I have a relatively simple question that I myself cannot answer.
So the thing is, I have a mini PC in the living room that is powered by USB-C and I’d want to monitor it’s power consumption. It’s not critical and doesn’t have to be very accurate, just to satisfy my inner curiosity.
So, has anyone come across USB-C power meter that also has ZigBee comms? Or maybe current clamp that measures DC? Or something similar?
“Worst case scenario” is to DIY something with ESP32, but that just sounds a bit of an overkill.
Currently I have it connected via my FNIRSI USB power meter so I can see that it uses approx 150 Wh per day, but this is only short term solution, and it doesn’t have any logging into HA.
Oh yes, and another requirement is the cost, I’m not planning on spending more than cca 20€ or $, as it’s not really that important. I’ve checked AliX, but with no luck.
As long as it’s not plugged into a multi port USB hub that also powers other items then a simple power metering smart plug that has an HA integration between the USB power unit and the plug supplying the power should do. I use TP-Link smart plugs for this but there are others available as well.
Oh, but it is. It’s powered by one of those multi ports USB-C chargers, so unfortunately a smart plug won’t work.
Although it would generally work, I wouldn’t be “very happy” with that setup anyhow, as it would measure the input rather than the output, and the conversion losses on such low power wouldn’t be insignificant (yeah, I know I’ve said that it doesn’t have to be very precise, but still… )
So you don’t believe there is “any” “conversion losses”, in what ever USB power-supplies , regardless if it’s multi-ports ( i.e 220V in, XX Volts out == conversion losses , in any equations )
You have “conversion losses” at any time you “Convert” anywhere !
So do you or do you not want to take this into account, when measuring consumption ?
It could be a potential “difference” depending upon how much/little you actually “power/use”
I.E
" Converting 220V to 12V typically results in an energy loss of 5% to 20% for modern power supplies, or up to 35% to 60% for older or basic linear designs "
Not sure what it was you have “no clue” about, honestly , as i basically said
PS: This basically means , let say 50% loss(to make it simple)
Your device uses 12V 2W 1A , but you uses 4watt to generate those 2W
150Wh x 365 days = 55 kWh
55 kWh x 0.30 Euro = 16.50 Euro
You are going to spend 20 Euros to fine-tune hat?
Sorry couldn’t resist!
But on a more serious note - your daily energy use is not going to change much, so I think using your multi-meter throughout a couple of days is going to be as good as it gets.
It’s not about fine tuning, it’s about monitoring - i.e. what’s the power consumption when idle, how much it changes when I use this mini PC for this or how much when it does that. As I said, it’s just curiosity.
Btw that 150Wh is already “mean consumption” measured over 10hrs of the device working. I’d like to have more specific values depending on the load, and a log in HA.
I know it doesn’t make much sense, but we all have our hobbies
For this, and such case you could just use a template or the utility-meter integration
I.E i have a circulation pump(running all the time), it seems to use 8W at the current “setting” for this Device ( So this is the Average Usage when this device is turned on )
Other Devices that uses a small fixed or average(after certain time of evaluating), can be tracked fairly accurate, with a template or the utility-meter
This could also be “added” to the equation in a template/utility-meter , i.e add 10% , so what the template/utility-meter does is Count/Summarize when the Device is “On” ( Running)
I.e Spending Money and Usage(money) measuring Devices which uses a small fixed, or average amount is kind of pointless, as you just need to “count the time it’s running”
A 50W Bulp , will always use 50W, when it’s on(unless it’s dim-able on lowest level)
So it’s a “temporary” solution, as you will get tired or losses interest in that particular “case” rather quick , Do as suggested above, and as many has done, plug it into a powermeter-plug for a month or so
And if it’s really for Your miniPC ?(Maybe even the one you run HA on), i really suggest you have it on a separate Plug(Power-Supply), Not in i .e a Smart Strip-With 4 USB port and x amount of “outlets”
I’m sorry, I don’t want to be rude or anything, but you’re not really helpful.
I wanted to see if someone has or is aware of a way to measure USB-C power consumption (possibly with Zigbee comms). I’m aware of smart plugs, have more then dozen of them already, and know how they work. I’m not planning on changing or rearranging my setup to approximate this consumption, as I’ve already “measured” it via FNIRSI USB-C meter. That’s not what I’m after.
If such a thing that I “need” doesn’t exist, I will either look into custom solution, if feasible/possible (i.e. via ESP32), or just forget about it.
It’s feasible, but you’ll probably have to make your own since the linked shops always show out of stock. No idea if it’ll work with USB-C though - I don’t own one & simply know about it because I saw it in the Z2M supported devices section.
Just pulling your leg mate
BTW I did implement what you are trying to do (but for me a lot easier, since the PC runs of 230V) – and it is not half as exciting as I thought it would be!
When the PC idles (i.e. HA server only), it sits between 17-20 Watts.
If I surf the net it’s about 30W .
If I watch a video on Youtube it goes to 35 W.
Thanks for sharing, I wasn’t aware of this specific product.
I do already have Tuya zigbee USB power meter (bought on AliX, of course), but I’ve seen them only come in USB-A version, and additionaly, they only work with 5-12V. So I was hopeful that there’s a similar product out there, but for USB-C.
I have a couple of these, but to be honest, I use them only as smart switches, and have never checked the measuring entities, if they even work and how precise they really are. Hope it helps.
I have a couple of them too. The 3-port ones kept dropping off my network so I chucked them in my drawer of shame.
They don’t do power measuring either. According to this:
I used them under z2m & no power measurement entities are present either.
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