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    (Last Updated: June 19, 2021)
    • Smart door lock

      D

      Hi! I want to install a smart lock on my front door, but I don't know which one to choose. There are many different models available on the market. Do you have a reliable model to recommend?

      General Discussion
    • Lua - Code to encrypt / decrypt with AES 128 CBC

      parkerc

      Hi

      I’m looking to rework some code I found online so I can use it on Vera, and while I’ve managed to translate / convert a number of things, I’ve got stuck on a few things it does, around encryption/decryption etc.

      All the original Lua code is here - > (https://forum.logicmachine.net/showthread.php?tid=232&pid=16580#pid16580 )

      Plus there looks to be a python version too here - > (https://github.com/florianholzapfel/panasonic-viera/issues/9#issuecomment-476919658)

      Here’s an extract of the code where AES 128 CBC is required?

      function encrypt_soap_payload(data, key, hmac_key, iv) payload = '000000000000' n = #data payload = payload .. string.char(bit.band(bit.rshift(n, 24), 0xFF)) payload = payload .. string.char(bit.band(bit.rshift(n, 16), 0xFF)) payload = payload .. string.char(bit.band(bit.rshift(n, 8), 0xFF)) payload = payload .. string.char(bit.band(n, 0xFF)) payload = payload .. data aes_cbc, err = aes:new(key, nil, aes.cipher(128, 'cbc'), { iv = iv }, nil, 1) ciphertext = aes_cbc:encrypt(payload) sig = encdec.hmacsha256(ciphertext, hmac_key, true) encrypted_payload = encdec.base64enc(ciphertext .. sig) return encrypted_payload end function decrypt_soap_payload(data, key, hmac_key, iv) aes_cbc, err = aes:new(key, nil, aes.cipher(128, 'cbc'), { iv = iv }, nil, 0) decrypted = aes_cbc:decrypt(encdec.base64dec(data)) decrypted = string.gsub(string.sub(lmcore.strtohex(decrypted), 33), '%x%x', function(value) return string.char(tonumber(value, 16)) end) return decrypted end

      I can get to the point where I can create the parameters for the payload encrypt request (example below), it’s just the encryption/decryption I cant do..

      data="1234" key="\\S„ßÍ}/Ìa5!" hmac_key="¹jz¹2¸F\r}òcžÎ„ 臧.ª˜¹=¤µæŸ" iv=" {¬£áæ‚2žâ3ÐÞË€ú "

      I’ve found this aes.lua (https://github.com/openresty/lua-resty-string/blob/master/lib/resty/aes.lua ) module online, but that requires loads of others modules too, most notably ffi.lua. Which I’d ideally like to avoid.

      I also came across this aes128.lua (https://github.com/somesocks/lua-lockbox/blob/master/lockbox/cipher/aes128.lua ) but i’m not sure how that handles all the other parameters e.g specify the cbc aspect etc.

      Finally there’s this aes256ecb.lua script (https://github.com/idiomic/Lua_AES/blob/master/AES.lua) , could that be converted to aes 128 cbc and then used in the above?

      Any help/advice on this would be appreciated..

      General Discussion
    • Seeking experts for implementing Modbus TCP

      Crille

      I just upgraded the firmware for the inverter for my solar panels and that made it possible to enable Modbus TCP.
      At a glance that would be perfect for live production data fed into my home automation environment but my lack of knowledge about the protocol and how to put the data where I want it failed me.

      What I have:

      MSR
      openLuup
      Vera Secure
      Ezlo Plus
      Mosquitto
      Homebridge
      Windows Server
      Ubuntu Server
      Quite decent PowerShell skills
      Enough Lua knowledge to write my own functions and handlers
      The inverters Modbus interface definitions

      What I want to achive:

      Something that can be run by systemd och anything else monitoring the status and keeping the Modbus connection alive.
      Publish readings over MQTT or whatever fits my setup, the goal is to feed the data into openLuup in someway so Historian can log the data for Grafana and display current production to HomeKit (as a mqttthing light sensor, since there is no other accessory suitable at the moment).

      Anyone implemented Modbus TCP in similar projects or have any guidance on how to reach my goal?

      Open for alternative solutions as well, all suggestions are appreciated!

      General Discussion
    • http relay activate with username and password authentication

      D

      Hi to all,
      I am user of vera controller. I have a dahua door intercom with relay. Relay activates with username and password authentication. I can activate the relay http://admin:a1234567@192.168.1.111/cgi-bin/accessControl.cgi?action=openDoor&channel=1&UserID=101&Type=Remote

      As you can see intercom username admin and password is a1234567 I build a scene with luup code luup.inet.wget( "http://admin:a1234567@192.168.1.111/cgi-bin/accessControl.cgi?action=openDoor&channel=1&UserID=101&Type=Remote" ) But can not activate relay. Is there any idea?

      General Discussion
    • Vera Secure usage without mios

      D

      Hi to all, I have a bricked vera secure that is replaced with new one. Old vera secure serial numbers are deleted from vera servers so I cannot use it. Vera secure's are orginally Sercomm's NA502 model devices. Recently I install openwrt to the old vera secure unit without problem. Is there any way to use it any automation system with internal z-wave. I install domoticz but I cannot setup internal z-wave unit, it only accept usb zwave radios. Is there any ideas?

      General Discussion
    • An electricians or wiring experts here?

      cw-kid

      I ordered a Fibaro Dimmer 2 and Bypass device for my upstairs landing / hallway lights.

      I have 2 light switches one at the bottom of the stairs and another one upstairs on the landing.

      But I am struggling to make sense of my current wiring, more details / photos on the Vera forum.

      Jan 27 Anyone good at electrical wiring for light switches? Anyone good at electrical wiring for light switches?

      Hi I ordered a Fibaro Dimmer 2 and Bypass device for my upstairs landing / hallway lights. I have 2 light switches one at the bottom of the stairs and another one upstairs on the landing. I have no neutral wires in the house behind the light switches. These are photos of the light switch...

      Thanks

      General Discussion
    • Looking for ideas on how to implement an automation.

      R

      Hello,
      Looking to all the dev's and tinkerers on this community for ideas on how to implement a solution to my problem. Kind of a long intro, sorry.

      Problem statement:
      I have a geothermal heat pump that has a loop that is slightly undersized. During the cold weather months in the Pacific Northwest (one or two months of the year), the loop can get below 32 degrees. If it goes on for a few days, it can generate significant frost heaving in my yard and under the flagstone deck, Actually fixing the issue is cost prohibitive.

      Current mitigation:
      I have DS18B20 tied into Home Assistant and monitoring the temp of the fluid coming out of the loop and if it drops below 35 degrees, MSR triggers a Fibaro Implant to add a resister into the external temp circuit and fool the Venstar to think the outside temp is below 32 degrees and issue a Heat Pump lockout and switch to AUX heat. While this is working fine and the AUX heat is only coming on once or twice a day, I would like to simplify the setup so it runs on something other than HA and MSR. I think they are overkill for my issue. Also want this to be independent of anything else in the house so it can stay behind if I am not around to maintain.

      I only have two inputs and one output:
      Inputs: Loop temp, Furnace running
      Outputs: Switch relay to drop resistance to external thermostat connection on thermostat.
      Logic is super simple:
      If temp is below 36 degrees and furnace is running, turn on relay
      If furnace stops, turn off relay.
      I am sure even I can figure that out on Python.

      Trying to determine the best platform for a set it and forget it black box that works with as close to zero maintenance as possible.

      Options I have thought of are:

      Pi zero with a GPIO controlled relay ESPHome (Not very knowledgeable about that platform, but willing to explore) Arduino Anything anyone else suggests

      Any ideas are appreciated.

      General Discussion
    • Is Hubitat to HA Bridge possible?

      D

      Greetings,

      I’m researching a migration from Vera+ to Hubitat C7 and want to know if anyone has successfully connected the Hubitat to the “HA Bridge” for local Alexia calls.
      The HA Bridge does not callout Hubitat natively from what I see.

      Thanks for your assistance.

      General Discussion
    • New Developer - What I should know/do ? (Vera/OpenLuup)

      parkerc

      Hi all

      Having some time off i’ve been able to invest a chunk in creating some plug-ins for Vera/OpenLuup, and will do what I can to post them in GitHub and add links on the Vera Community and here, for anyone who is interested.

      But, being knew to any of this, I wanted to ask for any guidance on how and when I should share stuff ? How best do I share it ? Am I liable for anything I share? Is GitHub the best place ? What licenses should I associate with them ?

      The latter is a strange one, as I don’t see how I can have any claim over the content/code itself, as I’ve learnt and leveraged so much from others..

      To get the ball rolling I posted this on the ezlo/Vera site..

      Jan 4 Luup Plugin - Energenie PMS LAN Switch Luup Plugin - Energenie PMS LAN Switch

      Hi To ensure I give back to this community, which has been educating me in all things Lua and Luup over the years (12+) I wanted to share some of the plugins I’ve built recently to see if any are of use/interest to others. The first one is for the Energenie PMS LAN Switch where I have built two...

      General Discussion
    • New to Smart Home

      M

      Hey guys,

      I just registered here in the forum and honestly… I’m new to the whole topic. I‘m a web developer, so I‘ve quite a bit experience with java, js, sql and so on. But that may not help a lot in this new field.

      I‘m looking forward to develop my own smart home device and I‘m looking for starting point. In General the specs are like:

      The device should work with WiFi, I want to integrate it into my network I want to write an own app to control it, it may find the device in my network I want the device to be offline usable, if possible (without internet connection) I want the device to broadcast information in my network like „water is empty“, so I can use push messaging in the App it should be ready to as well work with Alexa or Apple Home Kit or Google Assistant as I Plan to develop a skill for them.

      Can someone provide me with some information I could start with? Like - are there microcontrollers I could go with or is it to complex and I need a raspy? Which frameworks / languages / libs could I use? I know how to do the things on the app side but not on the device side.

      General Discussion
    • Amazon Alexa hosts

      CatmanV2

      Vainly trying to get to the bottom of the 10 - 15 second delay for TTS with the Alexa plugin (still) anyone have a list of the possible Alexa hosts? Just wonder if the one I have (layla.amazon.co.uk) could just be slow.

      Any thoughts?

      C

      General Discussion
    • Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

      toggledbits

      Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays, if that's your preferred salutation, or...?), and also a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2022.

      General Discussion
    • Very newbie man looking for help

      P

      Hello. First, excuse my english, please. I bought a Vera Edge looking for some way to make a digital ambient thermostat that I could manage remotely without a phone home from the device side. I am very disappointed with that device because all the "official" help of the brand goes in the way of to sign in an account and work with their cloud. I have some computer, network and linux knowledge but all my tests with the hub and a Qubino Flush 1D Relay has been unsuccessful. I connected both and I got to make some basic functions but I see myself very far to get my target. This is my last try to get something before I log in an account in getvera.com and look if I can make some progress in my project following that way.

      Can somebody tell me some place where I can learn the basic concepts of this system? Guides, books, videos... Whatever it can help me in my project.

      Thank you.

      General Discussion
    • Help please with Node-Red "Lost connection to server"

      cw-kid

      Node-Red on my Linux Debian box seems to be having issues now. It keeps saying repeatedly "Lost connection to server, reconnecting..." in the web browser.

      I recently updated nodejs for MSR, I wonder if that might be related:

      "Bump recommended nodejs version to 16.13.0; versions 14 and 15 will continue to be supported through March 31, 2022"

      Nodejs version = v16.13.1

      I have tried updating Node-Red that is now version v2.1.4

      I also updated npm to version v8.2.0

      I am not sure how or where to look at the log file for node red?

      This is the contents of the nodered.service file in this directory:
      /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants

      # systemd service file to start Node-RED [Unit] Description=Node-RED graphical event wiring tool Wants=network.target Documentation=http://nodered.org/docs/hardware/raspberrypi.html [Service] Type=simple # Run as normal pi user - change to the user name you wish to run Node-RED as User=stuart Group=stuart WorkingDirectory=/home/stuart Environment="NODE_OPTIONS=--max_old_space_size=1024" # uncomment and edit next line if you need an http proxy #Environment="HTTP_PROXY=my.httpproxy.server.address" # uncomment the next line for a more verbose log output #Environment="NODE_RED_OPTIONS=-v" # uncomment next line if you need to wait for time sync before starting #ExecStartPre=/bin/bash -c '/bin/journalctl -b -u systemd-timesyncd | /bin/grep -q "systemd-timesyncd.* Synchronized to time server"' ExecStart=/usr/bin/env node-red-pi $NODE_OPTIONS $NODE_RED_OPTIONS #ExecStart=/usr/bin/env node $NODE_OPTIONS red.js $NODE_RED_OPTIONS # Use SIGINT to stop KillSignal=SIGINT # Auto restart on crash Restart=on-failure RestartSec=20 # Tag things in the log SyslogIdentifier=Node-RED #StandardOutput=syslog [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

      Thanks

      General Discussion
    • Goodbye Brothers in crime!

      S

      Hi @ll, last days I migrated my last zwave device from Vera to zwave js in homeassistant. Out of 150 devices 1 did not go well initially but reinterviewing did it directly. Most work was to find the ex and inclusion procedure, 3 times, click, clack, whatever. I must admit that Vera is Lighting fast!!!!! With only 3 devices left, those were my under the floor switches I had to do last.

      Now I am totally gone from Vera, altui, luup, etc. There's nothing more left for me on this forum. And since it was one of my "routine sites" reading I will save a few minutes a day skipping it.

      I thank you all for all the kind help, warm words and laughter about the ezlo flop :-).

      I hooe you all will be safe and healthy and whish you all the best!

      I will stay on the homeassistant forum.

      Goodbye!

      General Discussion
    • Re-number on OpenLuup

      CatmanV2

      Morning all. Hope all are well. Been a bit of a trying time here, but nothing we can't deal with....
      .....apart from this!

      My coffee grinder went punk yesterday (wasn't even being used) and took out the main breakers. Once it was isolated I got everything back on line, except on TKB smart plug which was in the same double socket as the grinder.

      OpenLuup claims it's failed. Z-wave server can't see it but it responds to the button pushes physically as I'd expect. (i.e. the socket turns on and off, and the LED flashes to indicate it's in inclusion / exclusion mode)

      My plan is to see if I can exclude it then re-include it in z-wave server. If that doesn't work then I'll bin it, but if it does work can I then re-number it to match the original device ID and not have to trawl through my reactors? Any chance?
      TIA

      C

      General Discussion
    • Would you use a self-hosted geofencing solution?

      toggledbits

      Some of you may know that I took at shot at building an alternate geofencing solution for Vera. The core of it was system agnostic, using the OwnTracks application and AWS lambdas to track devices and keep a central data, then disseminate that to the Vera via a websocket-based plugin. It worked with other apps as well, including Tasker and GPSLogger, but of the dozen people that were testing it, most used OwnTracks.

      A lot was learned in the process, not the least of which is that the success of any such solution is highly dependent on the phone and its settings. Phone manufacturers love to set things up for the longest battery life, of course, but that's usually very anti-geofencing behavior. In the case of at least one brand, it was unusable and the settings could not be modified. It was also cost-prohibitive to maintain on Amazon, as AWS grabs a dime here and a dollar there and before you know it, it added $100/month to my AWS bill, which my wife deducted from my Scotch budget. Unacceptable.

      But it's quite reasonable to use OwnTracks to a local endpoint, and I could pretty easily replicate the functionality as a local application, or maybe even as an additional endpoint built into MSR's API (still separate port and process, but in the package).

      So the question really is... would you do it, or would you be too concerned about the security risks associated (e.g., dynamic DNS and NAT mapping in the firewall necessary for the phone to contact the service when not on LAN)?

      General Discussion
    • "kinda smart" switch to put behind a normal light switch

      H

      Hello!

      I want to trigger an event (like switching on a smart Zigbee power plug) when a regular light switch (that switches regular non-smart LED light bulbs) is flipped. Is there something I can put behind a light switch to achieve this? Or something to splice in between the switch and the light bulbs? A good option would also be Hue compatible.

      Thank you!

      General Discussion
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    Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?

    General Discussion
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    • parkerc
      parkerc last edited by parkerc

      Hi all

      I’ve been on a mission for a while now to try and track down where all the energy we use is going (so I can explain the exorbitantly high electricity bill !) .

      I’ve done a few posts on this subject already, see below..

      • https://smarthome.community/topic/534/unifi-energy-report-how-can-i-retrieve-the-value-via-http/6
      • https://smarthome.community/topic/584/luup-hue-energy-watts-calculator/17?_=1623603224863

      Plus I’ve got various energy meter plugs around the house to help me too, but when compared to my CurrentCost (whole house) energy meter, I’m still unable to account for 200+ watts when i believe everything of note are switch off (so no dishwasher, no washing machine running etc.)

      Tracked items so far include.. Media Centre (TV/NAS etc.), Office Desk (Laptop/PC/Monitor etc.), Hue Lights, Fridge…

      1. What items/devices could I be missing ?
      2. What else could i create a pseudo energy (watts) calculations for ?

      For example (2), I‘ve got a couple of Sonos Music players, which are always on, so I’m thinking as they are a media device that report their status, i can calculate a pause/stop watts rating vs a play rating..

      Any thoughts on what the missing power hungry items are in a normal house, and/or any new pseudo watt calculator ideas?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • therealdb
        therealdb last edited by

        Look for old appliances. One of the first TV I got 15 years ago was a Sharp tv consuming 31 watts at standby and 300 when on. The new LG/Samsung/Philips I have now are under 1 watt when idle, and 70/200 when on, depending on the size.

        My house is consuming 300 watts at idle, and that’s because I have mini PCs, two fridges, and so on. Placing simple meters on the appliances could help to track them.

        --
        Vera+MQTT+HomeAssistant+my own framework all orchestrated via MSR
        70+ Zwave Devices, a bunch of ZigBee light strips and a lot of code

        My Luup Plug-ins => https://github.com/dbochicchio/vera

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • LibraSun
          LibraSun last edited by

          Some initial thoughts, partly based on past experience:

          1. Don't forget the attic. Some attics have powered fans, and these are easy to forget.
          2. I love my Kill-A-Watt power measurement device, since it can be placed temporarily in line with any (110V) appliance to reveal its power draw at various phases of operation.
          3. I'd use MSR exclusively to create a catch-all Rule that sums up the proportional wattage for all "ON" devices.
          4. Tracking usage with an array in Expressions, charting with HundredGraphs, or exporting to Google Sheets (via a Form link) are all viable options.
          5. Perhaps the most "serious" way to track down vampire power consumption in the home is using a basic ammeter at the panel, and testing circuit-by-circuit after shutting off all others.
          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • toggledbits
            toggledbits last edited by

            A few adds to @LibraSun 's list from own experience:

            1. Many dimmers "leak" enough energy to be relevant, and since they can be present in relatively large numbers in a home, even a modest leak can add up across multiple dimmers. I discovered this some years ago when my wife had me switch out a halogen vanity light bar in my older son's bathroom with an LED model. The light bar glows like a night light when the dimmer was fully off. I tried swapping the older dimmer (Leviton VRMX1) for a newer model (DZ6HD) but no change in results. When we later changed the ceiling fan bulb in my younger son's room from halogen to LED, the same thing happened. With incandescent or halogen loads, these leaks aren't enough to light the filament, generally, but some LED bulbs/fixtures don't require much current to glow. Be suspicious of any dimmer that has an "air gap" in particular--it's there because they know the device is passing current even when "off."
            2. And keep in mind that leaking or not, all line-powered ZWave devices of every kind are active electronics with power supplies (often terrible cap droppers with poor power factors to boot, particularly in the cheaper models). If it has an LED pilot lamp, maybe it's pulling 3-5 milliamps just for that, and if the supply and other electronics double that, you're at maybe 6-10ma per device. Times 20 devices may be 200ma total or about 40W right there.
            3. Smoke alarms, garage door openers, safety lights...

            IIRC, you're in the UK, where electrical panels tend to have fewer breakers than here in the US, so that makes isolating things a bit more of a challenge. Here in the US, it's usually not a big issue to remove the cover from the breaker panel, put a clamp meter on the main, and just start flipping breakers until the measurement drops, then go isolate down that circuit from there. Codes here increasingly require dedicated circuits for all kinds of things, and of course, GCFIs and AFCIs (our version of RCDs and... I don't know what the UK equivalent is called, but it's an arc-detecting device) which have power supplies as well. So panels here are getting bigger, and electricians are having no problems sending their kids to college.

            Author of Multi-system Reactor and Reactor, DelayLight, Switchboard, and about a dozen other plugins that run on Vera and openLuup.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • parkerc
              parkerc last edited by

              Thanks all,

              Reading my initial post back again, I noticed I made a mistake, in that I said I was unable to account for 200 watts, it’s actually closer to 400 watts !!!

              Admittedly I know i’m never going to be able identify everything, but 400 watts !!, that’s more than @therealdb home in its idle state !! 😫

              @LibraSun and @toggledbits - the breaker panel, (or consumer unit as we call it in the UK) is a good call, and UK regulations are pretty strict too, so much of the house is broken up/out on the board so I can isolate various areas. That sounds like my weekend sorted ..

              Other than that, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m powering other people within my neighbourhood too. !😃🤞

              A 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • A
                a-lurker @parkerc last edited by

                Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general. Older models had sump heaters that could use anything from 30W to 300W. These were permanently on. Also iron core transformers that are permanently connected eg door bells and alarm systems - they can be quite lossey. Older PCs also drew a far bit even when "off". In fact, lots of older equipment can draw substantial power when on standby. So much so the One Watt Initiative was instigated.

                CatmanV2 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • CatmanV2
                  CatmanV2 @a-lurker last edited by

                  @a-lurker said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:

                  Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general

                  In the UK? 😄

                  C

                  The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                  parkerc 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • B
                    Buxton last edited by

                    Buy yourself one of these to get accurate energy usage : https://www.energyswitching.co.uk/best-energy-monitors-of-2021/ The US equivalent is "Kill a Watt" and that brand of device works well, though I don't believe they make a UK version.
                    Once you dial in the actual watts to your calcs, you'll probably see some of your unexplained energy use disappear. When I went through this process, and as mentioned above by several, the vampire devices in my home were the main contributors to my unknown energy usage. I was able to claw some of that back by using myriad smart switches for always on (sleeping) devices, albeit with a loss of instant on capability.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • B
                      Buxton last edited by

                      This post is deleted!
                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • parkerc
                        parkerc @CatmanV2 last edited by

                        @catmanv2 said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:

                        @a-lurker said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:

                        Have a look at any split aircons or aircons in general

                        In the UK? 😄

                        C

                        While they are irare in the home over here; I could certainly do with an one at the moment, as it’s quite toasty in the UK at the moment. 🙂

                        I’ve placed energy monitor wall-plugs in all the main places I can think of, which means everything left is theoretically a small thing, like a phone charger, an Amazon Echo, a clock, or a night light etc.

                        Which means I’m finding it hard to believe that all of those little things will come up to 400 watts…

                        CatmanV2 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • LibraSun
                          LibraSun last edited by

                          I once found a walled off ventilation fan in an old kitchen that was still energized and conceivably could have burned many watts without rotating and I'm surprised it did not start a fire. I've also discovered doorbells that were stuck on because of a faulty Ring device wired in parallel with it. Finally, there's no end to the way that poorly grounded appliances can divert current directly to ground which you will never find through conventional testing means.
                          My central point being that you never know what you're going to find in around and under a house when it comes to electrical things. And that is absolutely why you really need to unplug and disconnect every single thing in this quest to isolate phantom power consumers.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • A
                            a-lurker last edited by

                            And the light someone left on in the roof space or under the floor.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • CatmanV2
                              CatmanV2 @parkerc last edited by

                              @parkerc said in Ways to identify and calculate energy usage (watts) ?:

                              While they are irare in the home over here; I could certainly do with an one at the moment, as it’s quite toasty in the UK at the moment.

                              I know! I live in Essex 🙂

                              C

                              The Ex-Vera abuser know as CatmanV2.....

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Elcid
                                Elcid last edited by Elcid

                                Hi to find the source you would be best to use a clamp meter on the outgoing live cable at each mcb in the consumer unit, once everything is turned off, that way you can zero in on the circuits that are still using power. Do you have a rcd/s fitted in your consumer unit if so ground leakage would only account for 7 watts max per rcd unit, before rcd would trip, unless faulty.

                                [edit] on socket ring ciruits put both live wires in clamp meter.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • parkerc
                                  parkerc last edited by

                                  I’ll tell you what trying to understand your energy usage while the family is in the house is next to impossible, no matter how many times i told them what i was doing , i would suddenly struggle to add up up the wattage numbers - only later to find out that they’d plugged something in or turned something off !!! Add to that things that come on by themselves at random times such as the fridge or the freezer and you really are scratching your head what the hell is going on - not matter what systematic approach I followed.

                                  Cut along story short, the best I could come up with today is that my office/man cave - has an idle usage of about 250 watts (not surprising as this is where all the networking kit and media devices are stored/connected into) after that it’s the kitchen with about 150 watts too (due to a small HA hub and fridge/freezer) and the shed/cabin (100 watts) - which leaves the rest of the house using the remainder which is approx 350-400 watts..

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                                  • LibraSun
                                    LibraSun last edited by

                                    The new smart meters installed across many U.S. municipalities derive actual usage in real time (whether you believe they are accurate or not -- this is a troublesome source of debate among many smart people). Some utility companies offer a companion "reader", which wirelessly displays your home's current demand, by minute, hour, day, month, total, etc.

                                    That's about as close as I've ever come to instant readings. The rest, as you rightly point out, is likely folly.

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