Smart Home Blog

Danish company Modstroem uses non-standard approach to get information about energy consumption in the its Z-Wave-based monitoring system. Instead of sensor the system includes digital camera which transmits picture from the meter to the Z-Wave Internet gateway. That gateway allows no only see the results of measurements but control all Z-Wave stuff in the home remotely.

Not sure that it’s good idea to use camera to grab data from the meter. In my opinion using the sensor makes measurement more accurate and independent from external actions such lighting, dust etc. It seems for me like a field-work but not effective solution for practice using.

Today I found cool concept of energy consumption monitor. The system includes two parts: hardware devices – Plug-Ends, which can transmit the energy consumption value and software for mobile phone which displays that value as charts or schemes. The Plug-Ends and mobile phone communicate via Bluetooth. On your mobile phone you’ll able to see the current status of each Plug-End and manage it remotely (it should be visible via Bluetooth).

At the first view the system looks great (iPhone makes makes one’s contribution on it :)). It presents data in the very clear format. So, the consumer shouldn’t have problems with it interpretation. But as I know Bluetooth is not so secure protocol as we’d like to have. And its range is quite enough to give possibility to your neighbors to control your electricity sockets. Some secure level should be definitely implemented in the system if it’s not done yet. Will see when the energy consumption monitor will be released.

Danish company Seluxit recently launched a new Z-Wave unit ViaSens. It connects to a PC via USB and collects data on all devices within the home control network equipped with radio sensors such as light switches and dimmers, thermostats and power meters. Using ViaSens together with a free Seluxit software homeowners can continually monitor the power consumption of their household and can optimize energy consumption by adjusting their device settings.

Seluxit also produces a few models of various sensors which can be used together with ViaSens. It’d be nice to know about support of third part Z-Wave devices. I suppose that it shouldn’t be a problem.

[via eHomeAutomation]

The Owl is a small but useful device which allows to measure energy consumption in your home easily. It contains three parts: sensor, sender box and remote monitor. To setup the Owl just clip the sensor around the live outgoing cable. Plug the sensor cable to the sender box and activate it. After that you will see some data on the LCD display of the remote monitor. Actually it show how much electricity is being used, how the cost of electricity per hour changes and how much harmful CO2 emissions the home is producing. Using the Owl you may save up to 25% of your electricity usage – a saving that translates directly to reducing your monthly bill and households’ harmful carbon emissions.

The Owl shows a full picture for your home. But sometimes it might be useful to use something like Kill-a-Watt to know how much energy is used by specified home appliance – fridge, microwave or home theater in stand-by mode.

You can buy the portable energy monitor Own here for £49.95. If you have a multiple phase (i. e. 3-phase) installations you have to buy additional sensor (£8.95).

[via eHomeUpgrade]