Reply With QuoteIf I go this route I’ll need to see if there is room in my consumer unit for the sensor to be clipped on the relevant input line. Food for thought.Originally Posted by paulockenden
Yes - it does need power. Not just to power the unit but also to sense the phase angle between voltage and current, so that it can determine the power factor.
P.
If I go this route I’ll need to see if there is room in my consumer unit for the sensor to be clipped on the relevant input line. Food for thought.
Shouldn't be any need to open the consumer unit to install smappee. The sensor simply clips round the live incoming cable to the CU.
I wish that were the case. The live cable comes into the back of the unit and is buried in the wall. The only live I could currently clip it round is at the meter but that is outside and there is no power there. Well there is but not one I can access!
Could you get a cat5 cable from the meter box to somewhere more useful ? It's possible to extend the clamp connections.
No. When the house was built 20 years ago (still got the same central heating boiler!) the consumer unit was put in a silly place in the Hall by the front door with all cables hidden behind the plaster. I would need to connect a socket into the relevant output of the consumer unit to create a spur and install that alongside. Not sure of the regulations on doing that. What I must investigate further is a door bell unit which I think may have been the power supply for the original door bell. It sits right alongside the consumer unit. I never removed it on the basis it would be messy. If my thinking is right it will have a power supply to it as it must have been a psu for the old system. If I am right I can remove it and replace it with a socket. Food for thought and a rainy day. Well sunny day as I will need the power off whilst I mess around!
We have sort of gone off track from the original posting!
Not sure about smappee, but loop energy monitor's sensors are battery powered (with supposedly 10 years of battery life...) so you don't need any power to run it. Just clamp it around the cable coming out of the meter. If that's outside that's OK as long as it's inside a plastic box sheltered from the weather. If it's a metal box you may not get a wireless signal back to the receiver which plugs into your broadband connection.
Hope this does not appear twice! I replied and then it seemed the site’s server went down.
Loop, for installation probably is a better option if it is available as it seems the electric sensor is not available anywhere now, the gas one is but it is no good on its own.
I have checked the psu unit on the wall (for a Friedland Bell) and yes there is mains power to it so I can replace it with a spur or socket to power the Smappee if I go that way. I need though to check on the space inside the consumer unit and whether it is sufficient to take the Smappee clamp that goes round the live input from the mains. Anybody any idea how big the Smappee clamp is?
Addendum. I have looked inside the Consumer Unit and there is ample space for a clamp around the incoming live.
Last edited by G4RHL; 12th October 2017 at 11:45 AM.
Stuart, could you clarify, please? I'm thinking of moving from Loop to Smappee and planning ahead for having solar installed. What's the difference between the £200 non-solar one and the £300 solar one if you can monitor your solar with the former?
I think a new model is on the horizon.
https://www.smappee.com/us/plus-energy-monitor
I use https://openenergymonitor.org which is a British made product.
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