Tracking Device On time - Any ideas?

[Madcodger]

All,

I finally have my Homeseer and Elk M1G system to a point where things are pretty darn reliable. That leads me to the next step I wanted try, which is tracking, logging and maintaining over time a record of how long each device in the system (I use Insteon for lighting, plus an X10 thermostat) has been ON. I think this would be very useful for figuring out the biggest energy users in the house, planning for backup power systems, reminding family members to turn off lights, and even figuring out the approximate cost to power a particular circuit.

Unfortunately, I'm beyond ignorant when it comes to scripting / coding or databases. I'm trying to learn, but the need to earn a living keeps getting in the way. So, I'm wondering if anyone on the board has developed something that they might want to share? A couple of the users on Homeseer have posted ideas there, but I figured I'd open the idea up to the cocoontech world as well...

Any ideas / scripts / etc., appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[upstatemike]

I would also be interested in how folks are doing this. Currently I have my stargate monitor contact closures for things like furnace burners and furnace fans. once per minute I check which items are On and then increment a separate counter for each item that is running.

I'm sure there are more elegant solutions for doing this with Homeseer.

 

[keepersg]

If your're just interested in a circuit or two, this companies products might be of interest. I've purchased (but not installed) one for the apartment we rent that's attached to the house. It comes with interfaces that would allow you to monitor power usage directly and easily. For example there's one that gives you a momentary contact closure for every KwH measured. There's also an ASCII protocol. I'm thinking about getting another one to monitor energy usage of my ponds and streams.

Check out their products here:

http://www.ezmeter.com/products.html

 

[Rupp]

Mad,
Isn't this what Ultra status does?

 

[Madcodger]

I would also be interested in how folks are doing this. Currently I have my stargate monitor contact closures for things like furnace burners and furnace fans. once per minute I check which items are On and then increment a separate counter for each item that is running.

I'm sure there are more elegant solutions for doing this with Homeseer.

Hi, Mike - Hope all's well.

I've no real knowledge of Stargate, but assume this is run from a script. If so, would you mind posting it?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[upstatemike]

Hi, Mike - Hope all's well.

I've no real knowledge of Stargate, but assume this is run from a script. If so, would you mind posting it?

Thanks,

Joe

Not sure how useful it will be but here is a code fragment from stargate:

580: EVENT: Furnace Minutes
581: If
582: (V:Minute) Changes Value
583: Then
584: If
585: (DI:Kit. Furnace) is ON
586: Then
587: (V:KitFurnMin) INCREMENT
588: Nest End
589: If
590: (DI:Kit. Blower) is ON
591: Then
592: (V:KitBlowMin) INCREMENT
593: Nest End
594: If
595: (DI:Mid Furnace) is ON
596: Then
597: (V:MidFurnMin) INCREMENT
598: Nest End
599: If
600: (DI:Mid Blower) is ON
601: Then
602: (V:MidBlowMin) INCREMENT
603: Nest End
604: If
605: (DI:S. Furnace) is ON
606: Then
607: (V:SoFurnMin) INCREMENT
608: Nest End
609: If
610: (DI:S. Blower) is ON
611: Then
612: (V:SoBlowMin) INCREMENT
613: Nest End
614: If
615: (DI:Solar Heat) is ON
616: Then
617: (V:SolarMin) INCREMENT
618: Nest End
619: End

 

[upstatemike]

And of course I convert the minute count to hours like this:

621: EVENT: Kit Furnace Hours
622: If
623: (V:KitFurnMin) = 60
624: Then
625: (V:KitFurnHour) INCREMENT
626: (V:KitFurnMin) CLEAR
627: End
628:
629: EVENT: Kit Blower Hours
630: If
631: (V:KitBlowMin) = 60
632: Then
633: (V:KitBlowHour) INCREMENT
634: (V:KitBlowMin) CLEAR
635: End

Etc.

 

[Madcodger]

Mad,
Isn't this what Ultra status does?

I don't think so, Rupp. Here's the description from the HS forum:

UltraStatus HSPI allows you to change the devicestring of HomeSeer devices as they change status. This feature allows you to display a certain image based on the status of a HomeSeer device (e.g. motion.gif, nomotion.gif).

UltraView2 is an add on to HomeSeers web interface. UltraView2 provides "at a glance" status for all your HomeSeer devices. You provide your own home's floor plan views or pictures, then specify the X and Y coordinates and floor you want the device icon displayed on. You can then click on the icon to turn on or off a device (depending on the device type).


I thought UltraLog HSPI might work for this, too, but UltraJones says it might be difficult to do this via a SQL query, which was my original plan for this. Jim DooLittle mentioned that using UltraLog might be able to help with what I'm doing, but the jury is basically out on that right now...

 

[Madcodger]

UltraMike -

Thanks for the reply. If we can't figure out a way to do this efficiently with scripting, etc., then perhaps I can work on the Elk to do something similar...

 

[upstatemike]

I don't know if the M1 is going to be the best place for this function due to the severe memory limitations. The logic from stargate should transfer easiliy enough to a HS script. Kind of surprised there isn't something like this already. Did you go through the script archive on the HS site?

 

[Madcodger]

I don't know if the M1 is going to be the best place for this function due to the severe memory limitations. The logic from stargate should transfer easiliy enough to a HS script. Kind of surprised there isn't something like this already. Did you go through the script archive on the HS site?

Yep. And I was surprised, too. SteveQ has created something that looks very promising, and I'll likely try to modify that. Will report back as soon as I know more.

Good point about the M1. I was actually thinking of having it update a virtual device in HS, which might be a workaround for the memory limitations.

Thanks again for the ideas.

Joe

 

[Rupp]

Joe,
That was a typo. I meant to type UltraLog but this may not do the tracking you're looking for.

 

[Michael McSharry]

For Homeseer users, mcsTemperature tracks ON/OFF or continuous data in a database and produces historial line charts. In the case of the ON/OFF data it shows how long the device has been ON over the applicable display interval. For example, if the chart is for 24 hours then it willl show how many minutes the device has been ON from hour 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, etc for each of the 24 hours. This type of information is most often shown as a series of bar charts, but I elected to continue with line chart presentation with the bar fill being transparent so other trend data could be shown on the same chart and not hidden by the opaque bar.

For those that prefer the xAP enviroment the same capability exists with xapmcsDatabase/xapmcsChart