Product and Details

The product made by Sense is one of the few whole-house electricity monitoring devices on the market for the home user. It can still require a professional installation by a seasoned and experienced electrician and requires space in the electrical panel to install the passive sensors and then 2 breaker spots to listen to and “Sense” the two main wires into the house from the breaker side.

Installation; High-Level Process

The installation requires access to the inside of the electrical panel. Please follow their website or Search for some online video content on how this should be done.

Once the panel is turned off from the main, be aware the two main wires in from the street are still VERY much ALIVE and ready to KILL you. Please always be cautious.

The passive clamps are placed over the two main wires into the panel, this is how Sense can detect how much electricity, in Watts, is being used.

The Sense device also needs to be powered and to complete it’s connection to the panel and allow it to “Listen” to the AC system it needs a 240V Breaker so that it can be connected to both sides or both main wires into the panel.

The package contains a wall mounting option and the wires are fed out of the panel to the Sense mounted on the wall. I had space so I was able to keep the box nearby and the install was clean.

Mobile Device App

My everyday carry mobile device is an iPhone, that’s the main test bed for the apps I use for the home and office and the Sense App for iOS has a very intuitive feel to it. You use it to grab and connect the Sense box to the WiFi Network in your home and once connected it goes through an entire setup on its own. It detects the install and attempts to understand what it can about the installation of the wires and cables to the clamps and this entire process took approximately 18 hours or so – I did just leave it be as it told me it was detecting and working.

Once it was complete in its setup detection of installation, it provided immediate insight into the Whole House Electricity use in Watts and you can see it in practically real time – I turned on the dryer and wammo – it showed the massive current draw.

Home Device / Appliance Detection

This is truly where Sense started to impress me. After some time, maybe a few days, it started to tell me it found appliances and devices in the home. It found a refrigerator, we happen to have a few in the home, then it detected another, and then, it found the other. The office has a Beer/Wine/Soda/Juice Fridge, there’s the home kitchen fridge, then, we have an additional one in the basement. It found all three. THREE. DIFFERENT. Appliances.

It then found other devices too; Garage Door Openers, Clothes Dryer, Oil Burner, Water Heater, Vacuum, Floor Cleaner, Stove Top and – then it was able to tell me something that blew my mind.

It Found The Refrigerator Light

I played with this for an hour, open the door, the App shows the Light is ON, close the door, the App says the light is off…. Over and Over and Over again.

Closing Thoughts…

All in all, I’ve been asked “Why?” and frankly I don’t have an immediate answer.

• I knew I wanted to test more home IOT devices from off the shelf vendors. This would enable me to see what technologies could be applied to other aspects of work or experiences I would have.
• We also had a very large electrical bill in the summer and just assumed it was the Whole House Central AC system and a secondary AC unit in the office – but we didn’t have this installed at the time so we won’t know for another few months how to detect the AC system and its stress to the power delivery of the house.

One simple item that clearly defines most of the devices I use and apply to my life is “awareness”, becoming aware of whats happening around you.

For example, another love I have is for Photography, it helps identify the slice of time frozen, passed by, simply by Time waiting for no one.

All for awareness.  That’s an incredibly important life skill.

Link On Amazon: http://a.co/ahW4krA