Released: June 27th, 2024
We're excited to announce a significant upgrade to our Vue Home Energy Monitor family (Vue 2 and Vue 3) - Bi-Directional 50A CT measurements. This new feature allows for bi-directional current flow monitoring on 50A Current Transformer sensors (CTs), enhancing the accuracy and versatility of your energy monitoring system.
Once set up - consumed power will be displayed as blue numbers (positive values) and generated power will be displayed as green numbers (negative values). Graphs will show blue and green colors respectively, however the graphs display absolute values above zero (above the X-axis) for negative values. This behavior is similar to the existing functionality available with the 200A CT's when the device is properly flagged for net metering.
What's New?
50A CTs can now monitor current flow in both directions, similar to existing 200A CT capabilities
Improved accuracy for circuits with bi-directional energy flow
No hardware changes or purchases required – firmware update is OTA (over the air) and automatically sent to your Vue device, and mobile app is available for updating now
Benefits
This upgrade provides more precise measurements for circuits where energy can flow in both directions, such as:
Home battery systems (non-Emporia*)
Solar lines (accurate tracking of inverter consumption)
Shared circuits with mixed generation and consumption usage
Sub-panels with downstream generation or battery systems
Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) or Vehicle-to-Home (V2H) EV chargers (non-Emporia*)
* The Emporia Home Battery and EV Charger, both Level 2 and V2X, systems are their own monitor, no extra CT's from your Vue device required.
Supported Circuit Types
Bi-directional monitoring will be optional to enable for the following Circuit
Types (available in the circuit Settings page):
Battery
Electric Vehicle/RV
Garage/Shop/Barn/Shed
Other
Sub Panel
Solar/Generation
Heat Pump
Other Circuit Types will continue to use unidirectional (consumption-only) monitoring.
How to Update
Your Vue device's firmware will update OTA (over the air) and automatically.
Ensure your Emporia Energy mobile app is up-to-date on the latest version available (3.4.4) from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. Web app is automatically up-to-date.
Navigate to the circuit Settings in the app to enable bi-directional monitoring for eligible circuits.
Using Bi-Directional Monitoring
Once your app and device are updated, you can set eligible circuits to bi-directional mode in the circuit Settings. The app will guide you through the process, including confirming whether the circuit is currently consuming or generating energy.
Note: If you incorrectly set a circuit's flow direction, you can easily correct it by toggling the setting back to unidirectional and then to bi-directional again, selecting the correct flow direction.
Previously Measured Usage
Its possible that previously saved measurements for "Solar" flagged 50A CT's will be displayed as positive values within Home Screen, Graphs and CSV Exported values after the circuit has been updated for bi-directional detection. This is an unfortunate side-affect of the changes required for this feature to be deployed. If your CSV Export is showing positive values for measurements on a "Solar" Circuit Type for values previous to this circuit being updated - you can recalculate the correct value by multiplying these values by -1.0 (negative one). 200A CT measurements and all other 50A CT's not flagged as a "Solar" circuit type should still be accurate.
This upgrade represents our ongoing commitment to providing you with the most accurate and comprehensive energy monitoring solution for your smart home.
Customer Support and Continuous Improvement
At Emporia Energy, we're dedicated to your success in energy management. Our Support team is ready to assist with any questions about this new feature or help you optimize your setup. We value your feedback and use it to drive our innovation. For any inquiries or suggestions, please reach out to our Customer Support team – we're here to ensure you get the most out of your Emporia Energy products.