Review on 🔌 Real-Time Electricity and Solar Production Monitoring - Sense Energy Monitor with ETL/Intertek Safety Certification by Derek Evans

As an engineer I was quite happy with Sense Solar. This gives me a good insight into how much solar energy I generate compared to the energy I use, which is the main reason for my purchase. First, the Sense box and solar power kit came in very nice, sturdy packaging. It may have printed too much but no complaints as it is a good installation reference. Installation was relatively easy. I don't recommend or advise anyone to do this, but I installed it myself and did the entire installation without turning off the main power board. I bought a 20A bipolar switch and connected it to the Sense block with 3 leads (hot, neutral and ground). Then connect the current transformers to the incoming power lines and solar power lines in the junction box, done. Sense also supplied an external WLAN antenna. Originally I wanted to drill a hole in the service panel for the Wi-Fi antenna as Wi-Fi cannot penetrate a metal box. But upon closer inspection, I could use the electrical cord that goes into the house, which is plastic. I turned out to be correct after turning everything on. Strong 90% signal at 2.4GHz even walking through walls. I have some concerns that the Sense is only rated for 32-122°F as my service panel is outside and I can see the outside temp slightly exceeding the rating. Temperature. But a little knowledge of electronics gives me some confidence that it will also work in sub-zero temperatures. But the temperature range seems very limiting to what can be installed outdoors in my opinion. Also, the warranty is only 1 year, which tells me Sense may not have a lot of confidence in their product. The whole device is mostly plastic, but well built. Only time can tell. Smart devices with modern sensors are priced a bit high, but the ability to detect and track device usage intrigued me, and I was willing to pay a little more to try it. 1 week after installing Sense, my Sense was still waiting for a signal check, but I was getting basic solar and consumption usage data. I then received an email from Sense Technical Support asking permission to view my usage data due to a possible issue with my Sense installation. I gave them permission and Sense told me I connected my current transformers (clamps) to the same power line. I checked my panel and even sent them a photo saying I pinched one left and one right. i'm not stupid you know Tech support replied to me within 24 hours and told me that some busbar panels are changing lines when going over switches. Of course they were right when I hooked up my multimeter. I replaced the clamp to connect it to the correct power line and also reset my sense data. Within 1 day the signal test was completed and now I get two data streams (2 power lines) instead of one line. My experience with tech support is that Sense had really good email support and my questions were usually answered within 24 hours. They also keep track of your details to ensure you don't make any misconfigurations. I recommend them to be active. Next comes device detection. As an engineer, I wasn't sure it would work that well. Within a day or two it detected a few appliances like my electric dryer (yes), fridge etc. Then things started to slow down and became more and more inaccurate. During this review, about a month after Sense was first properly installed in my home, 14 devices were found, some of which I find very questionable. But I'm still pretty happy with Sense as it serves most of my purposes, so it's an exciting experience for me when it discovers new devices. There seems to be around 1-2 new devices discovered per week, most likely because discovery is happening in the cloud (my guess). As mentioned earlier, detection appears to be random and some devices may be detected sometimes but not always. I haven't had a full billing cycle yet, but there is a 2-5% difference between my solar inverter power production report and Sense. Considering that there can be small losses from the inverter to the circuit breaker, 2-5% still means a report of 38kWh versus 40kWh, which can be significant for some people. I would also like to point out that they have both an app and a website where you can access consumption information. so many different things that can affect detection. But this is where Sense differs from similar products, and I hope that they will continue to bring new features. I think if you live up to your expectations you should be happy with Sense. ********** New update December 2019 - I've been using Sense Solar for about 6 months. I'm disappointed that detection hasn't improved and only 1 device was detected as warm. About 50% of my usage is still listed as different, so I'm not as happy with Sense as I used to be. Also, it seems to confuse and confuse devices with a similar usage pattern. He's not ready for the best of times when it comes to discovery. But it gives me very accurate usage and solar generation information where this thing shines. Also, it's 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside at night and Sense works great in a protective electronics case. Thus, it operates outside of the manufacturer's nominal environment. I also don't see how I've saved money since I bought the Sense. Based on my recent experience with detection, I'm reducing my rating from 4 stars to 3 stars. I'll report if it gets better. **** New Update December 2020 The Sense unit still works great outdoors behind my dash panel so it may be operating outside of the manufacturer's recommended operating temperature range. My annual usage is classified as Other, and 15.3% is classified as Always On after the second year of use. So overall, 62% of my power consumption is unknown to Sense, defeating the purpose of perception. I kept my rating at 3 stars because it can't do what it advertised and I can't say it saved me any money. *****Updated April 2021. Star. While it works well for estimating how much electricity I'm using and how much solar power I'm generating, it falls short of its promises in terms of energy detection and savings. Over 50% of my power usage is either always on or others, also sometimes the app shows something that is clearly not on, it clearly doesn't live up to its name and I would pay a lot less with other solutions.