The CircuitSetup Split Single-phase Energy Meter is an affordable, accurate, remote energy monitoring device for your entire home. It can monitor energy usage in real time, independent of your power utility’s meter, and can be easily hooked up to any wireless micro-controller (like an ESP8266, or ESP32) to transmit energy data into a program like EmonCMS. It can also be used to monitor solar systems to keep track of how much power you are generating from the sun. It uses safe current transformer clamps to sample current - no AC wiring is required.
With the Split Single-phase Energy Meter you can:
Have you ever gotten a bill from your energy company and said "What the… why is this so high? What is using all of this electricity?!" We’ve all been there. Then you go looking for the cause of the problem after the fact. "It’s that sump pump/old fridge/AC unit again…" What if you could find out what is using too much energy, and turn it off, before you get the bill? With our energy meter, you can.
You know your new Tesla is saving you on gas, but do you know how much it costs to charge over a month/week/year? With our energy meter, you can.
Your son constantly plays video games. You told him to cut back, and he insists that he has, but you suspect he’s playing games late at night. That GPU of his uses a ton of electricity! What if there was a way to tell without invading his privacy? What if you could even tell how long over time he’s been playing by looking at a graph? With our energy meter, you can.
Your roommate insists that his mining rig "doesn’t use that much juice because he tuned the GPUs", and he only owes \$100 of your \$400 bill. Never-mind that he has 3 extension cords going across the apartment because one 15 amp circuit wasn’t enough. What if there was a way to calculate exactly how much energy your room is using without spending \$300 on monitoring hardware? With our energy meter, you can.
In the winter, it’s vital that the pipes under the addition in your rental property do not freeze. To solve this problem, you’ve installed an electric pipe heater. It works great, when it’s working! It sometimes trips a breaker if too many things are on in the house, and you’ve had one fail before. What if you could monitor the pipe heater without driving 45 minutes to check on it? With our energy meter, you can.
You just purchased a new manufacturing machine, but one thing you didn’t calculate into the ROI is the electricity that it uses. You overlooked the fact that it has seven different high torque electric motors spinning 24/7. What if you could more accurately calculate ROI on that new machine? With our energy meter, you can.
All aspects of this project are open source. The software and pcb design files are published in our Github repository. User contributions are encouraged and will only help the home automation and DIY electronics community as a whole.
Being open source allows users to be very flexible with everything from the firmware that is on the energy meter, and where it is sending data, to easily changing what micro-controller is powering it. You don’t have to pay for upgrades or subscription fees if you don’t want to. You also don’t have to rely on a company to keep your data safe.
EmonCMS was chosen as the primary software package due to its open source design, robustness, and surrounding community. It’s intuitive, easy-to-use, and a great fit for our purposes. The OpenEnergyMonitor project was a large inspiration for the creation of our energy meter.
With EmonCMS you can view up to the second live graphs, detailed historical graphs, solar generation/usage data, and with their Android and iPhone apps, live energy usage data on your phone.
You can easily see your energy usage and amount you’re spending:
EmonCMS can be installed on a local machine (like a Raspberry Pi) or on a remote machine running a web server. You can also use OpenEnergyMonitor’s services, which when configured with the Split Single-phase Energy Meter, costs roughly $15 a year.
Alternatively, you can send energy usage data anywhere you want using MQTT or JSON. This includes smarthome apps like Smartthings and HomeAssistant. The example Arduino sketches in our Github repository include information on how this can be accomplished.
To gather energy data, the Split Single-phase Energy Meter uses current transformers (CTs) attached around the two main power wires coming into your breaker box. They simply clip around the wires to measure the current flowing through the wires. There is no metal to metal contact. Many energy meter products require being wired into the breaker panel, or must have a secondary DC adapter to power the unit. This energy meter does not require either.
An AC transformer reduces the AC voltage down to a level the energy meter can safely read. There is no high voltage going into the board. This allows for accurate measurement of voltage, which is then translated into watts and kilowatt hours. The on-board buck converter also takes the power from the AC transformer and turns it into a usable DC power source for the board and controller via a 3V3 output.
For measuring solar generation and usage, the solar package comes with a second energy monitor, set of CTs, and AC transformer. The CTs hook to the wires coming from your solar transformer and going into your main breaker panel.
For US customers we can provide the 9 V AC transformer(s) in the two package options. Since there are different outlet options in Europe, customers will have to provide their own AC Transformer. Two AC Transformers that we recommend are the Ideal Power Ltd. 77DE-06-09 (Euro plug), and the 77DB-06-09 (UK plug).
| Product | Connectivity | Real-Time | Powered by... | Open Source | Voltage | Power Factor | Accuracy | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Split-phase Energy Monitor | Wi-Fi, BLE, LoRa, 3G | Yes | AC Transformer | Yes | Yes (2) | Yes | 99% or better | $30-$100 |
| Sense | Wi-Fi | Yes | Wired to panel | No | Yes | Yes | 99% | $299 |
| EmonPi | Wi-Fi, Radio | No | DC Adapter | Yes | Yes | No (asynchronous sampling) | Depends on CT | $249 |
| Eyedro EYEFI-2 | Wi-Fi | Yes | DC Adapter | No | Yes | Yes | Depends on CT | $149 |
| Neur.io | Wi-Fi | Yes | Wired to panel | No | Yes | Yes | 99% | $219 |
| Efergy True Power w/ hub | RF w/ Wi-Fi Gateway | No | Batteries | No | No | Yes | 99% | $159.95 |
We have our own pick and place machine to manufacture small batches of circuit boards. This machine was hand built, and is complete with auto-feeders, and camera vision. It is very accurate, and reasonably fast, but it is not a hands-off process, and could be a bit tedious if making boards in large quantities.
If we reach our goal and require more than 100 boards to be made, PCB manufacture and assembly will be done by PCBWay. We have used them in the past, and they have a proven track record.
Over the past six months of testing, we’ve seen some components that we use in the energy meter become unavailable. In almost all cases it is a ceramic capacitor. Luckily the solution has been to switch to another brand of capacitor with the same specifications.
In general, small capacitors are in high demand at the moment, but we are not using anything out of the ordinary that would prevent the energy meters from being assembled. With that being said, it is possible for the cost of capacitors to undergo an increase in cost if supply does not keep up with demand.
Detailed documentation on the Split Single-phase Energy Meter can be found in our Github repository
If you have a question about ordering, paying, or shipping, please refer to The Crowd Supply Guide.
If you have a technical question about the operation of the Split Single-phase Energy Meter or any of its applications, please ask the creators your question directly using the Ask A Question button below.
Precautions have been taken to isolate the Split Single-phase Energy Meter from mains AC power using current and voltage transformers. Power on the circuit board itself is low voltage & current. However, the energy meter has current sensors that connect around mains AC power. High voltage AC power is dangerous! If you are not comfortable working around AC voltage, we strongly encourage you to hire a qualified electrician.
Produced by CircuitSetup in Philadelphia, PA, US.
Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.
Comes with Energy Meter, 2x 16 mm round YHDC SCT-016 120 A CT Sensors, Pre-programmed ESP32 Dev Module, 100x60x25 mm ABS plastic box, PCB ESP32 box adapter, and mounting screws. Everything you need to connect the energy monitor to your house and start monitoring your energy usage in no time. European customers must provide their own 9 V AC Transformers.
If you want to monitor your solar power generation and energy usage at the same time, this is the package for you! Comes with 2x Energy Meters, 4x 16 mm round YHDC SCT-016 120 A CT Sensors, PCB ESP32 adapter, Pre-programmed ESP32 Dev Module. European customers must provide their own 9 V AC Transformers.
Perfect for building your own energy monitoring system. Hook up our energy meter to your MCU, current & AC transformers, load the software, and start monitoring!
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CircuitSetup's goal is to make affordable and useful electronic components available to makers, and DIY electronics enthusiasts. Our products are carefully crafted, tested, and re-tested to make sure they meet the demands of their users.
