I have a small project. I am no beginner to electricity or monitoring (among other things I design datacentres), but I am new to the emon range. What I would like to do is to monitor each individual circuit on my consumer unit. I have 10 MCBs on a test circuit and I would like to monitor the load through each circuit, as well as one on the incoming feed for reference and calibration purposes.
Obviously the first challenge is space. A MCB is some 18mm wide and most CT sensors are way bigger than that. Plus the CT sensor needs to fit behind the plastic cover. Then I need to ensure that the low voltage wires from the CT sensor can pass safely through the consumer unit without either getting any crosstalk from the high voltage cables, and are insulated from them as well.
Unless anyone has done this already, I am not sure if there will be any crosstalk-type effects of having so many CT sensors so close to one another, so this is another part of the experiment.
So assuming I have found an appropriate CT sensor and have managed to safely fit them and pass the LV wires out of the consumer unit, I have the following questions:
There doesnāt seem to be a simple guide to explain the differences and the advantages/disadvantages of using either the emonPi or the emonBase. What I have found seems to indicate they do pretty much the same job, so could someone much more knowledgeable than I, explain which is going to be the best for my project?
The emonTx has 4 ports. 1 seems to be for an extra sensitive probe, but I assume that it can it be used with a normal CT sensor, as long as the current on that circuit is less than 18.8A
The CT sensors available are too big for my project, so I assume that these will do an adequate job; https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/current-transformers/7754903?cm_mmc=UK-PLA-DS3A--google--PLA_UK_EN_Automation_%26_Control_Gear_Whoop--Current+Transformers_Whoop--7754903&matchtype=&pla-369789584844&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl7j6jqiI6gIVioeyCh315QViEAQYAyABEgISNPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Reading up I can see that I can connect more than 2 emonTx units to an emonBase unit, as long as I do some manual config work. I assume I can connect more than 2 to an emonPi if this is deemed a better option for my project?
My project would therefore seem to require 3 x emonTx units? 10xMCBs and 1 x incoming feed. All three emonTx units and the (emonPi or emonBase) will be within a few centimeters of each other.
With regards to the AC-AC PSU, would I need one for each emonTx, or could I use one PSU and split it to run 3 emonTx units? Or if I use one PSU connected to just one of the emonTx units, will that give me the reference that I can use across all 3 once I get the data into a database? OR, if I have an emonPi, can I use the PSU to connect to that and not fit one to any of the emonTx units?
Other than a programming cable to configure the emonTx units, have I missed anything?
Sorry if these questions have been asked before, but I have spent quite a lot of time reading through the various areas and the manuals but havenāt managed to answer these specific questions (although many others have been answeredā¦.)
I also plan to try out the IoTaWatt system as well, although Iām not a fan of WiFi, I prefer hard wired connections, mostly because there are too many bored teenagers trying to hack every WiFi and Bluetooth device they can find.