Hi All,
I want to monitor hot water consumption and wanted a system I can host myself, so no recurrent cost for a provider. In my research I found OpenEnergy Monitor.
I also found that some subwater meters have a pulse output that I could connect to the emonTxv4. emonBase would allow me to collect and display the data, thanks to emoncms and a wifi connection.
My issue is I bought:
- emonVS, with no plug as there wasn’t a NA plug to choose from.
- emonTxv4
- emonBase
How do I power these things? I plan to have them all be one next to the other. Can I install a NA plug in the emonVS and distribute power to both the emonBase and emonTxv4? What should I buy to and install in the emonVS?
Thanks for helping me see clearly.
Cheers
Welcome, @The_Fifth_for_you to the OEM forum.
You have bought all you need, except for some cables and wires. The emonVs is both a precision voltage measuring device (used inside the emonTx4 to calculate electrical power) but also a power supply capable of powering both your emonTx4 and the emonBase.
You can indeed, it is good from about 90 V right up to 240 V, with no adjustment required. You can connect it across one 120 V leg – your black or red wire to the terminal marked ‘L1’ or the brown wire and your white wire Neutral to the terminal marked ‘N’ or the blue wire, the terminal marked ‘E’ or the green/yellow wire is the protective earth (ground); and this will generate the 5 V d.c to power everything.
Not that it matters at this point, but for clarity: Your emonVs is I presume a single phase version, having just one blue transformer inside?
I don’t quite know what you mean here - the emonVs comes complete and requires nothing. It has the cable and plug to power the emonTx4 attached. You will however need a USB-A to USB-C lead to get data and power from the emonTx4 to the emonBase.
Have you discovered the “Docs” section here? In there, there are masses and masses of information - my initial suggestion is don’t even try to get to grips with all of it immediately, the most you should do is skim through just to get a broad impression of what’s there.
The part you will need first is about the emonTx4: emonTx4 User Guide — OpenEnergyMonitor 0.0.1 documentation
The emonTx4 is principally an electricity monitor. Am I right in thinking your only need – at least at present – is the hot water consumption, or will you at some point want to measure (say) the energy input to heat the water?
Don’t hesitate to come back if anything isn’t quite clear. A Moderator colleague @Bill.Thomson is in Oklahoma and is a retired radar technician, so he can advise you on USA regulations etc far better than I can from the UK.
Thank you Robert. This helped a lot.