{"id":853,"date":"2017-07-21T15:28:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-21T19:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/"},"modified":"2024-10-23T10:43:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T14:43:50","slug":"my-first-month-with-sense","status":"publish","type":"consumer-blog","link":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Month with Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past few months I\u2019ve been freelancing with the Sense team, creating technical content to help users get more from their monitor. And now, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to give the system a real-world test drive in my own home. They recently sent over an electrician to install a Sense unit in my home\u2019s electrical panel. The plan was for me to track my installation, and day-to-day life with Sense as it discovered what was going on in our house. I expected the experience to be informative. I didn\u2019t expect how much fun it would be. <\/span><\/p>\n

Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

The electrician just left. My Sense monitor is installed and I\u2019m staring at the app. There\u2019s a lot happening already. Even though it hasn\u2019t discovered any devices it shows my home is using about 300 watts right now. How\u2019s that possible? Nothing is on! Or is it? Walking around I see that the bathroom fan is on and there\u2019s a lamp on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s all the devices in stand-by mode, like my Mac and printer, DVR and TV. I guess even the oven clock and coffeemaker are drawing some power. I open the fridge door and there\u2019s an instant jump on the app\u2019s Power Meter. The two bulbs in the fridge are using about 95 watts. I\u2019m impressed, there was zero lag between electrical activity and Sense detecting it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While I can\u2019t see where it\u2019s going yet, I can see how much electricity we\u2019re using. And I can see that the usage has been increasing all day as my wife and kids come home and we start dinner. Someone is watching TV, phones are getting charged, and just about every light in the house has been left on.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the day winds down, I check the app to see that our peak usage comes between 9-10 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Day 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now we\u2019re getting somewhere. I get an alert mid-morning saying that we\u2019ve made some discoveries.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Again, peak usage happens between 9-10 p.m., at .7 kWh for the hour. Total usage for the day is 14 kWh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Day 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to rename Motor 1, so I\u2019m using the Devices screen on the Sense Home app. I can see that it was on from midnight until 11 a.m., but I can\u2019t think what it could be. It will require a little more detective work. We determine that Heat 1 is the coffeemaker by looking at historical data, coming on regularly a little before 6 a.m. Just to double check this, I opened the app and then started the coffeemaker. Device confirmed!<\/span><\/p>\n

Day 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m curious about the fridge\u2019s consumption, so I go to the Devices screen, tap on the fridge and see its daily usage highlighted in red. It has been very consistent over the past few days, but as the hot, humid Boston summer gets into full swing, it will be interesting to see if that changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Highlights from Week 2<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve been discovering and labeling new devices every few days now. The lights in the office were easy to label since I work from there regularly \u2013 knowing your usage patterns greatly simplifies identification. Something interesting: the office light fixtures use 3-way (incandescent!) bulbs, both set to the third click \u2013 150 watts each. When you flip the switch, you instantly see a jump of about 300 watts on the app\u2019s Now screen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to everything else that\u2019s going on in our home, that seems like way too much energy for lighting. I haven\u2019t replaced these bulbs in years, but now that I see how much they suck, I\u2019m switching to comparable LEDs.<\/span><\/p>\n

One device took a bit of teamwork to identify \u2013 Motor 2. Looking at historical data, it went on Saturday around 8 a.m. for 4 minutes, off for a few, then on again for 10 minutes. Stumped, I asked one of my kids who reminded me we were baking that morning. Understanding the behavioral context, we knew that Motor 2 was the stand mixer \u2013 mystery solved.<\/span><\/p>\n

Week 3<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sense isn\u2019t just learning about my home\u2019s energy consumption, it\u2019s teaching me to make smarter choices. The fridge uses on average 110 watts when running \u2013 but we have no alternative. But with the office lights (now down to 64 watts thanks to 2 LED bulbs), I have an alternative for part of the day \u2013 sunlight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, it\u2019s clear why energy rates are higher during the day \u2013 that\u2019s when most of us are using most of our electricity. The Trends screen on the Sense Home app shows that our usage peaks from 4-10 p.m. (during our utility provider\u2019s highest rate period). Activities that we can shift to off-peak hours would reduce our electric bill.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Always-On My Mind<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Now that I can monitor my always-on devices and see how they really add up, I\u2019m giving these devices serious thought.<\/span><\/p>\n

To see which are the biggest vampires, I walk around with my Sense Home app set to Power Meter, feeling like a doctor scanning for a patient\u2019s vitals. As I turn devices on and off, I make a discovery. Our printer, which I thought rested in stand-by mode, was never actually going to sleep. The display was constantly on, and using 17 watts. Not huge, but that\u2019s 150 kW per year, or about $15. Since we use the printer so infrequently, I turned it off. But we\u2019ll leave other devices ready to rock, like our Sonos, since we like them available at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to get energy-competitive (guilty!) you can compare your home against others \u2013 a<\/span> recent study<\/span><\/a> suggests that 25% of residential use comes from always-on devices. At 11%, we\u2019re killing it. I\u2019m not sure why my wife isn\u2019t as thrilled as I am about this.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One Month and Counting<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve discovered 20 or so devices \u2013 the major stuff like washer, dryer, coffeemaker, dehumidifier, lights and dishwasher. I know there are other things yet to be found, but some devices, like our blender and cordless tool charger, are used so infrequently, they\u2019ll take more time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The real value for me is understanding our usage. I think of Sense\u2019s data like the calorie information on food packaging. Now I know where we are using electricity, and can appreciate the cost of running that device and if we should replace it.<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, the dishwasher was here when we moved in 4 years ago, and I\u2019ve wondered if we should upgrade to a more energy efficient model. With Sense, I can see that our machine\u2019s actual usage is about .85 kWh per load, which is very respectable compared to published averages. I don\u2019t know how much we save by not using the water heater or drying functions, but I have the ability to collect the data if I ever want to find out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

All in all, the first month has been an eye-opener. I know far more about what\u2019s going on in my home now, and have the tools to make smarter choices. One of the biggest pluses with Sense is that when we add solar down the road, we\u2019ll have data to make informed system decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stace Caseria is a freelance writer who makes his living, in part, writing about technology, which is ironic given how worried he is about the robots taking over. He was once an intern at MAD Magazine, and has mechanical sympathy for old Italian cars.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A look at one Sense user\u2019s first month with their monitor. Learn some tips and tricks, and get a window into what life is like with Sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":861,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"1","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"consumer-blog-category":[23],"content-type":[13],"featured":[],"class_list":["post-853","consumer-blog","type-consumer-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","consumer-blog-category-sense-monitor","content-type-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy First Month with Sense - Sense<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My First Month with Sense - Sense\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sense\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sense\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-23T14:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1313\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"786\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Sense\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/\",\"name\":\"My First Month with Sense - Sense\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-21T19:28:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-23T14:43:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg\",\"width\":1313,\"height\":786},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Consumer Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"My First Month with Sense\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sense\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sense\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sense-Logo-Registered-trademark.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sense-Logo-Registered-trademark.svg\",\"width\":110,\"height\":24,\"caption\":\"Sense\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sense.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sense\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Sense\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/sense\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/sense\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/Sense\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My First Month with Sense - Sense","description":"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My First Month with Sense - Sense","og_description":"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.","og_url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/","og_site_name":"Sense","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sense","article_modified_time":"2024-10-23T14:43:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1313,"height":786,"url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Sense","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/","url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/","name":"My First Month with Sense - Sense","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg","datePublished":"2017-07-21T19:28:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-23T14:43:50+00:00","description":"A look at one Sense user's first month with their smart home energy monitor: from installation to real-time consumption monitoring to device detection.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/0148_IMGL4447-1.jpg","width":1313,"height":786},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/my-first-month-with-sense\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sense.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Consumer Blog","item":"https:\/\/sense.com\/consumer-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"My First Month with Sense"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/","name":"Sense","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sense.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#organization","name":"Sense","url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sense-Logo-Registered-trademark.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Sense-Logo-Registered-trademark.svg","width":110,"height":24,"caption":"Sense"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sense.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sense","https:\/\/x.com\/Sense","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/sense\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/sense","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/Sense\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/consumer-blog\/853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/consumer-blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/consumer-blog"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/consumer-blog\/853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6925,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/consumer-blog\/853\/revisions\/6925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"consumer-blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/consumer-blog-category?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=853"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sense.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}