Interested in purchasing system

[mlennox]

After discovering this product, I'm quite interested in buying, specifically one of the plug-and-play kits to get IP connectivity and monitoring. Unfortunately it appears the kits are out of stock on the web store and after 3 days I can't seem to get anybody at Brultech to answer the phone or respond to e-mail. Anyway, with the assumption that I'll actually be able to purchase the system, I've started putting a bit of thought into the "design".

One thing I can't figure out is whether the computer software is "smart" enough to be able to identify load profiles from devices within a multi-use circuit and/or channel? So for specific example, my stereo equipment is plugged into a circuit which has other loads on it (table lamp, pot lights, etc.). Am I going to be able to figure out how much power the stereo stuff is drawing independent of the rest of the circuit or do I have to re-wire the house for this type of granularity?

Second question is around the split CTs vs. doughnut style CTs. I noticed that the doughnuts are listed as being "less accurate" than the splits. Can anyone quantify the difference in accuracy? The items I'm most interested in monitoring are the major appliances which have their own circuit. Will a mini-80 have sufficient accuracy for an electric water heater, induction cooktop and ground-source heat pump, all of which are on 240V-50A circuits or less?

Thanks.

[ayates]

I received my non-P&P system on Friday, it was within a week of placing the order. I dealt with them via email. The ethernet gateway was not available so I use a serial connection (cheaper this way too).

I haven't seen anything in the software that will deduce loads from their profile.

There is detailed specifications on the website about the accuracy of the various current transformers; there is even graphs of load versus accuracy. From what I could tell, the "low accuracy" was 1% compared to 0.5% for the "high accuracy". I thought both are more than accurate enough. I believe he higher accuracy of the split transformers comes from them being larger rather than the fact they are split.


Allan.

[mlennox]

Thanks Allan.

Is there another mechanism to get the data out to Google or other web-based services without the ethernet gateway? I don't plan to have the device anywhere near my PC, so hooking up to my home IP router is definitely my preference.

[ayates]

Not that I know of. The ethernet gateway will forward the data directly to Google as will the engine software on a PC. However, for the PC to do it, you need some type of connection to the PC (i.e. serial if you don't have the ethernet gateway). The wireless Zigbee connection could be used to route data to the PC but I don't know what type of Zigbee receiver would be needed on the PC; I don't have any experience with Zigbee (other than I believe it is high quality wireless).

Having the data web accessible is neat. I made mine available, at least temporarily, to the public: http://www.yates.ca:9009/. That sold one of my co-workers on purchasing a system for his house.


Allan.

[roscoe]

Absolute accuracy is useful when comparing against your meter reading, but the circuit CTs are plenty good enough to let you drive and analyse your energy situation.

As for specific devices on a circuit that depends, things like fridges/freezes are easily spoted and analysed. This motivated me to make extra ventilation to the tightly packed 'integrated' applicances which made a reasonable difference to power usage and probably lifetime.

You can spot Tvs but not really lots and lots of AV gear as they tend to get switched on at the same time. On saying that the data resolution is very good.

After initially looking at the super detail from an engineers perspective I am now very happy to flick over and glance at the google powermeter which I rate as a very very good user interface the works well for energy monitoring.

http://albacontrols.wordpress.com/2010/ ... improving/

[ben]

After discovering this product, I'm quite interested in buying, specifically one of the plug-and-play kits to get IP connectivity and monitoring. Unfortunately it appears the kits are out of stock on the web store and after 3 days I can't seem to get anybody at Brultech to answer the phone or respond to e-mail. Anyway, with the assumption that I'll actually be able to purchase the system, I've started putting a bit of thought into the "design".

Hey Marc,

We're working on getting some PP3's and PP4's in stock. Are you going to use my1240.com or similar service? If not, I'd recommend looking into our standard packages also. If you go with our standard packages, you'll need to add a gateway to connect to your router.

Ben

[mlennox]

We're working on getting some PP3's and PP4's in stock. Are you going to use my1240.com or similar service? If not, I'd recommend looking into our standard packages also. If you go with our standard packages, you'll need to add a gateway to connect to your router.
Ben

Thanks Ben.

I'm not sure whether I will use the online service or not. Looking at the plug and play packages, I thought that the only difference with the standard packages was the addition of the network gateway. Is there something else that comes with the plug and play packages?

Do you have any estimate for timeline on getting the PP3 and PP4 in stock. I'm really hoping to install the system over Christmas break...

[mlennox]

I should also mention that I will want to upload to Google Powermeter, does this require a "plug and play" kit?

[ben]

I should also mention that I will want to upload to Google Powermeter, does this require a "plug and play" kit?

The standard packages are capable of Google PowerMeter through the EngineG software.

[ben]

We're working on getting some PP3's and PP4's in stock. Are you going to use my1240.com or similar service? If not, I'd recommend looking into our standard packages also. If you go with our standard packages, you'll need to add a gateway to connect to your router.
Ben

Thanks Ben.

I'm not sure whether I will use the online service or not. Looking at the plug and play packages, I thought that the only difference with the standard packages was the addition of the network gateway. Is there something else that comes with the plug and play packages?

Do you have any estimate for timeline on getting the PP3 and PP4 in stock. I'm really hoping to install the system over Christmas break...

The benefit of the plug and play packages is they come preconfigured for the CTs they come with (resistors installed, CT settings programmed) and a registration code for my1240.com. The packages do include a gateway also. The purpose for it, is so there's no computer configuration required, you just set it up and use it.

Send me an email at ben(at)brultech.com, and I'll look into the PP3/PP4 packages for you.