Sense Home Energy Monitor Reviews

I installed it myself and it was very easy. The app was nice. I had no luck for a week, and their tech support said one clamp needed adjusting, so I did, and they said it was then fine. The first item it found was the motor, and I figured out it was my sump pump. I sent the alarms to notify me if it was not activated for 30 or if it remained on for more than 5 minutes.

It was ok until I started using the stove and the app then began telling me my sump was stuck on. I checked it, and it was fine. Turning the stove off, I started to get alarms that my pump was not running, but again, it was fine. It kept detecting that my gas garage heater has a heating element, not a motor. Their CEO says one of the first things it should detect it a refrigerator since it cycles on and off. It never detected it, or the freezer, or my furnace, which has been running almost constant due to this cold winter so far.

I have returned it before I am stuck with a $300.00 brick.

I've had the system installed for nearly three months. It has found useless items like the fridge light. 65% of power was not detected. It hasn't even grouped my AC, which uses about 40% of my total power. I sent multiple emails and am always told: "we are working on a big fix". Clearly, this thing is not close to being ready for release. We should be paid for being Guinea Pigs. Useless product.

I purchased my Sense in early January 2017 with high hopes. It's an easy install for anyone with a little experience behind their circuit breaker door.

It is a nice looking iPhone app. I hooked it up and waited to see what was using what. It's almost the end of August, and I'm still waiting.

Yes, I've been through the mill with what passes for their tech support, which is basically re-initiating the database on their side to accommodate their "new" code. It can easily find a garage door opener, a microwave, and even your fridge, but that's about where it stops. It finds many "components" of larger or more complex units (like a heat pump), but it's essentially useless information that is not summarized or presented in any way you can make "sense" of. You can track the impact of devices turning on or off, but you can't assign that "signature" to a device name. If you could, it might be possible to create useful information.

Right now I'm stuck with essentially a $300 app on my phone that I can get a few minor bits of info from, but it's impossible to use it or analyze it to save money by tracking down energy hogs.

Unfortunately, Sense makes no sense to buy. Great idea, great marketing, but no execution. If you want to spend $300 to know when your fridge light comes on, by all means, go for it.

I'm fed up with it and their excuses.

I had zero problems setting the thing up after work yesterday. Cut house power, opened up the panel, popped in new 220 breakers, and followed the instructions. I opted for the solar module too. Took just a few minutes and it's dead easy (no sense paying an electrician to stick in a breaker for heaven's sakes). Turned power back on, then downloaded the app and connected the device via wifi no problem.

The only disappointment was that it hasn't yet detected any devices. But it was somewhat informative to go around the house and try turning different things on and off. It responds immediately when the A/C fires up or the sump pump runs for a second you know instantly!

As far as solar, the Sense system was in agreement with my inverter readout to within one or two Watts! That's pretty amazing. I guess we'll see what it can detect. It says to wait a week or two and I will. A little underwhelmed so far.

I'd have trouble recommending a $350 device to anyone else though, unless it gets a whole lot smarter over time. I guess we'll find out.

I bought the Sense Home Energy Monitor, and after a month I still can't get it to work.

First, the initial monitor Sense failed and had to be replaced. That was two visits by my electrician, first to install the original, then to replace the failed original.

Second, when I try to set up the solar feature (I have solar), it fails every time. A third visit by my electrician established that all of the solar connections were fine, so it seems that Sense is the problem.

I've spent about $500 for three visits by my electrician. Sense help is no help at all. Everything they recommend doesn't work.

I've concluded that this system is a piece of junk. My advice is not to waste your money.

Sense is based on a very clever idea. The packaging and product design are great, installation was smooth, and the iPhone app looks and feels good visually.

Unfortunately, at least in my home, it doesn't provide any meaningful information. Like many large homes, there are dozens of electrical devices in the house, some rather complex (like a furnace), and others dead-simple (like an oven). After more than four months of continuous operation, Sense has identified only a few, with nearly everything else falling into an "always on" bucket, "other," or various unnamed devices, motors, and heaters, not to mention five refrigerators. Sadly, I am no closer to knowing details of my home's energy usage (except the total) than I was before installing Sense.

The execution of the idea is good; I think the idea itself falls short of being practical. I think what's needed is an electrical panel that has individual metering for each circuit, so you can directly gather data on the most power-hungry consumers of electricity.

As a licensed master electrician, ImI would advise homeowners not to buy this device. I bought it, and I'm on week 12, but I've had to do some extensive investigating to find the devices in my home, which I don't advise non-licensed people to do. Basically, it is a waste of money.

I purchased Sense Home Energy Monitor in December of 2016. It arrived within a week or two of ordering. Installation was simple if you're comfortable working with electrical wiring. I'm handy and don't feel an electrician was needed for the installation as long as you follow the directions (in order).

After the install, the configuration with the app was a snap, and Sense was connected to my WiFi. Immediately I could see the total electrical usage in my house. Individual devices did not immediately show up, and I knew they would not based on the reviews I had read and from the info on Sense's website.

The device has been installed for just under a month now, and I have 11 devices detected. Dryer, interior fridge light, furnace blower, furnace fan, garage opener, microwave, an exterior motion detection light, washer, well pump, water heater, and an unknown heat source.

With a 30-day return policy, I'm a little concerned that this is all I can see at around 20 days. I've written support, but I'm expecting explanations similar to those on their blog.

I'm still hopeful, and I understand that it takes a lot of data to analyze what's happening in my home, I just wish they had a longer return window as it would make me much more comfortable with a new product that so far is living short of its expectations.

At this point, the jury's still out on if the Sense Home Energy Monitor will live up to its promises, but I think I'll stick with it and find out.

I installed the Sense Home Energy Monitor in October. Since then it has detected (and I named) the dryer, dehumidifier, and a food dehydrator. In addition, it has detected three microwaves (I only have one), one light, five unnamed devices, six unnamed motors, and ten unnamed heats. It says it has detected the furnace, but the furnace is running right now, and Sense says it is not. It also says the AC was running last night and has an average run time of two minutes and 11 seconds.

After three months, what is running right now is "Always On" for 305 watts, "Unnamed device 4" for 44 watts, and "Unknown" for 905 watts. I expected more.

In addition, I got a call from Comcast (security assurance department or something) who tells me that the Sense Monitor is responsible for thousands of DNS queries, amounting to a DoS attack, coming from my router. I can't verify that as being accurate, but I didn't appreciate the phone call regardless. I contacted Sense and am awaiting a response.

I bought the Sense Home Energy Monitor and waited anxiously for its arrival (took about two months).

I received it at the beginning of December and arranged to have my electrician come out and install it a week or so later. We quickly discovered a problem. The clamps that come with the unit to encircle the power lines that feed to the breaker box were not large enough to go around the TWO lines that I have at each location (I guess I have a "parallel" service, so I have two lines at each of the two locations).

The electrician had a hand-held monitor that was large enough to circle both wires (along with each individually), and we confirmed that only doing one would not suffice, along with using a clamp that does not completely encircle the wires.

I looked for a phone number so we could talk to Sense Home Energy Monitor's support while the electrician was there. I could not find a number anywhere. So I tried the next best thing and sent an email to the support, which said there would be a response in "one business day." Two business days later, still no response. So I sent an RMA request and bingo! Now I heard back.

I then proceeded to have a series of emails back and forth with absolutely no technical help. Finally, I gave up and sent another RMA request and returned the device.

I think the idea is outstanding. However, technical support is just awful. There is no ability to call while your electrician is there, which would be helpful because many will charge a service call if they have to return. I had to pay $115 for him to basically do nothing, since we couldn't install the unit. The promised one-day turnaround time on email support was not met, and I only got a response when threatening a return.

Avoid, unless you want to be frustrated.

I have two units and have spent HOURS trying to get them to work properly. In the end the unit worked, is pretty cool, has a lot of potential but can be a serious pain in the butt. You must first connect to the unit via Bluetooth. This is only used to send it the WiFi configuration data. That's it. If it works then you're in good shape. If not you're screwed. By the way, once you have it set to WiFi do not make any changes to the WiFi network or password. At this time I cannot get it to connect again with any change, I must always go back to the original network and password. Will see what they come up with. There is almost no diagnostics or user inputs. When it figures out it has a device it allows you to give it a name and that's it. No teach/ learn mode. You cannot delete a device once it finds it. This means you can't move it to another panel without a factory reset command from the cloud/ tech support. I'm an early adapter but way too many hours (20+) with near zero support - long delay emails.