Device for Energy monitoring

[Dzel]

Hello guys,
I need to find a cheap way to monitor my energy in HA. So I have found this method.
Does anybody try it? if yes does he recommend me to do it?
Does there any other recommended method?

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@Dzel

recommend me to do it?

No, the device is your link is a current meter only which doesn’t substitute a power meter which is necessary for energy monitoring

You might want to do a little search in the forum as the topic is not new and users actually reported the mileage they had with that “technique” (current clamp/coil only) already

@Dzel

recommended method?

Cheap and accurate sounds like a esp with a pzem004t

Peacefair PZEM-004T V3 Energy Monitor

[Dzel]

@orange-assistant thanks for your help
So for the method in the link, I can calculate the current by using the formula

P=U*I

by taking the voltage V=220V or by using the voltage of another plug entity
so the method that you share.

@orange-assistant

Cheap and accurate sounds like a esp with a pzem004t

so the problem with this method is that it’s not very clear so some people recommend ADC and other do not…
can you please share with me the way you set up the circuit?

I really appreciate any help you can provide.

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@Dzel

I can calculate the current by using the formula

P=U*I

You can certainly do such calculations but your energy provider “calculates” and bills you (as a private individual) differently

As a hint: Read about apparent and active power

@Dzel

some people recommend ADC and other do not…

some people post links other don’t Using a pzem004t doesn’t require the (quite inaccurate) ADC from the esp at all as it communicates via modbus with the pzem004t module like the linked docs state

@Dzel

can you please share with me the way you set up the circuit?

Not necessary as the docs hold all links one would need beside this forum also is full about information regarding the pzem (just make use of the free search function)

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@orange-assistant

the topic is not new and users actually reported the mileage they had with that “technique” (current clamp/coil only) already

Home built energy monitor using ESP8266 doesn't see small loads

What you actually building is a current meter and than make a (too) simple assumption to make a guess of your energy. That could theoretically even work when you only have resistive loads (like the good old incandescent light bulbs ) but it will be close to impossible to get anything accurate calculated for a normal house hold use were lot’s of power supplies and various power factors come together The problem is not only that it’s very unlikely that your volt…

Energy Tracking - CT Clamp Current Sensor

Can it be enough to know the rms voltage and the current at the same time without taking the power factor into account to be able to distinguish between active (kW) and reactive (kVAR) power? Doesn’t the rms voltage and current only allow you to get the apparent (kVa) power? That would be a indication that you only measure the apparent power and not the active power that you are pay for The change is rather high that when you use a higher power device th…

Will Low Cost ESP8266 4 Channel Power Monitor Work With ESPHome?

The headline “Will Low Cost ESP8266 4 Channel Power Monitor Work With ESPHome?” is actually misleading. The website states that the product shown in the picture from @Jonah1970 is actually a “ESP8266 - 4 Channel Mains Current Sensor” Accurate power measuring will be impossible with that type of device The blue uses the internal ADC from the esp while the green board uses a (better) ads1115 - still both only measure current and not power Does it matter at all? Wha…

[Dzel]

@orange-assistant thanks for the help

i will go with your method

[brooksben11 (Ben)]

Just wanted to jump in and say that I recently (as in a week ago) put in 2 of the PZEM-004T V3s in my main panel. Took me a while to come across them (the main energy HA page doesn’t mention them), but I’m very impressed for the price. I did a little testing before installing them, and while they weren’t lab level accurate they were certainty good enough for my purposes. I’m planning to put a couple CTs on some other circuits so I can monitor them as well.

Just be careful working with mains! If you’re not comfortable, no shame in getting a friend who is to help.

[orange-assistant (the real one)]

@brooksben11

I did a little testing before installing them, and while they weren’t lab level accurate they were certainty good enough for my purposes

Whats your lab hardware if I might ask? Just remembering somebody in the www testing a pzem004t VS a $3k Fluke and they actually were on par (it was not obvious who of the both introduced the ~0.5% difference between them).

Also I remember someone on the youtubes doing some testing of that pzem004t v3 module and essentially came to the conclusion that the accuracy mentioned in the data sheet is (mostly) correct.

Just wondering because the (by far) most accurate AC power meter I can call my own are actually the pzem004t v3’s

[brooksben11 (Ben)]

Unfortunately I don’t have any lab equipment, however since I had 2 of them I compared them back and forth with the same load and there were consistent differences between them. Nothing ridiculous, but it was definitely more than what’s on that spec sheet (I want to say upwards of 5-10% for power). I narrowed it down to seeming to be a combo of the CT readings and the PF readings (when I used a straight-resistive load they more closer to each other ). In my case, I found that if I swapped the CTs and boards that came packaged together I ended up with less of a spread and is what I ended up doing.

Honestly for a hot minute I considered trying to do some proper calibration, but ultimately decided it was a waste without any calibrated equipment to true everything up to. And they’ve already earned their keep from pure entertainment value and hunting down some loads that were larger than I expected (and I’m an energy engineer, so this was nice being a little humbled).

[giedrius]

5-10% seems kinda excessive, you might have gotten a dud, or maybe did not close transformer properly?
I got two of them and also few different pzem meters with a screen, they seem to agree to within 1-2% of each other on my testing. Also there is some quite thorough test on the youtube, they find current to agree within 1.5%.
Did install one on my breaker panel, daily reported energy is about 2.5-3% percent lower every day compared to utility meter, low slightly, but consistent, so I could adjust it If I wanted. Utility meter should be 1% accurate.