I previously purchased the Belkin WEMO Insight switches, but the Android app is terrible, and it doesn’t seem to have historical energy monitoring.
I’d like to get some power outlets that I can connect to SmartThings and monitor energy usage over say, the last month.
I’ve searched through the forums - and it seems there are lots of issues getting the Aeon Labs Smart Switch 6, or the WEMO Insight to work, even with lots of hacking around.
Are there any other smart power outlets that people can recommend that work with SmartThings and do energy monitoring?
The Iris smart plug and several Zooz devices have power metering and work with ST. ST keeps about a week of history however search the community for logging as there are several solutions like @krlaframboise’s simple event logger:
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tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
3
We have an ActionTiles beta tester who puts amazing power usage graphs on his dashboard Panels.
SmartThings Integration in community BUT IT REQUIRES A HUB (always on PC or Raspberry, etc, running free apps). All associated hub applet software and device handlers are free.
TP-Link KASA App for the HS 110 is very nice and has day, month, and weekly stats.
HS110 Device in “TP-Link Bulbs and Plug Control” does the same. It would also be feasible to get stats for an the latest 12 months.
DISCLAIMER - I am the author of the referenced Device Handlers and Hub application.
There are two separate issues here. The first is getting a historical picture of the data. As others have mentioned, there are many different ways to do logging with SmartThings. See the following overview thread (this is a clickable link)
So those work with any events which are being written to the SmartThings log. And you can generally keep as much history as you want, just depending on the specific logging solution that you’re using.
Now we come to the question of what device should you use to report the data. That is what specific brand and model of plug-in pocketsocket will provide you with the energy usage data in the first place.
I’m now going to give a very unpopular opinion, based on my education and experience in network engineering.
Z wave and zigbee home automation are mesh topologies, intended for very tiny messages sent infrequently. Data like “the light switch was turned on.” You’ll notice, for example, that many of the devices that report temperature or humidity will only do so once every 15 minutes. Even motion sensors may only check once every three minutes.
Monitoring energy usage just doesn’t fit that model. It’s almost always done every second or every five seconds, continuously 24 hours a day. It pounds the network, sends a ton of traffic, and almost guarantees that some of the messages sent to The pocketsocket for repeating will get lost or delayed. All the things that are bad about too frequent polling in a mesh network are also bad about too frequent energy reporting.
In fact, if you want to crater your zwave network, try putting three energy reporting pocketsockets in the same room with no other nearby repeaters.
So speaking just for myself, and again, I know this is an unpopular opinion, I would only use Wi-Fi pocketsockets for energy reporting. Just keep that stuff off the mesh.
The TP Link mentioned above are good, although obviously you need the “man in the middle” server.
There are several other Wi-Fi pocketsockets with energy monitoring, there just isn’t any good way to integrate them with SmartThings.
If you have a serious need for energy monitoring, such as a solar or generator powered system, you could consider the curb whole house device which does have a SmartThings integration. It’s about $400, but if the alternative is putting an energy monitoring pocketsocket on every outlet, it’s worth considering. And again, it doesn’t run over your mesh.
So as I said, I know mine will be an unpopular opinion. There are a couple of different zigbee or Z wave pocket sockets which offer energy monitoring, and others can speak to individual brand features. I just feel that as a device class, Energy monitoring is not a good match to a mesh topology.
@Gutheinz Interesting - do you have a link to this software?
The TP-Link HS110 seems a lot cheaper than the Belkin WEMO Insight - around AUD 40 vs AUD 90. And if it’s more reliable, and works well with SmartThings, I might get it instead.
First, I have participated in both the referenced sections. The “how-to” section got me started to where I am today.
Second. A separate hub is needed since to control the bulb, communications have to be on the LAN interface. The SmartThings. The TP-Link bulbs and plugs only support TCP (or UDP) communications over the LAN; however, SmartThings does NOT TCP nor UDP two-way communications (so you know the command is sent). The hub is therefore a HTTP to TCP translator.
PS - Love Australia. Spent better part of a year there in Melbourne (and Adelaide) working with BAE Aus.
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
11
This is true and especially a problem with the default configuration and Device Type Handler for SmartThings’s (CentraLite) ZigBee outlets.
While they only report on Watt utilization changes, frequent slight variations are very common in most electrical uses.
In analyzing resource utilization of the ActionTiles Cloud, we found that over 80% of all SmartThings Events are change in Power utilization reports!
We find it absolutely incredible that SmartThings hasn’t set a significantly higher maximum reporting frequency on their outlets or added throttling in the DTH or platform, 'cuz this must be a tremendous tax on their cloud expenses!
Yes, but how much bandwidth is actually being used? The messages are small.
If smartthings infrastructure can handle video streams integrations, it can certainly handle a few small messages from a few smart outlets.
I highly recommend either the smartthings outlet or the iris outlets. For real time notifications they work great! For notifications for when the washer is done etc.
They work local and control is instant!!
So we can be worried about the overhead of some really small intermittent messages from an outlet, but not worried about the bandwidth required for video?
Reporting a small packet every second or 5 seconds is Really nothing
Whatever video integration is being offered, it isn’t occurring over the mesh networks.
If what you have is working for you, that’s great. But for those concerned with network efficiencies, frequent energy reporting is better matched to a star or point to point topology. So WiFi or Bluetooth rather than zwave or zigbee.
As A couple of people have mentioned in the thread, some devices keep the data themselves and only report it a few times a day. In that case there won’t be a problem. So check to see what the individual device does.
So to clarify my original point: it’s not the energy monitoring itself that’s the issue, it’s the frequency of reporting to the hub.
Actually, for the TP-Link devices, the device maintains the usage (watts per day). Capturing data involves once-a-day week / month stat poll and parse and with every command getting current rate and today’s total. Only function missing is total on-time.
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tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
15
Every single SmartThings “Event” puts load on their Cloud regardless of the size. Network utilization may be small, but every Event is stored and needs to be checked against subscription lists, purged after 7 days, etc…
SmartThings certainly is optimized, I hope, to handle millions of Events, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be looking for savings. We added minimal filtering to Power Events and saved over 80% in our load.
