Thoughts and questions on the new Vue 3

[flyoffacliff]

I was a bit surprised by the Vue 3 announcement when I saw it on a news site a few weeks ago. Looks like all the changes are fairly minor, but certainly appreciated nevertheless. Looking forward to being able to cut the CT cables to length.

I feel like there are a couple more in demand hardware related improvements though that have not been addressed, based on my thoughts and the other people in this forum. Specifically the number of circuits supported. I assumed the next model that came out would support 24 or 32 circuits, either though additional CT ports with modules included or sold separately, or even via an “expansion board” for an additional cost, but unfortunately it still seems to be limited to just 16.

I kind of get the feeling the designers of the product may not reside in the United States, and therefore don’t fully understand how our homes are wired here. Homes in the US are typically larger than many other countries and our electric codes are pretty advanced nowadays, and require more circuits. It’s not uncommon anymore to have 6 circuits in a kitchen alone, let alone a full house. This alone almost maxes out the cheaper Vue.

When I install these for people, I have to get very creative rearranging all the breakers in the panel to combine circuits onto CTs strategically.

A few other things from the announcement that I am also wondering about are:

1. “Voltage channels are now independently measured, essentially eliminating errors caused by adjacent channels.”

If I’m understanding this correctly, it’s saying that on a split phase system, it will measure the voltage on each leg independently and use that value for power factor correction for any CTs (somehow) identified as being on that leg?

2. Connectivity.

Code in the United States does not allow Ethernet in an electrical enclosure with line voltage. Does the product have a safe way to get around this such as mounting the ethernet jack to a knockout hole?

3. By “improved LED visibility”, I’m guessing the LEDs will also be mounted to a knockout hole so they are visible to the user while the panel is closed.

• This topic was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by flyoffacliff.

[flyoffacliff]

Hi, any chance I could get an official update on some of these points please?

[EnergyNerd iThree]

Panels are so crowded, I have installed Vue outside the panel.
Open a knockout, run all the wires to a separate adjacent enclosure.  That solves the ethernet wire problem.

[Author]

Posts