I have a bunch of Emporia plugs that are very cost effective compared to the Sengled version that costs double the price.
Emporia Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring | 15A Max / 10A Continuous | WiFi Smart Outlet | Emporia App | Alexa | Google | ETL Certified (Package of 4) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08CVSSVWP/
I went looking for a higher amp (30) smart plug one that could remotely (over the internet) shut down and start up etc. Amazon has them or similar. The higher amp ones are for AC units or something that draw more power. I Was getting ready to by some of those and went looking for something to measure power consumption too.
I happened on to these Emporia smart plugs that also measure power as well.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CVSSVWP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
They're bulky so you possibly need 110v 6" pigtails to fit on one outlet. Most power strips are rated for no more than 20 Amps so be aware of that.
you download their app, plug them in, connect via a 2.4 wifi, add the device, name it and you're good. The app measures usage and you can turn it off and on anywhere there is internet.
Luck
We’ve got one that we love, it tracks how many kW it’s using and you can add your rate in so you can see how much your grow is costing you too. Smart Plug
I just got a bunch of these things and they're awesome! They're not only smart switches but also track energy use from your outlet!
Buy a kilowatt meter or a couple of emporia smart plugs that your cellphone can monitor.
I use both, but now have my entire house on emporia energy monitoring, including 6 smart plugs and 8 breaker box current transformers.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CVSSVWP/ref=twister_B08NRNYLRV?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Electrical-Consumption
I made my system a decade ago for around $2000. It cost me about $300 for 2 six volt golf car batteries which gave me 2400 watts and could power both my refrigerator and standup freezer for over 12 hours. this is highly depended on what watt reading you get from the above meters. also if you have auto defrost and it kicks in at the wrong time it can shorten the battery time by quite a bit as that can draw 500+ watts alone, though generally only for a 1/2 hour or so.
I paid about $500 for 500 watts of solar, about $600 for 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter, $200 charge controller, and $150 for a AC battery charger. misc wiring and hardware another $200.
Most important is gonna be the startup inrush of the compressors, typically gonna need 5-8 times the running amps - so if your machine is 2 amp x 8 = 16 amps x 120 volt = 2000 watts minimum inverter size. Or use the locked rotor amperage from the nameplate for a good guess of startup current.
After my big interstate batteries finally bit the dust at almost 9 years old, I dismantled my system and sold off the parts and decided to go with converting my generator into dual fuel gasoline/propane. Bought the propane kit for my machine for around $200 and added an additional 2 bbq tanks - the 4 gallons in each of my 3 tanks will not only never go bad but also run my fridge freezers for pretty much a full day on each tank [inverter generator].
I also had problems getting generator gas twice in the last 10 years, the last time were after the christmas tornados, after failing at siphoning several times, I finally figured out how to hook up an air-conditioning gauge hose to my trucks fuel rail Schrader valve and using a paper clip I filled my 5 gallons jugs in minutes.
I've got 9 of these, they work great and you can download .csv files.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CVSSVWP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Do you have the Gen2? mine has only 8 but upgradable to 16 as all the inputs are on the sending unit.
Or just buy these:
https://www.amazon.com/Emporia-Energy-Monitor-Certified-Package/
Do yourself a favor and buy some of these smartplugs:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CVSSVWP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can control them from your phone from anywhere. I have them on all on my miners. Besides being able to power cycle them, I can also see current draw on a per second basis which tells me if it is actually doing anything or not. Also I can see if internet is up or not. Saved me many trips to far away locations. You should be able to see CPU temperature and if fan is running on the SenseCap dashboard if you register yours there. Another great tool to have. Wish RAK would get off their asses and get a dashboard for the RAK/MNTD miners.
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
Emporia Smart Plug with Energy Monitor - WiFi Sma… | $29.98 | $29.98 | 4.4/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
---|---|---|---|
Emporia Smart Plug with Energy Monitor - WiFi Sma… | $29.98 | $29.98 | 4.4/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
For the price, Kill A Watt is rather outdated. You can get four of these for less money and they track usage over time and give nice graphs instead of having to check it manually.
Emporia Smart Plug with Energy Monitoring | WiFi Smart Outlet | Emporia App | Alexa | Google | ETL Certified (Package of 4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CVSSVWP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.P3IFb8C71FZX
These are cheap and show usage real time. You can even script the data to influxdb and make some nice dashboards.
Example of a dashboard - https://metrics.packetpals.com/d/8hz6lWCZz/energy-usage?orgId=1&refresh=5s
Dashboard is a mix of those plugs and there whole-house clamp thing.