Timeline of OEM devices?

RosanaRufer · 2024-04-13T19:30:47.318Z

Hi! Would anyone be able to draft timeline of OEM devices and system configurations? I’m curious to understand how it has evolved, seems like emonPi was before emonTx4 but then emonPi2 was released last year?

image702×143 4.57 KB

// https://playground.diagram.codes/d/timeline
width=800
"Nov 2023": "EmonVS + EmonPi2"
"????": "EmonVS + EmonTx4 + EmonBase"
"???": "???"
"2016": "EmonPi?"

Thanks

Robert.Wall · 2024-04-13T21:23:50.493Z

I’ve been around a bit longer than you.

From the earliest records that I have a note of, it started with the emonTx V1 in around 2010-2011, the schematic and pcb drawings are undated, so I can’t be definitive. I first got involved in December 2011 when I emailed Trystan enquiring about the Efergy energy monitor, and I’d found OEM because this was a c.t. being used at the time. Trystan suggested I joined the community - though I suspect he regrets it from time to time

An early contribution was a measurement of the ratio of the YHDC SCT-013-000 current transformer: believe it or not, no-one knew the true ratio, one supplier was advertising it with a completely wrong value.

The first emonTx I built was a V2, in the late summer of 2012. This had 3 c.t. inputs, one voltage, a temperature and a pulse input, and was a through-hole DIY kit. It used the Nanode RF as the base with an Ethernet connection into your LAN to emoncms.org (only!), but you could also have the emonGLCD if you wanted a local live display.

In April 2013, the emonTx V3.2 was introduced. Importantly, this too came ready-assembled and used the short-lived RFµ328 combined Atmel 328 / RFM 12B module. It had 4 current channels and one voltage.
The emonTx Shield appeared in November 2013 - essentially a 4-channel analogue conditioning module (with the radio) to plug into an Arduino Uno. This was again a DIY kit for self-assembly.

I think the emonTH V1.4 appeared in April 2014, also using the RFµ328 combined Atmel 328 / RFM 12B module. This too came ready-assembled.
It was superseded by the current emonTH V2 in July 2015 with the Atmel 328P directly on the pcb, and with either the RFM12B or RFM69CW.

Soon after, in August 2015, the emonPi V1.5 made an appearance, essentially a 2-channel emonTx mounted atop a Raspberry Pi in an aluminium case and with a LCD display.
This was superseded in May 2019 by the V1.6

Meanwhile the emonTx V3.4 appeared in January 2015, having the Atmel 328P directly on the pcb and using the RFM69CW radio.

Unfortunately, I can’t put a date to the RFM2Pi - this is a RFM12B radio module and processor plugging directly onto a Raspberry PI, but having no energy monitoring capability – essentially performing the same job as the Nanode RF with the added capabilities of the RPi. It was superseded by the RFM69Pi in May 2021.

The emonTx4.0.1 details appeared in March 2022, using the Atmel -DB processor.

TrystanLea · 2024-04-14T08:30:20.471Z

Hello @RosanaRufer good question and thanks @Robert.Wall for a comprehensive overview of the main dates. I drafted the following with links to some of the original blog posts that might be of interest

History

OpenEnergyMonitor.org website first launched June 2009 Welcome! - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor. Open source electricity monitor designs developed and published alongside basic learning resources, some of which are still available in Learn: Electricity Monitoring — OpenEnergyMonitor 0.0.1 documentation.
emonTx v1, 2010-2011 open source designs but never sold as a kit (Installed in 20 houses near us in North Wales as part of an local energy project).
emonTx v2, emonGLCD and emonBase based on NanodeRF, March 2012 (OpenEnergyMonitor Shop is open! - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor).
Interestingly for historical purposes the first blog post on heatpump monitoring was 2 days after the shop open announcement Heat Pump Monitoring - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor. We’ve been at this longer than I remember!
Pre-assembled NanodeRF base station October 2012 Pre-assembled Nanode RF - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor.
emonTx v3 & emonTH v1 November 2013 New hardware is in the shop and starting to ship this week - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
RFM69Pi v3, February 2015 Introducing RFM69Pi V3 Raspberry Pi Expansion Board - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
emonPi v1, April 2015 Introducing emonPi: Raspberry Pi based energy monitor - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
EmonTx3 with ESP8266 (EmonESP) 2016 ESP8266 WIFI developments - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
EmonTH2 November 2016 Introducing emonTH V2 - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
EmonEVSE & OpenEVSE (OpenEVSE not OEM original, EmonEVSE our pre-assembled CE approved adaptation, a lot of collaboration work by @glyn.hudson ) ~2017 OpenEVSE EV Charge Controller - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
IotaWatt (resold - not OEM original) October 2017 Introducing IoTaWatt - Blog | OpenEnergyMonitor
OVMS (resold - not OEM original) March 2020? About the OVMS category
EmonTx4 and EmonVs available in the shop November 2022 https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/avr-db-emontx-v4-new-hardware-in-progress/20209/198
EmonPi2 available in the shop December 14th 2023 https://community.openenergymonitor.org/t/emonpi2-pictures-spec/24865

Future plans

EmonTx5 and EmonPi2 CT expander board available in the shop in a few weeks time! April/May 2024 to be continued…
EmonPi3 and EmonTx6 based on ATSamd hardware thanks to @awjlogan : 2025!

RosanaRufer · 2024-04-14T14:06:37.308Z

Thanks both, that was very useful and very impressive
I was confused at the zig-zag between Tx line and Pi line.
It says here that Pi is more suitable for residential and Tx for larger buildings with circuits far from each other, I guess that’s why it makes sense to keep evolving both.
oemtimeline

// https://playground.diagram.codes/d/timeline
width=700
"2010-2011": "emonTx1️"
"March 2012": "emonTx2\nemonGLCD\nemonBase"
"April 2012": "First Heat\nPump\napplication\n♨️"
"October 2012": "NanodeRF"
"November 2013": "emonTx3\nemonTH1"
"February 2015": "RFM69Pi3"
"April 2015": "emonPi1"
"2016": "emonTx3"
"November 2016": "emonTH2"
"~2017": "OpenEVSE\nEmonVSE\n🚙"
"October 2017": "IotaWatt"
"March 2020": "OVMS"
"November 2022": "emonTx4"
"December 2023": "emonPi2"
"Future": "🔮"
"Summer 2024": "emonTx5"
"2025": "emonPi3 & emonTx6"

TrystanLea · 2024-04-14T15:45:59.877Z

RosanaRufer:

I was confused at the zig-zag between Tx line and Pi line.
It says here that Pi is more suitable for residential and Tx for larger buildings with circuits far from each other, I guess that’s why it makes sense to keep evolving both.

Yes good question, given recent zigzags between the emonTx4 and emonPi2 you’re right to be confused. We’ve had this internal debate over the years about what the main product should be and I think the realisation is that both are needed given the variation in potential applications, the thread What's happened to emonTx V4? is a good example.

borpin · 2024-04-15T06:06:54.074Z

TrystanLea:

I think the realisation is that both are needed given the variation in potential applications

Yes I think that is right

Andy_Little · 2024-04-17T18:40:04.097Z

added shield and versions to tx3

image598×665 22.3 KB

"2010-2011": "emonTx1️"
"March 2012": "emonTx2\nemonGLCD\nemonBase"
"April 2012": "First Heat\nPump\napplication\n♨️"
"October 2012": "NanodeRF"
"November 2013": "emonTx3 v3.2\emonTHv1/
        EmonTX Shield"
"February 2015": "RFM69Pi3"
"April 2015": "emonPi1"
"2016": "emonTx3 v3.4"
"November 2016": "emonTH2"
"~2017": "OpenEVSE\nEmonVSE\n🚙"
"October 2017": "IotaWatt"
"March 2020": "OVMS"
"November 2022": "emonTx4"
"December 2023": "emonPi2"
"Future": "🔮"
"Summer 2024": "emonTx5"
"2025": "emonPi3 & emonTx6"

whitecitadel · 2024-04-19T14:06:25.988Z

Hi Andy - what tool generates that timeline? That’s smart…

Andy_Little · 2024-04-19T14:20:09.390Z

link is in first post, // Diagram.Codes

whitecitadel · 2024-04-19T14:21:11.903Z

Sorry I seem to have came in halfway down, thanks that’s useful.