Energy monitoring CMS development page

Emoncms is a powerful open-source web-app for processing, logging and visualising energy, temperature and other environmental data.

Try it out

To explore emoncms documentation navigate menu on the right.

Key features

Dashboards - create dashboards out of a series of widgets and visualisations with an in browser dashboard scripting editor.
Input processing - convert instantaneous power data to kWh/d, apply calibration, multiply variables, count time a variable is high etc.
Server deployable - emoncms can be downloaded and deployed on a remote or local server of your choice
Modular design - the MVC design allows extension to be added to implement new features / visualisations
Powerful visualisation - Using flot graphing emoncms allows viewing of large number of data points (multiple years of power data) with fast loading times
Multi-graphing - extension that allows for multiple feeds to be displayed on the same graph and easily compared

Download from github:

Emoncms v3: https://github.com/openenergymonitor/emoncms3

negativ power

Submitted by Larsjo on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 16:37.

In my case i am trying to get the power readings from my PV.

And when the sun is shinning the power is positive, but when the sun is down, the power gets negative (the inverters use some),

when this happen the dail widget cant get below 0.

Is there anyway to set the dail to like 50% and then it can go both ways...?

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Negative widget needed afterall.

Submitted by Andygodber on Sat, 04/02/2012 - 14:51.

Having played with the dials for a bit now, I agree with Larsjo that a widget capable of "swinging both ways....." is needed afterall.

Not for the inverter, but for Import/export. Im using the AC adaptor variant to determine when I go into export from my PV. Because my PV and Import feed are in two locations, I now have two TX's successfully talking to one Base.

In order to correctly calculate the total power being used (not generated or imported), I add the ABSolute value of the import feed (which goes negative if producing more PV than using) to the generated values.

The negative values of the import meter graph correctly, but I think it would be useful to have a corresponding dial, that can go negative if exporting (and change colour to green?) or positive if importing (and red) in line with the GLCD setup.

Negative Power

Submitted by pauldreed on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 20:02.

To be honest, I decided not to measure this as it serves no purpose to me, and instead chose just to read and record the power 'generated' via the invertor. Also there is an anomolly unique to invertors that in stand-by/night-time mode, the CT measurement systems seem to read much higher than that actually used.

For example, my CurrentCost meter, Owl meter and my openenergymonitor meter all read that the invertor was consuming about 140W when in night-time mode (the manual states it should be less than 0.15W !!) so I got my installer back double quick. They used a professional power meter and proved to me that my readings were not correct. See this post bit.ly/ykjWRV for further info.

To ensure that my system does not record this negative value, I added the code below to my openenergymonitor sketch.

if (ch1.realPower < 0) { //Stops the solar channel reading negative (invertor anomaly)
(ch1.realPower = 0); }

Power from Inverter

Submitted by Andygodber on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 17:54.

Paul - when you said you "chose just to read and record the power 'generated' via the invertor" - are you actually pulling data from your inverter's monitoring system/sw/bluetooth/RS485 etc into EMonCMS?

If so, how?

Andy

Power via inverter

Submitted by pauldreed on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 21:13.

No, I'm using the 2-channel Emon monitor, one channel's CT is monitoring the home power usage, and the other CT is clamped on the inverter power cable.

So I am using a CT to measure how much power is being generated from the inverter.

Resulting data is here bit.ly/nADmAo and feed sd1 displays the power generated (note, it never goes negative!).

Feed sd3 shows the 24hr accumulative power generated.

Paul

Think you are right, because

Submitted by Larsjo on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 20:05.

Think you are right, because i get 2 x 40-60w reading in night mode.

so i will just slice in the code and leave it there.

Thanks.

Existing web service that does the same

Submitted by pinx on Wed, 01/02/2012 - 13:56.

Instead of building your own service, you could use the one from bidgely.com (formerly myenersave.com)

For people interested, I have the API document.

It might be a bit outdated, but I'm sure they will send you the latest version if you ask them.

Nothing special

Submitted by Andygodber on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 08:46.

I eventually got data posting to bidgely.

Respectfully, its nothing special - just another commercial but free repository/graph.

Emoncms retains its advantages in terms of configurability, widgets etc.

Does it work?

Submitted by Andygodber on Wed, 01/02/2012 - 20:33.

Hmm - defined my CurrentCost EnviR to it, but no data appearing....

Is this a supported device

Submitted by pinx on Wed, 01/02/2012 - 20:40.

Did you write software to upload it to bidgely.com? This EnviR is not on the list of supported devices of bidgely, so some kind of interface would need to be written.

You could write an e-mail to bidgely. That's what I did, and they responded (after some time) with this API document.

I would be very interested in this EnviR. Does it support multiple sensors? I need to measure my solar panels separately, and bidgely supports that.

It is supported

Submitted by Andygodber on Wed, 01/02/2012 - 20:51.

Actually, the CC device is supported, at least in one part. Although I too was put off initially, the EnviR appears in the config screen.

What I find massively

Submitted by mharizanov on Wed, 01/02/2012 - 15:57.

What I find massively impressive is the feature of identifying the applicance from its power consumption waveform

https://www.bidgely.com/technology-peek

Since you have the API, it is a matter of time before someone port it for NaNode

Good find!

Thank You

Submitted by Florian on Sun, 15/01/2012 - 21:07.

Hi guys,

first, thank you very much for this perfect software Trystan. I wrote a german howto for the open energy monitor project. You will find it here: http://technik-fan.de/index.php/Open_Energy_Monitor

i added some photos in my Picasa Account: https://picasaweb.google.com/112556810584672853030/OpenEnergyMonitor?aut...

best regards - Florian

EmonCMS

Submitted by robur on Tue, 03/01/2012 - 22:13.

Hi, I have been trying to download the the zip file for EmonCMS on Github without any joy: https://github.com/openenergymonitor/emoncms3/zipball/master - anyone else having trouble with this? Cheers.

Just tried the link, it

Submitted by TrystanLea on Wed, 04/01/2012 - 20:48.

Just tried the link, it seems to work here ok? it is working now for you?

Thumbs up

Submitted by robur on Wed, 04/01/2012 - 20:52.

Hi Trystan, I tried earlier today with no luck but it seems to be fine now - off to ftp it now - cheers :-)

dashboard

Submitted by Larsjo on Fri, 30/12/2011 - 09:34.

been working on ver3 webpage for a few days now, but cant get the kwhdzoomer to work.

Feed: power, kwhd is present and with data, but something is missing somewhere.

The diales are working great.

Uising the 12 S0 arduino build to supply the data.

kwhzoomer

Submitted by TrystanLea on Sat, 31/12/2011 - 21:42.

Hello Larsjo

Could it be due to the change of the location of the kwhzoomer script? Do you just see a blank space?

If you try the following code in your dashboard with your website address and apikey, it should work with the latest version:

Done that, no luck Do you

Submitted by Larsjo on Mon, 02/01/2012 - 07:46.

Done that, no luck

Do you have any ex. on the setting for the Input/feed so i get the right feeds setup.

github not working

Submitted by jkoe888 on Fri, 30/12/2011 - 06:47.

hello,

could you renew the link to download the ZIP file in github. I cannot seem to be able to donwload the source code from the link .

Thanks very much.

kind regards,

John

EmonCMS

Submitted by robur on Tue, 20/12/2011 - 22:31.

Hi, Great work here folks - thanks for sharing.

I am hoping to get a test rig up and running in the not so distant future :-) My first step was to install EmonCMS which went very well and works a treat.... next step some hardware.... just waiting to hear back on purchasing an emonTX and emonBASE :-)

One question in the meantime - is it possible to switch off the register option at the login screen?.... simply as a security measure.

Thanks again.

Remove Register Option

Submitted by Mr. Sharkey on Tue, 20/12/2011 - 22:55.

>>
>>is it possible to switch off the register option at the login screen?
>>

One method of removing the "Register" button would be to open /Views/user/login_block.php and edit the following line (line #40):

<input class="button04" type="submit" name="form" value="Login" /> or <input class="button04" type="submit" name="form" value="Register" />

to read:

<input class="button04" type="submit" name="form" value="Login" />

This would remove the on-screen button, but would not prevent a user or bot from POSTing a pre-filled form with the registration info in it and gaining access to the CMS that way.

Eventually, an Admin Control Panel should be included that allows/denies new registrations and perhaps gives the option of registration with Admin approval. Nearly all forums and message boards operate in this manner.

View only option?

Submitted by robur on Tue, 20/12/2011 - 23:13.

Thanks Mr.Sharkey - that worked nicely - I will following along with development and install the updates as they appear - cheers.

Will there be a way to allow the data to be seen by none registered users... ie display only..... perhaps this is already possible?

re: view only

Submitted by Mr. Sharkey on Wed, 21/12/2011 - 00:43.

I ~think~ that the "Embed dashboard" script does what you want. Have a look here:

http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/301

My browsers don't actually show an embedded version of the Dashboard on that page, so I'm not in a good position to make much of a recommendation. It could be that one or more of my firewalls or proxy software are nixing the embedded page code. Sometimes having protection from web adverts comes back and bites me.

Where is the Arduino sketch

Submitted by Sergegsx on Sun, 06/11/2011 - 23:35.

Where is the Arduino sketch to send the data to the website? Cant find it in Github or in this page, sorry if it's there, just cant seem to see it.

Thanks

Re: Arduino sketch to post to emoncms

Submitted by glyn.hudson on Tue, 08/11/2011 - 14:40.

Hi,

Arduino sketch to post to emoncms can be found under emonBase documentation: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/emonbase. The acutal code is up on github: https://github.com/openenergymonitor/NanodeRF. We have been using a Nanode board with RFM12 wireless modules to receive data from the emonTx and post to emoncms. An Arduino with ENC28J60 etherent shield would work the same just omit the wireless code.

If you are are using an Ethernet board with a Wiznet chip use this example: https://github.com/openenergymonitor/WIZnet-Ethernet-Shield-emoncms-example

Good luck, Glyn

What is the best way to

Submitted by Chris (not verified) on Sat, 29/10/2011 - 23:44.

What is the best way to import a ton of historical data? Should I go through emoncms or put it directly in the mysql database?

Request a page or note about upgrading emonCMS

Submitted by Timothy D Swieter, P.E. (not verified) on Sat, 15/10/2011 - 05:16.

I've installed and played with emonCMS back in July 2011. I'm getting closer to implementing a house monitoring system and see that some of the files are newer/bug fixes on Github. Is "upgrading" to the latest emonCMS as easy as copying over the new files or are there other dangers or database changes that one needs to be aware of when upgrading?

Typo

Submitted by Andygodber on Thu, 15/09/2011 - 16:58.

Hehe, sorry that might first contribution is to spot a typo.
In the Key Features section above, I think the CMS is server (not sever) deployable.
End of Quality Control.
Now I suppose I'd better read the documentation.....

Corrected ;)

Submitted by Andygodber on Thu, 15/09/2011 - 17:13.

Ah, the joys of community editing. Just spotted I can fix it.

Re: community editing

Submitted by glyn.hudson on Fri, 16/09/2011 - 14:51.

Fantastic! Thanks a lot

energy monitoring

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Mon, 08/08/2011 - 13:11.

Hi I am needing a commercial, domestic energy generation and use monitoring programme. They are available many suitable digital meters with the means to collate information to the web. Unfortunately they are all for the small user. The problem is that all existing technologies max out at monitoring 50 sites. I am looking for technology that can accomodate the 50+ up 15,000 sites. The market for a product like this has arisen by housing associations and investors entering into the solar pv generation market and having portfolios of 1000's of arrays that reqire monitoring. ANY IDEAS.
MIKE@HOMETECH

10000 +

Submitted by Janis (not verified) on Thu, 11/08/2011 - 06:29.

Are you looking for open source software for 10000+ meters? I was using software called EMCOS. But it was not open source. I made system with 1500+ meters. Gas, electric, heat, water, alarms.

re: monitoring of large systems

Submitted by TrystanLea on Wed, 10/08/2011 - 18:37.

Very interesting, emoncms would need further development to do this but Im sure pachube with an emoncms based front could achieve this scalability. Monitoring hardware could be done with a emontx + nanode based system either connected to a pulse output meter or CT. Do you want to fund an open source research project to develop this? Are you hometech.com?

Trystan

monitoring large systems

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Wed, 10/08/2011 - 23:50.

Hi Trystan Thank you for the response. I am looking into it at the moment. There does seem to be a gap in the market at the moment for such a product. It would give my buisiness an advantage to deliver to the emerging corporate sector. Your organisation was recomended to me along with pachube. Need to tie up existing products with the hardware. I am from hometech and based in Hull.

bug in setup.php

Submitted by aceone on Mon, 16/05/2011 - 11:02.

I have downloaded the latest source from the github an d found that You have missed the apikey column while creating users table.

CREATE TABLE users(

id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,

PRIMARY KEY(id),

username varchar(30),

password varchar(64),

salt varchar(3),

apikey varchar(32)

)

Henrik

Re bug in setup.php

Submitted by TrystanLea on Tue, 17/05/2011 - 21:32.

Thanks a lot aceone, added it in the latest version.

THANKS

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Fri, 29/04/2011 - 09:44.

Excellent work.

demo?

Submitted by superbrudd on Thu, 14/04/2011 - 02:12.

This is awesome - does anyone know of a live demo site that shows it working?

Cheers,

brad

some bugs

Submitted by drego (not verified) on Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:19.

Hey, I tried the cms for energy monitoring but I found some bugs. For example I have to fill in my database settings in different files. Another problem is, that some buttons doesn't work. Are you interested in some help? Do you have a SVN or GIT repository? Regards drego from Germany.

Re: some bugs

Submitted by TrystanLea on Sat, 02/04/2011 - 08:24.

Hello Drego, It would be great to have your help! We dont have a SVN or GIT repository at the moment. Do you know how to set one up? Im aware of the button and database settings bugs, I thought that it would be better to release early and develop these things in subsequent versions. Let me know if I can do anything to help you with helping out. Trystan

Hey, sorry for my late

Submitted by drego (not verified) on Thu, 14/04/2011 - 07:32.

Hey, sorry for my late answer, i was ill last time. I think the best way to use GIT or SVN is using sourceforge (http://sourceforge.net). It would be great if you create an account there, let me know! After that I can support your team with coding. Regards, drego

re drego

Submitted by TrystanLea on Fri, 06/05/2011 - 22:56.

We are up on github!

Files on Github

Submitted by Luis Viola (not verified) on Tue, 08/11/2011 - 23:48.

Hi Trystan,
I've downloaded the CMS files from GitHub and unziped to my server but when I try to use, it looks to miss some files. Should I unzip CMS v1 first and after that install unzip the CMS v2?
Thanks and congrats for your wonderful work.
Luis Viola