Thanks Eric. Went for it and all seems to be working with the HEM. It was a very tight fit to get one of the clamps on, but it works. Now I need to hardwire the power in there, if anyone has done that, please let me know what you did.
Now if I could just figure out how to get PlotWatt to work. Everything on the HEM works and updates in feed to ST fine every 15 seconds. I have tried several PlotWatt smart apps, enter the key and house ID, but activity feed never shows them trying to push any data to PlotWatt. No errors, nothing. I must be missing a step somewhere. Again, any help or advice on this would be much appreciated.
Update, I was able to get info pushed to PlotWatt. I did not realize I had to create a meter using curl. That proved to be a challenge, as I had no idea what curl was. But after installing a zillion different programs I was able to execute a curl command in Windows and create the meter. Slapped that into the PlotWatt app instead of my house ID and all is a go.
As far as the hard wiring of the HEM version 1 . Here is the way I approached it.
Purchased a set of 3 USB wall adapters that were the ultra small size. Found here Amazon USB Wall adapters
The reason I purchased these was because of a āflawā that a reviewer mentioned as a negative , but for this application I saw it as a positive. Let me explain.
The Amazon reviewer stated that the casing for the USB Power Adapter became detached from the front to the rear. He claimed it (the USB Power adapter) was separated and was received in that fashion. The customer was sent a replacement by the Amazon seller and were happy afterwards. I thought - āDamn, thatās awesome that the separate so easily!ā
. I needed a USB connector that I could easily separate so that I could unsolder the wires internally that connect to the 2 spades that poke out the front and are normally placed into a standard 120 Volt Home Outlet. Then I could solder the 2 internal wires from the internal USB circuitry to some 12 AWG (gauge) wire and then poke those wires through and run them into a breaker within my breaker box. Just doubling up those wires with existing wires that were being powered. I then used hot glue on the face where the wires protruded. That would help water seal the plug. The plug front and rear halves just snap apart and back together unlike many that are one solid piece of plastic.
I have more wire and additional USB adapters that I would not be using if you want me to fab you one up.
I was lucky for hardwiring, as my breaker box is surface mounted, and has a couple sets of wall outlets right below. So all I had to do was wedge one of the knockout ports open, run the sensor wires through, and sticky mount the HEM itself to the wall right next to the box.
If anybody has been using the PlotWatt Logger I referenced above in conjunction with their HEM, a recent platform update broke that app. Here is an updated app, called PlotWatt Connector that also lets you send your readings in batches, which is great. This works with the platform update and you can read about the issue in the thread as well.
You need a meter ID, not the house ID. Itās about eight characters. It is a royal PIA to get, I had to google forever to find the CURL commands and then figure out CURL.
Iād suggest for most non-technical folks, they see if they can email PlottWatt and get them to do it for them. Maybe after enough requests, theyāll put a button on their interface to let the user self generate the meter ID.
Thanks for documenting. Both myself and the originator of the app were hoping to put meter ID generation into the script but once you have it done you donāt need it anymore.
I donāt seem to have a place where I can connect the clamps after the main circuit breaker. Should I, after getting the power shut off from the power company, connect the clamps to the main lines coming into the main circuit breaker? https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9021855/electricpanel.png
Yes! That is where one can connect them. When the main breaker is on and not tripped power (current) will flow as it is needed by devices within the home. When no devices in the home are consuming power then there will be no current flow (well there may be a trickle, but thats another discussion).
Think of it as running water and the devices in the home are valves. Unplug a device in the home and the valve is turned off. Notice I did not state āturn offā the TV and the valve is off. Thats because even when a device is switched off there can be some small current flow (led light indicators and such still require some power)
So any current flowing through the breaker will be captured by the Aeon Labs Energy Meter clamps before or after the main breaker.
Be super careful with installing the clamps there as those wires are always āhotā. Do not touch the wires themselves or the LUGS with the allen bolts that are being used to clamp down the two main wire feeds.
Only use one hand and if possible put on a nitrile glove on that hand that is being used.
Reason: You do not want to use two hands and complete the path for current to flow from one hand through your body and heart and then through the other hand.
Nitrile will act as a āslightā insulator . As will rubber soled shoes.
Or give an electrician a call an explain what you want done. Let them know you just need them to clamp 2 CT sensors onto the shielded main coming into the breaker box. It will literally take them 10 seconds. And they might be willing to stop by and do it for cheaper than it would cost to have power company come out.
Iām the DIY type but donāt want to take any unnecessary risk. I could wait for either the power company or an electrician and will do so if thats prudent and/or necessary. Seems so simple ā I have clear access to the shielded cable (3-4 inches) above the wire/LUGS or even several feet away where they feed into the electrical box - is there risk of arcāing or something else that I should be aware of? Sounds like I could DIY if I clamped the main insulated wires where they enter the electrical panel (on the bottom versus the top where the lugs are).
If an electrician is going to literally just add the clamps to the two insulated wires and walk away I donāt see why I couldnāt do the same - I mean it seems like minimal risk. But if I was 100% confident I wouldnāt be typing this response out asking more questions. ?
Update: I thought it through and came to the conclusion it was very low risk. Install went fine, paired up after clicking it a few times. Thanks again for the help understanding this.
No arcing possible. Your body has a specific resistance to the current finding a path to ground. That resistance is increased quite a bit by adding insulators such as rubber soled shoes and gloves that provide insulation to the exposed parts of the wires.
Essentially the sheath of the wiring is providing insulation and you are adding to that by using gloves and shoes with rubber soles. Now if you were barefooted and standing in a puddle of water that had a high content of metal solids and minerals within that water while placing your foot up against a metal pole that was driven down into the earth then you would be decreasing the amount of resistance to earth ground and greatly increasing the likelihood of a large amount of current flow through your body if the portion of bare wire was touched or brushed up against. Just remember that the earth itself (the dirt and soil of the earth) is what the current wants to flow towards.
Throw on the nitrile and add some garden gloves over them.
Electricians have a base rate that they will charge for a visit. Typically its an hour of labor even if it takes them 30 seconds of actual work to complete the task. There are things like fuel and time spent that could be devoted to other more ālucrativeā tasks.
If you want to make your local electricians day then by all means call them.
If you are anywhere near Bay Area Cali or Lake Tahoe NV I will shoot over and do it for you. Oh, and in many areas the power company will not add something that they deem as ānon-standardā to your main breaker box. It opens up areas of liability.
This is a great device type, and with the fantastic PlotWatt integration it makes it even better!
A thought though (and hopefully @drshaw has the answer!), if I wanted to alter the device type to report production for my solar array, where would one edit the device type to either invert the production number, or hard code it as a negative value? The idea being that when reported to PlottWatt, it would invert and cancel out another meter reporting a usage.
Thanks to the community, these $30 energy reporters have replaced a terrible TED 5000 setup with a much, much better integration! Thanks all!
I would not install that way. I would push one of the lugs out on the side of the box (where there are no live wires near) and put the pig tails of the sensor through the hole and screw in a screw and attach the sensor outside the boxā¦ inside the metal box you will most likely have signal issuesā¦ also just cleaner
asking more questions. ?
