this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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Still switchable? Man I wish there would be a pure power meter plug available, with no switching ability. I would plug them into a lot of things. I know you could measure the whole power usage of a line or your home but that requires the right equipment (power meter) or an electrician to install it
Why not just not use the switch function? You can even "disable" the switch in Home Assistant so you can't accidentally turn it off, and most of these sorts of switches have a setting for default (on power restoration after power loss) of on or off.
I'm not the person who you're responding to, but at least in my case I am just not comfortable with having the ability to switch, since I would like to connect devices which could be seriously damaged if the switch toggled for any reason. I have modified a couple of switchable power monitoring plugs already, but I would rather pay slightly less and not have a hassle.
With Tasmota on the S31, you can disable the ability to turn it off. I have a few set up that way to prevent them from being turned off.
You can get meters that clamp over the wire, no electrician required.
https://www.smarthomeperfected.com/best-smart-home-energy-monitor/
I'm kinda stupid. I've seen these but they always show pictures within the distribution box. Here only certified electricians are allowed to open them. But I totally didn't saw the option to just clamp it on a wire outside the box. I even asked Bing AI for help, because not everyone must sell on Amazon and Google Search just spits out the affiliate link sites, that suggests always the same popular options. 90% of the time switchable plugs.
If you want the whole house, you'll need to crack the box to get at the phase split as it comes in.
If you want to track individual circuits, you should be able to do it outside the box. It will work with single phase at least,but not sure about dual-phase; but those are usually reserved for heavy appliances like stoves and dryers.
With a digital electric meter, I could read that out but I still have an old analog meter. But individually measuring devices is also appealing. HA allows for that. Opening the box would require an electrician and it only gives measurements per room or circuit. This may also be appealing to some.
I now look into ESP Home. I sadly didn't found a clamp meter here that works outside the distribution box or require lose mains power but ESP has the option for clamp meters
I have the need for power metering only too.
I disabled the switch button on the plug so that they cannot be turned off by mistake. And set it to power on after power outage. Had no problems for a long time with this setup.
Do updates switch the switch? I have Homematic IP plugs. They do work but had one update that switched my PC off but besides that, pretty reliable but expensive af. I don't want to take a chance with important devices. Sure I don't need to update the plugs but I have an urge to install updates.
Hmm, good question. I think it is no problem. From an electrical point of view I think it would make sense that the relais power cycles when the plug reboots after an update. But I have not yet seen it do it.