Zigbee energy meter?

Looking to replace my Aeotec HEM5 that is Z-Wave with a Zigbee equivalent that has clamps that go around the main power leads in the entrance panel.

Tuya makes one but it isn’t supported.

Any suggestions?

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Have you considered using an IoTaWatt whole home energy monitoring and logging system? I know you wanted Zigbee, but the extra functionality of the IoTaWatt is really great. It has local data logging as well as supports logging directly to InfluxDB. I wrote an integration for Hubitat that has worked well for a few years now. I use it to monitor laundry cycle status in Hubitat.

It has been great having data to analyze issues with HVAC systems, refrigerators, etc…. Also has helped to really understand what devices are actually costing the most to run annually.

I am lucky to be able to understand HE as it is. My older son tried to get me going with Home Assistant, but it was frustrating.

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I hear you. :wink:

Just want to make sure that you realize that Home Assistant is not required whatsoever to use the IoTaWatt home energy monitoring system. It simply connects to your home WiFi network. You configure each of the Current Transformers attached to the IoTaWatt using a web browser. Then, using my custom Hubitat driver, you simply enter the IP address of the IoTaWatt and a polling interval. All of the CT’s will then be created as child devices on your HE hub.

Of course, after typing all of that up…I realize that using a Zigbee device would be much simpler. :thinking::joy: (albeit with much less functionality)

Hope you find a solution that works for your needs!

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I meant that I barely understand HE so adding anything would be frustrating to learn. Looks like the Aeotec will remain the only Z-Wave device.

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I emailed Aeotec and they replied they have no plans for a Zigbee energy meter. They do have a 800 series Z-Wave model in the works.

Iotawatt installation...on HE

Install virtual device. Pick iotwatt driver. Go to iotowatt device page. Set ip for iotawatt device. Start collecting data or using attributes.

There's the Tuya, which does work with Home Assistant and Zigbee2MQTT

Maybe not worring too much about fully understanding Home Assistant, and using it as a bridge for devices that are unsupported on Hubitat, together with Home Assistant Device Bridge would serve you better. I didn't understand it much at all when I started with it, and for the most part I wouldn't call myself an expert today either. It is primarily my bridge to get unsupported devices back to Hubitat so I can use them in Rule Machine automations.

What is it you don't like about the Aeotec HEM5? I have three Aeotec HEM v1 units, and while they can be really chatty if set to report too frequently (makes sense), they are solid units and do their job admirly. By the way, out of the three I have, one of them is directly joined to Home Assistant and it works even better there than on HE.

Is there something specific you're missing with the Aeotec HEM5 that you're hoping to replace with a Zigbee HEM?

I have OCD and among things like yanking the front door handle numerous times, I prefer order and for everything to match. Unless you have it, you can’t understand the effect it can have on your life.

That being said, the Aeotec is the only Z-Wave device remaining on the network, I have been switching to purely Zigbee and everything has been running great.

Most people here have a good understanding of how this stuff works. I struggle. Adding HA would introduce something else for me to have to learn and figure out if it is HE or HA when something doesn’t work.

And it should be CDO (alphabetical order)

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:grin:

I'm glad you have a sense of humor about it. I don't want to take anyone's struggle lightly. There's help available, but not everyone has the abililty to access it. We all have our struggles.

The Tuya PJ-1203A is $20. Maybe @kkossev has some experience with it, or would be willing to try to create a driver if you sent him one. :person_shrugging: I know from other Tuya devices he's worked with, he mentions they can sometimes be very chatty, and thus disruptive to your Zigbee network. Hit and miss though because there are so many Tuya devices that are labelled by various sellers and sold as other brands and models, so the very specific Tuya model has to be tried to know if it's going to be a problem or not.

Best of luck with finding what works for you. :v:

@TomG - May I ask the intended purpose of using the Home Energy Monitoring device? The reason that I ask is that there may be other options available to achieve your goals without using a HEM device. Of course, if the goal is to track Energy usage specifically, then the other options are probably not going to help. I was specifically wondering if you're using the HEM as a trigger for some other automation, like for notifying when a laundry cycle is complete...or something like that... :thinking:

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I am using it to monitor total energy usage and compare it to what my power company reports.

Iotawatt can do that easily, as well as bind to individual circuits so you can use on the dryer, washing machine, water tanks, etc.... for both usage and triggers. It also has built in graphing that is all point and click.

Iotawatt does seem like a good choice. Lots of people like it.
I have Sense, and while it's not OCD friendly when it comes to device discovery (uses machine learning), it does track overall usage very accurately.

It's WiFi and cloud-based. A no-no for many, and me personally for the most part. However it has been really reliable, the company has recieved good funding, have been around since 2013 and have several OEM partners. I bought the version that comes with extra CT clamps for solar generation. I don't have solar, but they can be easily configured to monitor a dedicated circuit. I have the extra clamps on our EVSE circuit, that way I could immeadiatly start monitoring how much it costs to charge our EV.

This isn't a Hubitat friendly product unless you have Home Assistant (unfortunately you're missing out on quite a lot of added capability). With HA, there's a standard integration that allows me to use the devices it's discovered as triggers, if I want to. It also allows you to put TP-Link Kasa energy monitoring plugs on devices, so it can then start monitoring them immeadiatley, without waiting for the ML to discover and isolate the device. In HA, I can also create emulated TP-Link Kasa energy monitoring plugs, so if there's a device that reports its energy useage to HA (which is every one of my 8 Sinope thermostats), then it can immeadiately pass that to Sense for cost reporting, without the need to wait for the ML to find them.

Again, the ML part can be difficult to live with if you're depending on individual device reporting, unless you can use the real or emulated TP-Link energy monitoring plug method. For individual device reproting, it takes patience because it can take many months for it to find all your appliances and some types it may never find accurately, or at all. However, for over-all home energy reporting, it's a fantasic product and very easy to setup and use. The web and mobile app UI is hands down the best off-the-shelf solution I've seen. They also support Time of Use if that's a thing with your energy provider. BC Hydro uses a step cost structure, so I just use an average cost amount, but it's accurate enough.

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In addition to IoTaWatt (which I personally use) and Sense, there is the Vue Energy Monitoring system as well. I have ZERO experience with Sense or Vue. The Vue system, if it works well, does appear to be the most economical solution.

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As far as I know iotawatt is 100% local... or are talking about the sense?

Sense

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I should have the Tuya in about 14 days. Then @kkossev might be able to work his magic and get it communicating with HE, if only one leg for now.

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