As (mentioned above) I already have my Current Cost ENVIR running on my NAS now for quite a while, but I’d still would like to make use of this plugin, but tweak it ideally so it read the data on my existing RRD (Round Robin dB) which is already in place and being populated, and reference from various places.
Still being new to all this HA and coding - any assistance would be appreciated, if the readers of this trail or the moderators feel this needs tode done is a separate/new post I can do that.
Looking the D_ xml they mention a S_TemperatureSensor1.xml and a S_EnergyMetering1.xml file, would anyone be able to post an example of these, as I’m guessing this is where the data from the EnviR is stored?
The S_*.xml files are on your Vera already. Go look in the “Develop Apps” section to find them. They are only schema files, though, the data isn’t there.
The data is captured from the EnviR into plugin strings which you can see on the Advanced tab of the plugin. They are displayed from there on the history graphs.
What’s going to ruin your day is that the EnviR history and the EnviR live data are entirely different streams. If your NAS is collecting only the live data for its RRD and discarding the history stream, then it’ll have to synthesize it for the Vera plugin. With granularity that probably differs from the EnviR’s 2/24/720 hour buckets.
It might be easier to approach this from a different direction, and it might not involve this plugin at all. What’s important to you?
Edit: Rereading your message, I think I have to clear up something about the Vera CurrentCost plugin: it doesn’t log historical data. It only copies the historical window that is inside the EnviR’s internal storage, and displays it. So not only does it not know how to accumulate data for logging, it also doesn’t know how to read a log when displaying history. This doesn’t line up well with your existing RRD logging.
If the plugin currently copies the Envir’s internal storage and displays it, how different (difficult) is it for the plug in to be amended to look at a range of data within an rrd?
When you get down to it, it’s just programming, so of course it can be done. But by now you’ve changed the history-grabbing code in the plugin, and you’re not using the realtime-grabbing code in the plugin. There’s scarcely any original code left. It is probably more sensible to start from scratch.
I appreciate what you’re saying, and like you say it’s just programming, hence grabbing the newest line entry in the rrd would i guess be very close to real time, plus you would also have the benefits of historic trending to, so you could graph new (live) data over historic data etc.
I’m obviously just thinking outloud now, my thoughts behind the postings were only that pulling data from a permant data store, rather than a temporary one could bring additional benefits etc.
Ergy for some reason does not support some third party energy plugins. This has been brought up several times and they still have not fixed this in their plug in.
There’s a whole nother thread for the CurrentCost EnviR. Rather than pollute this thread any more I’ll meet you over there. Short answer: I use a serial-to-IP program on my server, but others use a direct USB connection to the console.
Hoping this is the thread you were referring to in your earlier post.
You mentioend you use a serial-to-ip program running on your server, could you comment on whether the plugin would support a standalone USB/serial to IP device?
After looking at their website and not having a product to look at can you confirm for me that the serial output is located on the display and not the transmitters? (seems obvious but not actually mentioned anywhere that I can see or any photos of the units). I’m looking at getting a Current Cost Solar Energy Monitor so I can also monitor my Solar System Generation so just need to be sure either way. Given the unit can monitor 10 channels it seems like it has to be??
At the moment I’m between a rock and a hard place trying to work out whether the CurrentCost unit is the way to go or whether to use a Aeon Labs HEM. Im leaning toward the CurrentCost given its plugin development though.
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Give us a link to the device you are thinking of and I can probably make a more informed statement.
After looking at their website and not having a product to look at can you confirm for me that the serial output is located on the display and not the transmitters? (seems obvious but not actually mentioned anywhere that I can see or any photos of the units). I'm looking at getting a Current Cost Solar Energy Monitor so I can also monitor my Solar System Generation so just need to be sure either way. Given the unit can monitor 10 channels it seems like it has to be??
It is on the display. You may have to explicitly buy the cable (or build your own; google for the pinout). I don’t think it’s supplied with the base unit.
At the moment I'm between a rock and a hard place trying to work out whether the CurrentCost unit is the way to go or whether to use a Aeon Labs HEM. Im leaning toward the CurrentCost given its plugin development though.
Supposedly the Aeon doesn’t need a plugin because it’s all Z-Wave and built in to MiOS…
Something you should know about both of these energy monitors is that they assume a power factor of 1. This can lead to some inaccurate measurements. If you’re moving off the Clipsal EZwhatever this may not be something you’ve considered. If you’re after dead-set accuracy then no clamp meter will give it. You’d need something that talks direct to your smart meter (say, one of these, which I have but never got around to writing a plugin for).
Well its added a new device in VeraLite. I had to select serial port pl2303 from the Connection tab however for it to connect.
Its not showing any usage stats yet.
Attached is a screen shot of the Serial Port Configuration under Develop Apps in VeraLite.
There are no errors showing in the VeraLite status area at the top and it looks to be connected OK? Just no usage data showing up.
[quote=“cw-kid, post:136, topic:168489”]What does this setting mean?
“Automatically create child devices for appliances”
Are there appliance plugs available for this CurrentCost system ?[/quote]
Yeah, there are. Also you can buy a separate clamp and transmitter if you want to monitor another circuit (say, solar power generation).
Once your devices are discovered you can switch off that checkbox. Whenever you want to add more devices, turn it back on.
Good. Tell me this time tomorrow if the history doesn’t populate. It takes at least a couple of hours with no Luup restarts to trickle down over the cable.
