I’m wanting to add a bunch of energy monitoring stuff so I can both track costs, and maybe implement automation to turn stuff on and off based on power costs and timing.

I’m using some TPlink based plugs right now which are like, fine, but I’m wanting to add something like 6 to 10 more monitoring devices/relays.

Anyone have experience with a bunch of shelly devices and if there’s any weird behavior I should be aware of?

Assume I have good enough wifi to handle adding another 10 devices to it, but beyond that any gotchas?

  • corroded@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Depending on how accurate you need your energy usage data to be for individual devices, you might be able to get away with just using a whole-house energy monitor. I’m using one of these:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LV8DDFP

    I already have a large number of Zigbee plugs, so by looking at the power usage from my energy meter before and after one switches, I can get a general estimate of how much power a device is using. Of course, the rest of your home is going to to skew the results, but you can mitigate this a bit with some of HA’s statistics functions. It’s been a while since I tried this, but I did test it with a 3.5kW heater a while ago. I took a median from a certain number of samples before and after the heater switched on (I think 10 seconds worth of samples), and the result was generally accurate to within about 100w.

  • hokeypokey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    I’ve done this and it works well. I’m upgrading to some pro 3s for mains and AC circuit monitoring. The Shelley em does a good job but I’m looking for a quicker response cases and want to monitor individual AC circuits. The 1pm works well for larger device monitoring and control. I was using it to control a hot water system but it had a short life as it was quite hot where I installed it. I coupled it with the add-on to monitor hot water temps to turn it on and off. I also use them to monitor water pump temps for the pool and an irrigation pump. I use home assistant for energy use visuals and control as find my old phone is slow to load the Shelly app. I still use the original wifi plugs (similar to U) as I still like controlling random devices like tv and screen time.

  • shaun@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    I’m running six Shelly Plug S and all working well with Home Assistant, but I could definitely play a bit more with the data it’s drawing from them. Only issue to date was that I bought a new clothes iron and it would trip the plug as it was over the 2.5 kW the plug is rated for, might just be something to keep in mind. The in-wall relays may go higher, I’m not sure.

    • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.businessOP
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      3 days ago

      Yeah the plan was for the in wall relays. I’m in the US and if I read the specs properly they’ll do 16a at 120v, which is also where my breakers would trip anyways so probably shouldn’t matter.