Initial Guidance please - Where do I look and can it be done?

Submitted by wytco0 on Mon, 18/08/2014 - 11:31

I have a standard UK home single phase power supply. I have been trying to monitor my electricity usage using an Owl 3 phase system but using each phase sensor to monitor different sections of my wiring e.g. heat pump on sensor. This is working OK but it is not granular enough, I would like to monitor several different bits of my heat pump (external unit, booster heater etc) these are each on a separate breaker.

Is there a way of monitoring a lot more devices using multiple sensors? has anyone done this with say 10 sensors?

My aim is to try an monitor all of the higher power circuits in my house.

Thanks

Re: Initial Guidance please - Where do I look and can it be done?

Submitted by Robert Wall on Mon, 18/08/2014 - 13:19.

Yes, it can be done but the off-the-shelf solution offered by OEM would involve multiple emonTx's. The alternative, if you are able and prepared to embark on a design and construction project, would be to use a rather higher-powered processor from the Arduino family that has as many analogue inputs as you require ( http://arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardMega ?), and design and build the surrounding circuitry (adding the RFM12B radio if you need). Our emonTx V3 is based on the Atmel 328P, which has all 6 analogue inputs in use - one for voltage, 4 for current and the last for temperature. Therefore to measure 10 circuits you would need 3 emonTx's (because you can't steal a voltage input, and you can't easily steal the temperature input, and repurpose them).

If you go for your own design, you would need one analogue input for voltage and one for every circuit you want to measure. I think all the information you will need is here in Building Blocks, but the forums will come to your aid if you struggle.

Re: Initial Guidance please - Where do I look and can it be done?

Submitted by wytco0 on Tue, 19/08/2014 - 14:06.

Ok Thanks Robert.

Has anyone here setup a system monitoring several different circuits at once say 10 ?

Re: Initial Guidance please - Where do I look and can it be done?

Submitted by lwoggardner on Tue, 30/12/2014 - 09:12.

Just wondering how you got on with this project, monitoring multiple circuits, as I am about to embark on something similar.

Re: Initial Guidance please - Where do I look and can it be done?

Submitted by Bill Thomson on Tue, 30/12/2014 - 12:07.

Here's a unit that monitors 11 circuits. It's runs on an Arduino Due, and the concept is based on OEM.

http://boredomprojects.net/index.php/projects/home-energy-monitor

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