Shelly 3EM Installation

Shelly 3EM installation video with Home Assistant Shelly Integration. We look at several installation consideration when physically installing the Shelly EM3. And Setup a Daily Utility Meter Sensor so we can track usage from a Home Assisant dashboard. Also see how to stop the Utility Sensor Glitching with an availabilty template.
00:00 - Final Result
01:05 - Introduction
01:48 - The Shelly 3EM
03:10 - Minature Circuit Breaker Switchboard
04:20 - Meterbox installation
05:12 - Where I can actually fit my Shelly 3EM
06:02 - Prewire the leads on the 3EM and circuit breaker protection
07:45 - Split current transformer 120A
09:05 - Installation in distribution box
10:12 - Template sensor and where to but the Shelly 3EM
12:10 - Simple setup in Home Assistant with Shelly integration
13:30 - Disable Home Assistant entities you don't need to use
14:10 - The difference between power and energy sensors
15:40 - Install VScode
16:45 - Setup configuration files the utility meter and the template sensors
17:35 - Availablity template for utility meter in Home Assistant
19:15 - Utility Meters don't look right??? Not Working???
22:30 - Mini Graph Cards
Please see the blog for multiple tariffs and TOD, time of day, binary sensor information:
BLOG - www.egglec.com.au/post/shelly...

[@pescortell]

thanks for this valuable content! The information in the blog is also very detailed and complete. You're a master.

[@rockstardonut777]

Thanks so much for actually showing how to install the damn thing! I was quite confused on how this was supposed to be wired and how to use it in Home Assistant. One little tip: You can define an "input_number" in Home Assistant, which will let you define the electricity rate from a card / widget on your dashboard. You can even change that value on a timer if you have a "Time-of-Use" plan (also known as dual tariff, variable tariff, day/night tariff, etc.) so that the number always matches your rate. My provider only ever updates rates once a year, but with some companies they update the rates continuously, so one might need to scrape that data from a website. Anyway... use an "input_number" :)

[@mattdemmer]

Thank you so much - this has helped me no end

Hey! Thank you for the so much details that a product page lacks! I see you showing different graphs, I really recommend trying out a Graphana + InfluxDB combo which can clean out the views to comfort and improve the ways how you can backup the history of the data on the long run. Again, much appreciated details!

[@hillebrandstreet1882]

YOUR THE BEST !!! life saver Thank you so much for the video

[@benilev7328]

great and informative video!!

[@hamadalmarri2141]

Very informative video . Thanks a lot

Thanks great detail

[@taddyj6817]

Hey! Long time no videos. I'm pretty sure I seen you at a wholesalers this morning. Keen for more vids!

[@joflo308]

Hi James, thanks for sharing the info. I was wondering if one can use Neutral input of Shelly 3em to measure power output of an offgrid production to avoid buying an additional meter 😊

[@BennProbett]

Great video James! I'm just past Cannington in WA I would love to see this one retro installed in my old school ceramic fuse + RCD meter box. It would be great to see this visibility in my Home Assistant 2021.8.8+ to work with all the new energy monitoring

[@bewgroup3772]

More of these videos please they are amazing how would you go about doing a new build with Shelly from the beginning? Also would you use a commercial din rail box?

[@neilbrookins8428]

The 3em measures both current and voltage on each phase to calculate power. But, on the EM there is only one voltage input vs two current inputs. Therefore the power measurement on the EM would be inaccurate if the two legs were at a different voltage. So I think I’d lean towards using 3EM for USA style split single phase power.

[@SparkyJames]

Yes I would agree, the EM is for single phase with a single voltage, I would say it could be used to measure power in and out to from the grid to the house and the second measures total solar power generation.

[@MrTzak21]

Great video, thank you! Do you know if the front physical button (reset button) can be used to toggle the relay on or off?

[@benilev7328]

Is there a way to get an update on which consumer works

[@chrismidgley7755]

Very nice video, thank you! I see you used a 10 amp breaker to protect the voltage line from the mains to the EM3. I believe those breakers are used to protect the EM3 from a problem like shorting out and starting fire, in which case 10 amps seems to provide little protection given the size of the traces and components on the EM3. A 10 amp draw causing the breaker to flip would likely only occur after something like a fire that fuses a sufficiently large mass of molten metal together to allow more than 10 amps to flow. I see Shelby doesn't recommend any rating, but I would have expected something more like an inline fast blow fuse rated at 1 amp or even less. I've not checked the circuit card of the EM3, but I would not be surprised there are some low resistance surface mount resistors inline which will act as a fast blow fuse? My gut is that external 10 amp breaker is providing very little protection as is. Interested in your perspective on this.

[@SparkyJames]

Hi Chris, your right 10a is way to big I was using it as an isolation switch if I wanted to turn it off to work on it, 500ma or less mains fuses would be fine but not strictly required. However fuses or the circuit breaker are to protect the cable not the 3em, that is the case with all installations. As I was tapping off a 100a feed, a 10a circuit breaker would be very useful under certain fault conditions. The device it self has protective measures/design inside, as should any device or appliance, to guard against fire and short circuits and the like.

[@fromgermany271]

You should keep in mind that the 3EM has a poor power supply design, that can blow up on a 3-phase 400V system (as we have it most over Europe). Any surges on the lines might blow up the 1000V diodes used (remember you might have the rectified 320Vdc against a -320V phase voltage on ever diode. 740V is not far away from the diode‘s max rating. In addition these are smd diodes with very limited space for these voltages. In case of a failure they create arcs on the pcb and with some luck only fill your distribution box with black mud. Make sure you have fuses in front of the 3EM or better/and surge protection circuit. BTW, they changed that in the 3EM pro to only using the Vc-input for power supply to minimize the „between phases arc“-risk.

[@conrad3k]

Great video on EM3. Unfortunately Home Assistant keeps changing stuff around so quickly that things on this tutorials are already a bit dated. For example, I'm running Home Assistant 2021.12.8 on Raspberry Pi 4. But I can't see Supervisor, or add any of the add-ons mentioned here (VS Code etc). Apparently the version I have is plain Hass, while you need Hassio, or Hass OS to add these add on repositories or the add ons themselves. Now I'm struggling quite hard to understand how to modify to yaml files...

[@MrLaurieLewis]

Thanks Jimmy. so one 3EM to monitor power in/out total. Another to put on 3 phase AC to monitor AC consumption. AC had 3 phase breaker switch so could both units be wired to it for voltage? Finally if you have solar production going back on each of the phases, (so you don’t max out what the will accept on a single phase) you would need another 3em to monitor solar production (1 old inverter 5 Kw- 1 new 5Kw). Could this also be wired into the AC 3 phase breaker for voltage. Trying to get this in my head before speaking with sparky to fit.

[@freestylegroove5950]

Hi, great clip! Just bought a Shelly 3em and was wondering if I can power it directly from a wall socket instead of fixed installation? So it can be a portable metre, using just one clamp to measure different circuits. In which case how would I connect it to power? I needs a power source of course. Cheers!

[@hvddrift]

Jimmy, Gday. This is great. Question for you. I would be interested in an updated video with the new energy page from Home Assistant.

[@SparkyJames]

I know it looks great, I’ve started playing with it, was thinking of doing a solar system install video and then the new Energy Page!

[@andrebbruno]

Nice video! I´m building my home in Brazil and I plan on using this. Question: I have solar, do I need to use 2 units or the same unit measures both used and generated power?

[@SparkyJames]

Thanks, It measures the quantity of energy returned to the grid, if you want to measure how much power your solar system generates overall you will need 2, there maybe better option thought if your inverter can be integrated to home assistant to give the same stats.

[@unbelieveablegirl666]

How is it when you have the PV system and have 3phase meter? Do I need then 2 smart meter devices? Like one for the PV and one for the house to measure consumption and production?

[@davidanderton2437]

Yes, unless you can read the generation data directly from your inverter.

[@bmafia2]

can you please explain Daily Power Cost equation?

[@Heart0rHead]

Could you explain what is the purpose of I and O connectors? If I do 3F layout will it be possible to monitor the solar panel circuit which is also 3F?

[@neilbrookins8428]

The specs for the 3EM (and the EM) say 120A/230v. But my house in the USA is 200A/240v. Or actually 120v leg to neutral vs 240v leg to leg. So, I’m concerned that my load could exceed 120A easily if I was running AC at the same time as the swim spa and hot tub.

[@SparkyJames]

Having the ability to draw 200A doesn’t necessarily mean that you would, I guess the only way to know for sure, you could turn heaps of stuff on and see what your power meter is reading. If it’s digital or has the Kwhr leds you can get an app for your phone and it will tell you how much your using at that point in time using the camera to read the LEDs. You are right to think that you could be up there as a big AC , spa, plus the rest of your house at 120v could exceed 120a. But that would be split over 2 phases

[@devmehta4144]

Pretty cool sharing this info. It’s gold! If I needed to use this Shelly to control a 240v single phase heating element via a definite-purpose contactor, you’re saying I could? In this case can’t install it right at the circuit breaker and may not have 3 phase to input into Shelly. Not really a dealbreaker right?

[@Benshooman]

Thanks for the video. Do you know if these are certified for use in Australia yet? I can't find anything on their knowledge base.

[@JamesEggleston]

No they aren’t au certified last I checked

[@demorez5]

i am wondering if wiring multiple wires to a single MCB output like you did around 9:00 is OK. somewhere i read that it can be done as long as you use same cable specs, what is evidently not the case in the video. what's the general electrician's consensus there? great video btw. the most informative on 3EM wiring I could find...

[@SparkyJames]

You can do that in Australia, I can’t comment for elsewhere, it’s common to see that. In most applications a cable can be protected from overload current either upstream or downstream (either end of the cable) the short circuit protection for the cable must be at the start. In most typical situations the overload and short circuit protection are at the start and are a single device, but at 9min you see larger breaker is shortcircuit and the upstream smaller one is over load.

[@chuxxsss]

Jim would I be able to monitor my shed with the third coil? Would I only need P1 and P2 connected?

[@SparkyJames]

Yes you could, the 3 ct clamps can go on any 3 circuits. Just make sure the voltage inputs get connected to the related circuits, if it’s all on the same phase you could loop the voltage a b c together

[@chuxxsss]

@@SparkyJames In the one circuit box, shed comes off main circuit breaker. Just need to find solar output. To many circuit breakers in my box. Ex Army sparky.

[@davidanderton2437]

Hi Jimmy, do you buy your Shelly gear direct from Shelly Europe? If so have you had any trouble. Had some gear arrive in Australia a week ago but I still haven't had an update.

[@SparkyJames]

Yes I do, the times have varied, from 3 weeks to 1 week, the last time it was pretty quick.

[@davidanderton2437]

@@SparkyJames have you managed to track them? I got the Postnl, but apparently once it gets into Oz they don't provide tracking after that. Mine had been about 3 months because I ordered the bypasses for the 1L and dimmer 2.

[@KiroFunClub]

Aber Schaltschrank ist großartig😀

[@tikeyike]

What would be the ballpark cost of getting an electrician to install one of these for you (in WA, assuming you have the ideal space to install on of these)?

[@kanipaa]

Nice video. Can you make video to get shelly 3em to work wtih ha new option grid consumption.

[@davidanderton2437]

Pretty crappy that the em didn't actually give you energy totals out of the box. But another great video, thanks!

[@CrAzYDr1veR]

funny i just installed mine yesterday

[@brunokc100]

what is the offset for? offset: days: 9 hours: 7 minutes: 30

[@aaronw9035]

Wouldn’t you need to put the clamps at the origin? Main switch out where the meter is. If you put it on the subboard isolation switch it would only read the current that the subboard was drawing

[@SparkyJames]

There is no other load coming off the main switch other than the sub main so the point where I placed it will measure all the power I use, if I had load before the the clamps you are right it would not get measured.

[@sukru3102]

Hi, can I get consumption per user when I add different users? I am looking for a solution to split the electricity usage bill in a common public area to its users. Can Shelly em do that? If you help me I will be so happy.

[@michalsoka]

The working temperature is 0-40C , did you have any issues that it is installed in outside junction box ? i guess it gets hotter/colder there as the rated working temperatures

[@SparkyJames]

It would actually be between 0-40 almost all the time where it is installed. Maybe a few days in summer it’s over 40 but it probably the coolest place it could practically be, and it doesn’t get too cold here. But certainly something to look at for, especially the Shelly dimmer too, it definitely will not work in a roof space in Australia anyway.

[@michalsoka]

@@SparkyJames :) thanks for reply , in my box it is currently around 40 , but in winter , it gets much colder , did you ever have a problem with humidity ?

[@SparkyJames]

@@michalsokaThe Cabinet is big enough that it’s not an issue. And it’s sealed too. It gets a bit of condensation on the walls but that’s it. I have a few other things in there that keep it a little warm when it’s cold too. It been there for a while now with no issues. And it’s low down and never in direct sun. I’ve seen plenty of switchboards covered in condensation and rain and and they somehow (surprisingly) do just fine and only occasionally short out when they are totally soaking wet, mind you it’s certainly not desirable to have any sort of moisture in your a switchboard 😟 but it happens when they are outside. Is your Shelly installed in an outside switchboard too?

[@michalsoka]

@@SparkyJames i am going to connect it in the mains cabinet in front of the house, where the meter is.

[@hvddrift]

Also... How would you (I assume 1 x extra Shelly Em) record solar back to the grid and Tariff 33 power recording? I am thinking (as I have 3 phase) I would need 1 x 3em and 1 x EM But if you have any info that would be great.

[@SparkyJames]

The 3em measures returned power(net), but if you want produced power (which you will want)you would need a shelly 3em or an inverter which can be integrated to home assistant that can directly supply data, one that does is Fronius which is the one I have. I quite like them, I’ve installed 1000s of systems and it would be my personal preference.

[@hvddrift]

@@SparkyJames Luck would have it that I have a Fronius inverter already :) So, lets add one more piece to the puzzle. Tariff 33. My pool is on this tariff. If I have it correct, to monitor with the Energy Dashboard I would do the following 1. Shelly 3em for the incoming 3 Phase 2. Shelly em for the Tariff 33 (Not sure how to track this as my understanding of how Tariff 33 is syphoned off the main line or not) 3. Fronius integration in HA. If I am able to track all 3 either though templating or HA Magic, I should see both production and consumption. Does that sound right?

[@SparkyJames]

Yes you have it right, you actually won’t need any templates, you will have 4 x consumption entities (3 phases and the tariff 33), and then Fronius integration will provide solar production. If you have peak and off peak, you will need to setup an entity that holds the current price and changes according to the time, that is a new thing that is part of HA Energy. Do you have peak and off peak as well ?

[@hvddrift]

@@SparkyJames Looking at my bill I have these from AGL 3 x Meters Meter #1: Controlled load: Start and End kWh Meter #2: General usage: Start and End kWh Meter #3: Solar: Start and End kWh Then lower down it beaks the costs down into these charges: General Usage $0.2537 Tariff 33 Controlled Load: $0.1961 Credits Feed-in Tariff* $0.5 But I do not think the Tariff 33 is not on a specific time. I could be wrong here. Seems to be off at peak times, but not exactly the same time

[@cmu5591]

Need more sparkies across Australia like yourself.. don’t know any good home automation sparkies in NSW?

[@clairerovic]

Smile or Melbourne 😋

[@samcanno7692]

Are these legal in Australia? Certified for use.

[@lachlana7738]

ive been wondering the same thing

[@SparkyJames]

Good question. They don’t have Australian Certification so an Australian business wouldn’t resell it, Shelly have said they are planning certification for all their products, some already are certified but not this one yet

[@paulatkinson9010]

So if it's not certified, would a licensed electrician be able to legally install it? (I'm in Queensland)

[@edfx]

Can you skip the 3phase breaker? Seems like major overkill, makes installation very cumbersome, take 3x more space than 3EM itself. Doesn't 3EM have any fuses at all? Smalles 3phase breaker I could find is 6A, which still does not make any sense. 3x0.5A would make sense.

[@SparkyJames]

I agree it is a bit overkill, you could use inline AG5 fuses , or nothing at all, but it depends on where you’re putting the 3EM, but then you need to a know if that’s ok, and be responsible for it. The 3EM does have a fusible resistor on the power supply input, and the 3 phase measurements have a resistor chain that provide a measure of protection against faults, but it’s still a bit light weight. In this video the breaker fits, it is convenient if I want to turn it off, and limits fault current, fault current potential is quite high where I placed it. And I usually choose to do it that way when installing them for others.

[@kennyallan61]

Will an electrician in Australia install? I don’t think it’s certified here.

[@SparkyJames]

I would guess most probably would. You just can’t sell it or market it.

[@kennyallan61]

@@SparkyJames cheers, hope you’re right :-)

[@lachlana7738]

Your description and title says EM3 instead of 3EM

[@SparkyJames]

Thanks!

[@fellpower]

Its in the WHOLE WORLD a good idea to ask us - the electrotechnicans....all that youtube crap, that the ppl doing it by self ....

[@OZ9HEP]

Drop the glasses.

[@black-catmusic3619]

I change my internet provider. I cannot change the password. I wish I never spent so much money on this trash product.

[@majly85]

Thanks for video. What is your yaml for camera? It shows up so fast. I am using this but is so slow and it tooks few seconds until show video. type: picture-elements entity: camera.z_dom_cam_front camera_image: camera.z_dom_cam_front camera_view: live

[@SparkyJames]

Hi janacmarek, I'm using a picture glance card with the state of my gate on it as well, and tap action to open the gate, the camera feed is from a Doorbird intercom which does have a home asistant integration, some of my other cameras which run through a blue iris NVR are slower to respond.