Your Home’s Speedometer

We’ve posted many stories on design mind about TED, the thought-provoking global conference on Technology, Entertainment, and Design. But this story is about another “TED.” The Energy Detective (“TED”) is a product line of home energy monitors from South Carolina-based Energy, Incorporated. I’ve been looking for a way to track my daily electricity usage, so a month ago I purchased and installed a TED 5000-G. Time to see how well it works.

From the “other” TED’s website:
“TED is a simple, yet extremely accurate, home energy monitor that allows you to see electricity usage in real-time. You no longer have to wait for the ‘electricity bill surprise!’ TED will accurately tell you what your bill is going to be long before the electric bill arrives. Meanwhile, you will learn more about conserving energy, saving money, and helping save the environment. TED quantifies electricity and displays the results on its easy-to-read LCD screen and/or a local or remote computer. Think of it as your home’s speedometer.”

The Out-of-Box Experience
I purchased the 5000-G online through the TED website for $199. This bundle didn’t include the display device (an additional $40 cost). I opted not to add it since the 5000-G uses free, web-based software. An iPhone app is also available for free. I suppose having the dedicated display would help make real-time usage easier to passively track, and I had a moment of regret after placing my order.

The product arrived a week later in a plain brown package. Unboxing the product was simple, though unspectacular. The components were individually packaged in plainly marked boxes, which kept things organized. The 5000-G includes two current transformers (CTs), one measuring transmitting unit (MTU), and one Gateway to wirelessly receive and store the energy data. You can purchase additional MTUs if you have a large home, want to measure individual breakers or if you have a solar or wind installation.

 
Unboxing the TED 5000-G

The components: The MTU transmits data captured by the CTs that clamp over your main power lines, and the gateway

Hardware Installation
My 5000-G came with a quick-start guide that covered the basics of installation, as well as a more detailed set of instructions. Installing the 5000-G involves wiring the MTU and CTs into your electric breaker panel, so if you have any doubts about your abilities, you should hire an electrician. I decided to do it myself.

My breaker panel didn’t look like the example photos, but it wasn’t difficult to figure out. The MTU connects to a breaker and the CTs clamp over the main power lines. The gateway plugs into an electrical outlet and connects to your home router via a supplied ethernet cable. I was able to connect everything in about 30 minutes.

Wiring in the 5000-G

The MTU with a happy green light, the CTs clamped in place, and the gateway plugged in next to my router

If everything had worked as advertised, I would have been finished. Unfortunately, it didn’t. I spent several days trying wiring variations (attaching the MTU to different circuits) and reading TED’s troubleshooting guide and online support forum. My family was quite irritated from all of the power interruptions, each requiring a shutdown of computers and a reset all of the digital clocks. TED had become an unwelcome guest in the house.

After spending a Saturday morning troubleshooting, I decided to call TED’s tech support, only to find that they only answer calls on weekdays during business hours, US Eastern Time. When I finally reached them, they didn’t seem too interested in the details of my problem. Instead, they suggested I just send back the gateway for a replacement. I got the feeling that they get these calls often. Three weeks and three phone calls later, I received the replacement gateway. But I’m happy to say that this solved the problem and within five minutes, everything was working fine.

The Software
The 5000-G uses some slick monitoring software called Footprints. Footprints is a web-based application (no installation required) that logs your electricity usage. You can chart and graph your usage in increments of seconds, minutes, hours, days, and months. You can also view it in kilowatt hours or estimated CO2 impact. By entering the rate data from your electric bill, you can also view your usage in actual cost. Perhaps my expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised with Footprints.

 
Footprints monitoring software and the free iPhone app

Google Powermeter
One reason I chose the TED product was its compatibility with Google Powermeter. Powermeter allows you to access your TED data outside of your home network. Although all of the data Powermeter provides is found in Footprints, I’m hopeful that Google will do more with the data over time.

Up Next:
In my next post, I’ll show more of the charts and graphs and talk about my results so far.
 

Energized is an ongoing series following my education about living a more sustainable life.
 

As Vice President of frog’s Design Realization group, Collin works closely with our design and engineering teams to bring innovative ideas to market. With over 20 years of experience in both creative and engineering management, Collin brings focus and multi-disciplinary expertise to this critical phase of the delivery process. In 1996, Collin co-founded frog’s digital media group and has worked extensively with frog clientele in the USA, Europe, and India.