[Eric12312312]

You are missing the cost of the CT Clamps. Those add up pretty fast.

While, they have claimed they do not sell data, I personally do believe customer-data is apart of their business model. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have any incentive to not assist us in leveraging local access.

We KNOW a simple configuration change will direct the device to a local MQTT server. We KNOW the device is based on a easily flashable ESP. However, we also KNOW the company will provide zero assistance to assist us with building a configuration for Open source firmwares which can run on the module- to the point they openly exclaim, cloud only. So…. I do believe the data is indeed somehow apart of their business model.

But- I also do believe they are telling the truth, when they sell the unit at-cost. The unit includes all of the CT-Clamps, and adaptors needed to get everything up and running.

[Eric12312312]

/shrugs. I have even clarified, I would spend MORE for a product which gives me full control over its software.

This year, I would estimate I have dumped 600$ on purchasing various open source alternatives, such as circuitsetup and iotawatt to evaluate and review.

I made my goals very clear earlier in this thread…. I will not be buying any product, which has a dependency on the cloud which is not under my control. I am sick and tired of having cloud apps decide to yank access or change TOS causing these products to become another piece of e-waste.

 

[Eric12312312]

/shrugs. Maybe one day they will listen to us.

Too many of us have been burned by cloud products going under, samsung depreciating old smartthings hubs which were perfectly functional… cloud vendors yanking away APIs (*cough* depreciated works with NEST, Blink, Ring…. ETC)….

At which time they hear the concerns, and just give us the simple ask, of local control- they will pick up a entire new business segment.

Personally- I just spent nearly 300$ on an open source alternative, which gives me the ability to run my own firmware, and complete local control. When the device dies, I toss enough ESP32 on the board, reflash it, and keep going.

That is 200$ more than this product sells for, for almost exactly the same functionality.

Just saying…..

[Eric12312312]

xtremeownage

.com

/2021/08/11/home-assistant-energy-monitoring-options

[Eric12312312]

I cannot provide a link, as that seems to be the only way to invoke any official response here-

But, I can say- if you look at /r/homeassistant

There is a thread I created, titled “Home Assistant – Options and Solutions for Energy Monitoring”

I documented every major, well-known option I could find, along with pros, cons, and if it had an integration with Home Assistant, rather official, or third party.

There are options ranging from 50$ up to 399$ Ranging from a single circuit, up to 42 circuits.

[Eric12312312]

Its quite sad too- The product HAS the capability.

They literally have the perfect hardware stack for this. ESP-Based, Modular, Cost-Effective, and great form-factor.

They just choose to purposely force the use of cloud-ONLY apis on everyone.

If- they would literally just give a simple option, for any local access- whether it be- allowing a user to specify a local MQTT server to also send updates to, or an API, or, user-replaceable firmware (without having to open the case)- I Literally know an entire community of thousands of people who are actively trying to invest into a tool with these exact capabilities, but, with local access to data.

But- being a developer / hobbyist hardware person- I do feel these units are being sold at a loss, or at least- not at a profit. Components are not free. CT Clamps cost money. And- based on the official responses- I can only assume they are somehow profiting from the cloud data, which would backup their reasoning behind a cloud-only API.

Personally- I actually had one of these devices ordered, with the intentions on popping the case off, and reflashing the onboard ESP to run my own custom firmware. The reason I backed out- is because I could spend 50$ more, and not have to worry about ANY of those concerns, and I would receive a device, with documentation on exactly how to run my own firmware, without any issues. It’s all completely open source.

For reversing this device- reversing the logic behind the ESP32 would be piece of cake. Tracing out the GPIO/ADC ports is quite easy. Determining the purpose behind, and reversing the auxiliary processor would be a decent amount harder, but, still doable. All said and done- it would likely take me 3-20 hours to properly reverse this device to run my own firmware. Or- pay 50$ more and have a solution I can put into place, in minutes.

BUT- for emporia- we have voice our concerns for wanting to use our data locally without your cloud api. You refuse to listen- so, Congratulations on missing out on a unique opportunity to cash in on quite a few thousand home assistant users looking for energy monitoring solutions. (This month’s update added a ton of nice fancy energy monitoring features)

 

[Eric12312312]

Well, in before they just ban me, Lets just say- Circuit Setup without a space.

If they do indeed ban me- I dont’ feel bad.

Based on the official replies in this thread- They don’t listen to customer needs.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Eric12312312.

[Eric12312312]

Meh, I went in the direction of a open-source competitors project.

Native LOCAL integration with my home automation. Supports REST, Serial, JSON, MQTT, You name it.

I don’t have to worry about the company going under in 5 or 10 years, because the device runs my own firmware….

And, I am not at the mercy of somebody else’s web services.

Did I mention, I get data updates as quickly as I want. Every 1 second if I need.

[Eric12312312]

I do see it does have an auxiliary processor on board as well.

 

From a simple perspective, can sniff for serial traffic from the esp. If there is no traffic, then I can leverage my oscilloscope to find the function of the individual gpio pins.

 

From that point, it’s not terribly hard to get everything configured correctly.

 

But, the important part 8s figuring out what method it uses to multiplex all of the sensors. My initial guess- is that the auxiliary processor handles a big part of it….

 

Oh well, a few evenings scoping will shine some light.

 

Or, ya know, they could allow local api access…

[Eric12312312]

@Emporia

If you want me to buy your device, let me collect my data locally. If your product would let me leverage my own MQTT system, or EVEN had a serial output over wifi, I would have one in my house already.

A lesson to learn- people who are serious about home automation, and data collection, REALLY enjoy having local control over their devices. My philosophy- if the device doesn’t work when the internet isn’t up- I don’t want it.

Give me the ability to use your device, without a connection to the cloud, and I will buy one.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Eric12312312. Reason: enable notification email

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