanced tab. The screen was too long so I have to split the image into several parts, sorry.

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Advanced tab second level screen capture:

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Below is the live watts being consumed in each channel a user is monitoring. You can also see at a glance the voltage at the mains, temperature for the eight 1 wire sensors, and pulse sensors like water and gas.

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Below is the accumulated watts hours for the system since install.

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Below is the status tab indicating the essentials of the GEM.

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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 1:05 pm

Below is the GreenEye Setup Control Panel. Please note there is at least four ways to first set up, connect, and control the GEM. Some of the elements to connect and control the GEM is almost mind numbing to say the least!

To help others in the future I wanted to show you where and how to see if something is not set correctly. Below is a screen capture of the CT's as they are identified by the software.

You will notice on the lower right side are four channels named ch 29, 30, 31, 32. The Type and range are indicated as Type 145, Range 2.

This is what one of the channels were set at instead of Micro 40! The end result is that you will either see missing power, or power that simply doesn't add up to what you're using in real time.

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Below is the screen capture of last nights COM update to 1.91 for the GEM. I wanted to show the members of what the .... bars looked like and what to expect.

These .... will continue until the stated notes in the window almost disappear. Again when the COM firmware is loading the user will see the GEM's left side LED blink and alternate from red / green. The right side LED will be dark and unlit.

Anything other than this sequence is not good and you may have to reload and enjoy doing this process again.

The whole thing takes about 4 minutes to complete.
NOTE: The loading of firmware is done by using the latest Java Firmware Upgrader Loading Tool v1.6 3/24/2013
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I wanted to document the steps of how to accomplish loading and accessing the GEM. There are more than one way to do this so this is why I am writing this out for those in the future who happen to stumble upon this task.

Again, this is how I do it and if you find a better, faster method please do let me know!

You first need the EtherX tool: This tool will configure the network elements of the GEM to connect to your computer and network. It is also used to initiate communications to the internal GEM website, and any 3rd party hosting site.

Making any changes in this tool will either allow you to connect to the GEM, or sever the connection to the on site data server computer, hosting site, etc.
YOU WILL LOSE DATA DURING THIS BLACK OUT EVENT
This is the default view and selections for my environment. In this mode the data from the GEM is pushed to the SEG and you can see the DNS settings along with the DHCP settings to.

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Below are the required changes to the EtherX tool to allow you to connect using the either of the following tools: GreenEye Setup Control Panel v2.1, GEM Internal Website, and the Firmware Upgrade Tool v1.5.

1. Change the IP Configuration Method from DHCP to Static.

2. Uncheck the Use DNS, this will allow you to enter the Operation Mode.

3. Under the Operation mode change it from Client to Server.

4. Enter the server IP of the GEM along with the port your using. In this case its listed above.

5. Select save. A pop up window will appear and hit OK.

The EtherX software can be launched multiple times (instances). This is NOT good, and can add to the frustrations you may encounter. If you believe more than one instance is running kill that process in Windows.

Not knowing, or doing so will leave the GEM in a bricked state in terms of you being able to connect, or even change its network settings!

Once this is done you can enter the same local IP address of the GEM into a browser to access. In this case it would be 192.168.100.104:7967

This will let you access the GEM's internal website to make any global changes. These same changes can be done using the GreenEye Setup Tool v2.1

This is where it confuses the hell out of people . . . The system allows you to make changes in any of the two, so be aware.

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If you intend to upgrade the firmware than this tool is used to complete this end task.

1. Double click on the tool and it will launch.

2. Enter the client IP and Port.

3. Select COM: You must always load COM firmware first! As noted in several posts above. This application will allow a unsuspecting user to select both COM, Engine radial buttons! It will also allow you to deselect both radial buttons.

4. Once the COM firmware is complete as is listed below.

5. You may proceed to load the Engine firmware. Taking special care and note to deselect the COM radial button. Wait for the firmware to load and the system to reboot.

As listed way back in another post if you come from v1.71 etc you need to follow the power down sequence to ensure the GEM accepts the firmware and does not leave your GEM bricked.
NOTE: Brultech has published a new Firmware Uploader Tool v1.6. This has corrected the toggle on the radial button. Where it allowed the user to select one, both, or de-select all.

Now it operates as a true toggle radial button
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Once you have either finished poking around in the GEM internal website, or firmware loading tool, or green eye setup control panel. You will need to reverse all the settings on the EtherX tool.

This will ensure the GEM is pushing the data to the on site data server, 3rd party hosting site, or what ever. The key element is to see the left side LED on the GEM blink every 30 seconds indicating its broadcasting this data.

If the unit never blinks, the GEM is not sending data. YMMV on how to recover from this. I have tried various methods of unplugging both transformers and waiting 30 seconds, to using the EtherX tool and hitting the fucken save button 9999999999999 times, to toggling back and forth changing the network settings to make the device start broadcasting.

Again YMMV in how this happens . . .
NOTE: This is a short video of how the GEM will appear to the user when the COM firmware is being loaded:


Once its all set, just leave it alone because messing around with it will cause you great stress, pains, and a ulcer . . .
Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
Teken
Posts: 2700
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: My GEM, ISY, Dash Box, Insteon Home Automation Install

Post by Teken » Sun Dec 01, 2013 1:14 pm

So it looks like the corrections and changes I made in the GEM module for channel 24 for the hot water heater have worked. Below you can see the two round power dials which monitor the left and right side of the service feed.

The electric hot water tank is currently on. Both mains show power of 2K plus each. Going down stairs and reading the service tag for the Bradford White tank indicates each top and bottom element consume 2200 watts each when on.

So far it looks good and is reflective of real world power consumption and does show up in both service feeds since its a 240 device.

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Below is another gadget that allows me to see each single channel and review more detailed stats about the device(s).

The proof in the pudding is to see the combined load on that single channel. As you can see its showing a whopping 4443 watts which is correct. So this whole 5-6 months I have been under recording my true power values.

As an aside I have recently changed the water heaters thermostat to be at *hot* and measured the water. Before it was a scalding 80'C / 176'F to a more safer and cost saving 65'C / 149'F.

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Below is a before and after power capture in this chart. This is the beauty of the GEM / SEG site as it lets a user to recall events from any period. As you can see the previous recording were only 2K plus. Clearly I was living a lie and was not recording the actual power use.

To the right of the graph you see the true 4K power consumption which reflects real world conditions. I believe with the corrections in the GEM, and lowered temps to the hot water tank my hopes are the readings will be wash, and my electrical bill will go down just a smidgen!

Cheap bastard I am . . .

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This is updated version of my dash board on the SEG 12/3/2013. I have arranged so I can see the hot water tank along with its daily cost. Having the ability to see both left & right side of the houses electrical feed has been fantastic.

It really helps trouble shooting a load or a 240 device.

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This is the new GEM Network Utility v1.5 this tool replaces the EtherX tool. Below are some of the screen shots of the new tool. As stated before there were several other tools that had similar features and abilities which could access and control the GEM.

This tool has the same look and feel of the older EtherX tool with obvious enhancements and capabilties.

Enjoy . . .
NOTE: The GEM Network Utility Tool has been updated to v1.8 on 3/23/2013. Please download the latest version to correct a small Ethernet DHCP issue.
UPDATE: The GEM Network Utility Tool has been updated to v5.4. This tool supersedes all other tools and incorporates the firmware upload tool and many other enhancements and bug fixes. Please down load and use this latest tool moving forward. 12/03/2013
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Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
Buy me a cup of coffee: https://www.paypal.me/Teken https://gfinotify.com/ Discount Code: PC10
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