TED 5000: It's coming in early June!

TED 5000

***Update 10/6/09 - Google has announced they are working with the TED 5000 as a device partner for their Google Power Meter software. Follow the link above to learn about it and to update your firmware. This is pretty big news and will no doubt send sales of the TED 5000 through the roof!

Update 7/1/09: The TED 5000 went on sale yesterday and I promptly purchased it. I should have it y 7/2 and the blog review will come right after!

Here's the TED 5000 post.

If you've read my blog on The Energy Detective you know I'm a big fan. So you can understand how excited I was to see that they have finally posted some information about the TED 5000 on their website and posted an expected availability date of early June!

I have to say that it looks much slicker than I expected and I can't wait to order one. The price is $199 and I think that is very reasonable if it performs as well as the last TED. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, my biggest concern was the last TED did not have internal memory, meaning to log data you had to keep your computer on. Well they have corrected it in this model (from the TED 5000 FAQ page):

Q. How much detailed data is stored in TED 5000?
A. The stored data is exportable to the computer at any time, however, the GATEWAY stores 60 minutes of SECONDS, 2 days of MINUTE-data, 90 days of HOURLY-data, 24 months of DAILY-data, and 10 years of MONTHLY-data.

The data I'm most interested in seeing is the HOURLY- data, so I'll be able to get 3 months of this data stored at any one time! Why hourly? Basically, I would like to see how much energy my house is using when I am sleeping or away at work. The only energy the house should be using is standby energy (keeping digital clocks on, fridge, etc.) and my air conditioner/heater in the summer/winter.

By analyzing the hourly data I can look for spikes and tell if things are running when they shouldn't be. By looking at the hourly data, I can see how much it costs me to keep the AC running while I am at work (which I usually don't) and do different analysis to see how I should change any habits. If you were only looking at DAILY- data, you wouldnt be able to get that specific. You would only need to look at MINUTE-data and SECOND-data if you were concerened about individual appliances. Basically, the HOURLY-data will give you the best snapshot of how your home is consuming energy over a 24-hr period.

Here is another cool feature that the FAQ points out:

Q. Can data be viewed remotely?
A. Yes, data can be viewed via the Internet or any mobile device.

Based on the comment that someone from The Energy Detective left on my original blog post, this means that you'll be able to view this data with your iPhone or other mobile device. How cool is that!

So stay tuned for the official release, I'm sure this won't be the last blog on one of the best energy monitoring devices out there. Here is a great comparison chart they have put together to compare the TED 5000 against the TED 1000.

Also, apparently the TED 5000 will have a solar/wind package available. Interesting....

Tags:

data logging

mobile viewing

power monitoring

solar monitoring

ted 5000

the energy detective

wind monitoring

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 05/31/2009 - 13:44

admin - careful, while TED 5000 is supposed to have a resolution of 1 watt, they also say that the readings are only accurate to 2%. That means that a 1 kilowatt reading is really somewhere between 980 and 1020 watts. Who cares if they give you a number with 4 digits when the last two may be off by 40? Also, I think I read somewhere that even TED 1000 has a "resolution" of 1 watt if you read the display device through the USB port. Wisely, they only display kW to a resolution of 10 watts. By the way, I have a friend who has used TED 1000 to monitor a single circuit, in fact a single device, the heat pump on his geothermal system. It was a simple matter to put the CT clamp on the power wire going to the compressor on his heat pump. The only tricky thing is that he had to add a power plug to the TED transmitting unit since he could no longer get power from the circuit breaker box.

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/29/2009 - 09:34

Thanks Roman, good point that I missed. While Google Power Meter has been getting a lot of attention lately, TED is actually building the same thing but for a broader swath of the population and more functionality. Hopefully you'll be able to post a comment as soon as the new version is released!

psmith Fri, 05/29/2009 - 05:09

Nice! One of the most interesting FAQ entries to me was this: Q. Can TED 5000 measure individual circuits? A. While TED 5000 is designed to monitor the entire home, it can easily measure any feeder or branch circuit. I'm interested in learning more about how it can monitor individual circuits. I've had a whole house monitor for a couple of years now and would really like to be able to log data and monitor individual circuits in the home.

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/29/2009 - 13:04

I am most interested in the TED 5000 to monitor and measure net metered electricity. I have a 4.7Kw solar system and only know how much electricity I am generating at any one moment and the total produced for the day. I have to manually record the utility meter to determine if I produced more than I used and can never know how much power I am consuming Vs. Sending into the grid. It is interesting to note that the wireless display is an extra component. So, for $199 you get the gateway unit and 1 CT. I plan on purchasing the optional solar/wind item which I imagine is another CT and the Footprints software which I imagine will be smart enough to do net metered calculations. I can't wait to see negative KWH on the PC screen showing how much electricity I am sending to the grid at any one time, especially by accessing the gateway from my iPhone! I wonder what the surprise announcement will be?

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/29/2009 - 07:49

Just wanted to point out something that I think is very important but seemed to have been burried deep in the FAQ. The new TED uses the ZigBee wireless to communicate to the wireless display. So at some point when the utilities actually rollout their ZigBee enabled meters, our users will be able to interface to them out of the box. So you'll have a choice to use either our measuring transmission unit (MTU)or your own meter. Though ours is a lot more accurate :) and you get control over how often you want the data to be sent. This was done to allow better co-existance with X10 based systems that a lot of you guys use.

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/29/2009 - 05:18

Good catch Powell, I missed that. I'm guessing you would just move the CTs (Current Transformers - basically clamps with copper in them to pick up current) from your incoming power feed (measuring your whole house load) and onto an individual circuit. I'm assuming you could do the same thing with the TED 1000, but I dont know if anyone has done that. I'm guessing that the reason the TED 5000 will be better at this is that it has a 1 Watt resolution, where the TED 1000 had a 10 Watt resolution.

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/20/2009 - 07:34

I received my TED 5000-C on Saturday and installed it on Sunday. Took my longer to find a screwdriver to remove the panel cover then to install the system (not counting setup). Ok, the first thing I notice that I do not like is the fact that the Gateway module that you plug in does not have what I call a "keep ring" for lack of a better term. If you have ever looked at the AC adapter for a home alarm system they have (at least all that I have seen) a ring that extends from it that you use the center screw of your plug face plate to secure it. The device is simple and functions to prevent anyone from unplugging the adapter. I think the same thing should be added to the Gateway. Powell mentioned above about the 5000 measuring individual circuits. Admin answered correctly if you want to check each circuit. The TED 5000 however will learn when certain devices are entergized and de-entergized. These items must for the most part have unique electrical signitures such as your A/C unit, electric water heater, electric dryer, refridgerator/freezer, maybe a toaster and coffee pot as all of these items will have large energy draws. Turning on light bulbs, TV's, computers probably will not register as most of those items pull pretty close to the same power. It is all new and I am still playing with it to see what it can do, be made to do, will not do (and of course the dreaded OOPS ... I shouldn't have done that). Oh, I just happened upon this site today and thought I would put in my input also as I too have been waiting since they told me in March about the 5000 unit. Richard New Orleans

Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/20/2009 - 07:39

Thanks for the comment! I have yet to play around with the "electrical signature" mode, but I need to do that. I would like to highlight when the dryer and AC units are on. I know when they are on when I am watching my unit, but I'd like to be able to pick them out when I am reviewing history. When they are both on at the same time and we have lights on in the house I consume over 8 kW. Yuck.

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/28/2009 - 13:08

Where did you purchase it from? It does not seem to be on sale anywhere and the TED web site shows it as not availble and the TED store does not sell it.

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/28/2009 - 13:13

Go to their "contact us " section and give them a call. They are only selling them in a limited release so you have to call them to order one.

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