Current monitoring?

[speedstar]

Just curious what is the cheapest way to get a reef-pi to read current use of a device, I have seen the TP-Link/Kasa link outlets but at $110 per outlet you would be better off with an APEX. Any cheaper ways to monitor current and alarm if out of range?

Thanks

 

[robsworld78]

Just curious what is the cheapest way to get a reef-pi to read current use of a device, I have seen the TP-Link/Kasa link outlets but at $110 per outlet you would be better off with an APEX. Any cheaper ways to monitor current and alarm if out of range?

Thanks

I think that's the only option, you can get them on Amazon for $54.

 

[attiland]

Just curious what is the cheapest way to get a reef-pi to read current use of a device, I have seen the TP-Link/Kasa link outlets but at $110 per outlet you would be better off with an APEX. Any cheaper ways to monitor current and alarm if out of range?

Thanks

Pi is not good at current monitoring. As no analog pins as accurate timers. Most of the analog converter are slow and expensive. For current monitoring you want a microcontroller.
Arduino nano clone starts at £1 and may even be enough depending on how many ports you want to monitor.
You can connect it via USB i2c or even WiFi if you have a WiFi module. USB would require the least coding as most is done by the os.
You can accurately monitor 4 ports probably less than £10 with a nano. For more you would need an uno or port extender chips.
You will see several projects for current monitoring online. For connecting you can use parts of this. https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/house-monitoring-framework-with-arduino-and-raspberry-pi/

 

[elysics]

I recently looked into tasmota, if you don't mind flashing the outlets you can get switching+current monitoring for 10€ or less per plug. Only works with file driver right now and sadly it's wifi only due to it's nature, but it's cheap and it works, at least for non critical devices.

Maybe some of the more experienced people have done current monitoring from scratch with their own wiring, I'm curious what that'd look like

 

[speedstar]

I think that's the only option, you can get them on Amazon for $54.

Thanks for that link, much better than the first single outlet I pulled up.

Does anyone know will the reef-pi poll and pull in the current monitor data from the strip to display it? or can it only control the outlets?

 

[robsworld78]

Thanks for that link, much better than the first single outlet I pulled up.

Does anyone know will the reef-pi poll and pull in the current monitor data from the strip to display it? or can it only control the outlets?

I believe you can read the current within reef-pi. I believe the driver will have 12 pins for connectors, 6 are for the current. It comes in through the pH tab so you can use all those features with it.

 

[robsworld78]

I recently looked into tasmota, if you don't mind flashing the outlets you can get switching+current monitoring for 10€ or less per plug. Only works with file driver right now and sadly it's wifi only due to it's nature, but it's cheap and it works, at least for non critical devices.

Maybe some of the more experienced people have done current monitoring from scratch with their own wiring, I'm curious what that'd look like

I made a handful once using current transformers and another transformer for monitor voltage. You can get the transformers in a ring style but I wanted to have no wires on the power bar so used them. It also had Triacs instead of relays but man do those things get insanely hot at 10amps. That large heat sink in the image wasn't enough so I limited each outlet to 7 amps but 10 overall. My raw cost was more than that stupid Kasa, yes I'm bitter lol. After assembling a couple it was obvious it was feasible.

 

[speedstar]

I believe you can read the current within reef-pi. I believe the driver will have 12 pins for connectors, 6 are for the current. It comes in through the pH tab so you can use all those features with it.

Have you pulled apart the Kasa before, curious if it would be pretty simple in there layout to solder bridge the relays so the outlets are permanent on, I just want the current monitoring and not risk any control functions.

 

[robsworld78]

Have you pulled apart the Kasa before, curious if it would be pretty simple in there layout to solder bridge the relays so the outlets are permanent on, I just want the current monitoring and not risk any control functions.

No I've never used one, just hear from other people. The relays will use some kind of voltage to switch on/off, if constant power is run to the them they should stay on.

 

[speedstar]

No I've never used one, just hear from other people. The relays will use some kind of voltage to switch on/off, if constant power is run to the them they should stay on.

Got ya I guess that way would work too, I was just going to bridge the contact pads. I'll see when I open it up I suppose. Thanks for all the info.

 

[robsworld78]

Got ya I guess that way would work too, I was just going to bridge the contact pads. I'll see when I open it up I suppose. Thanks for all the info.

I see what you mean now, bridge would likely be better as relay doesn't need to be powered then. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Ranjib]

Thanks for that link, much better than the first single outlet I pulled up.

Does anyone know will the reef-pi poll and pull in the current monitor data from the strip to display it? or can it only control the outlets?

both. The current monitoring is not natively supported (as in reef-pi does not have dedicated UI for this), you have to treat them as ph probes for the time being. They do the job though.

 

[speedstar]

Again Thanks everybody, I have valid milliamp readings coming in for the lights and flow pumps. Will add two of the singles for the return pump and skimmer.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Very happy I stumbled across this as I had no clue this functionality was possible. Woot!!!

 

[speedstar]

I did not see a driver for the KP115, will this single outlet work on another driver? ANy idea how hard to add it?
@Ranjib

 

[marekd1]

Just curious what is the cheapest way to get a reef-pi to read current use of a device, I have seen the TP-Link/Kasa link outlets but at $110 per outlet you would be better off with an APEX. Any cheaper ways to monitor current and alarm if out of range?

Thanks

You may want to look into Sonoff Pow2 switch module. It would not be natively integrated with Reef-Pi but if you flush it with Tasmota and you can use MQTT and Grafana to plot the usage. All of this can be loaded on another Pi with docker containers.

You can setup something like this.