alanchow Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Hi guys, Released a new driver/4store app (Chowmain - eGauge EG3000 Po...). I normally don't like to double post but i like to put things in the right forum but unfortunately most people view this one. Please post here or contact us via our webpage for any questions that our FAQ doesn't answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHA Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 Looks great, just read your other post. Shame the eGauge costs so much, nearly doubles when you add your current transformers to it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 ^Not to mention you either need "white goods" that are "connected" or some pretty damn heavy-duty cut-out relays. The cost for all this far exceeds the benefits for my locale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillmark99 Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 What do they roughly cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 What does WHAT cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 ^Not to mention you either need "white goods" that are "connected" or some pretty damn heavy-duty cut-out relays. The cost for all this far exceeds the benefits for my locale. True not all people can afford smart white appliances however people who generally purchase these kinds of products don't do it due to economics. Its usually for environmental purposes and convenience. So far in our trials we have found the most useful usage scenario is safety monitoring of things like the oven or hvac being left on for excessive amounts of time. Though personally my favourite is the PV solar high generation event triggering. What do they roughly cost? Please see eGauge's online store (https://www.egauge.net/eos/index.php) for pricing or contact your local eGauge distributor for pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 ^OK. But since only posts so far relate to cost, it seems like economics is a big consideration. Of course, where I live in the world is not nearly the same as where you live... I'm sure there is interest in all this somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 This is great, but without knowing if the Eragy stuff is going to eventually support my hourly pricing through Ameren, its half a solution for me. Its great to be able to trigger on solar but I also need to be able to trigger on pricing extremes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Since this topic is within General Discussion, it seems to me (correct me if wrong) that centralized energy monitoring, within Control4 environment, has taken a leap backwards. First, there was a fairly decent looking Eragy app with a few layers of presentable info incl. graphs. That went away (with the absorption of the co. by C4) and we now are being offered an overly-simplistic "Real time Power" dashboard and "Watts On Now" tab. Nothing to take advantage of the eGauge hardware wrt discrete circuit monitoring incl. that from a PV array. Is this where you enter Alan? So now, if we pay for your app, we get back what was free with the ability to monitor circuit-level CTs. But, where are the graphs? I realize one could use the monitoring tool provided with eGauge EG but, like others have demanded, accessing this data from existing TSs and mobile devices would be desirable. I'm not complaining about your driver per se, I would buy it by default though. So, keep up the good work and perhaps we might see some pretty graphics in the future? What seems to tweak me a bit is that Control4 took Eragy to a level that retracts from the path they were on. All I see in a web search, since the purchase, is that good things could come from Control4 in the form of energy monitoring. That was last year's news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 At this stage we arn't putting any more investment into the egauge driver due to the lack of interest in it. Unfortunately consumers seem to purchase more AV focused drivers from our findings rather then the energy and smart home technology. We are not shying away from the energy space though. We are just looking at solutions that are more attractive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 At this stage...We are just looking at solutions that are more attractive.While I can appreciate your desire to produce the very best you can, what else is there that is detracting from putting energy usage data in the spotlight? Again, aside from "smart appliances", which will likely not take flight here in USA en masse, the one factor that will hit hard is rising time-based energy costs. Since they can be associated with the time of day, something needs to be in place to act as a controller. We as C4 users already have that necessary component in place now. It appears that what you have done so far has good bones but that's all there is. With all due respect, what was your initial expectation? Well, I guess you already answered after the fact but it is sad that it appears it is not a well-rounded decision. AV? How much more do we need? I'm not a tree-hugger but the more TV watching we do ain't gonna help with the monthly e-bill... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 While I can appreciate your desire to produce the very best you can, what else is there that is detracting from putting energy usage data in the spotlight? Again, aside from "smart appliances", which will likely not take flight here in USA en masse, the one factor that will hit hard is rising time-based energy costs. Since they can be associated with the time of day, something needs to be in place to act as a controller. We as C4 users already have that necessary component in place now. It appears that what you have done so far has good bones but that's all there is. With all due respect, what was your initial expectation? Well, I guess you already answered after the fact but it is sad that it appears it is not a well-rounded decision. AV? How much more do we need? I'm not a tree-hugger but the more TV watching we do ain't gonna help with the monthly e-bill... I agree. I honesetly want to produce more energy, smart appliance, solar and other like drivers. Unfortunately sales stats show that no one is really interested in this sort of stuff. We have sold more chromecast drivers in one day than we have egauge drives ever. I found the same thing whilst developing for other companies as well. At the end of the day people don't care as much for the automation side but more for the universal remote control side.. if you get my drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 ^ I tried. Control4 appeared to have felt the same back in 2012. It's not a very sexy topic in general and unless the concept of selling electricity (to consumers) extends beyond the time of use trick, probably few would bother with what you've done. I'm still going to buy your driver as soon as I can find a dealer who will resell it to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 I have now installed a 10.8 kWh solar array that is up and working and the eGUAGE should be installed within a week.Does the eGuage driver need to have the sensor installed on eavery item you want information on Alan? I get the idea that this is about $150 dollars per item you put the sensor around. Am I right? Thanks,Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 You need to clamp each circuit you want information on. Not sure where you pulled that figure from but it's just the CT clamp you need to purchase per circuit and the egauge eg3000 unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasBill Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 You need to clamp each circuit you want information on. Not sure where you pulled that figure from but it's just the CT clamp you need to purchase per circuit and the egauge eg3000 unit.Any approximate idea what a CT clamp costs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 Not sure off the top of my head. I'll speak to our distribution manager about it later today and get back to you. Note that pricing only reflects NZ not the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 I have now installed a 10.8 kWh solar array that is up and working and the eGUAGE should be installed within a week.Does the eGuage driver need to have the sensor installed on eavery item you want information on Alan? I get the idea that this is about $150 dollars per item you put the sensor around. Am I right? Thanks,BillYou mean 10.8kW. You didn't ask me but 20/30A CTs are $35 retail and the 100s are a little more unless you go revenue-grade then they are $65. You don't need to clamp each & every circuit. Do L1, L2 and the PV breakers and your good to go. Also, Turls has one of these as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 I do, but for the reasons I already mentioned I haven't bit on Alan's driver yet. Although I may at some point. I think something is wrong somewhere as my Eragy readings seem to have the solar generation in the wrong polarity...I have two different eGauge units and if I add up the totals and subtract solar generation, what I get is not what shows on the Eragy graph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 ^I'm sure you checked so hear me out anyway. Funky readings could be due to one or more 30xx units on L2 instead of L1. CTs can be tailored as + or - reading. All loads are minus and generators are plus. Double and triple check which leg each CT'd wire is actually drawing from. I not to the point where my second unit is installed so can't comment on mutiple-unit integration. Alan's driver gets the job done WRT to turning channels into variables. I really wish he'd pick-up where Eragy left off with graphics. People like pretty pictures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Thanks, its probably a project for the future as my actual graphs from Eragy seem to be serviceable and the data is ok. I actually didn't even know there was an updated app that integrated with Eragy for "free" until a couple weeks ago as I was running the old version. Unfortunately I had to clean up the mess from the original installer and I'm sure I still don't have everything completely right, but since the Eragy graph doesn't give me any data to act on anyway, its low on my project list currently. I've had a particularly hard time getting my head wrapped around the Eragy concepts in some cases. Probably has something to do with why I switched from EE to CS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 ALan, Is there an update to the original driver? If so, how would I get that- through AUTOMATIC UPDATES? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanchow Posted September 18, 2014 Author Share Posted September 18, 2014 ALan, Is there an update to the original driver? If so, how would I get that- through AUTOMATIC UPDATES? There have been no updates since the initial release. If there are any updates it'll be handled by the auto update by EV and auto update by 4store. We have no plans to update this for now. Probably looking to update the app next year sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 My dealer sold me 7.0.0. EV is offering 7.1.0. Composer is indicating that there is an update available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CFUG Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I'll be honest, this driver is not completely useless but close to it. What would it take to drag-in instantaneous usage and generation? Isn't this important in making snap decisions? You need to be looking at the TOTALS & VIRTUAL REGISTERS entries.. I get it, clamp info will tell you when you are at MAX or MIN and you make some sort of decision on a single load but current channels cannot be additive within Composer. So, any kind of multiple array/inverter installs won't get along with this driver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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