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Yes. The TED equipment comes with clamp on type CT's which are easy to install. The problem seems to be the thickness of those CT's which may be too big to fit on the Bus bars because they are very short.
I saw a video of someones installation and they admitted they had to "chip" away some of the plastic to get the CT installed. They did mention is was done by an Electrician who did remove the meter first so the panel was dead.
The "rope" CT's I have used with a Fluke and Dranetz meter open up and allow you to thread the CT around a wire. You then connect the end of the "rope" back to the body and you now have a CT around the cable. The "rope" is not very thick so maybe it would work but it has to mate up with the TED MTU somehow. Just a thought.Comment
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TED is in and working*
*Most of the time.
I received the TED 5000 yesterday, had to pick up a new 16-port switch as the 8-port was all maxed out, and connected everything this morning. Super easy to connect and setup and worked on firs try. Except for one glitch. When my pool pump turns on, the TED stops working.
It's very weird...literally as soon as I turn the pool pump on (using an iPhone app), it registers it for a split second and then the online display freezes and the LED on the MTU stops blinking. As soon as I turn the pool pump off, everything resumes to normal, I don't have to unplug the MTU or reset anything, just starts working again. Any ideas on that? I'll have to call tech support on Monday and see what they say.
Anyway, I love stuff like this so having this info is awesome. I already know how I'm going to save some power.
My computer, and my wife's, never get turned off...they never even get put to sleep, we just let them run and run (except for the displays that go into sleep mode). I was able to figure that my computer, when just sitting there and not sleeping, uses 0.15kW, in sleep mode, 0 (or at least not registered). My wife's computer, .23kW when sitting the, 0 when sleeping. I can set timers on the computer to put them to sleep automatically every night for say, 8 hours. 8 hours x 365 days x 0.38kW = 1109.6kW per year! That, is crazy! Our total usage for the year is around 21,000! Is that right, can't believe that would make such a big difference.
A/C units suck up a crapload of power, of course. 4.875kW for the main house 5 ton A/C and 1.62kW for the 1.5 ton office A/C. Our main fridge seems to be 0.18kW and a smaller drawer fridge is 0.04kW. Pool pump registered 0.22kW before the TED locks up, but I can actually check that with an app so I know it's actually about 1.5kW, pretty heavy user.
One thing I think they could have done better is the rates in the Footprints software. While it gives you a few options of additional charges, there aren't nearly enough to match what's on our bill so the actual charges shown from TED are not very accurate.
TED options...
Our bill...
According to TED, our bill for this month would have been $191 (301kWh on-peak @ 24.477¢, 1584kWh @ 6.118¢ + 12% tax) but our actual bill was $237.
Clamps installed...
Transmission unit...
Both A/Cs and computers running...
Pool pump...
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You can try a couple of things to stop the pool pump from interfering. Move the MTU wire too a different breaker or change where you have the gateway plugged in. They recommend having a dedicated outlet where the only thing on the breaker is the gateway. They also sell a filter to block the interference. It's the powerline communication that the pool pump is interfering with.Comment
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I do have the gateway plugged into it's own outlet, and that outlet is controlled by the same breaker that I tapped into for the MTU (that's how I understood the direction).
The weird thing is that the pool pump runs off of a separate sub-panel so it's as isolated as it could be, and it's on the other side of the busbar than the breaker I tapped into.
I also found out in the meantime that when I turn on the chandelier lights in the dining room, the TED also stops working, same fashion as with the pool pump. Looks like I need one of those filters they sell.Comment
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What do you guys recommend for a 3rd party service to use with TED when away from the home network? I'm using TED-O-Meter for the iPhone at home, which is great, but I want something where I can check what's going on when away from home.Comment
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I signed up for that but how do I sync with the TED?
EDIT: Nevermind, figured it out with direction from here: http://pvoutput.org/help.html#integrationComment
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I'm hoping the in-line filter solves whatever is going on because my kWh usage is going to be pretty inaccurate seeing how overnight when the pool is running, the TED measurement freezes up at whatever reading it was when the pool pump turned on. In last night's case, it was at 2.917kWH for 5 hours.
Weirder still though is the PVOutput shows something else? How is that even possible? Seems to be showing the A/C cycles and then just whatever the houses uses with almost no load...but it didn't register the pool pump running at all? Is that because it's on a sub-panel?
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If you show TED in minutes rather than hours the line graphs should match up since TED reports to PVOutput in 5 or so minute increments.Comment
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It does not match up because again, for some reason when the pool pump is running, the TED gateway stops receiving data (the LED on the side no longer blinks). Here is what the minute by minute looks like, you can see where it froze..
I don't understand why PVOutput would show different data.Comment
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Yeah. My busbars run right against the back of the panel. There's probably less than half a centimeter of clearance under the bar. A rope system would probably work, but the TED guys don't sell one, and can't tell me which one would work. Supposedly the system is calibrated for their specific CTs. I have it working by just running all of the individual circuit wires through the CT, but it's not as clean as I'd like.Comment
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Update on the pool pump problem...
I installed the in-line filter today and it works properly now, turning on the pool pump no longer causes the TED to stop receiving a signal from the MTU. The dimmer controlled chandelier in the kitchen however is still a problem and not something I can fix. Luckily we rarely use that light, almost never, so it's only a small annoyance.Comment
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