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20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 Great thought, implementation and documentation need work Dec 29, 2010
By Kidd
"j-madd"
I'm an engineer who works with electrical components with work so I can't complain about general installation. If you don't understand or it seems tough, get a qualified electrician. Better that than burning your house down or electrocuting yourself.
I was an advocate for this until I noticed loads in my home starting and stopping with no reaction from the 'real time KW usage' display. A closer review of my logs revealed blackout periods in the graph where my KW locked in at a very low level. I found I can turn this on or off, ironically by switching on any of the overhead LED bulbs I purchased to save electricity. Based on this, I have to conclude the MTU / gateway communication is susceptible to noise.
This requires fixing whether it be a more robust communication solution, offer a filtration solution or at the very least tell the users they need to park the gateway close to the MTU. A better product management / engineering course of action would have been to work these issues out before marketing TED as a consumer product. Regrettable, but I'll try relocating the gateway and cross my fingers.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Great idea; can take work to make it work for you Mar 03, 2011
By R. Tupelo Schneck
I'm a big fan of the TED 5000, got it quite early on and wrote the "it's electric" application for displaying its data nicely on a web page. TED 5000 works well, but you may need to be persistent in order to get it working for you. Installation is not hard (I found it hard to get the CTs to close properly over the giant wires inside my electric box, but nothing terrible), but you are quite likely not to be done when you install. The problem is that the MTUs in your circuit breaker box talk to your Gateway plugged in somewhere in your house over the power line. Neat idea (seems almost magical really) but it causes more problems than it's worth.
For if there's any source of noise... such as a couple of compact fluorescent lights... your Gateway may not get the signal. This is very frustrating. In the end, I had to run an Ethernet cable all the way across my house in order to reach the distant circuit where the Gateway actually reliably got signals from both breaker boxes. AND I had an electrician run a wire BETWEEN the breaker boxes so both MTUs plugged into the same circuit. I was very close to getting said electrician back to put a single outlet on the same circuit and plug the Gateway in there. Presumably, that would have eliminated all noise. As you can see, you need to be prepared to spend considerable time on your TED 5000 project. If only they had just used wifi to communicate!
But maybe the price point would have changed. Another reviewer said TED 5000 is the best of its kind it this price range, and I suspect that's true.
Don't waste money on the display, if you're the kind of person who regularly looks at a computer (or iPhone, etc.) anyway. It's not good enough to be worth much extra money in my opinion.
12 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 Works as Advertised - Easy Setup May 23, 2011
By Westport
"RN"
I bought this device so I could lower my insanely high electric bill. I use about 3000 KwH per month, which is more than twice what I should be using.
I installed the TED-5000-G myself this past weekend. Within 45 minutes I was monitoring my electricity in real-time on the Ted Footprint software. The device works exactly as advertised.
I was also able to install the free companion Iphone App and instantly monitor my real-time usage on my Iphone. On top of that, I also took advantage of the option to automatically upload usage data to Google Power Meter so I can monitor my usage from anywhere. Very cool.
The 5000-G kit comes with two components: An MTU which is a meter that gets installed on your circuit panel, and a Gateway that gets plugged into an ordinary outlet and is attached to your network. The MTU transmits data to the Gateway. The gateway stores the data and is what is accessed over your network to monitor usage.
I am not an electrician, but was still able to install it myself. I watched the installation video on the TheEnergyDetective.Com about 5 times before I read the instructions. I highly recommended watching the video. Here is the installation video link:. Surprisingly, my installation went about as smoothly as the one on the video. That never happens! When I ordered the kit I also purchased a filter from Ted for $5 bucks. I have two battery backup devices at my house that I read could cause interference. I did not need to use the filter though. The one snafu I almost ran into was after I pulled off the circuit panel cover and thought that I was out of unused circuits on my circuit panel. It took me a while to figure out that there were two unused split circuit breakers. Plugging the wires into the circuit breakers was a little harder than the video implied, but I managed. I installed the MTU outside of the circuit panel so I could see the MTU status light after I put the panel cover back on.
Once the MTU was in I was home free. I plugged the gateway into the wall upstairs and connected it to a Linksys network switch. I was worried that it needed to go directly into the router, but it worked just fine with the switch in between. After I entered the MTU id into the Ted software I installed on my PC, it found the device immediately and I was on my way.
I paid full retail price ($199.99) plus like $20 bucks for shipping from Ted. I am not sure I would order it directly from them if I had to do it all over again. My shipment got delayed because they were moving offices. There are a few websites that offer the same price with free shipping. I would go that route. I am glad I went without the wireless monitoring accessory. The iPhone app does the same exact thing.
Now the bad news. My steam shower is 9000 watts!!! Holy cow!! Thats about $1 per use. That adds up! My dehumidifier is costing me $50 bucks per month! Also, my wife finds it terribly annoying when I call her from work to ask what she just turned on. ...and this is only 3 days in!
I recommend this device. It will most likely pay for itself just by reminding you of your energy usage, plus its kind of fun.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
All houses should come with one of these... Sep 14, 2011
By John Queern
"John in BLV"
This is not a project for the faint of heart, but once installed, it gives you real-time visibility into your household's electrical consumption. This lets you isolate the heavy users and hopefully trim a few dollars from your monthly power bill. Yay!
Our power company recently started sending out charts showing where we stand vs. 100 of our nearest neighbors. Unfortunately, we were #1 -- i.e., our energy consumption was the highest in the neighborhood. Determined to take a closer look, I started looking for energy monitors.
Some monitors "look" at the meter and watch the wheel spin around-- but we don't have that kind of meter. TED provides a more accurate measurement using current loops-- just like the ones you see in the hardware store on current meters-- but it requires installation inside your electrical service center. If you're comfortable doing that sort of work, it's really not all that bad. Just watch the install video and exercise caution. Or have one of your handy friends do it for you. : )
Unfortunately, as many have noted previously, TED decided to use the house power line as its communication channel between the sensor (MTU) and the gateway, rather than providing a separate CAT6, wireless, or similar strategy. Although I have been *reasonably* successful using X10 in my 106-year-old house, and have a logitech alert security camera system working just fine (it also communicates via house wiring), the TED system WOULD NOT communicate. This was particularly frustrating since my MTU and gateway were only about 3 feet apart, and connected to the same physical circuit breaker. Clearly there was something in the house wiring which interfered with the frequencies they're using to send data-- and with TED, it's all or nothing.
Fortunately, the TED folks have thought of everything-- and provide trouble shooting check lists and videos to help solve just this sort of problem. My only choice was to install a wired-in X10 filter to segregate the MTU and gateway circuit from the rest of the electrical panel (available for $9 from TED). The instructions they provide are excellent, and actually work. After installing the filter, the TED components had no trouble communicating-- and the system works great!
One other frustration-- the MTU sensor loops (current transformers) are BIG. Maybe this is necessary, but they barely fit inside my 200 amp panel. I have a smallish Square-D panel with only 20 circuit breakers (well, back when I put it in, life was simpler then...). The sensors are so tight that I can barely put the cover back on the panel. Add the LARGE X10 filter, and I'm just relieved that it all (barely) fit together. I did install the MTU outside of the box so that its LED is visible.
The readings appear to be quite accurate (and sensitive), and since Google Power has now gone off the air, I'm trying "PeoplePower" on my Android phone and my iPad as a simple walk-around meter. As with many programs, the Android version is still just a bit flaky (and can't seem to remember my utility settings), but the iPad/iPhone version works just fine. Being able to walk around the house or yard, turn things on and off, and see the net result within a minute or so on my phone or iPad is priceless. I can see when my pool pump kicks in or the A/C activates its compressor. I'm taking notes and building a spreadsheet so that we can make better decisions on what to replace and what to retire.
All houses should come with one of these. : )
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
WOW Sep 10, 2010
By One Way Mac
"Mac"
I have read many post about just how hard or complicated the ted 5000 is to setup and how it interferes with X10 and can't be on the same circuit as and Apple router for example well all I have to say is my house was built in 1955 and has original electrical and well super easy to install the box was a little tight but still super simple plugged the indoor unit into the same powerstrip as my Apple Airport, X10 control module and a couple of other devices, well it all works just fine no lost data from the panel unit and no odd X10 ons or offs. Don't know what all the fuss is about. Also TED-O-Meter for the iPhone or iPad is a great mobile viewer for the Ted 5000 no need for the G if you have a iOs Device, and the app is free.
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