CE Pro October 2023 - 48

TECHNOLOGY | Power Management
integrated into other manufacturers'
systems, such as
Schneider/Square D's Smart
Energy Center (se.com).
The Emporia Vue Home
Energy Monitor is a similar
device, with additional capabilities.
It supports up to
200A single-phase split service
or three-phase service.
It's available with up to 16
additional 50A sensors that
can be used for solar or for
monitoring specific circuits.
Emporia also offers smart
plugs that enable monitoring
of specific devices
and allow them to be
remotely controlled.
The Emporia App consolidates
everything, letting
customers see total consumption
plus individual
load and circuit consumption.
Smart plugs can be
defined as subzones of other
circuits, so you can break
out a home theater, home
office, or a particular plug-in
appliance from the branch
circuit feeding it. This makes
the data far more useful, especially
if there are unrelated
devices on a single branch. It
can even use overall power
data from the Emporia Vue:
Utility Connect if attaching
to the main conductors is
difficult or hazardous. Emporia
offers thin flexible sensors
to make installation in tight
panels easier.
Smart plugs are available
Deck
By Name Name
from several manufacturers
that also offer power
monitoring. However, these
are standalone devices that
do not evaluate a circuit's
consumption relative to the
entire home, and therefore
the data that they provide
is not particularly useful to
understand overall con48
| CE Pro October 2023
sumption patterns. The Emporia
devices are completely
integrated via their App.
Combining Power
Monitoring & Control
The next level up are
systems that monitor and
control power, integrating
both functions to offer better
performance and unique
capabilities. While products
like Sense and Emporia
Vue are intended for simple
retrofit installation, the inteance.
If it resembles a Tesla
car, it's not surprising, since
the founders of the company
are former Tesla engineers.
The panel even lights up to
make it easier to find and
reset a tripped breaker (your
phone will probably tell you
which breaker has tripped,
although for safety reasons
you can't remotely reset a
tripped breaker).
It is also designed to
accommodate solar or wind
production as well as a backcircuit
transfer switches are
installed, and wiring is more
complex. In addition, what
is deemed to be " critical "
might change over time;
a new network device or
health care product may
be plugged into a circuit
that was not originally
designated as " critical " , or
during a heat wave outage,
you might really need a few
minutes of HVAC while you
keep the refrigerator doors
closed.
Since these smart panels
have control of individual circuits,
it is possible to reassign
critical circuits dynamically,
rather than by wiring.
The apps for these panels
More manufacturers are entering the energy management
and monitoring space all the time. CES remains a good
place to find startups like Zendure Home battery backup.
grated systems are generally
more suitable for new construction,
or when upgrading
an existing electrical service.
They usually require permits
and installation by a licensed
electrician.
SPAN.IO (span.io) offers
the SPAN Panel, which is a
200A single phase split power
32-circuit smart breaker
panel. It installs similarly to a
conventional panel, but the
current sensors and controls
are built in, so the installation
is much cleaner, and it
has a very attractive appearup
generator. This is one area
where the combination of
monitoring and control gets
interesting. For traditional
backup systems, the generator
or battery pack is usually
sized to only provide power
to critical circuits during a
mains power failure: refrigerators,
a few lights, etc. This
is because larger generators
and batteries are far more
expensive to buy and to run.
To differentiate between
" critical " and " non-critical "
circuits, either separate
electrical panels or multimake
it all simple - they can
automatically sense mains
power outages and drop
circuits as needed to prevent
overload of generators or
back-up batteries.
The SPAN panel has a
capacity for 32 full-size
circuit breakers of a variety
of types and ratings up to
90A, from Eaton, Siemens,
and Square D. With half-size
breakers, more than 32
circuits may be accommodated,
although the halfsize
breakers can only be
controlled and monitored
in pairs.
Savant Power (savantpower.com)
recently entered
this category as a dedicated
division of Savant Systems,
mainly through strategic
acquisitions and partnering
with established companies,
but its initial offerings are very
exciting. Rather than a proprietary
breaker panel, they
offer a series of modules that
resemble industry-standard
circuit breakers and install in
most standard load centers
cepro.com
http://www.se.com http://www.power.com http://www.SPAN.IO http://www.span.io http://www.cepro.com
CE Pro October 2023

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