Newbie looking for system suggestion

philwojo · Post by **philwojo** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 4:21 pm

Been getting letters in the mail saying we are one of the highest users of electric in our neighborhood. We had full kitchen remodel done about 2 years ago and now I just want to find out what we are actually using and what circuits might be causing us to pull more power. I also work from home so I know that doesn't help either.

General Questions:

- Are there any budget constraints to work within? $400-600
- How do you plan on communicating with your router? Must be a wireless connection
- What energy monitor you're considering purchasing? (if known) Unkown, probably GEM, but maybe ECM-1240.
- Do you plan on using pulse counting? And if so, how many? Probably not
- Is this a single-phase or 3-phase install? (If it's not your average residential install) Single-phase

For determining current transformers:

Most if not all of the questions below can be answered by looking at your panel and the numbers on the circuit breaker switch.

- How many circuit breakers do you wish to monitor? All if possible
- What is the amperage of the above breakers? 8 x 20A, 12 x 15A, 2 X DP 30A, 1 x DP 20A, 1 x DP 60A
- Are there any 2-pole breakers? Yes
- Do any of the 2-pole breakers have no neutral? (This can reduce the amount of CTs needed) Unsure, didn't take the front of the panel off.
- What is the amperage of your main breaker? 100 A

Thanks for any and all help.

Phil

Post by **ben** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:11 pm

Hey Phil,

One GEM can monitor everything separately with spares.

You'll need:
- 2 Split-100s
- 26 Micro-40s
- 2 Micro-80s

You can subtract a few CTs if you figure out if any of the double pole breakers have no neutral as the value can be doubled via firmware.

WiFi/Ethernet or a DashBox, depending on how you want to data log. If you get the DashBox, you can use a WiFi stick (TP-Link WN722N) to connect to your router.

Other options can be see on our new website that's in the works (http://www.mypowerpanel.com/data-host/#opt).

philwojo · Post by **philwojo** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:17 pm

Thanks Ben, what do I need to look for on the DP breakers. I know a bit about power, probably just enough to be dangerous, but don't always know what to look for without a little help.

Also, if I do the wifi/ethernet option is that something that is part of the GEM or an add-on for it?

Any idea on the price of what you quoted below, ballpark?

Thanks for the help,
Phil

Post by **Teken** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 5:47 pm

philwojo wrote:Thanks Ben, what do I need to look for on the DP breakers. I know a bit about power, probably just enough to be dangerous, but don't always know what to look for without a little help.

Also, if I do the wifi/ethernet option is that something that is part of the GEM or an add-on for it?

Any idea on the price of what you quoted below, ballpark?

Thanks for the help,
Phil

Hello Phil,

If the dual breaker has a *white* wire inserted this is a neutral wire. If all you see is black / red that is each electrical leg of the panel to create 240 VAC.

The GEM appears to only have the combination card available on the sales site. Before there were three options, Ethernet, WiFi, and Combo. All of the prices are listed in the sales page and also indicates the package with CT's.

Any custom orders can simply be e-mailed in to sales attention to Tammy.

philwojo · Post by **philwojo** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:46 am

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. Now just have to get the OK from the wife before I pull the trigger on this.

How hard is it to setup software on my PC to see what is going on with all this? I am just starting to look at the site and I am a little confused on that part to be honest.

Phil

Post by **Teken** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:54 am

philwojo wrote:Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it. Now just have to get the OK from the wife before I pull the trigger on this.

How hard is it to setup software on my PC to see what is going on with all this? I am just starting to look at the site and I am a little confused on that part to be honest.

Phil

Hello Phil,

I do not use any form of PC software so can't help in that regard. I use both the Dash Box (DB) and Smart Energy Groups (SEG) hosted cloud services for off site data storage which is free.

The DB once set up is set and forget appliance. Which is a very low power Linux based data server placed on site next to the GEM.

Using the DB provides the benefit of local data storage and off site energy data storage. I really like this method as it avoids having another power hungry PC to be on and managed.

Ideals are peaceful - History is violent

philwojo · Post by **philwojo** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:36 am

Thanks Teken, I was just hoping to use my local PC as it is always on any ways, thought I could somehow dump the data from the GEM to it and then look at it that way. I know I briefly read about have to be setup as a server and that there is software for that, would I be able to do that and connect it all via the wi-fi?

Thanks for the input.
Phil

Post by **ben** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:40 am

philwojo wrote:Thanks Teken, I was just hoping to use my local PC as it is always on any ways, thought I could somehow dump the data from the GEM to it and then look at it that way. I know I briefly read about have to be setup as a server and that there is software for that, would I be able to do that and connect it all via the wi-fi?

Thanks for the input.
Phil

You can either use the Standalone Dashboard (http://www.brultech.com/software/) or btmon.py (http://lancet.mit.edu/mwall/projects/power/).

philwojo · Post by **philwojo** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:52 am

Thanks Ben, and those will work with what I am trying to do? Meaning I can have the GEM with the wi-fi transmit up to my router and which my home PC can then get that data and display it using one of those links you provided, correct?

I really appreciate both of your guys help and time on this.

I think I can talk the wife in the GEM setup, but if I have to include the DB it might put the price out of reach, so that is why I am asking all these questions now.

Phil

Post by **ben** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:56 am

philwojo wrote:Thanks Ben, and those will work with what I am trying to do? Meaning I can have the GEM with the wi-fi transmit up to my router and which my home PC can then get that data and display it using one of those links you provided, correct?

I really appreciate both of your guys help and time on this.

I think I can talk the wife in the GEM setup, but if I have to include the DB it might put the price out of reach, so that is why I am asking all these questions now.

Phil

Yeah, one of those will.

Just a note on BTmon, BTmon handles the translating of packets and sends to bunch of different things, the one you'd likely be most interested in is EmonCMS (http://emoncms.org/).