Review on 🏡 Emporia Smart Home Energy Monitor w/ 16 50A Circuit Level Sensors, Real-Time Electricity Meter/Solar Net Metering by Gary Christon

Emporia Vue Gen 1 review (rated 3 stars out of 5) Very easy to install and inexpensive. However, it is disappointing that this device does not measure actual voltage. The voltage measurement is necessary to calculate complex power (VA), real power (W) and reactive power (VAR), therefore in some cases the application shows an incorrect value of real power in watts. For example, I turned off the circuit breakers on all circuits except the one that powers my refrigerator, the application showed 2.7 amps and 327 watts. I found 2.7 amps to be the correct RMS current because I measured it with a clamp meter, but I knew that not all of the current was included in the true power calculation. So I used an energy monitor to measure the power drawn by the fridge, which was 185W and found a power factor of 0.57 due to the inductive load (compressor running). In this case, the difference between the 327W application and the actual 185W is 142W for a 24/7 device. In addition, this unit is rated for 120V DC, which may not be the case due to the load conditions of the distribution feed and/or the location of the home within the distribution feed. These factors can lead to large deviations in the calculation of the electricity in kWh. Review of the new Emporia Vue Gen 2. (Rating 4.5 stars out of 5) I was contacted by Emporia Vue Support and given the opportunity to try the new Emporia Vue Gen 2. This newer version has a voltage measurement that handles the large unit power factor error that the previous version had. It was very easy to install and the price was reasonable. The app appears to be more responsive and displays more accurate information. I was able to export the kWh consumption data to a .csv file, but I couldn't find the voltage data needed for a basic power quality analysis. Also, it would be great if a circuit merge feature was available to have better control if the room lights are on one circuit and the outlets are on another circuit. There is a multiplier function in the configuration settings that works for most loads with a 2-pole switch, such as e.g. B. mini-split air conditioners, since the 240 V supply voltage is only fed via two wires (2 pins) and 1 wire as a protective conductor to earth. In the case where the load requires both 240V and 120V (internal electronics) the current will not be the same and the multiplier may not be a good approximation. This type of load typically requires at least 4 wires (2 "hot", 1 "neutral", 1 "ground"), which is a situation where circuit aggregation is best suited. Overall, this new version is much better than the previous one. There are a few things that could be improved, but this is a great option for home energy monitoring.