Can I use extra CT 50 to monitor generator backfed breaker?

[Hoof]

Hi all,

I recently purchased  Vue 2 with 8 CT circuit monitors. This this is wonderful, however I do have a simple question. I have a 30 amp breaker with an interlock that feeds my panel when the utility goes down. I simply turn off the main, fire up the generator and switch on this 30 amp breaker. I’ve only used 6 of my 8 50amp CT clips, can I use the other two to monitor my generator power? I assume I just need to flip the K->L because the load will actually be going the opposite way?

It would be wonderful to see how many amps/watts are being pulled so I can determine if I can  turn on more breakers in the house or not during a power outage.

 

Thank you!

[jj613]

Yes you can do this.  In addition to  reversing the CTs you can set the multiplier to -1 in the app.  That way the app will generally work the way it should where the circuits are supposed to all add up to zero.

Note however that if your internet service is also out you will not have access to your Vue through the app so in that case you cannot use this setup to do real-time monitoring of generator load.    Also, the Vue2 isn’t great at detecting power usage spikes so if you have sump pumps or other motors on your backed up circuits you’ll have to do the power management yourself.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by jj613.

[Hoof]

This is a great tip! Thank you @jj613

Also I am not too concerned about my ISP going down during power outages. They must have their stuff running on some UPS and generators. Seems as long as I can keep my modem powered on the internet still works, at least this has been the case in the past.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 7 months ago by Hoof.

[waterboyz]

Hoof said:

Also I am not too concerned about my ISP going down during power outages. They must have their stuff running on some UPS and generators. Seems as long as I can keep my modem powered on the internet still works, at least this has been the case in the past.

I’ve had it both ways….

Utility down > Internet up.

Utility up > Internet down.

[Emporia Support]

Hello @hoof The 50 amp sensors are directional, however currently the Emporia Gen 2 firmware does not support that functionality at this time.  As mentioned we compensate for this in the app by having a flag of solar/generation, which shows all energy flow, regardless of direction as production.  We do plan on updating the firmware in the future to allow the 50 amp sensor to recognize energy flow in both directions.  There is no need for a multiplier of negative -1.   The circuit type determines how the numbers are displayed in the app.

Also during power outages where the ISP is lost, some customers use a mobile hotspot if available if their ISP is down.

To change/reconnect the Vue:

Tap the settings menu (three lines just below the Emporia logo), tap Manage Devices, Select Your Device, tap the Reset WiFi/Solar Setup , choose the Emporia product you would like to reset, follow the prompts to reconnect to your WiFi or Solar Set up.

Andrew

 

 

[jj613]

@hoof in my area most power outages are caused by trees taking down wires, and when they do, they take down everything.  The ISPs are strung on the same poles as the power and a tree can be awesomely destructive.     If I had to I would switch the Vue to my phone’s hotspot.  I haven’t tried that yet but it ought to work.      I’ve only had two outages in the last 25 years that were longer than 12 hours and I don’t think I’d go to the trouble of reprogramming the Vue for a shorter outage.    Also, my transfer switch has a couple of needle-style meters on it so my approach to managing power consumption during an outage is to put a webcam on the meters and watch them from my phone.

@emporiasupport Andrew – thanks for the tips on setting up the app for the generator.  I bought a couple of extra CTs for the generator feed and since I have a manual transfer switch my plan is, while running the generator, I’ll just unplug the utility A/B feeds and plug the generator CTs in there.  I have it all set up in its own box outside the panel so this should be easy.  I haven’t tried it yet.

[zeusvh]

Can’t wait for the 50A CTs to sense polarity. I am currently using some of them to monitor solar production through a hybrid inverter. The inverter will send solar power out when in abundance and will pull from the grid when it needs to buy it for the critical loads panel. As stated earlier, currently shows both directions as “production” 🙁

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