[billmi]

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately, the busbars downstream of the service disconnect breaker are flush with their plastic mounting hardware, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get the flexible CTs around them without ending up below where the branch circuit breakers mount which leaves me with the nesting problem of option 2.

I have found dimensioned drawings for the flexible CTs, and thin clamp CTs, in the online store and will measure available spaces. I might be able to shut down the disconnect and be able to work the flexible CTs through the gaps and around the bus bars just above where the branch circuit breakers are now (pulling those to give more clearance while I work) but just rough eyeballing it those spaces look too small.

I appreciate your caution re the top bars, which may be my only choice to directly monitor the full load. Those most definitely are always live unless the power company gets paid to come out for a connect/reconnect visit. If I go that route I will likely do it live, I am not a novice in this regard. I routinely work around exposed 480v busbars in industrial three phase motor control cabinets and would not even consider attempting this without the guidance and support of a licensed professional electrician with whom I work.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by billmi.

[billmi]

Hello,

I’m Bill. I’m a controls engineer with a SCADA manufacturer, where I design and integrate custom automation, monitoring and ceontrol solutions for public utilities.
I’m planning a Vue 2 installation at home. I narrowed things down to the Vue 2 from other monitoring options both because I liked being able to configure what is tracked (as opposed to AI guessing what a particular load is), because the there is a Home Assistant integration for Emporia’s cloud service. Just remotely controlling things does not make a home “smart” – things like the home turning on the exterior lights when I pull up the street at night, notifying me that there is a problem with the pool pump because it drew too much or too little power, or lights turning on in a specific color or pattern as a notification that the clothes dryer is done – because it stopped drawing power – those things are “smart.” I also like that there is an open-source option to re-flash the Vue and query it for data directly if at some point in the future the cloud service is no longer available. That’s not something I want to use, but it is a bit of peace of mind when purchasing hardware that it’s not necessarily dependent on an external service.

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