Which Smart Energy Monitor Is Right For You? ShellyEM vs Sense
Which Smart Energy Monitor Is Right For You? ShellyEM vs Sense
The sense energy monitor and the ShellyEM are both very capable smart energy monitors with a slightly different intended users. This video shows how to install and use them in your smart home.
Buy the ShellyEM: https://event.2performant.com/events/click?ad_type=quicklink&aff_code=eb5faa6a7&unique=6d2ab7cb4&redirect_to=https%253A//www.shelly.cloud/en-us/products/product-overview/em-120a
Buy the Sense Energy Monitor: https://amzn.to/2NW9Nbc
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Node-RED Flow and Clever Code:
https://github.com/thehookup/Node-RED-Examples/blob/master/ShellyEM_NodeRED.js
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The sense was a great idea. After 3 years of having it installed I now have “35 motor” notifications with very little information on how to determine what it actually is. The concept of crowd information to determine what’s what I thought was a great idea, however I don’t think they have enough installations to make that work. I had to turn off all notifications from the app as I was getting constant “a new motor has been detected” messages.
Is this still what you’d use on a dryer?
The answer is: NONE OF THEM!
What the heck does an energy monitor need my phone number for…
This is a common misconception; US split phase power is not 180 degrees out of phase. It is in phase. 180 degree out of phase power would result in 0V when the two phases are combined. Instead you are using a single phase with a center tap at the transformer. The voltage is only -120V when you reference against the center tap. In reality, it would be better to mark the wires as 0V, 120V, and 240V. The potential difference between the 0V and 240V is 240V, whereas the potential difference between the 120V and 240V is 120V, hence a second 120V "leg."
Couldn’t they learn faster with a circuit chirp? Induce a unique frequency through the power cord and assist the machine learning to recognize faster?
Also, nicknames or enable editing on device nomenclature for easy ID for the end user?
These features/capabilities don’t seem to difficult to add on…I wonder why MFR doesn’t offer?
Are the fridges on the 120 feed? It probably thinks they are one unit and you’ll need to separate them in the devices tab
Note, Shelly is a Bulgarian company (congrats from Romania, my friends!). That means the EU. EU doesn’t have this split-phase system. It has only 3 – 230V phases, which amounts to 400V between two phases. That’s why ShellyEM is not the best solution for US use, but it’s ok for about the rest of the world. Oh and please, if you’re in the US, please don’t use Volts and Ampers, I want to see some proper imperial units!
Nice video, keep it up, thank you 🙂
Of course, that’s for the 120A unit. Isee that the 50A model is $60
If the air conditioners are the same it seems like it would think they were the same device but ya you should be able to add things which I assume has been added now
I wouldn’t say Sense is a high quality since it is not gonna detected dishwasher all the time if the powers on other appliances are similar. I work with Automatic Protection System a lot.
Here in the modern world we use smart energy meters pulse output to measure the whole house electricity consumption. One esp32, one phototransistor some code, cost 10 € 🙂
HI 8b my region we use 2 120v lines and they have different phase from each other , so to be accurate measuring each line, I had to put a single Shelly per line , to that the reference voltage is the same than the line measuring , that’s the only thing you need to consider. great video thanks for sharing
2024 – what are your thoughts on whole home energy monitoring as they are new options since you did this video.
I find a lot of people seem disgruntled with Sense. And trying to get shelley em to cover the home is difficult.
Looking at Emporia Vue
So with the two 120A clamps, you could essentially use the shelly as a whole home monitor as well. Then you could create a helper where if something is using both phases you could double or halve the values depending on the reference voltage. It should work like this if my understanding is correct right?
Has the discovery been fixed? Are there better alternatives?
Two legs. Only one phase.
Folks should also look at Circuitsetip’s power monitor products.
Does it also Monitor voltage over time. I have very very bad electricity in my house and the provider ignores the problem, they say there’s nothing wrong
Insurance companies would not cover the damages done by DIY homeowners that doing electrical work, at least in Massachusetts. I do not care what people do in their homes but as a licensed electrician I would notify the local inspector and my insurance company if a homeowner would touch my work after I inspected it. Also in my career, I have seen skilled licensed professionals getting hurt for stupid things, accidents just happen sometimes and they can be serious. I will check out the monitors though 🙂 cause I legally can LOL
I guess the Shelly is a bit more European by design. The EM can use 120amp CTs, it’s good for a garden lighting panel, where you can save money by switching out circuits out unnecessary times with the Shelly relays. I used the MQTT to integrate with my Control 4 system, but also is not 100% yet
Cheap, yeah right. The shelly now sells for $105
I know this video is a few years old, but can you confirm that your Shelly 240V measurement at 6:13 truly works? It’s exactly what I am hoping to do, but Shelly support is claiming it won’t, and that I’ll need multiple Shelly EMs or a different device. Not sure if they’re misunderstanding my intent? Kind of confused…
You have way too many electrical devices.
it makes sense to connect the Shelly 2EM to 120 volts with split phase, with an angle of 180°
240 volt devices will draw power from both current sensors.
120V devices will only show power to one current sensor. One current sensor needs to be reversed.
It doesn’t work that way on a three-phase current with an angle of 120°.
Ever consider a refresh on this topic with the newer and cheaper equipment now available?
I have the Emporia and it does a great job, albeit using a Cloud to aggregate data. Unfortunately, I have several panels so need more customization than it can support. I’d like to consider the Shelly device but I wasn’t clear if those can share the reference breaker otherwise it seems like a nonstarter as I can add reference breakers for each Shelly EM. I have a main 400amp service then 3 separate panels in different areas of my home which makes this challenge.
Can the Sense and Shelley EM be used to monitor individual circuits instead of entire breaker panel?
The biggest problem for some people with the discovery of new items in the sense, is some people have multiples of the same item.
2 fridges bought at the same time and of the same model for example can be seen as the same device, at least at first, if on the same half of the split phase circuit.
Multiples of the same A/C unit can also be problematic at best for proper discovery.
Hey, I wanted to verify that you’ve actually wired the Shelly as you mention at the 5:48 mark in the video? I’m interested in measuring two 240V circuits in the United States and was hoping to only use 1 shelly device to do it. I keep hearing conflicting info as to if I can power the shelly from both phases of the panel.
I was thinking about the sense but in my area the outside service panel has on the 240v breakers and the inside panel has all the single pole breakers. Im worried it might not be able to recognize the circuits in the inside panel or at least distinguish them from one another
Of course your second AC is difficult to detect for the Sense: both ACs have the same power signature, it is very difficult for the Sense to distinguish them. I have the same issue with all my devices of similar power (signature)
I love this video 🙂 dude just flexed so smoothly all over the haters by informing them that he gots two ACs and two fridges, two stories but with his two eyes, he cant see you poor hating pheasants :))
Can you connect to ev charger for the consumption of kwh and calculation cost
thank you
Emporia vue is much much better (and works in the UK too)
ShellyEM URL does not work
New video idea to review and intergrate Shelly 3EM energymeter to home assistant?
isnt it illegal to do work on live stuff in usa. please reinforce that and dont tempt people to touch this.
Be good if you could make a separate version that discludes the basic electrical theory for those that just want the device reviews/comparison. Also, the buy link for the shelly em is dead
Great, detailed review. Machine Learning (Sense) us still pretty immature, despite all the media hype. It is a shame they do not allow a common sense manual approach to identify problematic devices.
the problem with current transformers is that they don’t work with DC. so they can’t monitor power coming in from a solar array.
Tell me you’re not a licensed electrician without telling me you’re not a licensed electrician.
This is a great video showing the features & shortfalls.
Apps have third party permission… = they get to sell your data to anyone and this includes Brandon’s government.
Great video! Shelley sounds like a solution that I have been seeking since my original plan of Emporia Vue was foiled by the fact that Emporia requires a connection to the cloud for the app to read any data. My use case is the desire to monitor instantaneous load of my backup generator while it is powering select circuits on my breaker panel. I lose internet when my neighborhood power is out so I can’t read Emporia data when the generator is being used. But I do still have local wifi and it sounds like one of the Shelley devices can easily be used to display load on my backfeed wires, correct? I see a lot of Shelley devices on their website now – any that you recommend for this limited use case?
Awesome video! Very informative.
Hey Rob, any plans to update this topic? I’m considering my options and wondered if you’ve learned more in the past few years.
I have 2 consumption monitoring devices. Enphase CTs (part of solar install) and Emporia Vue Utility Connect to read smart meter data.
General question with monitoring 240v appliances using the EM. So I’m measuring my water heater, I currently have 240v fed into the EM. I then have one clamp over 1 of the lines coming out of the water heater contactor.
Whatever the EM reads from that one line, do I need to double it? So let’s say it says my water heater has used 100kwh so far. Since I’m only monitoring one line, has it actually used 200kwh?
A quick clarification note: I know the electrons shown in the animation are showing DC not AC current, this is a representation of my video editing skills, not my knowledge of physics. Please imagine that the animation takes place in less than 1/60th of a second 🙂