[Articles] More information about the new INSTEON Energy Display

[CT Droid]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I managed to get my hands on more information about SmartHome's latest INSTEON product; the INSTEON Energy Display. It will support up to 3 iMeter Solo products, and will also support broadcasting its temperature reading to other INSTEON controllers such as the ISY-99i or HouseLinc 2. The unit is battery powered (2xAA's), and will retail for $39.99. It will begin shipping in August, but SmartHome is now accepting pre-orders via their website.

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[az1324]

There needs to be a whole house version of iMeter. Also there should be relays built into the iMeter Solo and this thing should be able to switch them on and off and really should have more remote and clock functions. Too piecemeal.

 

[Digger]

There needs to be a whole house version of iMeter. Also there should be relays built into the iMeter Solo and this thing should be able to switch them on and off and really should have more remote and clock functions. Too piecemeal.

I would bet that those features will come later after they have sold a lot of this version. SH marketing (and some other companies) history tends to do that. My opinion is that this is not a product line to be an early adopter for as you will only want to replace it in 2 or 3 years when they do offer load control etc. and never get your monies worth.

My opinion is the Brultech system is much better at monitoring branch circuits and is more economical then this if you are not going to get load control (yet). Combine Brultech with load control of a few key devices via UPB or Zwave and it is more bang for your buck. It would not be power monitoring for an individual device but that can get very pricey at $40 a pop unless you want to just do a few. How much electric can you save to get back the cost of the $40 on one device especially if you cant shut it off remotely or automatically to conserve?

I am not a fan of the Zwave individual device monitoring (yet) as to me its not true monitoring but it does offer load control. I have some test samples coming tomorrow to see if I like them once I actually try them.

People want energy monitoring and control but it does not seem to be true plug and play yet. That market could be huge.

 

[Waynedb]

http://www.insteonsmartgrid.com/about-us.html

 

[az1324]

http://www.insteonsmartgrid.com/about-us.html

Key Products

* Thermostat – Energy Star Rated
* 240V Load Controller (Water Heater, Pool Pump Controller)
* Internet Gateway, Web Interface, Central Controllers
* Individual Product Energy Meter
* Whole Home Energy Meter
* Motion Sensors, Dimmers, Switches, Keypads, Outlets, etc.

So I guess it's somewhere in the pipeline.