Appliance-specific labeling (not just circuit-specific)

[solarnerd]

I’m loving my Vue so far! One thing that would really kick competitors to the curb is if the Vue had the ability to tag specific loads as appliances and “sense” them (sound familiar?). For example, I know that my AC unit draws roughly the same power every time it’s on. If it shares a circuit with other devices, then it would be great to tag that kw usage as the AC so the app knows within some % tolerance that it’s the AC unit.

Or maybe something like the garage door opener, washer, etc so we know when certain appliances are likely running instead of “Oh hey, your circuit breaker for the kitchen spiked in kw! Why? Well you better check the kitchen now or you’ll have no idea what triggered the usage in an hour when you come back to the app and see it for the first time.”

Thr way it is now, I have to manually keep track of specific appliances by kw usage and refer back to my references when I’m looking in the app. If I could tag and filter by appliances that would be awesome!

 

Of course, the sensing ability becomes less useful for smaller loads like 10-100w. It would be more for the 100+w loads that you could tag by turning on the device for a minute, letting the chart see it, then tagging that kw usage as XYZ appliance.

 

The app could then know every time X watts happens instantly on that specific circuit, it’s most likely your tagged appliance.

• This topic was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by solarnerd.

[waterboyz]

I have my entire panel on a spreadsheet.  But, since the description field is so tiny I’m not able to identify what is on the general circuits as reported by Emporia.  I have 2 units in my panel so most of the important circuits are monitored.

[Emporia Support]

Hi @solarnerd,

I understand what you’re describing, but unfortunately given the fact that we only measure at the circuit level, its difficult to pull that number apart for appliance specific reporting. As both yourself and @waterboyz have mentioned, keeping track of this is best done outside of the app itself for the moment. We’re looking at different ways to add some data analytics/management for these kind of situations, but we don’t have any solutions at the moment that are pertinent enough to discuss in depth. The best way at the moment to manage the monitoring of specific loads would be to setup a Smart Plug for your appliance, and within the App, “nest” the Plug under the circuit (so that the Smart Plug data and Circuit data will coordinate). If you’d like pointers for how to set that up, feel free to reach out to support. Just one note, Smart Plugs are not available for heavy load appliances at the moment, so it wouldn’t be useful for an AC unit.

Regarding a limited character count in the description field, I’d be happy to pass that request onto the development team for consideration if desired.

Thanks!

Emporia Support Team

[Author]

Posts