Real-time power consumption data - Cloud Integration

Integrations
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1

Hi all,

I’m developing an IoT solution for a local business that aims to aggregate energy-efficient assets to participate in grid flexibility markets. I’m facing a specific technical challenge and would greatly appreciate your insights.

My Key Requirements:

  1. Real-time power consumption data from various assets
  2. Data granularity: Readings every 5 seconds
  3. Data collection in AWS Cloud (using Lambda functions and REST API)
  4. Easy self-installation for customers
  5. Secure connection to my cloud infrastructure

Current Considerations:
I’ve researched several options, including:

  • Shelly Pro 3EM with Shelly Cloud
  • Emporia Vue 3 with Emporia API package
  • EmonPi2 with EmonCMS
  • Eyedro
  • Smappee
  • IoTaWatt

My Ideal Solution:
I’m looking for the simplest way for customers to:

  1. Self-install a power meter on their asset’s power cable
  2. Easily connect the device to my cloud infrastructure (possibly through authentication or key sharing)

Key Questions:

  1. Which of the above solutions (or others) best meets my requirements?
  2. What’s the most straightforward way to securely link these devices to my AWS infrastructure?
  3. Are there any significant challenges or considerations I’m overlooking?

I’m particularly interested in solutions that balance ease of use for customers with the technical requirements of real-time data collection and cloud integration.

Thank you in advance for your help and expertise!

Best regards,
Martin

2

Hi Martin. I can only comment on the Shelly Pro 3EM which is the power meter for my heat pump. It has a very powerful scripting capability (subset of Javascript) which could easily send power data every 5s to any external server. I’m using this to send power data to my EmonCMS instance using an http get call with a URL I’m constructing in the script. You could just provide the script with your api key or whatever authentication you’re using for your customer to paste into a script on the Shelly. This works on all their Gen2 stuff. I’m generally a big fan of Shelly, especially since they don’t require their cloud to work.

3

Hi Andre,
Thanks a lot for your reply, it’s very helpful.
Good to know that it is possible from the scripting cap of the meter itself.
However, do you know whether there is a simple user interface with predefined fields to help the owner do this process?
Thanks in advance,
Martin

4

This can be done via a web interface of the device or via the Shelly app. You essentially click the create script button and paste the contents of the script into the text field.

The firmware of the gen2 Shelly devices is quite unified, so if you want to see for yourself whether it is user friendly enough,.you could test this procedure out on a Shelly Plus Plug S smart plug, which also supports power monitoring and scripting for less than 15€.