A handful of things from a new user

[gizmo.bowen]

So I installed my Vue last weekend and made a few notes about the install. I also have been using the app for just a short time, but I’m seeing a few little things that would be nice to improve the usability.

Here’s some thoughts about possible installation improvements:
1. It would be nice if there were some number stickers included with the expansion module to make it easier to keep track of which connection went to which circuit.
2. It would be nice to include some foam, double stick tape in case you wanted to stick the base unit or expansion module to the inside of the cabinet.
3. There are no numbers on the expansion module for the various circuits. It would be nice if it was printed somewhere that was easy to see when the unit is installed.
4. The manual for the expansion module says you need two clamps for a 240 V circuit. The software was updated so you can use a multiplier so you only need one clamp so the manual needs to be updated.
5. The direction of the clamps is said to be important, especially for the main clamps. I appreciate that there is an L on the bottom but it would be easier if this was printed right on the face of the clamp and maybe even spelled out. The small L on the bottom is hard to see and in an awkward location.
6. One thing I noticed when installing the smaller clamps is that sometimes the plug would just flop around if I wasn’t careful. Since the feed to the panel is still live there’s a chance that it could contact that and maybe shock the installer or damage the clamp. Some small covers for the ends of the plugs would be nice that you could take off right before you plugged them in.

For the software, I have the following thoughts:

1. When I change screens to select a different circuit, I have to hit the back button to go to the graph. It would be faster if when I selected the circuit it immediately went back to the graph.
2. When zooming in and out on the graph it always takes me back to the current time. If I change the scale to an hour and then change back a day or so, when I click on zoom to look at the data in a higher zoom level, I want it to stay in that same time frame. When it goes back to the current time, I have to scroll back a bunch of pages to get to the data I want to examine.
3. When the data is in a bar chart format, I’d love to be able to just tap on one of bars and have it tell me what the value is. It’s challenging to make the display scroll to the side so the bar on the right is selected so I can see the value.

So those are my initial thoughts. I’m not sure how many of them you can incorporate but it would be good if some of them get included.

I’ll also add my vote to people who’ve requested an internet portal. It’s ok to have it on my phone/tablet, but I’d much rather log into my account via a web browser.

Thanks

[Jim @Emporia]

Hey Mike @gizmo-bowen, thanks for all your suggestions! I’ll try to address a few of them.
Hardware

1. Stickers are a great idea. We’ll forward to the product team. I’ll say this here and it will apply to several of the items below. Emporia’s goal is to make energy monitoring products more available to all, and to provide the most value at the lowest price possible. Many of the hardware decisions we make have to do with keeping our entry level price-point under $50. That being said, we want the customer experience to be as good as we can make it at that price and if we can include some your suggestions in the future and still meet our price, we’ll sure try to include them.
2. You’re the first to ask for foam tape, but we’ll forward to the team.
3. This originally had to do with cost and where we got the enclosure manufactured, in the future all ports will be labeled.
4. Unfortunately, the manual you have is outdated, we’ve tried to get that version out of circulation, but a few are still out in the wild.
5. Good feedback, we’ll look to add a more obvious solution in the future.
6. Agreed, safety is paramount. We’ll look into yours and other solutions.

Software
Thanks for the feedback here. We’ve heard similar feedback from several customers and we’re working hard on a big overhaul of that app, with special attention going to the shortcomings on the graph page plus another new page that will help users get a quick view at all of their circuits at once. We can’t speak to the timing on the release of these new features yet, but we’ll obviously keep you all posted.

P.S.: The portal is on our list too. 😊

[EricInPNW]

Your #1 software suggestion is huge for me: “When I change screens to select a different circuit, I have to hit the back button to go to the graph. It would be faster if when I selected the circuit it immediately went back to the graph.” I hope it is an easy tweak for emporia.

[GVPVSolutions]

Better yet, a right and left arrow to scroll through CT’s while in graph mode on the fly, at that specific time your looking at, should be able to scroll back and forth, back and forth, this would be very useful, especially when your first trying to identify what’s on each circuit! Hire some young game developer, its seems to be pretty straight forward data, Think bigger, different skins, notifications pop up, when my beer fridge light turns on in the garage. Just an example, sounds funny but it could easily be done. Right now the App interface is REAL BASIC, and 1990’s looking. Could be sooo much more. Just to be able to see each circuit all at once would be helpful

Thanks for your consideration,

Greg

ps: also, Abdul is very helpful, polite and patient.

 

[Jake85388]

You hit every single point i had right on the head. One thing i would mention as well as you did is the dangling clamp wires that can hit a hot circuit breaker from moving around on accident. One think im noticing is it seems my app inst tracking data except when im logged into the app, which seems to make this entire system useless. I want this tracking and saving my data 24/7 not just when im logged into the app. Maybe i have something set wrong but i dont think so.

[Author]

Posts