I've used one for a couple of years as a small brewery and tap room owner and the data it provides is invaluable for finding energy wasting devices as well as for troubleshooting potential mechanical issues with equipment. For example, I had a walk-in cooler that started to use increasingly more energy on an almost daily basis that could not be explained by changes in the environment it was operating in. In the end it was running almost constantly when it had been cycling with at most 15 minutes on per hour. I called my HVAC guy to check it out and he said that there was a coolant leak and that in a few more days, it would no longer have been able to maintain the temperature no matter how much it ran. I was able to schedule a full leak check and fix (which can take quite a while) while we were closed. Had it been allowed to completely stop cooling, we would have had to close or be faced with serving warm beer for a day or more.
Well, if you’re happy to trade all of your information, I guess it’s worth it. Not hard to tell you have a coolant leak if you’re chiller doesn’t stop running.
Had one of these for about 2 years. It makes the electrical panel a bit of a rat's nest of wires with all the sensors and wire. I have most of the 16 branch sensors installed. One tracks my solar panels production too so I can see the Net used or output for each day. Need to know what is being using before either trying to make appliance changes or getting solar. One thing I did was mount the box and antenna outside of the breaker panel to try to keep the spare wire on the outside of the box. PS...the hot water heater hurts a lot more when you have 2 kids and they only will take a bath and not a shower yet. Last week for us that was 66kwh on hot water. Looking at a heat pump one when this one bites the dust.
Hi David, That's a nice system to monitor your energy usage. You're so handy putting that all together, sure you're not an electrician? LOL. I can't believe how much electricity that oil heater used to heat your bedroom. I wonder if a solar air heater might be feasible to install? I guess your bedroom would have to be facing south or maybe it could hook into your existing duct work? Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea because when the sun goes down, it doesn't generate any heat. Might be a good idea for your workshop though. I see you in there wearing a coat when your running your test. You are so good at DIY, you could easily install it yourself. Well, it's just a thought. I really can't wait to see what you have in store for your future solar projects and arrays. You have the room to do so many things now. I have learned so much from your channel, btw, Oscal has a new power station out that is spec'd very close to the Oupes Mega 3. It's a shame that the Allpowers R3500 and R4000 seem to have quality control issues, many have complained about them. They do have a good warranty, I wonder if they stand behind their products? Pecron has the E3600LFP coming out in a few months, the talk is that it can take up to 2400 watts of solar input. Things are looking so good for solar this year. Take care, Steve.
Have the vue 2 with 16 or so sensors for over a year now.. it's been very insightful, and if you have a home assistant server you can integrate it. Using it and a power profile to figure out when the washer or dryer is started or finished. I think the main board is esp32 based and some people flash it with alternate firmware. Using this data I figured a hybrid water heater with rebates and credits was well worth it (Florida, so plenty of heat/humidity available in garage)
Thanks for the video/sharing information!! I would love getting that kind of data. As another commenter said, if the/my panel "sticks out"; I think I would mount the control box/antenna outside the electrical panel (so much jammed inside otherwise). I would also follow your decision to add separate circuit breakers since my panels have open "slots" and a cleaner/neater install I think. Oh yea, the info on the electric hot water heater was great to figure out don't even waste your time on a timer test 👍 Thanks again!!
I have the original system from a few years back and the Gen2 in another panel. They work ok but in some cases under very low loads they actually report much higher power usage. For example I have Mitsubishi heat pumps and when they are idling the Vue will report over 250 watts of continuous power draw. I originally thought this had to do with the compressor standby heater but it turns out after talking to Emporia it is an issue with their sensors. It also appears to be random because I do have one heat pump system that accurately reports power usage while the other 2 are not accurate while the heat pump is in standby (powered but not actually heating or cooling)
They state on their website that they will share your personal data. Data they collect includes your IP address, your identity, your meter usage etc etc
I love the idea and what it does but what a mess of plugs and wires that leaves in there. There has got to be a better way of monitoring in a more compact product.
I agree. But understand that they haven’t even increased electrical box size in every room to accommodate the extra wires that are being used in our new homes. Garage sizes are the same size they were with horse and buggy, even though our cars are getting larger and larger. Hell, people cannot even put their trucks in garages anymore, they have to use driveway. What in the hell does it take to get people to think ahead, and just enlarge the size of these electrical panels? It would just cost an extra few dollars of material.
I have a sense system. It’s ok, but not great at identifying individual circuits. I’m going to try this one out. How did all the sensors fit in the panel?
The sensors fit just fine. Really, it's just the bundle of wires at the bottom that you have to manage. I considered pulling the wire through a punch-out and mounting the control box outside the panel, thought I'd first keep it all inside. Works well-enough. I did an "ok" job of cleaning up the wires off-camera, but I only spend about 10 minutes on it. Could've made it 'pretty' (haha) if I'd spent a full hour...but, well...you know...:P
@@ReeWrayOutdoors That is good to hear!!! Your video really helped. Showed me what I needed for the install. I’m putting it at my cabin for remote access. I’m curious to see how efficient my heat pump is in subzero temps… Thanks for all you do. Theo.
I have a solar system already installed, with a completely full 200 amp panel, that cannot even handle one more extra breaker. My panel is already so full that it’s bulging outwards after several electricians try to get things to fit better. I don’t even think I would have the capability of installing this in my system, due to lack of room
Very cool system, great to have a better understanding of what and where your power is going.
I've used one for a couple of years as a small brewery and tap room owner and the data it provides is invaluable for finding energy wasting devices as well as for troubleshooting potential mechanical issues with equipment. For example, I had a walk-in cooler that started to use increasingly more energy on an almost daily basis that could not be explained by changes in the environment it was operating in. In the end it was running almost constantly when it had been cycling with at most 15 minutes on per hour. I called my HVAC guy to check it out and he said that there was a coolant leak and that in a few more days, it would no longer have been able to maintain the temperature no matter how much it ran. I was able to schedule a full leak check and fix (which can take quite a while) while we were closed. Had it been allowed to completely stop cooling, we would have had to close or be faced with serving warm beer for a day or more.
Well, if you’re happy to trade all of your information, I guess it’s worth it. Not hard to tell you have a coolant leak if you’re chiller doesn’t stop running.
Had one of these for about 2 years. It makes the electrical panel a bit of a rat's nest of wires with all the sensors and wire. I have most of the 16 branch sensors installed. One tracks my solar panels production too so I can see the Net used or output for each day. Need to know what is being using before either trying to make appliance changes or getting solar. One thing I did was mount the box and antenna outside of the breaker panel to try to keep the spare wire on the outside of the box. PS...the hot water heater hurts a lot more when you have 2 kids and they only will take a bath and not a shower yet. Last week for us that was 66kwh on hot water. Looking at a heat pump one when this one bites the dust.
Hi David,
That's a nice system to monitor your energy usage. You're so handy putting that all together, sure you're not an electrician? LOL. I can't believe how much electricity that oil heater used to heat your bedroom. I wonder if a solar air heater might be feasible to install? I guess your bedroom would have to be facing south or maybe it could hook into your existing duct work? Maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea because when the sun goes down, it doesn't generate any heat. Might be a good idea for your workshop though. I see you in there wearing a coat when your running your test. You are so good at DIY, you could easily install it yourself. Well, it's just a thought.
I really can't wait to see what you have in store for your future solar projects and arrays. You have the room to do so many things now. I have learned so much from your channel, btw, Oscal has a new power station out that is spec'd very close to the Oupes Mega 3. It's a shame that the Allpowers R3500 and R4000 seem to have quality control issues, many have complained about them. They do have a good warranty, I wonder if they stand behind their products? Pecron has the E3600LFP coming out in a few months, the talk is that it can take up to 2400 watts of solar input. Things are looking so good for solar this year.
Take care, Steve.
Have the vue 2 with 16 or so sensors for over a year now.. it's been very insightful, and if you have a home assistant server you can integrate it. Using it and a power profile to figure out when the washer or dryer is started or finished. I think the main board is esp32 based and some people flash it with alternate firmware.
Using this data I figured a hybrid water heater with rebates and credits was well worth it (Florida, so plenty of heat/humidity available in garage)
Thanks for the video/sharing information!! I would love getting that kind of data. As another commenter said, if the/my panel "sticks out"; I think I would mount the control box/antenna outside the electrical panel (so much jammed inside otherwise). I would also follow your decision to add separate circuit breakers since my panels have open "slots" and a cleaner/neater install I think.
Oh yea, the info on the electric hot water heater was great to figure out don't even waste your time on a timer test 👍
Thanks again!!
I have the original system from a few years back and the Gen2 in another panel. They work ok but in some cases under very low loads they actually report much higher power usage. For example I have Mitsubishi heat pumps and when they are idling the Vue will report over 250 watts of continuous power draw. I originally thought this had to do with the compressor standby heater but it turns out after talking to Emporia it is an issue with their sensors. It also appears to be random because I do have one heat pump system that accurately reports power usage while the other 2 are not accurate while the heat pump is in standby (powered but not actually heating or cooling)
Great review as always I have been looking at one of those 👊👍
Does Emporia have the address of your property, is the device also uploading to Emporia your usage. Did you have to register with Emporia?. Thank you.
Yeah if the app has to be connected to wifi (with an internet connection) to work, I'm out. Zero chance that data isn't being sent elsewhere.
They state on their website that they will share your personal data. Data they collect includes your IP address, your identity, your meter usage etc etc
I love the idea and what it does but what a mess of plugs and wires that leaves in there. There has got to be a better way of monitoring in a more compact product.
I agree. But understand that they haven’t even increased electrical box size in every room to accommodate the extra wires that are being used in our new homes. Garage sizes are the same size they were with horse and buggy, even though our cars are getting larger and larger. Hell, people cannot even put their trucks in garages anymore, they have to use driveway. What in the hell does it take to get people to think ahead, and just enlarge the size of these electrical panels? It would just cost an extra few dollars of material.
The new version allows you to shorten the wires😊
I have a sense system. It’s ok, but not great at identifying individual circuits. I’m going to try this one out. How did all the sensors fit in the panel?
The sensors fit just fine. Really, it's just the bundle of wires at the bottom that you have to manage. I considered pulling the wire through a punch-out and mounting the control box outside the panel, thought I'd first keep it all inside. Works well-enough. I did an "ok" job of cleaning up the wires off-camera, but I only spend about 10 minutes on it. Could've made it 'pretty' (haha) if I'd spent a full hour...but, well...you know...:P
@@ReeWrayOutdoors That is good to hear!!! Your video really helped. Showed me what I needed for the install. I’m putting it at my cabin for remote access. I’m curious to see how efficient my heat pump is in subzero temps… Thanks for all you do. Theo.
I have a solar system already installed, with a completely full 200 amp panel, that cannot even handle one more extra breaker. My panel is already so full that it’s bulging outwards after several electricians try to get things to fit better.
I don’t even think I would have the capability of installing this in my system, due to lack of room
Thanks!
The info from you link on Amazon doesn't say it is Emporia Vue Gen 2.
I just double-checked and it's definitely the same one I bought, which is the Gen 2, even though it's not clear from the description.
Go BearCats !