Complete Newby, what do I do?

[cec28007]

So I just started looking into home energy monitoring systems and stumbled across Brultech on another message board. I want to monitor electricity usage, but what seemed to set Brultech apart was the ability to track natural gas usage as well, which we have on our furnace and water heater.
However, like I said, I'm very new to this and I have to admit, I'm having a very difficult time finding a good intro to Brultech.

Is there a good 'jumping off point' to begin learning the basics? Even reading the forum boards is pretty much over my head. It appears from first glance that Brultech is aimed more at individuals with relatively more advanced knowledge concerning electrical systems. Is there anyone out there that felt this way when they started looking into Brultech? What did you do to come up to speed?

One additional question, alot of the energy monitoring systems I've come across require additional ongoing subscription fees, is this the case with Brultech?

[Teken]

So I just started looking into home energy monitoring systems and stumbled across Brultech on another message board. I want to monitor electricity usage, but what seemed to set Brultech apart was the ability to track natural gas usage as well, which we have on our furnace and water heater.
However, like I said, I'm very new to this and I have to admit, I'm having a very difficult time finding a good intro to Brultech.

Is there a good 'jumping off point' to begin learning the basics? Even reading the forum boards is pretty much over my head. It appears from first glance that Brultech is aimed more at individuals with relatively more advanced knowledge concerning electrical systems. Is there anyone out there that felt this way when they started looking into Brultech? What did you do to come up to speed?

One additional question, alot of the energy monitoring systems I've come across require additional ongoing subscription fees, is this the case with Brultech?

1. There isn't a lot to know about the electrical system besides identifying a circuit uses a neutral in a 240 volt appliance / load.

This is a on going installation thread about the Green Eye Monitor (GEM) and Dash Box (DB) along with other various Home Automation (HA) devices in my home: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=929

The above link will provide you with lots of information about the installation and the on going development of this great product. Please kindly note, that many elements have changed and have been improved since the reference link was first written.

2. There are no additional fees once you purchase the GEM. Many customers are either sending the energy data to a on premise data server or using the free service of Smart Energy Groups (SEG) http://smartenergygroups.com/ to store their energy readings etc.

Those who require a more plug and play solution have chosen the Dash Box which is also made by Brultech to store all the data the GEM can provide: Energy, Temperature, Pulse, Voltage.

The advantage and benefit of the Dash Box is having the ability to store the data on site and also have the ability to send the same data to SEG.

This allows you redundancy, failure over data capture, along with having extra graphing features each device / service provides.

Should you have more questions please do reply back.

[scyto]

Until a few weeks ago I hadn't ever done more than change light switches. Now I have opened my fuse panel and fitted 35 CTs to monitor my whole house. Here is what I recommend:

1) go watch a couple of youtube videos on how to change a breaker
2) buy some electrician rubber gloves if you are really nervous (I used this for the first few breakers, but for the rest I did them without and even left the main break on)
3) open your panel and take a look at what is inside
4) take a picture or two
5) compare to tekens install thread and some of my question threads

Once you have done this you can get an idea of what it will take to add CTs and whether you want to try fitting them your self.

Next plan out the install:

1) how many breakers do you want to monitor and how many have neutral wires on the 240v breakers - this will let you know how many Type B CTs you will need (remember you will want 2 TypeA CTs for the main supply feed) - make a note of the power of each breaker, personally I went with all Micro-50s as they are more precise than some of the other types, but your choice
2) plan out your channel map - this should be easy if you need less CT's than channels. If you need more you will need to plan on doubling up (take a look at my example spreadsheet in the install forum - happy to PM you a copy if you want it).
3) decide if you will forward the data to a service like smartenergygroups.com directly from the GEM or whether you want to buy a dash box to record and store data locally as well as send to smartenergygroups.com (SEG is about the only viable option for folks who don't want to script).
4) Order what you need (decide if you want Ethernet, Ethernet+wifi, Ethernet+wifi+xbee
5) have fun installing

any questions just shout and there are plenty of folks who can help out

[michaeljquinn]

So the 1240 can determine which CT is connected, even if they are all (eg 8 of them) are
going to the same channel ?

How does it do this, if thats the case

[JWHardesty]

You will need to set up the CT configuration in the ECM-1240 IA software application. It will allow you to set up the number and type of CT's for each channel.
I have multiple CT's connected to one channel and it works well.
The key to installing the CT's is to make sure the wire is going through in the right direction and the black and white wire are connected to the correct terminals on the ECM-1240. The CT's as well as the ECM-1240 comes with instructions and diagrams for proper installation.
If you know someone familiar with electricity and electrical panels, have them come over and turn off all your individual breakers and your main breaker, if you have one. Then have them open the panel and show you where the panel is still 'hot'. Cover those 'hot' areas with cardboard so you don't accidentally touch those areas with a screw driver. If you know how to use an electrical meter, go through the electrical panel and verify that all exposed connections are off.
Since all the branch breakers are off, it is as easy as unscrewing one wire from a breaker, sliding the donut or CT over the wire, and reattaching the wire to the breaker. Tug slightly on the wire after you reconnect it to the breaker to make sure it is securely fastened. Sometimes the wire can miss the slot behind the screw.