ESEV Energy Monitor

Looking for some ideas. Now that we have our POJ AeroVironment ESEV installed, I am trying to figure out some solution for tracking how much electricity the car consumes each month. Does anyone know if the car itself will track that info?

If not, has anyone come across a reasonable kill-a-watt type solution for 240v (other than not making the huge mistake of buying an AV ESEV, I know, I know)? There are a lot of low cost solutions for a 120v standard outlet, but this only thing I can come across for 240v is to maybe direct wire a home appliance monitor from the UK like this one (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Efergy-Esocket-Plug--Energy-Monitor/dp/B002PD73IW/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1292194851&sr=8-12) though I would need to find one rated for 40 amps.

All sounds messy. Any ideas? PS I would really like to find a z-wave one if anybody has an idea...

The T.E.D. device aka The Energy Detective is a system that a lot of folks use to monitor their 240V PV systems where it feeds into the panel. Seems like ti would also work for the EVSE monitor.
http://www.theenergydetective.com/store/ted-5000

Previous post on this topic: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=119&p=4444&hilit=detective#p4444

I don't know if the Leaf will keep accurate tabs on how much juice it pulls from the EVSE but it would be nice to know.

Equipment that I hear mentioned quite a bit that can do what you ask is TED or The Energy Detective. More info can be found at http://www.theenergydetective.com/

Hopefully other forum members will shed some light on inexpensive EVSE monitoring solutions.

Futura said:

The T.E.D. device aka The Energy Detective is a system that a lot of folks use to monitor their 240V PV systems where it feeds into the panel. Seems like ti would also work for the EVSE monitor.
http://www.theenergydetective.com/store/ted-5000

Previous post on this topic: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=119&p=4444&hilit=detective#p4444

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I second the TED idea. I have one now for my house and solar and will expand it to include the EVSE. I have live data on my web site: http://www.jjhamilton.com/solar if you want to see what it looks like.

I am glad that I will have a Blink EVSE because it does track the info as well as have a meter to report to the power company to charge at a lower electric rate.

I may not be following, but doesn't TED do a whole house measurement? I already have that. I am looking for something that meters up just the ESEV so I can tell what additional load is coming from the car. Or is there a way to do that with TED? Sorry if I am being dense

SolarExec said:

I may not be following, but doesn't TED do a whole house measurement? I already have that. I am looking for something that meters up just the ESEV so I can tell what additional load is coming from the car. Or is there a way to do that with TED? Sorry if I am being dense

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The TED will monitor whatever you put the Current Transformers (CT's) around. So in my house, I will have 3 sets of CT's:

1 set on my Main Power panel that measures ALL power coming and going from my house.
1 set on the wires going to my solar. That one monitors ONLY the power coming in from my solar.
1 set on the wires going to my EVSE. That one will monitor ONLY the power going to the EVSE.

The TED console can show one or all of your CT's and track total home usage with/without solar, with EVSE and also break each one down so you can see exactly what is happening on that circuit.

I "third" the TED idea.

I just installed mine three days ago and I'm having so much fun with it! (Energy geek? Guilty!)

I bought the 5003C model for about $400 which has three MTUs and three sets of CTUs. I'm using them to monitor (1) my main feed from my utility, (2) my feed from my solar inverter (since my older inverter doesn't have a data connection), and (3) the load feed going to my future EVSE. I also got the handheld wireless display, but that's really just an option ($40, included in the 5003C) While the display is really optional, it helped me with my setup of the TED and it is fun to have a small display that you can check any time without turning on your pc.

Note: If you just want a simple energy monitor to attach at your EVSE, I have a friend who got the much cheaper TED 1000 series unit, which can monitor just one circuit. He placed his right at the EVSE for his Mini E. I wanted the ability to monitor my whole house and my solar system, so the 5000 series was a natural for me.

Another note: Setting up a TED 500 system is not a simple project for the average person. It requires space inside your main power panel for the MTUs and CTUs, which are about 2 inches by 1 inch by 1.5 inches. It requires connection of a few wires from the MTUs to an available circuit breaker inside the power panel, AND the connections need to be on separate phases of the breaker(s) to provide a 240 Volt circuit. It requires space around the power wires to clip the CTUs around. And the information is transmitted through your house wiring to a TED "gateway" brick which needs to plug into an outlet in your house that is near enough to your pc or router to connect a network cable. Some outlets will work, others won't, so you need to search for a good outlet without interference from equipment, lighting, etc.

So it's a little development project at each person's home. That said, I had mine working in a day, and I'm not an engineer, just a motivated, technically interested person. [EDIT: I did have my electrician install the MTUs and CTUs in my new power panel while he was putting in the panel. I'd have been intimidated by that part, left to my own devices.] I still have some fine tuning to do in the TED software to get accurate readings on my pc, but that's the fun part.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought this might help some folks.

Again, if you just want a simple energy monitor at your EVSE, the TED 1000 might work well, for less money and much less complexity.

I've been wanting a TED for a long time, still waiting for their 3 phase version as I want it for my office.

Gonewild said:

I am glad that I will have a Blink EVSE because it does track the info as well as have a meter to report to the power company to charge at a lower electric rate.

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Is your power company actually going to use the Blink's internal meter?
(SDG&E doesn't trust it.)

Gonewild said:

I am glad that I will have a Blink EVSE because it does track the info as well as have a meter to report to the power company to charge at a lower electric rate.

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I hear ya. And for the record and most emphatically, I regret buying the AV ESEV. Buyer beware.

Thank you to everyone for the TED info. I will probably go with the 1000 as that seems like a better fit for what I want. The ESEV is on a totally separate 100 AMP panel in the garage while the rest of the house is 100 feet away in the main house. So I am guessing based on these responses that a TED 1000 for the garage is the sensible way to go.

The TED is pretty accurate. I installed it myself about a week ago to measure my PV array output.

Some additional comments:

1) TED records data in the gateway (whcih you can download). You can also send the data to Google Powermeter, which is a free service that records power measured.

2) It measures true power, i.e. takes into account the power factor. Some other devices only measure current.

3) My display unit's range is terrible (maybe it's faulty?) and it looks "cheap" on close-up. It needs to sit next to the gateway to receive the measurements. I recommend NOT buying it and saving the $40 (or $50). You can monitor the output from your computer or through an Iphone/Ipod apps which is free.

4) You can "scale" the power recorded through a setting in the gateway. I set mine to 0.98 which co-relates closer to the data given by my SMA inverter.

5) Some people will encounter problems with the power-line communications. I pre-empted problems by plugging in the gateway at an outlet only a feet away from the sub-panel. This weekend, I added a new Cat5e ethernet outlet next to this outlet.

I am thinking of getting additional MTU/CTs for whole house and EVSE monitoring in future, but I am running out of space in my electrical sub-panel to put these in.

TED Questions:
If one wants to download and save at least the minute-by-minute data (maybe not every second), is there an "easy", automated way to do that?

Are all the values from the MTU just "instantaneous" values?

Does the Gateway "add" the power readings (and average the voltage) to make minute, hour, day values?

Two sides of 240v (L1, L2) go to the MTU, does Neutral also connect to accurately read the two "120v" voltages?

Might the time base be a bit off to account for the 0.98 factor you applied?

garygid said:

TED Questions:
If one wants to download and save at least the minute-by-minute data (maybe not every second), is there an "easy", automated way to do that?

Are all the values from the MTU just "instantaneous" values?

Does the Gateway "add" the power readings (and average the voltage) to make minute, hour, day values?

Two sides of 240v (L1, L2) go to the MTU, does Neutral also connect to accurately read the two "120v" voltages?

Might the time base be a bit off to account for the 0.98 factor you applied?

Click to expand...

TED stores 60 minutes of SECONDS, 2 days of MINUTE-data, 90 days of HOURLY-data, 24 months of DAILY-data, and 10 years of MONTHLY-data:

http://www.theenergydetective.com/ted-5000/frequently-asked-questions

One possiblity is to download the minute-data once every two days -- which is probably not what you are looking for.

The latest beta firmware adds a configurable host where TED can upload data. Maybe the API will support what you are looking for.

You can read off instantaneous values (i.e. kW, voltage), the max and min of voltage and kW, as well as accumulated values (kWh) off the MTU. Check out the demo below:

http://demo.theenergydetective.com/Footprints.html

The neutral needs to be connected. It is needed to power the electronics in the MTU (assumes 120V). But only one phase of the hot wire is really needed if you know which phase of your circuit your gateway is connected to.

I've had a TED 5000 for about 18 months now and I love it! I also have it tied in with with Google Powermeter which adds some nice web and email features... My measurements are always within about 1 percent of my meter and bill...

Tom

I get my data straight from SDG&E's power meter. After dorking around with TED-like transducers, Kill-a-watt stuff, and all that, this is the first time my instant power measurements and totals agree perfectly with my power bill.

GroundLoop said:

I get my data straight from SDG&E's power meter. After dorking around with TED-like transducers, Kill-a-watt stuff, and all that, this is the first time my instant power measurements and totals agree perfectly with my power bill.

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How exactly do you manage to get the data from the meter?

Jimmydreams said:

GroundLoop said:

I get my data straight from SDG&E's power meter. After dorking around with TED-like transducers, Kill-a-watt stuff, and all that, this is the first time my instant power measurements and totals agree perfectly with my power bill.

Click to expand...

How exactly do you manage to get the data from the meter?

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By connecting to the ANSI infra-red data port right on the front of it.
24/7.

Unfortunately, LADWP does not offer any such capability and apparently has no plans to any time in the immediate future...

SolarExec said:

I am glad that I will have a Blink EVSE because it does track the info as well as have a meter to report to the power company to charge at a lower electric rate.

Click to expand...

GroundLoop said:

Jimmydreams said:

GroundLoop said:

I get my data straight from SDG&E's power meter. After dorking around with TED-like transducers, Kill-a-watt stuff, and all that, this is the first time my instant power measurements and totals agree perfectly with my power bill.

Click to expand...

How exactly do you manage to get the data from the meter?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

By connecting to the ANSI infra-red data port right on the front of it.
24/7.

Can you explain a bit what equipment are you using to do that? Through Wattvision? Blue Line?

Click to expand...