As the title says. I have a few things like AC units, washing machine, fans, etc. that I'd like to monitor the energy usage from. I can't change the sockets in the walls so looking for recommendations on plugs.
#Any recommendations for UK Zigbee plugs for inductive loads?
daring sigil
swift nymph
As the title says. I have a few things like AC units, washing machine, fans, etc...
inductive load rating is a tricky one. for smaller loads like a fan a normal smartplug should be fine but for higher load you want something more dedicated to monitoring.
either something with a CT clamp is doing to be best but there is some stuff that is more designed for this thats wired in line. the "smart plug" form factor doesnt really lend itself to this kind of thing though.
if you cant put stuff behind sockets then perhaps an option would be to build something that sits inline with the plug. so essentually a smartplug with extra steps? is something that might be possible?
daring sigil
Potentially. It would depend on the form-factor. I could certainly cut a power cord and wire something inline.
For the AC units it would need to be relatively compact to avoid large bumps in places where cables trail under rugs.
For the washing machine, fridge, freezer, etc. I'm not sure.
In the future I also plan to use them in my workshop - something like a 16A relay on my 1.5hp dust extractor and some of my other woodworking machinery (if I can find one with a decent inductive rating) along with some linear actuators to automate my dust collection & blast gates for various tools through home assistant.
It's just the inductive load rating that's not so easy to find - hence asking here in case anyone already had some that worked well
swift nymph
Potentially. It would depend on the form-factor. I could certainly cut a power c...
anything with a relay is bad for inductive loads. if you want to switch a big induction load then you want to get a big contactor style switching (which you can in turn drive from a smaller relay)
as for wiring in line, i use THIS on a washing machine and it works nicely. however it is wifi not zigbee... this having been said the Gen4 shelly stuff which is slowly releasing is zigbee compatable but the the equivilent model with monitoring only is not yet released
if you use relays on big inductive loads they arc a lot and easily fail or fuse in unsafe positions
stiff prairie
shouldn't a consumer washing machine have some kind of power factor correction build in, so it's not a horribly inductive load when looked at "from the outside"?
If not, I might've committed a bit of a blunder by going for a regular Lidl smart plug I'm using for like a year for my washing my washing machine and dryer for about a year now
swift nymph
shouldn't a consumer washing machine have some kind of power factor correction b...
in theory yes, in practice... its a bit hit or miss. that said, as long as you never change the relay state its mostly stable.
in general i wouldnt use anything with a relay on a higher inductive load though
stiff prairie
also at least for a washing machine, you're not switching the relay under load... it's the washing machine that turns on the motor, not your relay, and you're also not shutting off power while it's mid-spin, but when it's done
the dust extractor is a whole different deal though
swift nymph
yeah i guess would agree with that for the most part.
I wired the shelly PM behind the fused spur plate on the washer. which i feel is more "correct" and also has the advantage that i can get at it with a screwdriver without pulling the washer out 😛
stiff prairie
because I use my plugs not only for metering, but actually also switching, and we use cloth diapers/nappies, so we have at least one load washing + drying per day. So these relays are down like 3-5 years of "normal" wear and tear now
One "completely stupid, but works" method is to automate manual switches with ESPHome and a 9g servo
swift nymph
hey "finger bots" definitely work for some people
stiff prairie
yeah, sometimes "stupid" is a good thing
good thing with a 9g servo instead of one of those off-the-shelf finger bots is that they can hit two buttons per servo and one ESP can drive several servos, so you can easily save 90% or more of the price (the finger bot usually costs like 15 bucks for a cheap one, while a cheapo ESP and servo are like 3 bucks together)
swift nymph
yeah i just meant fingerbot as a generic term for something that presses buttons