[djwakelee]

Also, just noticed that your balance figure is green.  This means the system thinks there is surplus unaccounted power coming from somewhere – being generated, not consumed.  So that is why the math is behaving like a subtraction instead of addition.  When the balance is blue, that means it is un-monitored load (consumption).

So still need to work through what is wrong in the setup, but that explains the math.  My first guess would be unbalanced 240V circuits – which would need two clamps and no multipler to be correct.

[djwakelee]

In your list, I see loads that are 120V, and others that are likely 240V.  Yet you only show one entry for the 240V loads – so I’m guessing you are using 2x multipliers for those, and single clamp?  Not all 240V loads are balanced, so that doesn’t always work.  A 240V water heater would be, but a dryer or stove may not be.  So that’s the first thing to check.

Other thing is do you have any solar or other power generation hooked up (battery storage, etc)?  If you do, that will make things weird also, if they aren’t monitored by the Vue 2 with dedicated clamps.

And finally, I had a scenario where a couple of my circuit clamps were being influenced by adjacent wiring power consumption – and yielded higher readings.  This was not because they weren’t clamped properly (which they need to be), but because the ferrite material in the clamps was cracked.

To troubleshoot, when the mismatch is occurring, turn off each of you monitored load’s circuit breakers and see if you get things to add up properly (or at least close – there will always be a small error).  This will point you to what device / clamp / circuit is involved with this.

Also make sure your two mains clamps and fully closed and secure, as well as all the circuit clamps.

A photo of your setup, as well as list of your 240V circuits and multipliers would also help to see if anything unusual immediately jumps out.

 

[djwakelee]

There is a write up on the forum with photos.  Just hard to search for it.  I will try and find it.

Found it…

Hacking the SmartPlug to be always ON.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by djwakelee.

[djwakelee]

Totally agree this is needed.  Some people have even physically opened up the units and modified them make them always on, since there have been many glitches with the software operation – turning off loads after brief power outages.

[djwakelee]

Looks fine.  No problem that the Vue 2 will press against the front cover.

It can get much more messy when you use the 16 circuit sensors also, or if you have multiple Vue 2’s and use 32 sensors for a big panel.

[djwakelee]

I had a couple sensors where the ferrite material was cracked.  So when the sensor was closed, it really wasn’t totally.  Interesting behavior – would pick up false power from adjacent wires.  Emporia sent new ones – no problem.  Chat support is great.  Firmware and app updates for the Vue 2 – not so much.

[djwakelee]

FYI, this link has a photo of some of the internals.  I don’t see the 400V capacitor you mention.  And there are many other parts (and clearances) that would need to be checked.

Hacking the SmartPlug to be always ON.

[djwakelee]

Thanks for the reply.  Well, I guess I’d have to see the circuit.  Just because the caps are 400V rated doesn’t mean the low voltage power supply will appreciate the 230V long term.  Somewhere in there is a regulator for the ESP8266 WiFi chip, stepping the AC line voltage down to 5VDC or 3.3VDC.  Some sort of DC voltage also needs to drive the relay coil.  Everything on the primary side of that step down circuit would need be able to deal with 230/240VAC.  Proper clearance distances on the circuit board as well.  I’ve not looked at the components or configuration, but confirming 230V safe operation would perhaps take a little bit more checking.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by djwakelee.

[djwakelee]

What modifications are needed to convert the unit to 230/240V?  Did you just add plug adapters, or change the electronics in some way?  Are the reported power readings correct with your 230V mains?

Thanks.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by djwakelee.

[djwakelee]

Not sure about what the correct power up behavior is with the latest firmware, but if you search the forum, you’ll find many issues regarding random on or off after power outages.  People with just a brief power outages caused the plug to shut off and it never came back on, losing the contents of their fridge / freezer.  Until this condition is fixed, I think general advice is to use these on non-critical loads only.  Will it ever be fixed – don’t know, Emporia seems to be focusing on new product offerings like EV chargers and not putting resources on correcting the issues with the Vue 2 and Smart plugs.

Also, some have cracked these open to rewire so they are just power monitors (always on), to avoid this issue.  There is a thread here about that.  If you are handy in electronics, something to consider if you really like the device.

[djwakelee]

Power off the Vue 2, then power off your router.  Restore power to your router, wait for your network to come back up, then turn back on the Vue 2.  This worked for me – something about the Vue 2 not releasing ports and then the router running out.

[djwakelee]

If you have a photo of your install, sometimes the issue is obvious.

[djwakelee]

The balance is showing you the power for the circuits you don’t have circuit clamps on.  In your photo above, you have some other non-monitored devices drawing 752W, or 62% of the total 1.195kW for your home.

[djwakelee]

I’m going to say no.  The CTs in use here are somewhat designed to work best for low frequency 50/60 Hz.  Your microinverters (Enphase or otherwise) speak on the power line in the 100-200MHz band.

I have all kinds of CT clamps on my setup.  32 Emporia circuit clamps, Emporia mains clamps, Enphase consumption clamps, Enphase production clamps, The-Energy-Detective consumption and solar clamps.  I don’t monitor the solar for microinverter comms errors, but during setup everything was in the green.  I also have legacy X10 devices in my home, and those operate in the same general frequency as the solar comms – but seem to coexist without issue.

I would more suspect a noisy device in your home.  Not audible noise, but electrical noise.  A cheap CCFL or LED bulb for example, or a poorly designed AC/DC power brick.  Have anything new like that in your home?

[djwakelee]

The mains clamps do measure power direction, so they do have to be set right.  Supposedly the hardware is capable of measuring power direction for the circuit clamps also, but they are aren’t doing this at this time.  Has been a open feature request which they have said to be working on, but this is going on well over a year now.  They seem to be focusing on releasing new devices (like the EV charger), and less-so on existing system improvements.  Still a good energy monitor for the money.

At present it shouldn’t matter which direction your circuit clamps are.  Some people even purposely install them backwards because the wiring is a bit cleaner in the panel.  But it should be setup as below – from everything I understand and have seen documented (should they ever enable power direction measurement)…

1) Mains clamps: Arrow points from grid->panel.

2) Subpanel mains clamps: Arrow points from feeder->subpanel.

3) Circuits clamps for loads: Arrow points from breaker->circuit wiring.

4) Circuit clamps for solar:  Arrow points from solar circuit->solar breaker at panel.

 

[Author]

Posts