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TED 5000 iPhone App

I've been hearing rumors about a TED 5000 iPhone application for a few weeks now and I was happy to search the iPhone app store today for "TED 5000" and find the app there waiting for me. The app was developed by Brent Halsey and is a very nice way to see what your TED 5000 is doing when you are away from your computer or display unit.  Thankfully it is free!

The application displays the following:

• Gateway time
• Current Power
• Current Cost (Hr)
• Average Power (Hr)
• Average Cost (Hr)

The only downside to the application is that unlike the TED display unit, it is not a real-time feed.  The app only refreshes when you tell it to.  The "Gateway Time" on the app is the time that the iPhone app pinged the Gateway to get the data.  If you wanted to see the data every minute, you would have to refresh every minute.  It currently does not display any trends or reports, just a snapshot of your instantaneous household energy consumption.  I'm not sure if future editions of the app will have added functionality, or if this functionality is limited due to technical limitations imposed by the TED 5000 unit.

Since my TED 5000 is hooked into my wireless router and I am not doing anything fancy (like posting my TED 5000 information on a dedicated web-site for all to see) I am only able to use the iPhone app to access my gateway when my iPhone is on my home wireless network.  If I were using 3G or on the internet somewhere else the app would not work.

Setting up the application is very straightforward. Once you download the free application, you just have to enter in your TED 5000 IP address. I  had forgotten how to find my TED's IP address and when I googled the topic, I came across a comment on Mapawatt from Loren that I had overlooked addressing this very own topic:

David, you might call Roman at TED regarding finding your IP address. I just spoke with him and he guided me through it very quickly. However, your situation will be a bit different because of the fact that I have Windows on my Mac which allowed me to find the IP address very easily using the Run command and typing in “cmd” and then “ping ted5000″ which gave me the IP. I was then able to simply type in an address that looks like http://192.xxx.x.xx/Footprints.html and everything works just great.

After entering in your IP address you're all set to go.  If you have problems, make sure your iPhone is connected to your home wireless network by choosing (on the iPhone) Setting -->Wi-Fi--> On-->Choose your network.  As long as your TED gateway is hooked into the same wireless router that the iPhone uses, you should be fine.

For me, it's nice to have this capability on my phone so I dont have to carry around the display unit (which stays in my office) if I am downstairs or in bed and I am curious about how much power my house is consuming.  Eventually I am going to put my TED 5000 on a dedicated page so I can access the data from anywhere, so this is just the start. We all the know the smart-grid will be here eventually, but it sure is nice to see glimpses of it right now!