Teken's GEM, ISY, SEG Install

[Teken]

Last year I created a place holder for my adventures in the Home Automation / Energy Monitoring project. My intent was to track the progress and offer insight to the products, company, and the people who have offered such great products and service.

I hope to update this thread with new information and trouble shooting tips I have learned along the way. Should there be errors or omissions in the thread please do let me know so it can be updated / corrected.

All of the companies from UDI, Brultech, SEG are always under development and pushing the barriers in terms of what their products can do, and provide. This endless cycle of updates at times can impose unknown bugs into the system.

I, as with many others, know being a Beta tester for a new product are ready for the challenges and look forward to helping the next guy get it right.

The ultimate goal is to bring awareness of these three great companies. In the hopes we all can reduce our consumption in the world we all live in. With the contributions of Michel @ UDI, Ben / Paul @ Brultech, Sam @ SEG this world is saving a few kilowatts a year.

The Garage Journal is one of the largest DIY forums in the Internet and covers millions of people world wide. I hope this awareness of your product & services will increase global sales for all.

Please let me know if technical information is missing or requires clarification in the place holder thread.

Thank You

My Energy Monitoring Adventures: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/show ... p?t=162749

Teken . . .

[Teken]

I have started to update the install thread at the Garage Journal. This update is about the Dash Box and the features it offers the end user.

In a few simple words: Awesome! I hope those who don't have the time, experience, or know how to deploy a data server. Will consider this newest offering from Brultech. It is low power, small form factor, robust in its capabilities, and features that are still in development to meet the needs of the end user.

The Dash Box (DB) is priced very competitively for a turn key solution. More updates to the thread as time allows.

Support from the Brultech family, has been top notch and progress is happening on all fronts to allow me to glue all the following devices togehter.

GEM, ISY, SEG, DB

Thank You

Teken . . .

[gcjacobs]

Ben, I have just reviewed Tekens latest Garage Journal update covering the Dash Box, one word awesome...

I do have a question regarding the Time of Use rates and the way they are handled in the DB. I have Duke Power as a provider and use their TOU rate structure. It is structured (i.e. Summer/Winter on-peak/off-peak rates) just like you have in the DB. But they have one additional variable, they monitor the on-peak kwh every 15 minutes over the total billing period and charge a third fee which is the highest on-peak kwh times a rate of $3.73 in summer and higher in the winter. So a one time on-peak (within a 15 minute period) of 10.0 kwh would add $37.30 to the total bill. One more incentive to manage usage.

How would I handle this third variable in the DB TOU option screen?

Thanks
Gerry

[ben]

I do have a question regarding the Time of Use rates and the way they are handled in the DB. I have Duke Power as a provider and use their TOU rate structure. It is structured (i.e. Summer/Winter on-peak/off-peak rates) just like you have in the DB. But they have one additional variable, they monitor the on-peak kwh every 15 minutes over the total billing period and charge a third fee which is the highest on-peak kwh times a rate of $3.73 in summer and higher in the winter. So a one time on-peak (within a 15 minute period) of 10.0 kwh would add $37.30 to the total bill. One more incentive to manage usage.

How would I handle this third variable in the DB TOU option screen?

Is the 15 minute period variable or always the same time? You could set up a ToU period for just that 15 minutes.

Things are a bit easier in Ontario, but here's what I have setup on our Office DashBox:

ToU.png (38.04 KiB) Viewed 4773 times

ToU2.png (30.17 KiB) Viewed 4772 times

On a side note: Eventually, where we'd like to end up is having the DashBox will work as a fully offline system (currently playing around with an RTC, already have the ability to set the DB up as an AP). Therefore, we won't have the luxury of polling rates from an API.

Ben

[gcjacobs]

Ben,

Is the 15 minute period variable or always the same time? You could set up a ToU period for just that 15 minutes

As I understand it, they sample every 15 minutes 24/7 throughout the billing period and retain the highest on-peak kwh value and then use that value times the surcharge rate in the monthly bill. Looks like I need a way to hold that on-peak value in a buffer and be able to apply the surcharge rate, real time, in the DB TOU rate table.

On a side note: Eventually, where we'd like to end up is having the DashBox will work as a fully offline system (currently playing around with an RTC, already have the ability to set the DB up as an AP). Therefore, we won't have the luxury of polling rates from an API.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this comment. I'm not sure if it's good or bad.
Thanks
Gerry

[ben]

As I understand it, they sample every 15 minutes 24/7 throughout the billing period and retain the highest on-peak kwh value and then use that value times the surcharge rate in the monthly bill. Looks like I need a way to hold that on-peak value in a buffer and be able to apply the surcharge rate, real time, in the DB TOU rate table.

What Power Company is this? I'll have to read a bit more on it.

On a side note: Eventually, where we'd like to end up is having the DashBox will work as a fully offline system (currently playing around with an RTC, already have the ability to set the DB up as an AP). Therefore, we won't have the luxury of polling rates from an API.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this comment. I'm not sure if it's good or bad.

Basically, it's just a note I added in case anyone sees this and wonders why it's not automated. A lot of the billing rates in the US/CAN can be pulled from an API now.

Ben

[garbled]

Mine does something similar. Highest on-peak 1hr draw in the month gets charged some surcharge per kWh. Mine is APS.

[Teken]

What Power Company is this? I'll have to read a bit more on it.

Ben,

I believe it is Duke Power.

Teken . . .

[ben]

What Power Company is this? I'll have to read a bit more on it.

Ben,

I believe it is Duke Power.

Teken . . .

Got the information via email. I will have to look through it once other bugs are fixed.

Ben