Last modified 13 years ago Last modified on 2012-02-05 02:12:00

Introduction

The Brultech Energy Monitor plugin is a ​Luup component that captures, displays, and periodically updates Energy Usage information from a ​Brultech ECM-1240 Energy Monitoring device.

How does it work

Brultech's ECM-1240 is a Device that measures Power consumption in a home. Users may deploy one or more ECM-1240 devices, as outlined on Brultech's website, as shown in this walk-through:

​http://brultech.com/products/ECM1240/howItWorks.htm

There are various ​connectivity options available for the Brultech ECM-1240. These are outlined on Brultech's website.

The current generation of this plugin works side-by-side with their ​Plug & Play packages, and "sees" the same data that would normally be sent on to their Plug & Play service (​my1240.com).

Since the Plugin co-exists with their Plug & Play solution, data is exposed both in MiOS, as Devices, in addition to any third party service that the ECM-1240 has been setup to use.

Future versions of this Plugin may provide native decoding of both their Text and Binary streams, and will work with their ​Standard Packages.

Each ECM-1240 can measure the Power usage on up to 7 circuits. This plugin exposes this data to Vera using a parent, Brultech Controller, device along with up to 7 child devices. Each of these children exposes the Wattage value for their respective channel within the Dashboard. If additional ECM-1240's are connected to the same Serial communications device, then the Plugin will see their data as well, exposing 7, 14, 21 or 28 channels of measurement data.

In addition, Vera will also report your data up so you can see it under the Energy Usage tab of your cp.mios.com account, or to the ERGY Plugin of UI5/Vera3.

Installation

This document assumes you've already physically installed your Brultech ECM-1240 and have followed the instructions, and warnings, on their site in regard to the physical device installation.

Once physically installed, you need a Serial (RS-232) connection between the Brultech ECM-1240 and your Vera. You connect Vera to the ECM-1240 using one of the ​Serial Supported Hardware solutions that's been published.

You can also use the Brultech EtherBee, if you have their XBee-enabled models, to bridge to Ethernet. This option provides a nice option for those looking for a Wireless solution. See the Brultech Communications options links below for further details.

My Configuration

My configuration consists of:

  • 2x Brultech ECM-1240 Modules with XBee option (XB-1240-1)
  • 1x Brultech EtherBee Gateway with External Antenna (EB-1-E)
  • 2x SPLIT-200 Split Core CT's for the main bus bars
  • A large number of Micro-40 Donut Style Current transformer (for each circuit)
  • A small number of Micro-80 Donut Style Current transformer (for the larger circuits)

The Plugin is configured to connect, over Ethernet, to the EtherBee which in turn bridges data from the ECM-1240 Modules. I could connect over RS-232, and avoid the EtherBee Ethernet bridge, but this type of installation avoided putting low power wiring near the Sub-panel box.

Discussion

The Brultech Energy Monitor plugin is discussed in this forum thread, along with it's development history:

​http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=5518.0

Feel free to ask questions on that thread, as well as make any suggestions & contributions to the future development of the plugin's functionality.

References

Attachments