I ordered a T.E.D.

[bennelson]

Hey everyone,

I just ordered a TED - The Energy Detective.

It's a big step up from a Kill-a-Watt. Instead of monitoring a single outlet, the TED connects to the main power in to the house and tracks energy of both legs of the breaker box.

That information is sent by a phantom signal to a device that links to a computer router, to the computer, and displays all sorts of wonderful information in a web browser.

Can't wait for it to show up!

Home page

[Daox]

Very cool. I've looked at those before. Always shied away as I haven't had an exact need for one yet.

[RobertSmalls]

That's compatible with Google Power Meter, right? It looks like fun.

Google PowerMeter Overview

[Daox]

I believe there are different versions, most are compatible with google's powermeter. Also, your utility company has to be a participant in the program too I think.

[bennelson]

The device IS compatible with Google Power Meter.
I read about Google's product a while back, and was discouraged to find out there there was a very limited number of utilities that worked with it.

After reading about the TED, I found out that there are TWO ways to connect to Google Power Meter. ONE is if you have a "smart meter" and are one one of those specific power utilities. The OTHER way is simply to have a TED (or a handful of other devices.)

A couple of reasons that I wanted a TED over just a Kill-a-watt, is that it can log all your data over time - creating nice little charts for you to learn from, AND the TED can track power of items that don't have a standard plug on them.

For example, I can plug a lamp cord into a Kill-a-watt, but I CAN'T plug-in my built-in ceiling light. At least in that case, I can count the bulbs, and I know how many watts those bulbs pull.

But how many watts does my well pump pull? I have no clue!
On an electric water heater, it lists the watts of the elements on the side, but who knows exactly how many hours a day it actually runs? Any you can't plug 240V into a Kill-a-Watt.

With the TED, I will be able to track big, hardwired devices over time to figure out my whole-house energy use, and how to reduce it.
By connecting it to Google Power Meter, I will be able to get all that info from anywhere on the internet.

I have even heard of people realizing they left something on at home by checking Power Meter when they get to work!

[bennelson]

It just showed up in the mail!

Yea!


Time to pester my wife by turing off the power to the whole house!

[mtgeekman]

Can't wait to see your results.

Have been considering getting one for a while now.

[bennelson]

I installed it.

Hooked everything up.
Got everything to show up in the software.
Updated Software.
Updated firmware.
Connected to Google PowerMeter.

Everything works great...... except that it doesn't display ANY data!

Hmmm. Not sure what's wrong. My eyes are going buggy from end-of-day strain.
Will have to figure it out later, maybe after contacting tech support.

[bennelson]

Ah ha! I figured it out.

There were references to not connecting the networking unit to a circuit with a computer or anything else that generates interference. After the third outlet I tried, it finally kicked on.

Interesting things I just found out in playing with the software for about 5 minutes.

1) We are using 760 watts right now. The TV is on. A few lights are on. The furnace and air conditioning are off. EV charging is using about 200 watts or so.

2) My refrigerator uses a third of that total.

3) Use of my microwave oven draws 1.6KW


Hmm. Since the UPS I have in the garage can do up to 2KW. A typical load of computer (laptop), TV, a couple of lights, and the fridge cycling on an off, should be no problem.

Using a vacuum cleaner or microwave oven wouldn't work so well.

I think if anyone was considering going off-grid, a TED would be great to have to show how much power they use and when.

[bennelson]

I was gone all day, but while I wasn't at home, T.E.D. was faithfully tracking my household energy use.

To have most of a day's energy use makes it a whole lot more interesting.
Here are two graphs from the TED software. The one has notes I added.
(Click the bar to make the images full-size - they will be much easier to read.)





The first chart is what you see as a "live view". The line chart constantly advances, and any change in power is seen more-or-less real-time.
Energy seemed to peak when using the dishwasher, the microwave oven, and when the well water or graywater pumps were running. During the day, energy use was as low as 88 watts when the fridge was cycled off, and around 212 when it was cycled on.

I added in the yellow line to represent how much power I could get from my 48V UPS used as an inverter for a battery backup system. As you can see, it would supply enough power for everything but turning on the dishwasher.

The second chart is a cumulative energy use per hour. Since it is set to hourly, and measured in KWH, basically that's that average watts used that hour. Note that the chart maxes out at not much over a KWH.

It's pretty cool to have a visual record of energy use.
The Kill-a-Watt can't do that!