Monitoring power usage on branch circuits

[BrettS]

I've been using a TED for several years now to monitor my whole house power usage, but now I'm interested in trying to figure out exactly what is using that power in hopes of helping to conserve more. If I can figure out where my big draws are, then I can concentrate there to help reduce my power bills.

I've ordered a few of the Aeon Labs Smart Energy Switches (Incidentally, Homeseer has them on sale for $39 each until the end of April with coupon code SS-35P, which is $6 less than Worthington and the best price I could find anywhere). These are basically Z-Wave appliance modules that also report energy usage of whatever's plugged into them back to Homeseer (or your other Z-Wave controller software).

They should be great for some of my 120V appliances... TV's, Fridge and Freezer, Washer, etc., but I'm sure that my biggest power users are the 240V appliances... my two heat pumps and their blowers, the electric water heater, the stove and the drier.

Does anyone know of anything that's reasonably inexpensive that can monitor power on branch circuits? The Aeon Labs Smart Energy Monitor looks interesting... it's a whole house Z-Wave energy monitor. As far as I can tell, though, it would work fine if I just put the clamps on my branch circuits, but I've got seven 240V circuits I'd like to monitor and at $90 or so each I think that's more than I want to spend.

I'm looking for something I can monitor through Homeseer, but it doesn't necessarily need to be Z-Wave... or even wireless for that matter. My Homeseer server is in the same closet as my electrical panel, so even running a short serial cable wouldn't be a problem. I'm hoping to spend less than $200 to monitor all seven circuits.

You guys have any thoughts?

Thanks much,
Brett

 

[AllanMar]

Check out the Brultech ECM. There are a few plugins available for HomeSeer.

Depending on your needs you may want to wait for their new larger model the "Greeneye" check out their forums for more info.

I believe these have been discussed on here a few times before.

 

[guessed]

I use 2x Brultech ECM-1240's, with 1x Etherbee adapter, giving me the main usage, along with 13 other channels stuff around the house. These are great devices, with loads of detailed data for discovering base level loads etc.

I'm upgradng to the Brultech GreenEye (32 channel) model once it's made available.

 

[BrettS]

Thanks guys, the Brultech device actually looks like it would serve my needs pretty well. I'd be happier if it had 8 channels, though... then I could monitor my 7 loads, plus the whole house... but I can still keep the TED for the whole house. Or I could monitor each heat pump with it's blower on one channel using two channels instead of four.

At this point, though I might hold off until the GreenEye comes out and see where that's priced... or maybe pick up a used 1240 when everyone else is upgrading to the GreenEye.

 

[ecborgoyn]

Maybe a clue:

http://www.brultech.com/home/store/product.php?id_product=107

 

[roshaiga]

You can also check out the EnviR www.currentcost.net
It allows up to 10 tranmitters and there is a homeseer plugin available.