this may be lower cost:
https://circuitiq.ai/collections/iotawatt-power-monitoring I havent used it but i did use similar clamp on direct to a digital readout.
When I was shopping for a system, I looked at their website. Price was high for less circuits and I couldn't discern what reporting capabilities were included.
I have three Vues stacked, one at the main that includes some shop circuits, one on the 200A sub going to my solar and another on the 200A sub in my house.
You can dedicate a whole Vue to your 60A circuit if you need to but I'd throw a clamp meter on it and see if it really draws that much. I bet a 50a sensor would be enough if the wire size isn't too big. The Vue without all of the extra CT sensors is cheaper than the whole kit.
You can even nest their little smart plugs under a Vue and include that detail in the web interface.
As I've mentioned, I have a second Vue going in to cover the rest of the circuits in my main panel. Your entry got me to thinking - My workshop and barn are on a separate meter, which I could monitor with another Vue, watching a main and one sub.. AND fold all the info back into one reporting structure.. My total investment would still be less than $550 purchased through Amazon.
I am just curious why you would want something like this ? Would you actually change something that you are doing because of the results from the system ? Do you suspect somebody is stealing power somehow ? I guess I just don't understand the need for something like this in a typical residential setting.
I was operations manager for a large old fashioned big iron data center. One of my biggest wins was getting environmental monitoring installed that included temp, HVAC, underfloor water and power monitoring. Over the years, I'd used an Amprobe, then a pair of Amprobe strip recorders, one of the Killawatt devices, even a Radio Shack DVM with serial output but never got a picture of my energy use better than the electric bill at the end of the month. Nothing I could put assemble would equal what the Emporia product has.
So - what was my gain, other than not "flying blind"?
1: I'd just converted my house from oil heat (and an oil fired gun type hot water heater) plus a 32 year old central air system to a top of the line Carrier propane furnace, multi stage heat pump and a heat pump based hot water heater, with the assumption that most heating and cooling would be heat pump operating. I needed to validate the actual costs of the heat pump over the propane, as there could be a crossover point where propane could be less expensive, two winters data show that the heat pump even when running down to +- 9 degrees F is less expensive than propane.
2: In the first week of reporting from the Vue, I learned that the three LED shop light fixtures over the Laundry in the basement, which I left on because the damn switch was above/behind the dryer and, you know "LED lights are cheap to run", which is on a pedestal and hard to reach, was costing me about 7 bucks a month to leave on all the time. Fixed with a wifi switch..
3: Because the VUE provides single second granularity I was able to sort out outlets and light switches merely by watching a circuit with Vue and operating a switch or whatever is plugged into a wall circuit. (looking just now, I see that my refrigerator is drawing 6 watts when in it's rest cycle).
4: (a) This winter, because of health issues, I bought snow melting heating mats for our outside steps and the walkway to the main entrance - this is four 30"x 60" walkway mats and fifteen 10"x30" step mats. Late in the fall addition, so a pair of extension cords (the shame!) were run, each on an existing branch circuit in the house. First issue was a "Holy Jumpin ****" when I saw each of the circuits were now running a continuous 12-13 amps when it was below 32 degrees. I figured at least a $125 a month just to melt snow. I put on a pair of outdoor rated wifi controlled utility switches and only turned them on when it had snowed.
4: (b) Nance complained about dishes not drying in the dishwasher - checking I found the circuit breaker open. Hmmm.. then I noticed one half of the steps and walkway were covered in snow. Took me a minute to check with the Vue that the problem circuit, which I thought was under utilized when I put an outside outlet on it, actually now had the dishwasher that draws 1200 watts when drying the dishes. Adding that plus the outside load = open circuit breaker.. Found it with the Vue..
I guess that's enough examples, but I think the point is that we are increasingly dependent on that AC power getting distributed in our homes and it's very smart to figure out where it's going.
Plus I'm not an EV fan, but I can se the handwriting on the wall, I'm not quite over the hill yet, so I suppose there will be one of those here in my future and the Emporia system is all ready for that too.
I have a Vue system as well. It's been helpful understanding run time and draw on several circuits for sizing a generator and seeing run time on things like my pool heater.
Plus its been interesting seeing the data. Doesn't change my life, but I like having it
Indeed!
I have had an Emporia Vue running here for close to 4yrs and have zero complaints. I have two in the shop panel and have them “stacked” in the software so they show up as one system. Even if they can’t be perfectly combined you will be able to see the info you’re after. No need to spend a small fortune looking for a solution that already exists.
Quick little screenshot from the first screen you see what you log in.
Great example..
I’ve used this system to monitor all the individual circuits within my home and shop for the past 13 years..I installed it after right after I got a grid tied solar system installed. Maybe overkill.
https://www.brultech.com/greeneye/
I can drill down into each circuit further. It’s been robust and can be expanded
As noted, pretty impressive, looks well organized.
Can you not just clamp an ammeter on the 200A (or the subs) and run the large draws at one time to do a load calc? Do need one of these systems or an electrician to do that? True that would be a one time measurement.
Sure could, note that a modern house has a million "small draws" too. When I was doing that, I never got a clear picture of where my electric power $$ were going..
I have two 200A panels with a Emporia Vue on each, and two Emporia EV chargers. You can now combine the the 200A panels together as well as nesting sub panels. It works very well. For my garage sub panel I am only measuring the feed off one of the main panels, but it only has 6 circuits so I am OK with that.
As to why - having insight into your electrical usage is both interesting (I am a nerd) but can also help you save energy/reduce your bill. It was really eye opening to me to see how much of a difference the re-circulator pump on my water heater made - turning it on almost doubles the energy usage, so we put it on a smart switch with a timer so it only runs about 20% of the time. I also now have great info on how much energy my garage minisplit actually uses (not much).
100% agree
I forgot to mention that it was my Emporia vue that identified an issue with my septic pump. It was running constantly, which highlighted water intrusion
I get a text when the oven (or a burner) has been on more than two hours.
I'll give one more example and shut up: When pulling the panel cover, while getting ready to install the second Vue to cover the remaining circuits in my primary breaker box, I must have dragged it sideways enough to knock two live circuits off line. The first circuit was the aforementioned dishwasher/snow melter one. No snow and dishes didn't get washed for a day - then Nance told me the dishwasher wasn't working. Why didn't I check(old hand at this now that I am) that there was another breaker off?
Then - Cue me calling the furnace guy two days later about the emergency message from Carrier's system that there was a fault on the Heat Pump (non descriptive type error message). The furnace guy schedules a visit for the next day and before hanging up asks if I had any recent power outages or been running on generator - nope and nop... "wait a minute, Ill call ya back". I was closer to my phone than the basement stairs,, a quick check on the Vue showed me the time and date that the heat pump circuit had quit drawing any power. Yup, time and date when I took the breaker cover off.... Kevin (the furnace guy) will hold this over me for a while
