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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 167 total)
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  • in reply to: Using Emporia Vue Gen2 With Starlink (UK) #9035 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    Not sure how you are setup, but the Vue 2 is only 2.4GHz 802.11 Wifi.  For example, if you have the Starlink Wifi set for 5GHz only, the Vue 2 WiFi would not be able to connect.  Don’t know anything about Starlink though – if there might be other settings to check.

    in reply to: Solar math is wrong #9030 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    If they ever did use current direction, yes the arrows matter.  It does matter for the mains, where they show +/- consumption.  But for the circuit clamps, as mentioned, you can presently install them either direction.  The arrows don’t matter – until they decide to provide bi-directional info.

    Yes, it could be the cloud where they are taking the absolute value and reconciling with circuit type (solar or not), but it could be the hardware / firmware that is implemented in the Vue 2 also.  At a low level, they have an Atmel microcontroller that does the power measurement.  Then have and ESP32 that talks to it, and communicates up to the cloud (Amazon AWS MQTT, from what others have investigated).  At the lowest level, the Atmel part is able to know the power flow direction, phase voltage, power factor, etc.  Who distills that down to lesser information is not clear.  So when I say the hardware may not present the info, I mean the hardware / firmware that is in the Vue 2 – versus something on the cloud or app.  Unlear what in the hardware can be firmware updated.  They may only be able to update the ESP32, and the power measurement microcontroller may not be.

    A related example.  Initially the Emporia app didn’t display Amps.  Emporia added this based on popular customer request (one of the rare times they added a feature), but they did so by merely dividing the real power by 120V.  Two problems with this: 120V may not be 120V, and real power can’t be used to get Amps without power factor.  So the amps shown on the app is only accurate if you have resistive loads, and exactly 120V.  And the reason they did this is because the Vue 2 doesn’t communicate Amps to the cloud – only real power.

    If they updated the device firmware, cloud, and app – this product would be so much better – without the bugs and a few basic features that are lacking.  But their focus seems to be a new revenue and products, and not making existing products better.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by djwakelee.
    in reply to: Solar math is wrong #9025 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    The CT’s are indeed able to determine the direction of the current flow.  It is either the hardware or cloud that converts it to an absolute value for both loads and generation, then sets to positive or negative based on circuit type (solar generation or not).  Not sure if it is hardware or cloud – but it isn’t the app as the same problem exists if you download the cloud data.  Some people have installed the circuit CT’s in the opposite orientation, since that can fit the wiring better in tight electrical panels.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by djwakelee.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by djwakelee.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by djwakelee.
    in reply to: Monitoring individual 240V inputs #9020 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    #1) Power no.  Amps yes.  If you change the units to Amps (instead of Watts), it will show the Amps on each phase (A and B).

    #2) Don’t understand what you are asking exactly.  The A/B ports are to be connected to the mains, whereas ports 1-16 are for the circuits.  I don’t understand why you would want to parallel the two.

    #3) Again, not sure what you are asking here.  The power is measured for the whole house with the A and B ports via the 200A clamps on the mains, and you measure individual circuits on ports 1-16 with the 50A CT’s.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by djwakelee.
    in reply to: Solar math is wrong #9016 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    Sadly, this is the case.  The Vue 2 product has great potential at a good price, but Emporia seems to have abandoned supporting it.  They no longer reply to this forum either.  It you can deal with the issues, it is a good value.  But it is disappointing how many things like this were promised to be on the road map, but dates came and went without any changes.  Seems like all effort has gone to the EV charger, and nothing on the Energy monitor.

    in reply to: Solar math is wrong #9014 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    Known issue.  They only measure current one way on the circuit clamps – load or generation.  As a result, night-time inverter and/or microinverter dark power draw is falsely shown as generation.  They’ve said before that they could properly show this, but they don’t seem to be addressing any bugs or feature requests for the Vue 2 – for whatever reason.

    djwakelee
    Member

    Yeah, they released the web version about a year ago – didn’t initially have it.  Glad it is working for you.

    djwakelee
    Member

    Can’t help with BlueStacks, but do you know that Emporia works in a web browser on Windows / Mac / etc?  Works basically the same as the app.  https://web.emporiaenergy.com

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by djwakelee.
    in reply to: Vue port numbering scheme? #8982 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    The A-C and 1-16 port numbers are printed on the back of the unit.  Page 8 of the installation guide has a detailed illustration as well.

    https://www.emporiaenergy.com/installation-guides

    in reply to: Smart plug without the switch #8974 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    Based on the number of issues with the smart plugs as detailed on this forum, I don’t know if I would trust just one test.  And it’s not just that they don’t reliably come back on after a power or internet outage, but that they are failing at random.  Given that, I would not place these on a freezer unless the ‘always on’ mod is done, or if Emporia comes out with always on plugs from the factory.

    in reply to: Smart plug without the switch #8970 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    Here is the thread.  The green wire next to the relay is the always-on mod.

    Hacking the SmartPlug to be always ON.

    in reply to: Smart plug without the switch #8969 Report Abuse
    djwakelee
    Member

    If you are handy with electronics, there is a thread here which shows how to modify a smart plug to be always on (relay bypassed).  In that mode it returns the data you are looking for.  Agree that you should not put a smart plug on a critical item – many reports of these glitching and not turning back on after short duration power or internet outages.  They are also prone to bricking – just FYI.  Not sure if that cause has been identified or remedied, but rampant reports on this forum of those issues.  Just something to watch out for.

    djwakelee
    Member

    Just to clarify, Volts x Amps does not equal Watts.  For AC, Volts x Amps x Power Factor = Watts (real power).  Volts x Amps = VA (apparent power).  The Vue 2 will give you real power (W), whereas using a DVM for current and voltage you will only see apparent power (VA).

    A true RMS vs. non-true RMS DVM will definitely yield different results also.  You’d indeed want to use that, and then just measure a purely resistive load like a heater circuit.  Assuming your AC voltage is close to 120/240V, the Vue2’s ‘calculated’ Amps should match your true RMS DVM Amps reading within a few percent.

     

     

     

     

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

    The Vue2 doesn’t show you actual amps.  It takes the real power, and divides by 120V.  Emporia added Amps to the software by customer request (originally the app didn’t have it), but fundamentally Amps is not communicated from the device -> cloud -> app.  As designed, the Vue 2 is an energy and power meter – not a volt or ampmeter (even though it does those low-level readings to get the power).

    The measurement you make with your fluke is only showing amps.  It does not show you the phase relationship with voltage.  Unless you measure the current on a purely resistive circuit (electric hot water tank, dryer, range, heater), power factor comes into play, and you will have different power readings.  Your furnace is not a pure resistive load (it has inductance and is a reactive load), so VA and W will be different.  Emporia is lying with the Amps figure, but the power (in W) is correct.

    If you want to understand more, do some reading on apparent (VA) and real power (W).  If it doesn’t hurt your brain, it may shed some light on things for you.  But the fundamental issue is that Amps display on the Vue 2 assumes a power factor of 1.0 and voltage of 120.0V.  This is not generally the case so the Amps readings won’t match.  But the actual power displayed (W), energy (kWh), and $ is correct for the loads.

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

    This is also being covered in another thread, but it may be by design.  3-phase (in the US) is typically for commercial customers, and that is billed by the utility as VA (apparent power).   Residential power is billed in W (real power), and the Vue 2 does this properly for split phase 120/240V.

    I’m not sure why Emporia does not respond to this forum often, but you may get better results by chatting with them.  It may be by design, and not actually a bug.  The product seems very US centric – they may not have considered that other countries have 3-phase residential power and real power billing.

Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 167 total)