Questions before purchasing GEM

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SirMaple
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:37 pm
Location: Canada

Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by SirMaple » Fri Oct 09, 2015 9:34 pm

I've been lurking about on the board for a while and think I'm finally ready to get the ball rolling and start monitoring the power usage in my home.

I recently had my panel upgraded from the original 1978 CEB 2 panel configuration to a Eaton 1 panel configuration.

I have some questions:

- Given the size and number of breakers I have, would the following be the correct model and number of CT's to order? SP-100 = 2, M-50 = 35, M-80 = 2

- Do the SP-100's fit over aluminum 100 AMP rated wires?

- Does anything special need to be done to monitor ARC Fault breakers?

- Can thresholds be set and emails sent when triggered? Example: The breaker for the stove is drawing X number of watts for more then 90 minutes a email is sent. This would usually mean we forgot to turn the stove off.

- Is there a working DashBox demo I can view?

I'm sure I'll have some more questions later on.

Now for the pictures:

Overview of the breaker panel. I will be fixing the Vacuflo exhaust pipe after the panel has been inspected by the city. GEM will be mounted on plywood below panel.
panel closed overview
panel closed overview
20151007_172854.jpg (2.88 MiB) Viewed 3934 times
Overview of the breakers.
panel breaker overview
panel breaker overview
20151008_224510.jpg (1.36 MiB) Viewed 3934 times
My plan for which breakers will use which CT's and go on which channels on the GEM.
breaker spreadsheet
breaker spreadsheet
panel1.png (48 KiB) Viewed 3934 times
I do have a sub panel in the Garage but it's detached and I will just monitor it from the house panel.

I can also take more pictures with the panel cover off if needed.
Last edited by SirMaple on Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
Teken
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Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by Teken » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:30 am

1. Typical aluminum feeder wire is used because its cheaper. The down side is that to sustain the same amount of current it must be thicker or wider in diameter. The specification for the 100 amp clip on CT is: 0.61"

Go to the panel and remove the cover and measure the entire circumference of the wire. If its less than 0.61" you're good to go. If not you will need to move up to the 200 amp CT but confirm the I.D. of the 200 amp CT will be large enough to close properly which is 0.98" .

2. There are no special adjustments or changes to monitor AFCI breakers.

3. The GEM has no ability to e-mail a person based on thresholds. The stand alone Dash Box hardware storage server only has the ability (currently) to send an e-mail based on a loss of connectivity to the GEM.

I've been using the ISY 994 IZ Pro to send out alerts and react to energy demands, states, or conditions for more than four years with great success.

4. Brultech has a test Dash Box available for viewing to get a better sense of what the system is capable of. Please send an e-mail to Brultech and they will forward the IP address to you for viewing. Please kindly note this DB is always using the latest Alpha / Beta software to validate next generation deployment versions. So please don't judge the unit on odd behavior or missing elements due to the above.

I have a ongoing thread at the bottom of my signature which you can see the evolution of the DB and what features have been incorporated since launch.
Teken . . .

My ongoing projects thread: http://www.brultech.com/community/viewt ... ?f=2&t=929
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SirMaple
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:37 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by SirMaple » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:51 am

Thanks for the reply!

1. I'll need to wait until there's a second person at home, should be the middle of the week. I believe in following the 2 person rule at home not just at work when it comes to working around live panels. Better safe than sorry.

2. That's what I thought.

3. I could use Cacti(which I already have running) for the thresholds. I'll cross the bridge of getting data from GEM to RRD/Cacti AND DashBox at the same time when I get there. Are thresholds on the road map for the DashBox?

4. Would you happen to have the email address on hand?

I've read that thread from start to finish. Very informative!
Teken
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Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2010 4:09 pm
Location: The Bad Lands

Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by Teken » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:56 am

SirMaple wrote:Thanks for the reply!

1. I'll need to wait until there's a second person at home, should be the middle of the week. I believe in following the 2 person rule at home not just at work when it comes to working around live panels. Better safe than sorry. <-- That is excellent SOP and the fact you follow this in your personal life is fantastic!

2. That's what I thought.

3. I could use Cacti(which I already have running) for the thresholds. I'll cross the bridge of getting data from GEM to Cacti AND DashBox at the same time when I get there. Are thresholds on the road map for the DashBox? <-- This has been requested in the Dash Box feature request forum before. Please lend your voice to this feature request.

4. Would you happen to have the email address on hand? <-- support(at)brultech.com

I've read that thread from start to finish. Very informative! <-- Glad you found the information helpful
Answers in line . . .
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
SirMaple
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:37 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by SirMaple » Thu Oct 15, 2015 9:41 pm

So I was finally able to get someone to be home so I could take the cover off the panel.

Each wire inside the service entry cable measures 1.5in or 38.1mm in diameter. So it looks like I will need to use the SP-200 CT's?

I totally forgot to measure the diameter of the wires on my 60AMP breaker that feeds the garage sub-panel. So I will turn it off tomorrow and take the cover off the sub-panel to check. Won't be 2 people at home again at convenient time for a couple weeks.

I also used some string to make sure my CT wires would all reach to the spot I plan to put the GEM, and they appear to all reach :)

So I think I know what I need to order:

1 x Brultech GreenEye Monitor
2 x SP-200 CT
37 x Micro-50 CT
2 x Micro-80 CT - might need SP-100 (will check wire diameter)

I am just waiting to hear back from Brultech regarding a DashBox demo.
ben
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Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by ben » Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:26 am

SirMaple wrote:So I was finally able to get someone to be home so I could take the cover off the panel.

Each wire inside the service entry cable measures 1.5in or 38.1mm in diameter. So it looks like I will need to use the SP-200 CT's?
Are you sure you didn't measure circumference? Based on those measurements, assuming circumference, the diameter should be around 0.477". 0.477" fits into our Split-100s without issue.

The Micro-80s should be fine for the 60A.

Rest of the CT count looks good.

Ben
Ben
Brultech Research Inc.
E: ben(at)brultech.com
SirMaple
Posts: 70
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:37 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Questions before purchasing GEM

Post by SirMaple » Fri Oct 16, 2015 10:50 am

ben wrote:
Are you sure you didn't measure circumference? Based on those measurements, assuming circumference, the diameter should be around 0.477". 0.477" fits into our Split-100s without issue.

The Micro-80s should be fine for the 60A.

Rest of the CT count looks good.

Ben
Oops. You're right I did measure circumference. SP-100's it is.

Placed my order :)
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