Anyone using a Smappee?

[pamalot]

I'm looking to get an energy monitor that can measure the home and solar. Came across Smappee. Seem's pretty amazing if it's to be believed. Not only does it measure the total house and solar but it can also measure the energy consumption of the appliances in the home too (Without needing to install loads of socket meters). It seems to work it all out from the clip-on sensor that goes around the homes electrical cable from the meter.

It can also control appliances using wireless socket control things. Says you can switch things off/on remotely, to schedules or when the solar production goes above a certain level.

Seems to be many things:

• Home energy monitor
• Solar monitor
• Appliance level energy monitor
• Home control

It packs a lot of features (some I've not seen before) for the price. The Amazon reviews seem pretty good so far, but has anyone else got one on here? I'm interested in some feedback before I take the leap of faith and get me one.

[russ]

It packs a lot of features (some I've not seen before) for the price. The Amazon reviews seem pretty good so far, but has anyone else got one on here? I'm interested in some feedback before I take the leap of faith and get me one.

The site is zip - zero - nada! Sick music, lots of claims and zero information.

The Amazon reviews are no doubt full bull!

To do what they claim you would have to have a CT on each separate plug.

Probably 99% of the claims are impossible with what little equipment they show.

[SunEagle]

I'm looking to get an energy monitor that can measure the home and solar. Came across Smappee. Seem's pretty amazing if it's to be believed. Not only does it measure the total house and solar but it can also measure the energy consumption of the appliances in the home too (Without needing to install loads of socket meters). It seems to work it all out from the clip-on sensor that goes around the homes electrical cable from the meter.

It can also control appliances using wireless socket control things. Says you can switch things off/on remotely, to schedules or when the solar production goes above a certain level.

Seems to be many things:

• Home energy monitor
• Solar monitor
• Appliance level energy monitor
• Home control

It packs a lot of features (some I've not seen before) for the price. The Amazon reviews seem pretty good so far, but has anyone else got one on here? I'm interested in some feedback before I take the leap of faith and get me one.

Be careful of what you read because that add it not telling you everything you need.

That $350 kit may include 4 Current clamps and a "free comfort plug" but I feel you will need to buy and install a lot more current clamps and "comfort plugs" to measure the usage or control all of your appliances.

There are a number of other energy monitoring systems out there that cost less and provide more. I currently use something from Blue Line which measures the electricity I use directly from my Utility meter and transmits it to a website called PlotWatt. The Website provides me a daily usage of power and is "smart" enough to know what part of the usage comes from Air conditioning/heating, base load, and variable load. It evens calculates an estimated electric bill for me which is pretty close to what I get from my electric company. The two devices I purchased can now probably be found for about $150 total.

I am not saying my system is the best. Far from it. I just want to caution you on the "smappee" system you are looking at.

[silversaver]

For that price you might be better off going for TED 5000 or TED Pro with spider

[russ]

The claim that the unit can learn what was turned on by the change in consumption is a bit far out. One or two items in a house maybe but with 50 or 60 forget it.

[makarowski]

found this review...

http://alphaefficiency.com/smappee-review/

might have some promise if they update the software and analytics... worth keeping an eye on ....

BMak

[SunEagle]

The claim that the unit can learn what was turned on by the change in consumption is a bit far out. One or two items in a house maybe but with 50 or 60 forget it.

I also find it a little bit of a stretch that the software can make that kind of determination just based on a time of day "usage" plot. And yet PlotWatt does the same thing for me and provides the "measured" cost for the last 30 days of use on appliances using the 3 categories; "Heat & AC", "Always On" and "Learning". While there is some "guess work" it has done a good job of identifying the kWh that is always on.

Below is some of the data for the last 30 days and from today.

Wednesday Mar 11, 2015 8:41 PM

Last 30 Days

Learning
$70
Always On
$28
Heating & A/C
$57

Real Time
0.74 kW
High 12.87 kW
Low 0.35 kW
Average 1.95 kW

View Demo © 2013 PlotWatt Follow @plotwatt

[pamalot]

OK. Here’s what I found out last night after some Google time:


The concept originates from Europe and does indeed seem to work.

They are particularly big in Germany which as a nation has the largest % of solar per population, and aren’t usually the easiest to please.

They launched in US in December 2014.

US user reviews on Apple and Amazon look very positive.

There are 2 versions: one for just the home @ $249 and one that includes the solar monitoring for $349

Each version comes with one Control Plug so you can control one appliance, or more if you’ve got them fed off a plug strip.
Additional Control Plugs @ about $12

They sell direct from their web-shop, Amazon and Apple (although I can’t find them listed in Apple in US stores yet so maybe that’s just Europe so far).

I found a number of reviews and in the main it looks like this technology works. Although, don’t expect it to detect everything little thing in the home but from what I can make out it seems to detect the appliances that make up about 70-80% of the home energy total.

From what I can make out it differs fundamentally from the way Plotwatt and others try to ‘dissagregate’ your appliance energy consumptions from your main. Plotwatt seem to do it from your kW load graph, whereas Smappee seem to do it from waveform signal capturing (sampling 1000’s times a second). It seems like when an appliance comes on or off it gives off a kind of electrical fingerprint that the sensor detects. I read a number of times that they liken it to Shazam, the App that recognises a song from just a few seconds of music. Neat!!

I like the itemized billfeature

I watched a few Youtube videos from users which are pretty helpful and give a good idea of what it’s all about without the marketing hype of the corporate video. This series was good from an English guy, but he has no solar (no surprise there! Last time I was over there it rained solid for 2 weeks).

Looks pretty easy to install and connects to your wifi.

The App looks pretty slick and easy to use, even for an idiot like me. Here's some screenshots I found on Apple:

I also read they are looking for solar installation partners as a route to market over here so if there’s any on here and you’re quick I guess you can get in with them early.

There’s a 30 day money back guarantee so I took the risk and ordered one. I’ll let you know how it goes, good or bad


Spamalot

[russ]

You want to advertise then pay for it - contact user name Jason.

One can make any number of links as references - unless one knows them personally it is meaningless - some Pakistani being paid can make 1000 positive references in a short time - if you want great references it only costs a bit more.

The concept is cheap **** trying to take market share from better products like plugwise. There are many better products out there that are not trying to BS potential customers.

[SunEagle]

You want to advertise then pay for it - contact user name Jason.

One can make any number of links as references - unless one knows them personally it is meaningless - some Pakistani being paid can make 1000 positive references in a short time - if you want great references it only costs a bit more.

The concept is cheap **** trying to take market share from better products like plugwise. There are many better products out there that are not trying to BS potential customers.

I agree with you. I also think that with the proliferation of Apple products being used, having equipment to measure your home electrical usage (or generation) and an App on your phone or iPad is the selling point here regardless of the cost or accuracy.

[lkstaack]

There are many better products out there that are not trying to BS potential customers.

Which part is BS?

[russ]

Which part is BS?

Read the claims and then ask.

[SunEagle]

Which part is BS?

Well I feel the advertisement for the smappee is not as forthcoming as it should be and can mislead someone into purchasing a high cost system with the end result being much less than anticipated.

So based on my translation that would fall under the BS category.

[lkstaack]

Well I feel the advertisement for the smappee is not as forthcoming as it should be and can mislead someone into purchasing a high cost system with the end result being much less than anticipated.

So based on my translation that would fall under the BS category.

I know a little about electricity, but not much. Which part is misleading? I would imagine that those who purchase it will anticipate that the device can inform them how much power each appliance/circuit is using. Won't it do that?

[pamalot]

Update - I had to buy the current clip extension kit that allowed me to mount the clip-on sensor in my panel outside and run the cable to where I'm going to mount the main unit inside $40. Just be mindful of this if anyone else follows me and wants to mount it more than 5 feet away from the clip-on sensor.