2 or 3-Phase Emporia Smart Home Energy Monitor, Real Time Electricity Monitor/Meter, Solar/Net Metering (Monitor with 8 50A Sensors)

Well this product is a breath of fresh air. Having been so disappointed with the quality and incomprehensible bunk that has been coming from certain far east countries, this restored my faith in the ability of other countries to design (even if not directly produce) a decent product for the home market that is CE marked - thank you USA! I am not particularly electrically minded so the clear, well thought out instructions with diagrams were welcome. I had a few queries before embarking on the install which were answered very quickly and clearly by the Emporium staff. Everything is provided for the installation (including a natty little cable connector which I was doubtful about initially but actually worked very well). I went for the 16 CTs and, as others have noted, they are a bit fiddly to install, but with a bit of patience they fit fine. Top tip from me is to check all your circuits are properly identified before you start, both in terms of what they serve and also numerically, then as you install the CTs follow through with similarly identified dymo labels on all your CT leads, and then match those numbers with those on the jack connections of the control unit. Mine is a UK installation, and I found the control box too big to fit in my Contactum consumer unit, so I opted to have the unit external to the consumer unit and bring all the cables through a knock out. I think this is a more logical thing to do when you need to be able to see the unit lights sometimes and don't want the hassle of having to unscrew the consumer unit housing. I now need to mount the unit and tidy up all the cables but this is a minor thing. Connecting the unit and getting it to communicate with the 2.4GHz WiFi was very straighforward. You can change the circuit names in the app to tie up with your consumer unit circuits. The app is good. You can export csv files, and I found using it pretty intuitive. If I had one suggestion for improvement, it would be to provide fixings for the control box so you can mount it on a wall if you need to (which I do:)). This is a great device and I can see it is really going to help us manage our energy consumption. The fact that it can also tie in with solar power is great as we will be fitting a system in the next few months. So, well done Emporium. Top marks!!

First the disclaimers - fitting this equipment involves working near live mains electricity which can kill. If you are not certain of what you are doing, have this fitted by a professional electrician. I am an electronic engineer, so was able to safely fit this myself and my review is based on my experience. As others have noted, the current sensors are a snug fit inside a UK consumer unit. However, I was able to comfortably fit all 50A sensors inside the box. As a tip - the CU cover has quite a bit of space in front of the wiring, ahead of the front face of the bank of circuit breakers. This is where I located most of the sensors and wiring. I installed the (much larger) 200A CTs outside the consumer unit on the feed from the main meter and solar panels. I also installed the monitor unit and antenna outside. The monitor unit, disappointingly, has no means to screw it down, so I used some double sided tape. Similarly for the antenna - it would be nice if these could be added to future versions. Another tip - you can use the 200A CTs in place of the 50A ones with a small audio adaptor jack - you just need to multiply the reading by 4.0 in the app. You also need to be careful to label all of the sensors and name them correctly, in addition to ensuring that every sensor is correctly located and oriented properly (the molded arrow should always point in the direction of power flow). Finally, there are some comments below that the sensor sockets give a poor connection, but I found the connection were fine, so perhaps this has been corrected. I did notice that you need to push the jacks in quite firmly until they give a positive "click" - so perhaps people with problems hadn't fully seated the plugs? Either way, all is fine now. Once installed, the app checked the configuration and started working perfectly. The "balance" feature quickly indicates if you have done something wrong - once all is correct the system balances within one percent, which I guess is a rough measure of the accuracy and this is more than adequate for my needs. The system gives fantastic insight into our domestic power flows, which I will use to design an efficient upgrade to our solar system with more panels and a battery bank. With the information available I'll know exactly how much capacity I should install. You can download the data to a CSV file and geek out on analysing it to your hearts content. Although I'm an electronic engineer, I've still found the real time insights to be highly revealing. It is fascinating watching the effect of a passing cloud on the solar power generation for example. Finally, there are smart plugs available from Emporia that allow the usual remote monitoring and control of individual power outlets which will give even finer resolution of where power is consumed. However, these need to be Emporia's own brand to interoperate with the system and app. I'll likely purchase some of these in the near future. Overall, this is a great piece of kit at a very reasonable price. It works well, is easy to install and gives all the information you could possibly want about your home's power consumption.

I installed this system into a brand-new consumer using all 16 sensors and pairing it with the smart plugs on some of our kitchen appliances that runs off a 13 amp socket. It is a tight fit in a UK consumer unit and I had to mount the mail control unit outside. Installation is straight forward but you’ll need to take the front of the consumer unit off and if you wire it into the consumer unit for power you’ll need an electrician. Is it worth it, absolutely yes. The level of insight you get into the consumption of you household is incredible and way above what a smart meter can do. It is pricy this unit combined with a decent amount of spart plugs to delve into the usage on the ring main will be north of £200. This system was built and designed for the US market, works perfectly fine in the UK but does have some drawbacks. You cannot load duel tariff information and when they apply. If it could you would be able to sync the unit to your energy provider billing cycle and get a very close GBP estimation in real-time. This is where I would like to see Emporia update their app to be more Global focused, and it is all in the app. This hardware will be able to support it as all it does is tracking usage. Additionally, I would like to see Emporia add some more flexibility on the smart sockets, ability to set more elaborate times and use your geographic, weather and time information to set programs. i.e. if the temperature drops below X do something; or 15 minutes after sunset do something; … I would also like to see a version of the smart plug that can be installed in-line without a plug. So, on the outside lighting circuit have it wired into the supply and use the afore mentioned flexibility to drive security lights and actually see what level of power they use. In the US you can ger 30 Amp EV chargers running of a 240V supply (yes they have 240 V in the US, just not on their plug / lighting circuits), having this adapted to the UK would be great as it would allow for the same flexibility on the car charging. That is why I give it 4 stars, not for what it does, but I feel they have untapped potential that would make it a true 5 star product.

Excellent! First class! Does exactly what I want and is monitoring 16 circuits with encouraging accuracy. Couple of niggles with setting up but these were quickly and easily resolved by the on line chat. Thank you. Don’t think I can download or print data which is a shame but fingers crossed for a software update idc. Fitting the unit inside the distribution board was a bit of a mission. I was lucky insofar as I had a relatively roomy 3-phase board but even so getting all the clips in was a bit of a struggle. I would think it would extremely difficult in a small board. Overall I rate the item as excellent. The online help I found exemplary. Bottom line for me - great value for money and does what I want. I would buy again and recommend without hesitation except for the caveat of being able to fit it on the distribution board.

I've had a 16 port unit installed for a year now in a commercial unit, which includes 3 phase, and it has never worked properly. I installed it so as to be able to apportion electricity useage between tenants, and I really want to like it, as on the face of it it's very clever. However, the total usage doesn't match my bill, and individual circuit usage rarely matches the reported total, so after a year, I have yet to bill anyone. The sensors seem very sensitive to interference, sometimes randomly reporting quite excessive usage, even when the breaker is switched off, and the control unit evidently uses jack connectors of a very poor quality as, even though they are plugged right in, they suddenly drop off the app, and I don't know what the usage is. My consumer unit is more spacious than many but in a final attempt to get it to work, I spent an hour gently jiggling the jacks to get all 16 circuits to register, and then put the front on my consumer unit, only to find some circuits stopped registering, or registered excessive usage, even when switched off. Emporia's support is personal and responsive, but not much use when the product isn't fit for purpose. They as good as admitted this in my last support request, "Our next generation of monitors coming next year will bring a better attachment. so this should not be an issue in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience." Therefore, right now I'd recommend you look elasewhere for a product of a better build quality - which I will be doing. Or wait till next year - if they fix it, it might be good.

Running a large new build house and having electrical usage of up to 50kw per day ! I decided it was time to get to the bottom of where our kw where going. At 35p kwh , some days where costing £ 17.50 per day ! This house should be economical as custom built to a very high spec but does run a office , cinema and a list of loads more equipment so identifying potential high use areas is difficult. I'm also looking at solar pv and battery bank storage , so knowing our peak usage and time of day usage is important to design a working system. I looked around but most energy monitors just give total usage , per min, hour or day. Useful info but not the full picture. I then came across this system and it appeared to offer all i wanted. Monitoring of up to 16 circuits, plus total load , plus other phases or inputs i.e. solar. It is also expandable to monitor your solar, battery and car charging. Read the reviews and was prepared for a difficult install as using in a UK consumer unit and not a large American one. The unit turns up well packaged and with good instructions . Follow these and you cant go wrong but a few notes below which may help. I had a new install 5 yrs ago so spilt my circuits up quite nicely. Double board with 20 ways . I used all 16 to monitor almost all the circuits . i left off immersion as this is never used ,but fed 2 different breaker wires through 1 CT coil to monitor two lighting circuits. It just totals the 2 loads as one in the app. The CT coils are not massive but unless you have a tidy board it will be tight. I ran mine to outside the case and wired the hub on the wall. Americans should be able to get coils and hub in there consumers. Once wired up you load up the app on your phone and follow the instructions. You will label each coil one by one in the app, i.e. ovens, downstairs ring, hob, lights etc. . You can then play around in the app to set up unit costs, change currency to GBP and customize how you want . The app itself is very good but is cloud based. Great as you can monitor worldwide, if you have a signal. My only gripe is its a shame it doesn't leave an image on your phone to look at , which will then update when it can. I went to demonstrate to a customer out of signal and there is nothing to look at. Previous values and graphs would have been good if even not up-to-date etc. Straight away the app started tracking data. I decided to change nothing in the house and just monitor for 24 hrs. The results where quite surprising. My heat pump tumble dryer used far less than i thought , led lighting was minimal but a under sink electric water heater in a garage was drinking kw. One useful feature was to view each circuit on the second chart. You can go round switching on lights or devices and see the real time load . I am also getting the full picture of the house daily loads and requirements . We are hungry for kw midday and later in the evening so a successful solar design should be easier. So to conclude I am very happy with this energy monitor and with my new changes it will pay for its self in less than 40 days , but be prepared the install may take an 1 hr. or more and if you don't know what your doing in a consumer unit then get an electrician for an 1 hr. who does !

works well, but the web app has no options to change unit costs to sterling. graphs are basic and the info has to be downloaded. The equipment is good, but i tried to get some extra monitoring cables and they not available in uk unless you find some on ebay? Accuracy seems reasonably good when comparing to actual meeting readings,

I bought this as a simple, easy to use method of tracking our electricity usage. This unit can be used on single phase or 3 phase supplies. When used on a single phase supply, you MUST ensure the other two phase wires are connected to neutral. Power for the unit is supplied via a circuit in the consumer unit. The main unit is dedigned to fit inside the consumer unit but mine didn't have enough space. The first thing I noticed was that both sets of CT's are quite big. Three large 200A CT's for the main incomer and 16 smaller 50A CT's for the circuits. Luckily, I had sufficient space in my consumer Unit to fit them but I can imagine, in some, space may be at a premium. Ensure you fit the circuit CT's with the arrow pointing towards the circuit breaker. Downloading and setting up the app is straightforward. The rest of my evening was spent identifying and turning off appliances that weren't required. The app is simple to use. Information provided is basic but it's all you need. The only niggle I have is the currency is fixed in cents, with no option to change it that I could find.

Alelier

I really enjoy this device. It works great in my device. Give me the information I need about my power consume and peak demands. That reminds me about my boiler turned on with no need. So I can manage my power use all the time. Plus I have other smart switches that allows me to turn my devices ON and OFF easily. Installation is very easy for people with electrical skills. No issues with Wi-Fi and being offline.

Für den Preis kann man echt nicht meckern. Ich habe das Set vor einigen Monaten bei einem Bekannten montiert und war begeistert. Also habe ich es mir auch bestellt. Das erste Gerät was ich bestellt habe war leider defekt, schon bei der Installation habe ich bemerkt das 9 der 16 Stecker für die 50A Sensoren lose waren und immer rausrutschten, dementsprechend waren auch die Messungen sehr ungenau und ich musste alle Stecker mit Isolierband umwickeln damit sie an ihrem Platz blieben, trotzdem stürzte die Verbindung zum W-Lan durch leichtes klopfen am Gehäuse sofort ab und wenn es dann wieder lief ergaben sich Messungen die absolut unmöglich waren. Dass das erste Set defekt war hat mich schon geärgert aber bei meinem Bekannten läuft sein Gerät schon etliche Monate ohne Probleme, also das Set zurückgeschickt und ein neues Set bestellt. Lieferung erfolgte wieder schnell, der Einbau ist auch leicht verständlich, wenn man nicht vom Fach ist, lasst es lieber von einem Elektroinstallateur oder E-Mechatroniker installieren!!! Die Eingangsphasen müsst ihr den Phasen für das Zentralgeräte (Beschreibung) zuordnen und Verbrauchern die mehrere Phasen haben wie z.B. E-Herd solltet ihr nicht zusammen unter einen Sensor schleifen sondern für jede Phase einen Sensor nehmen um genaue Messungen zu bekommen. Beim zweiten Set gab es keine Losen Stecker oder Wackelkontakte so dass die angezeigten Werte auch ziemlich genau sind. Die Sekundenanzeige der APP ist eher Spielerei (Messabweichungen), die Minuten- Stunden- Tages und Wochenanzeige stimmen aber ziemlich genau mit meinen Zählern und anderer Messeinrichtungen überein. Die APP ist leicht einzurichten, sehr verständlich und bietet alles was man braucht um „Stromfresser“ ausfindig zu machen oder mal genau zu sehen wo man überall so Strom „verschleudert“ ohne ihn wirklich zu nutzen. Die Sprache in der APP geht nicht auf Deutsch zu stellen aber ein wenig Englisch kann jeder … und wenn nicht … gibt es Übersetzer im Internet. In der APP kann man aber die Verbraucher so benennen das man weis was dort angezeigt wird. Würde ich wieder kaufen!!!

Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit dem Gerät. Zeichnet alles sauber auf und gibt eine gute Übersicht über die einzelnen Verbrauchsbereiche. Manche beschreiben hier, dass das Gerät nicht jedes einzelne Elektron mitzählt und hier Abweichungen stattfinden, mir aber nicht so wichtig. Um eine gute Übersicht für die einzelnen Verbräuche in der Wohnung festzustellen, ist das Gerät sehr gut durchdacht. Natürlich kann alles immer besser sein. Aber in diesem Fall ist das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis für mich absolut okay und daher meine Weiter Empfehlung.

Ho deciso di acquistarlo per tenere sotto controllo i consumi ed eventualmente rilevare le anomalie che alle volte possono presentarsi a causa di apparecchi difettosi. Nello specifico ho acquistato il modello con 16 sonde utilizzatori + 3 di ingresso, ho un trifase in ingresso e nel quadro elettrico ho giusto 16 magnetotermici che dividono i vari servizi presenti. L'installazione è stata lunga solo perché ho voluto cercare di farla nel modo più ordinato possibile, i cavetti della sonde sono lunghi e quindi occupano spazio, ho dovuto legarli in modo da tenerli raccolti ed ho dovuto trovare un punto nel quadro elettrico dove posizionare lo strumento. Fatto questo, tolta corrente e collegata l'alimentazione, ho poi collegato l'antenna wifi, nel mio caso è rimasta dentro il quadro, avevo spazio e ottima ricezione, ma può essere posizionata esternamente. Scaricata la App, registrato l'utente e iniziata la configurazione. Il dispositivo è stato individuato con il Bluetooth, collegato al wifi (2,4GHz) ed aggiornato. Una volta terminato ho potuto visualizzare tutte e 16 le sonde e rinominarle a mio piacimento. Il monitoraggio sembra funzionare davvero bene ed in modo preciso, ho un apparecchio che da etichetta consuma 750Watt e lo strumento rileva 749Watt! Si vede in tempo reale il consumo, si ottengono grafici e si può esportare in CSV (arriva via mail) tutto lo storico. Si possono poi configurare allarmi, notifiche, personalizzare l'abitazione, creare stime di consumo ed avere suggerimenti basati sull'utilizzo. Soddisfattissimo dell'acquisto e di come funziona, costa ma è un oggetto favoloso!