Sense Electricity Monitor Review

[@peterpvana]

Hey Matt, just installed my solar panels and along with it my Sense monitoring system. Still early days, but enjoying having the knowledge of my power generation and usage at my finger tips. Enjoying your videos!

[@NA5AA]

Matt, it's been 2 years since you reviewed your Sense energy monitor. Do you still like it? Is it monitoring your solar installation? Has it helped track your Tesla charging? Knowing what you know about the Sense now, would you buy one again if you didn't already own one?

[@322bufares]

why hasnt anyone replied to this wonderful question?

[@chrisvonsimson]

@@322bufares it's here undecidedmf.com/podcast/25-making-sense-of-it-all

[@322bufares]

@@chrisvonsimson Thanks man!!

[@LelandSindt]

I have to assume he is no longer using the the Sense... kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYK6lpt6hp6Sq7M

[@racinjason68]

Yes it helps track and if there is a significant usage increase it will notify you. I use it to track house hold items and watch my solar production.

[@mjohnson6093]

I would really like an update also on how it's working. I see a lot of people online that does a first look but they usually never follow up with a review later on.

[@muftiadnan]

With knowledge comes power!!! love that!

[@aidenmiddleton]

That intro... AMAZING!! Keep up the great work Matt.

[@shirwaali4252]

Ikke l3

[@racinjason68]

I have had mine for over 3 years and would purchase the Sense monitor again. It is very helpful with tracking my solar production.

[@lhhf]

had bought one when i was moving from my old house, so that when I moved into my current house, i would get data from the get-go. I love this and am always, even nearly 2 years later, still going back to the app to see how my home usage has been changing over time. like one thing i did the very next day after installing the sense, was to replace all of the incandescent (yes, the previous owner had a LOT of them) and CFL bulbs that came with the house, to LEDs and immediately saw the decrease in power usage in the app. very cool. would i do it again or recommend it to someone else? my resounding answer: absolutely!

[@the_kingd0m]

Hey Matt! Was wondering if you could do another review sometime through 2019 on the Sense to advise if there's been any software tweaks/improvements? I also can find anything online to indicate if there's been a hardware revision/update at any point. Sense still looks like the best option from my research. Thanks

[@UndecidedMF]

I will be revisiting the Sense at some point, probably related to a video I’m planning on my Solar panels. It’s a great way to track my usage and production in one place, but since I did the review I’ve been experiencing some really strange quirks. A revisit is definitely warranted.

[@toddwright662]

@@UndecidedMF Matt, I'm also interested in a revisit of this. Thanks

[@alexanderdjr]

Undecided with Matt Ferrell would you still purchase Sense today knowing everything you know now about the product or new competing products? Context: It sounds like my use-case is identical to yours (excluding your solar panels) and I’m strongly considering purchasing Sense.

[@reeftank706]

@@alexanderdjr i have the sense, and you really need to be a fan boy, it is amazing what it can do but there are limitations. I have now put, almost everything I have that hasn't been detected, on a smart plug/powerstrip (TPLINK Kasa HS110 and HS300). It has detected both of my cars ('18 Honda Clarity PHEV and '16 Kia Soul EV) but does not catch them turning on 100% of the time. It has recently started missing the Central AC kicking on which honestly could be a problem with the AC (just my luck). I freaking love it. I know it's limitations, and wish they would do a 2.0 product that would monitor at the circuit level, but still do the machine learning, however the amount of processing needed for that would be phenomenal due to the sample rates required to figure out what the devices are. @UCjtUS7-SZTi6pXjUbzGHQCg Did you ever do the followup? There are so many new features.

[@erickessler6094]

@@UndecidedMF Same here Matt! After using the Sense past those initial 2 months, is it getting smarter and providing any sustained value to you? :) Thanks! Cheers, Eric

[@ageranger1541]

Great video, pleasant speaking voice. I subscribed. You left out one great benefit of the device, it's just fun to play with for geeks like me. I also charge a EV 6.6 Kw .

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks! You’re correct ... I left out the geek fun factor, which is high with this one.

[@DavidHergert]

Hey Matt! How about a follow up 5 years later? Are you still using it, still useful? Did you try any other alternatives since then? I saw you interviewed Sense CEO Mike Phillips in 2020 which was good but just wondering how your experience has been this far in.

[@Xtracoolnerd]

Thanks for the review. I am looking at the Sense right now and I have another future purpose for it with a tenant suite in my home and being able to monitor the sub panel. This alone should pay for the unit. But I was thinking that even if I can find a few energy vampires and adjust my habits in my electrical system then I could shave $.5 to up to a $1 off my electrical bill per month, which would pay for the unit easily within the first two years. That is my thinking, I will have to see how it goes in practicality.

[@VizierSushin]

I just wished that Sense would support 220v single phase for non-US costumers. I want it so bad!

[@Gamejerk]

Would love an update video if possible. Still happy with Sense? Found a better solution?

[@BaneSIlvermoon]

I've got smart metering and a sense. Love the sense. I've barely looked at my smart meter info the last few months because it's just so much faster, and easier, to pull the details out of sense. Put my model 3 on a specific time of day charging schedule recently, and I'm hooing that will aid sense in detecting that it's a specific device that fires up at a set time every night. I'm also (again) thinking about moving to time of day metering. It's hard to validate the usefulness because I work from home during the peak hours, but it's looking like the cars drain MIGHT make it worthwhile as long as I'm not running a bunch of major appliances. Might look at something like a powerwall to help with that, but I'm not convinced that would be a good financial decision when we plan to move out of this house in about five years.

[@UndecidedMF]

I have the same thoughts/feeling on all of that! Sense just published an update on EV detection and gave me a glimmer of hope: community.sense.com/t/device-detection-major-update-chevy-electric-vehicles-10-11-18/3643?Sense+Mailing+List&Customers_EmailNewsletter_October2018&mc_cid=ad872e09c1&mc_eid=35c0ae90df I’m also running the math to see if switching to time of use metering will be worth it, and would love a power walk but can’t justify the price. Getting the money back isn’t there yet.

[@alliejr]

Why why why why do software developers _STILL_ put arbitrary limits on password length!!!??? I've been a professional software engineer for 40 years and this kinda of nonsense drives me crazy. It is literally some low-level idiot doing char[58] instead of allocating dynamically based on the input. Maddening.

[@UndecidedMF]

I’ve worked at tech/software companies myself for 20 years and am baffled by it too. I’m no engineer, but I know enough that it’s easily avoidable. Every other piece of tech in my home has been able to handle my crazy full length password ... until this.

[@the_kingd0m]

GOD THANK YOU!! somebody who finally sees the same thing as me. If they put arbitrary limitations on passwords it correlates directly to a DECREASE in password security! Forcing a set amount of any type of alphanumeric characters or special characters is equally problematic. Let the user decide their password level of security.

[@bobnutner2478]

char[58] - that would make it 59 chars - Arrays are zero indexed :)

[@jesusluzon5457]

Well they have to pick a number, and they just pick an arbitrary one that seems big enough for them.

[@RussSchampers]

@@alliejr Dare I expand your comment to financial institutions who limit the characters you can use in their passwords. They're supposed to be hashing and salting the password anyway so it just tells you they have insecure software under the hood. Nothing like handing money over to those folks for safe keeping! (PS Wells Fargo this was for you, salt and hash your passwords thanks)

[@Ed-jg3ud]

Can u do an update video review? Did the Sense get better over time? Still happy with it?

[@alliejr]

Excellent review. You should have 1M subscribers!

[@rogerday6184]

@@alliejr he has now…. Lol

[@rich1383yt]

I got a Sense when my Tesla Powerwall was installed. It’s done a mostly great job identifying things, but some items remain elusive (microwave seems unidentifiable, along with some computer items). Thanks for the review - motivated to go back and do some more device identification.

[@UndecidedMF]

It’s a pretty cool little device. I’m surprised by some of the things it’s discovered ... and not discovered. Like my EV, which Sense has said is problematic due to how they charge. They’re continually updating the software, so it’s getting better over time. Hopefully things like your microwave and my car will eventually get detected properly.

[@rich1383yt]

Undecided with Matt Ferrell Yes, hoping to see the Wall Charger show up in a few days. Picked up my P3D today - thrilled! I’m in Bedford, btw.

[@UndecidedMF]

Nice! That’s one hell of a car. I’d say we should have a race, but we all know how that would turn out.

[@andrewstacey315]

Hey Matt - you looked into Wiser? Know any differences betweent the two? Seems they are the same company?

[@UndecidedMF]

That's a re-branded Sense, so it's the same system just sold through Schneider.

[@Mike_Malloy]

You mentioned your only 2 months in with Sense on this video. Is it time for an update on using Sense?

[@Ryan-ru2fm]

Would love to have a follow up video as well.

[@TrainYourAthlete]

Just started working with Zenernet Solar. Part of their install is adding the Sense to your system.

[@jdrew8937]

I am looking to have a way to detect what elements, which rooms in my house are consuming the 10000kwh of electricity that cost me $2,600 a month. My electricity cost for a month is more than a lot of people's in a full year. My house is very big. Besides my family of 3 people, I have one friend living in one section of the house. I heard about Sense Electricity Monitor. I don't know if it can tell me accurately the electricity consumption of each element in the house.

[@candlurn6073]

Great review and very interesting product!

[@marcq3921]

Good Review Matt. Very clear and to the point. You answered many questions I had about this product. Thank you.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks for watching, Marc! Glad you found it useful.

[@JasonPrice1]

You know what is funny! Our power company here in Canada did the same thing starting about a year ago! They started sending out SHAME letters and claimed that I was the worst for power usage in the area I live for supposedly the same sized houses that supposedly heat their houses with electric... Here is the catch to that foolishness. When we built our house, we did it with as much attention to detail as we could with an eye towards efficiency. We have a geothermal heat pump that is 350% efficient (It also generates most of our hot water). Energy efficient windows, 14 inches of attic insulation, every single staple hole in the vapor barrier has TUCK tape on it, etc... As time went on, we changed to CFL and then to LED for lighting. All but 4 bulbs in the entire house are LED and those are CFL. Even my outside lights are all LED. When I calculate the cost to square foot and then compare it to any other all electric house that I know is all electric, regardless of size, my house is at LEAST 50% less power hungry per sq foot. But shame on me... More importantly, when you graph my annual power use, I am almost flat all year round and that is something for living in Canada. This kind of non peak demand customer should be exactly who they want to praise but nope. Thanks for the review. I am trying to chase down anything else I can do that is not a sacrifice and this seems interesting but the price of it is rather high and to your caution at the end, I don't know if it would be money well spent. The one thing that it would do and that anyone looking at adding solar or dealing with peak demand rate charges (I fear this is coming soon for where I live), knowing WHEN and how high the demand is during any given hour is highly valuable information. The thing that makes this the most unpallatable though, is that the price is in USD and our dollar is still rather low on exchange so it would be over $400 CAD. I just can't see the value there as I could better invest that into panel separation or entrance prep for solar/backup generator equipment.

[@UndecidedMF]

That is pretty funny. You definitely sound like the kind of customer they want to promote and not shame. For me the Sense worked because of solar and I’m looking at time of use calculations, but it is pretty steep on price. You’d probably be better off getting a simple Kill-o-watt meter (amzn.to/2FHL7k5) and slowly work your way around your house taking readings on what you think may be the big offenders for always on energy use. Heck, even check the things you “turn off” after you’re done because some electronics suck up more power in standby than you might think. It’s a lot more labor intensive, but much more affordable way to try and track down areas you might be able to streamline.

[@flybyairplane3528]

Jason Price hello, although this is a year old, still made me try to comment, A FELLOW I met in an RSES HeatPump class , lived in STATEN ISLAND NYC , had a GOLD MEDALLION HOME 100% ELECTRIC , so he then installed an AIR/AIR HEAT PUMP, so his utility CON ED , saw a DROP in his electrical load , thinking HE MAY have been STEALING ELECTRICITY , went to find out SOthey SAW the reason was NOT THEFT, but less use via that heat pump,,so they SCREWED HIM BY CHANGING THE METRR & RAISED HIS RATE ! Cheers 🇨🇦🇺🇸

[@Alphasig336]

It is great when you want to quantify power utilization to determine actual solar power needs. How much real world battery backup you need during power outage.

[@NavneetSingh-os7ve]

Hey Matt. You did this review about 4 years ago, how’s your experience been with Sense so far. Worth it??

[@racinjason68]

I have had mine for over 3 years. Still love it and look at it several times weekly. I also have solar and it tracks all my solar. It will not identify every item in the house but it will let you see that power is changing and you can use that to see your usage.

[@chargeeverywhere]

Nice review! It's always fun to see how other Sense users are using their's.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks! I just watched your review and really enjoyed it. We should have a 120 days in face off ;-). I'd recommend anyone who's watched my review also check out makjosher's.

[@chargeeverywhere]

We should totally do that! I just restarted mine 30 days ago as we moved to a new house, so I still 3 months to go.

[@UndecidedMF]

Nice! I’m game for a collab then if you are.

[@Wo0ody]

Could you use a Rasberry Pi for this sort of project?

[@sparkie001]

The sensors are called "current transformers" or CTs. Can the Sense work with "time of use" metering?

[@hotsaucehimself]

I don't see any functionality in my Sense app that correlates its data to TOU metering. The cost estimating in the Sense app only allows for one rate to be entered. Really, the device only tracks consumption. Typically, TOU is during pre-determined times of day, so just set your own reminders to reduce your consumption.

[@CaseyHome2]

I’ve been using sense for 2 years now. While it’s a cool system and gives me SOME insights into my energy usage, my problem is that even after 2 years, 90% of my devices have not been detected, and my reports show 80%+ of my power usage is in the “always on” or “other” buckets.. I’ve already installed the system at this point so not throwing it away, but given 80% of my power usage it still can’t track for me, it’s not something I would consider if I had the choice to do it again.. I get significantly better insight from my branch circuit monitoring system which tells me specifically how much power every breaker is using. What I’ve repeatedly suggested to sense that they need to do is build their system as a hybrid of their smart device detection, plus branch circuit monitoring.. don’t try to detect EVERYTHING from just a single clamp on the main.. allow me to clamp every breaker or at least a large chunk of my big hitters.. if I can tell it that any power usage from breaker 22/24 is my home AC, anything from breaker 13/15 is my pool pump, breaker 34/36 is my kitchen stove (don’t worry about reporting all 7 stove heating elements individually, just 1 report usage from my stove is plenty insight for me).. doing so would virtually eliminate the “always on” and “other”buckets, and provide me drastically better data than it does today

[@UndecidedMF]

I’ve had a much better success rate for detecting my devices, but there’s still more than I’d like to see in the always on bucket (mine is just under 30%). That’s a really interesting suggestion you gave Sense. Did you get any response?

[@Saturn2888]

I also have a long Wi-Fi password and have the EXACT same issue as you where certain devices just won't connect :(. I don't get why it's like that when Wi-Fi is an open standard. I also got around it using the guest network.

[@markberkeley170]

Matt....Any thoughts on when we might see an update on the Sense device?

[@UndecidedMF]

I’m not sure we’ll see anything soon because the biggest updates are happening software side. The hardware seems to deliver everything they need to keep that going strong.

[@philsmith5400]

I just ordered my Sense system - I've been using Ubiquiti mFi, but it is limited by the number of sensors I am willing to buy and install, so here's hoping this is all it seems to be!

[@luv2trvl627]

I need this for my triplex. I have 3 properties using a single grid. So I need to know how much each of my tenants are using to bill them their fair share of the electricity bill. Do you think this could work?

[@EvanMooreZ]

I just had ours installed 2 weeks ago. Be sure to pick up these plugs HS110 smart plugs and HS300 smart power strips that way you can identify smaller equipment, because not everything has a consistent energy pattern that sense can detect. So with these extra devices? It works seamlessly with sense and it can then identify those devices.

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

This product will work even better once you get you solar panels. Will you be able to switch to Net Time of Use Metering, where power is cheaper late at night and at time on the weekend? Your sense would be great in identifying power hungry devices that should be run when power is the cheapest. On example of a huge power hungry draw comes from the defrost cycle of your refrigerator/freezer. Sense will help you answer that question. Please let me know how things are going.

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks for watching! I’d like to switch to time of use metering, mainly to get cheaper EV charging overnight, so that is something I’m looking into. I have a future video planned for the Sense (follow up on what I’ve found and interesting integrations). More to come.

[@kunjanshah4134]

Hey Matt,. I have solar panels as well. I wanted to know if you put the sense inside the electric panel, are you able to see the solar generation? My setup is little different. Solar panels wires are coming into the transfer switch for my gas powered generator. Di wanted to know how would capture the solar numbers if I put the clamps on the inside panel?

[@HorizonRes]

Can I clamp the hots / positives on 2 individual circuits instead of the 2 120V service mains? Wondering if it can monitor individual circuits instead of the whole panel.

[@jefersonbronze]

Awesome video buddy!

[@Ozzie4Para]

I don't know why so many people are skittish about installing a Sense meter. I'm a paraplegic who's in a wheelchair and I've installed two Sense meters. I just used common sense and here I am still alive. It's not that difficult to install these meters. Just use some common sense when working around live electricity.

[@DaveDoherty]

Does it require it's own 240 breaker? If so, I'm out of luck - no room in my pannel

[@zemerick1]

Sense supports adding it to an existing 240 breaker since the power draw is so low.

[@annespacedroid]

Heyyyy, I used to be undecided. But now, I'm not so sure.

[@Blakehx]

That's very cool! Great review, thanks for sharing! How would it work on a house that has 3 seperate breaker boxes?

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks for watching! That’s a really good question. If two of those are sub panels of the last one, then the system can work. You just have to install the Sense in the main panel box. help.sense.com/hc/en-us/articles/115006132768-Compatible-electrical-panel-configurations

[@thegrimmperspective]

I too am a Sense and EV owner....very professional videos. Thumbs up!

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks!

[@thegrimmperspective]

@@UndecidedMF, some sources that I've come across suggest placing IOT devices on the Guest Access wifi. Have you looked into this? What are your comments? Thanks.

[@UndecidedMF]

I’ve been looking into this exact thing to try and secure my IoT better. What’s interesting with Eero routers is that all devices on your guest network of not only isolated from your main network, but from each other on the guest network. So there’s the pro of it truly isolating whatever you put there, but if your IoT devices need to detect each other over WiFi to work ... that’ll break it. Doing that will work fine for most of my devices, like my Arlo cameras, Ring doorbell, etc. But it might cause problems for Philips Hue. Still digging into all of this, but the general thinking I’ve been seeing is to use a guest network if it doesn’t disrupt functionality.

[@KevinFockaert]

I've heard a lot about Smappee... It's the same concept as this Sense. I would be interested in seeing a comparison between the two if possible. Based on your review of the Sense and what I've seen of Smappee, it's basically the exact same product, but maybe there's some little differences which would influence someone's choice. Keep up the good work!

[@UndecidedMF]

Good suggestion! I'll see if I can get my hands on some of their products for comparison.

[@bobnutner2478]

HI Matt, I'm looking at my $317 bill for December like that :) Question on identifying the devices, my computer and other devices are all hooked up thought a surge protector/UPS, if yours are too, was it able to identify any of it? Just wondering since the surge protector supposedly kills all the noise.. thanks!

[@UndecidedMF]

The Sense hasn’t been able to detect any of my smaller electronics like computers, Apple TVs, etc. It could be that the power draw isn’t enough for it to fingerprint effectively, but it might be a surge protector issue too. Most of the smaller items are getting lumped into an “Other” bucket. You can give the Sense access to scan your home network for devices, so it can detect things like Philips Hue lightbulbs, smart TVs, and the like. After I gave it access to my network it picked up my TVs and lights, but still no computers.

[@bobnutner2478]

@@UndecidedMF Thanks!, I wonder is the firewall in the computer would stop it from being "discovered" maybe sense needs to be joined in the same group/domain? Did you ever joined it to the main wifi or its still on the guest network?

[@UndecidedMF]

I have my sense on the main WiFi network, so it should be able to detect everything on there “in theory.” I don’t think it’s a domain or firewall issue. It could just be that the system hasn’t learned how to reliably detect those types of devices yet. I’ve had some back and forth with Sense customer support, which is great by the way, and they’ve said that it’s a learning system and will continue to get better. If you get false detections, or false on/off states, you can report those issues pretty easily in the app. They use that to help refine the machine learning aspect of Sense.

[@davidgray6720]

Great review of the Sense. I've been curious about its reliability to capture and identify the individual loads, and how it will stand up to the online scrutiny of too many "unknown" loads. I've used several predecessors including the TED (junk), ENVI by Current Cost (more of a toy) and eMonitor by Powerhouse Dynamics (best one I've seen on the market - 6 years ago). eMonitor is similar to what others have requested with a CT on every circuit in the panel. It's great for breaking down the loads but at a starting price of $700, I could never make a business model work to install it in homes. I'd have to convince homeowners to part with $1,000 for knowledge. And your overcrowded electric panel becomes stuffed with 30 CTs in there. Can the Sense work with other devices to monitor temperature sensors?

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks for watching. It can’t be integrated directly with anything like temperature sensors. The most you’re going to get is some integrations through a cloud service like IFTTT. It’s been decent at detecting individual loads. Devices that that have ramp ups and downs in energy use, like EV charging, it struggles with. They just recently rolled out some updates that allowed it to detect my Model 3. It’s detected a couple of devices a couple of times. The app has ways to merge devices when that happens, so the system slowly learns. And there are a lot of things, like the computers in my house, that it’s never detected. It’s given me a good view into where 60-70% of my energy use is going specifically. The rest is a broad stroke view of my energy use (still useful).

[@Michael-w8v]

To be honest, I was gonna buy sense, but since they blocked me on Facebook for no reason I'm not gonna do business with them.

[@BigFish6161]

Now that you've had Sense for over a year, what are your thoughts? Can you do an update video? I'm interested in purchasing a Sense myself, and I'd be interested in your updated impression.

[@UndecidedMF]

Good suggestion on a follow up. I still love the system. It's not perfect though. I have had it rediscover a few devices again, but it's easy to remove duplicates. I especially love having my solar production and energy use in one place. It's been very helpful for learning how/when I'm wasting energy and correcting it.

[@eandrade672]

can you gives us an update?

[@lovebites8019]

Will this sence solar revese flow?

[@LarryH2233]

Hey Matt, would I need 3 Sense's if I have three sub panels

[@jlcanizales]

how can I do if I have 3 fases, I see it comes with only 2

[@zemerick1]

Does turning on/off the device change the detection rate?

[@kc2dc444]

What if you have two breaker boxes?

[@TheNlograsso]

So, how much does the Tesla cost you per month in electric?

[@Tibbon]

It varies a lot, depending on your power delivery costs and of course how much you drive. I've seen things indicating that on average it's around 2.9c/mile. Given that a gallon of gasoline gets many vehicles 30mpg, and that gallon is probably $3 on average (over past few years), that's 10c/mile for gasoline. So your electric costs will go up, but your per mile cost to drive is under 1/3 the same cost for gasoline. If you've got solar, obviously these costs go down even more.

[@cucabueno]

I want to get something like this and put in a hypothetical billing structure using time-of-use. I also recently got the Model 3 and think that switching to a time-of-use structure will help us save. But i want to know sure before committing for a year of time-of-use. Can I enter this time-of-use structure and input the peak hours vs off-peak hours prices?

[@UndecidedMF]

What’s funny is that’s part of the reason I got the Sense. There’s no built in way to do that in the app right now. You can only do one fixed rate schedule, but you can export CSV files of your data by hourly intervals. You could export a month worth of data and do some spreadsheet magic to figure it out.

[@keything8487]

i was going to use this to make the calculations for solar installation......

[@andrewbeyer2747]

Matt, how about an update on this? You could even combine an update on this with another solar panel update? Just a thought... Thanks!

[@UndecidedMF]

I’ll be doing a two year update on my panels. Good suggestion for including an update on this as well. Funny thing ... I just interviewed the CEO of sense. I’ll be publishing that video soon.

[@martce]

I used a 2005 "The Energy Detective" system and found them to be a lot of guess work to assign a power load to a particular device. In their latest update, The Energy Detective created individual clamps connected via a device they call a spider, to eliminate some of the guess work out of the consumption assignment. I have not purchased/upgraded since the non/wifi 2005 version. Sense has a better User interface, and likely better predictive algorithms, but still operates under guess work, and have not tried it either

[@UndecidedMF]

That sounds interesting. I’m still getting use out of my Sense, but some of its guesses over the past two weeks have me scratching my head. I have no idea what they could possibly be. Anything that could help reduce the guesswork is a plus in my book.

[@bmickle]

Hey Matt, your referral link no longer seems to work. Are you no longer an affiliate for sense?

[@rasberry4739]

$400 is definitely worth it. I was looking at switching to a whole smart panel by Leviton and it would be $3000-$4000. This does the same thing.

[@Michael-w8v]

Not $400 worth if they blocked me on Facebook for no reason.

[@ACoustaDC]

I live in AZ and our power company monitors our usage without sending out a meter reader guy. They should just allow us access to that data. You can only see what yesterday was, and not up to the minute. Ir would eliminate the need for this device.

[@tony45682]

Did you experience any connectivity issues? Installed mine yesterday, was fine for about 4hrs, then connectivity dropped and hasn’t reconnected. I cycled the breaker it runs on and also restarted my network. No luck.

[@miner3993]

Hey Matt, great video. I too just installed solar and I'm looking for a smart meter to hope me understand my power consumption to help me decide if I should install batteries and how many. It's there a way to connect via Ethernet cable instead of wifi?

[@humandoing9675]

Can you do an update specially about your Tesla energy usage and how well the Sense monitors the car.

[@UndecidedMF]

I've been thinking about doing just that. Sense rolled out support for detecting my Model 3 a few months ago.

[@humandoing9675]

I look forward to the video. Thanks

[@humandoing9675]

How is the Model 3 working? Are you getting reliable readings?

[@motorradingaround1220]

The music was a little to loud for this and I couldn’t focus on what you were saying with its ups and downs in the song that is playing

[@philippelhaus]

Nice Review 👍

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks!

[@difelicea]

I live in the caribbean and last month bill was US$781, if this device can save me 10% it will pay by itself if less than 4 months. Ordered.

[@UndecidedMF]

Holy %#&#*! That’s an insane electric bill. Have you looked into solar?

[@difelicea]

@@UndecidedMF Yeah pretty insane. We are looking into solar but local installation and regulations makes it not a great alternative.

[@Mattstafford2009]

Thanks for the thorough and detailed review! But this just seems like a really expensive way and a really complicated/ time consuming method (in terms of needing to hire an electrician) to just read your electric bill/ meter. There are multimeters that you can just clamp temporarily onto individual electric lines to measure electric use. If you have to manually tell sense what power is being used why not just spend 5 mins and clamp around some electric appliances and just use some math to calculate average monthly power use? Most of the power use reductions you've listed also I feel like if you just google "how to reduce electric bill" you can just assume any default/ current settings are wasteful and just go ahead and cut back on lights being on, adjusting thermostat temperatures to have AC/ heat be on less, raising the fridge/ freezer temperatures, maybe even fixing any seals on the fridge! A lot less sexy yes! But maybe this would be different if I had solar panels and lived on a farm and didn't have the luxury of being on a grid, but I just don't really see a lot of the point of new tech these days...

[@UndecidedMF]

The system is a learning system, so new features are getting rolled out over time. It’s able to detect power fluctuations and electric motor issues (those features are in beta right now) and warn you about them.

[@brentmcknight5344]

Yep every quarter

[@2808drw]

3 phase ?

[@oneconsciousman1942]

Its true that the average person will find Sense as an added expense which will not benefit them. For those who are working to lower their energy costs to begin with using LED bulbs, Use optional appliance during off peak hours, limiting the times you do you unnecessary items, get everyone on board to practice efficient uses of energy, then the sense serves no purpose and cannot tell you to do anything different that you already are doing. using one bulb instead of six above a bathroom vanity will cost less especially when the bulb is LED. there are many ways to cut energy costs which you have to do since energy costs continue to go up at the source. Would I want a Sense monitor, after watching this clip I've conclude that as much as it intrigues me I doubt I am going to invest my money in something which cannot do much beyond what I am already doing. I am sure there are great benefits to owning it but I will wait until the device has all the bugs worked out and the cost drops.

[@UndecidedMF]

Fair points! After having this about a year, I’m very happy with it. It’s gotten better at detecting devices over time with software updates, and the company is very good about responding to questions.

[@Reaperofwind]

Must be in IT. How do remember that password. Nice.

[@pearlchan580]

Love your great videos and channel! Could you please help my friend to a review a floodlight camera?

[@UndecidedMF]

What floodlight camera are you looking at?

[@offgridwanabe]

so it's not a two way sensor you need another set on the solar input and compute the difference

[@UndecidedMF]

Nope. You have to plug in a second set of clamps on the PV line coming into the electrical panel. It’s really easy and is working great so far.

[@MrToadsWildRide]

You now need to do a follow-up video showing your experience since getting the Tesla and solar. Please! Hanks for all your fantastic content. You have the best channel on KZbin !

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks! I do have a video on my solar system coming up (hopefully next week), but it's more of an introduction. I'll also be doing a follow up when I have more data in another few months.

[@dougspindler4947]

DON’T BUY RATTING until Sense fixes their software. - Your video review needs to be updated. At 4:55 you say the app shows how much a device costs to power. NOT TRUE - The software does't support TOU, tiered or variable rate billing. This is the main reason one would buy Sense. Turns out Sense is lying about this feature. At I just purchased a Sense only to learn from Alex in Sense's teach support department they are advertising features the software is supposed to have isn't in the software yet. And he doesn't have any idea when the functionally is going to be added. In the product description it states one can "Measure power consumption in dollars and cents to see exactly how much particular devices are costing you." Yes you can with a accuracy of plus or minus over 400 percent. How can they call that exact? I would call it a lie.

[@UndecidedMF]

That's a fair knock against Sense that they don't support TOU right now. However, I'd argue that's not the main reason people would buy it. It may be for some, but not all. I'm not on TOU and bought the Sense because I wanted to understand how my energy was getting used and to find ways to cut back. Not an excuse for Sense not being clear that their cost estimator is for fixed rates only. It's also not and excuse for them not including the feature, but you can export any and all of your data as a CSV file. You can filter and view all of the energy use hour by hour, which means you could crunch those numbers yourself.

[@dougspindler4947]

​@@UndecidedMF Are you really on a one price per kWhr rate plan? I would be very surprised you are paying more than one price for a kWhr. If you are trying to find ways to cut back on energy don't you want to know how much your paying for the energy? If all you want to know is how much electricity you are using why din't you just buy the $15 TP-Link/Kasa. For the $300 you spent on Sense you could have purchased 20 Kasa outlets. And with the TP-Link Kasa plugs not only do they tell you how much electricity/kWhrs they've used you can also power them on and off from anywhere in the world. The more I look into the features and functionality of Sense the more I'm realizing it doesn't do what we need it to do. It has such potential but then falls short in delivering.

[@UndecidedMF]

Yes, I’m on a one rate per kWh electricity plan. My utility doesn’t offer TOU because it’s “confusing” to consumers. I really wish they would. And before I got the Sense I had used a $20 Kill-o-watt meter to take readings on a bunch of my stuff in the house. But that only gets you so far as you can’t see how much energy your HVAC is using, or your stove, microwave, EV, etc. And I was getting solar and wanted to be able to track my solar production alongside my energy usage in one place. It ticked all of the boxes for what I wanted. And like I mentioned in my previous comment, Sense can export all of your data to a CSV file. That’s allowed me to slice and dice the info in other ways the Sense app doesn’t do. Again, ticking all of the boxes I was looking for.

[@dougspindler4947]

@@UndecidedMF Thanks for the reply. Hard to believe there's a power company which still offers a single rate. I have several of the Kill-o-watts meters and even purchased a couple of Watts Up Pro and .Net power analyzers. I agree with you the Kill-o-watt's have their limitations. From the description Sense looks wonderful. But now that I have one up and running I'm finding the short comings. On the advice of another person who purchased Sense and returned it he purchased Eyedro. Turns out the Eyedro does TOU and tiered billing. While their software is not a flashy as Sense, it provides far more detailed information in a format that's easier to understand. While you might be happy with sense, I'm wondering if Eyedro might not be a far better solution for you?

[@UndecidedMF]

Before getting sense I had looked at Neurio, CURB, and Smappee. I hadn’t heard of Eyero, but it looks interesting ... good price too. I’m good with Sense and not looking to switch, but I’d love to test out some of these other ones at some point and make some videos comparing them.

[@CM-kl9qh]

“64 characters long...” my only fault with that is you gave us a count. I would have said ‘Longer than the sense allowed.’

[@jason-white]

I have been using Sense for about 5-6 years now and it has not helped me 1 bit, sure it shows me I am using a lot of power but it has not helped me to understand what is using the power. It's interesting data to have in front of you but I do not recommend it.

[@errcoche]

$100 for 5 minutes work - what a bargain! If you disconnect at your main breaker, or service disconnect if you have one, nothing is live. If you have a spare breaker position for a double pole then basically the question is can you operate a screw driver. If you don't know what a main breaker is, or a double pole breaker then, YES, leave it to a professional but do a little research and self education and then do it yourself next time. The Sense should be a rental device. You should pay to have it for 3 months and then renew or return. There's no enough dynamism in a home for it to continue to offer value after that initial period. Imagine if they would rent it to you for $75 for the first quarter and then $25 thereafter. I am probably going to get one because I am having solar installed but I also will sell it when I think it has done its job.

[@_ShaDynasty]

2:30 haha wtf. Why though?

[@UndecidedMF]

Why I have a 64 character password or why it doesn’t support it ... or both? Lol.

[@_ShaDynasty]

@@UndecidedMF the 64 character password. it's going to take a while for your guests to type that one in.

[@UndecidedMF]

Yeah, I’m nuts. But in my defense I use Eero for my wifi system and I can just show a QR code for my guests to jump on.

[@EliteProductions3129]

@@UndecidedMF What do you do for devices that don't read QR codes? That would be a nightmare for my TVs and Nest Thermostat.

[@drummer0701]

Wow you pay .22 kWh!? I pay .10 per kWh

[@UndecidedMF]

I’m jealous. Massachusetts is one of the most expensive areas for power in the U.S. my parents live in upstate NY and pay around what you do.

[@dangardner7883]

.45 kwh peak time in San Diego.

[@danl.909]

“…magnetic clamps...?” What? Those are CTs, not magnets.

[@DudleyaSetchellii]

Which cartoon character is your avatar?

[@sleepyta]

Wow it only handles 54 character passwords ? That's practically useless

[@davkdavk]

5 unnecessary lights going in the background

[@UndecidedMF]

Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot to set my lights to my usual super low setting for shooting.

[@Mojobuko1]

64 characters....LOL!!!

[@grouchymonk]

64 Character password... For when those pesky quantum computers keep breaking into the wifi.

[@drewsquickfix]

64 character wifi password??? Jeez how.much security do you need? Ha ha that's overdoing it a bit in my oponion. I'm guessing your MINING BITCOIN that's why you might need this device.

[@austinsmith8448]

You lost me at 64 characters.

[@UndecidedMF]

Seriously, what’s up with that?

[@cmh2111]

If the sparky charged you $100 to install the sense, find a new electrician.

[@CalebHerscher]

This device requires time and I believe is not worth …..is cheaper to disconnect or unplug unused devices…

[@rlopez2626]

240 volts can kill you!

[@sparkie001]

So can 120V. It's the current that kills you. So a lower voltage combined with a lower resistance path can still produce enough current.

[@_ShaDynasty]

@@sparkie001 wrong! It's the spiders behind the breaker panel that will kill you .

[@drewsquickfix]

This thing looks like a fire hazzard!! I am surprised you got an electrician to install it.

[@boxingfavsmg]

The sense does not like southwest heat.. died

[@rlopez2626]

Sense makes NO Sense!