2 or 3-Phase Emporia Smart Home Energy Monitor, Real Time Electricity Monitor/Meter, Solar/Net Metering (Monitor with 8 50A Sensors) (Monitor Only)

First the disclaimers - fitting this equipment involves working near live mains electricity which can kill. If you are not certain of what you are doing, have this fitted by a professional electrician. I am an electronic engineer, so was able to safely fit this myself and my review is based on my experience.As others have noted, the current sensors are a snug fit inside a UK consumer unit. However, I was able to comfortably fit all 50A sensors inside the box. As a tip - the CU cover has quite a bit of space in front of the wiring, ahead of the front face of the bank of circuit breakers. This is where I located most of the sensors and wiring. I installed the (much larger) 200A CTs outside the consumer unit on the feed from the main meter and solar panels. I also installed the monitor unit and antenna outside. The monitor unit, disappointingly, has no means to screw it down, so I used some double sided tape. Similarly for the antenna - it would be nice if these could be added to future versions. Another tip - you can use the 200A CTs in place of the 50A ones with a small audio adaptor jack - you just need to multiply the reading by 4.0 in the app. You also need to be careful to label all of the sensors and name them correctly, in addition to ensuring that every sensor is correctly located and oriented properly (the molded arrow should always point in the direction of power flow). Finally, there are some comments below that the sensor sockets give a poor connection, but I found the connection were fine, so perhaps this has been corrected. I did notice that you need to push the jacks in quite firmly until they give a positive "click" - so perhaps people with problems hadn't fully seated the plugs? Either way, all is fine now.Once installed, the app checked the configuration and started working perfectly. The "balance" feature quickly indicates if you have done something wrong - once all is correct the system balances within one percent, which I guess is a rough measure of the accuracy and this is more than adequate for my needs.The system gives fantastic insight into our domestic power flows, which I will use to design an efficient upgrade to our solar system with more panels and a battery bank. With the information available I'll know exactly how much capacity I should install. You can download the data to a CSV file and geek out on analysing it to your hearts content.Although I'm an electronic engineer, I've still found the real time insights to be highly revealing. It is fascinating watching the effect of a passing cloud on the solar power generation for example.Finally, there are smart plugs available from Emporia that allow the usual remote monitoring and control of individual power outlets which will give even finer resolution of where power is consumed. However, these need to be Emporia's own brand to interoperate with the system and app. I'll likely purchase some of these in the near future.Overall, this is a great piece of kit at a very reasonable price. It works well, is easy to install and gives all the information you could possibly want about your home's power consumption.

Running a large new build house and having electrical usage of up to 50kw per day ! I decided it was time to get to the bottom of where our kw where going. At 35p kwh , some days where costing £ 17.50 per day ! This house should be economical as custom built to a very high spec but does run a office , cinema and a list of loads more equipment so identifying potential high use areas is difficult. I'm also looking at solar pv and battery bank storage , so knowing our peak usage and time of day usage is important to design a working system.I looked around but most energy monitors just give total usage , per min, hour or day. Useful info but not the full picture. I then came across this system and it appeared to offer all i wanted. Monitoring of up to 16 circuits, plus total load , plus other phases or inputs i.e. solar. It is also expandable to monitor your solar, battery and car charging. Read the reviews and was prepared for a difficult install as using in a UK consumer unit and not a large American one.The unit turns up well packaged and with good instructions . Follow these and you cant go wrong but a few notes below which may help. I had a new install 5 yrs ago so spilt my circuits up quite nicely. Double board with 20 ways . I used all 16 to monitor almost all the circuits . i left off immersion as this is never used ,but fed 2 different breaker wires through 1 CT coil to monitor two lighting circuits. It just totals the 2 loads as one in the app. The CT coils are not massive but unless you have a tidy board it will be tight. I ran mine to outside the case and wired the hub on the wall. Americans should be able to get coils and hub in there consumers.Once wired up you load up the app on your phone and follow the instructions. You will label each coil one by one in the app, i.e. ovens, downstairs ring, hob, lights etc. . You can then play around in the app to set up unit costs, change currency to GBP and customize how you want .The app itself is very good but is cloud based. Great as you can monitor worldwide, if you have a signal. My only gripe is its a shame it doesn't leave an image on your phone to look at , which will then update when it can. I went to demonstrate to a customer out of signal and there is nothing to look at. Previous values and graphs would have been good if even not up-to-date etc.Straight away the app started tracking data. I decided to change nothing in the house and just monitor for 24 hrs. The results where quite surprising. My heat pump tumble dryer used far less than i thought , led lighting was minimal but a under sink electric water heater in a garage was drinking kw. One useful feature was to view each circuit on the second chart. You can go round switching on lights or devices and see the real time load . I am also getting the full picture of the house daily loads and requirements . We are hungry for kw midday and later in the evening so a successful solar design should be easier.So to conclude I am very happy with this energy monitor and with my new changes it will pay for its self in less than 40 days , but be prepared the install may take an 1 hr. or more and if you don't know what your doing in a consumer unit then get an electrician for an 1 hr. who does !