Track Your Power Consumption With Efergy E2 Classic Wireless Electricity Monitor Review

If you want to know how much power your whole household is using by the second. Look no further than the Efergy E2 classic smart usage monitor. This little wireless electricity meter was the perfect addition to our house after we installed a Hot Tub. Having the need to work out how much electricity it was using and costing us to run.

This consumption power meter can instantly tell you how much electricity you are using at any given time. It has a 24-month history, which means you can go back and see the Hour, Day, Week, and Month Average usage in kWh. This will indicate if your energy-saving ideas work.

You can also change the display to show you the real dollar cost and carbon footprint. Now it’s time to review in real-time the Efergy Elite 4 / e2 home power meter. From installation to online tracking of your total power consumption.

Efergy Power Monitor Specs

Model Name	Efergy Elite 4 e2
Frequency Transmission Time	433.5MHz
Transmission Update Time	00, 15 or 20 Sec
Transmission Range	230 – 328ft
Sensor Voltage Range	110 – 400V
Measuring Current	50mA – 200A
Where to buy

Installing the Efergy Elite 4/E2 Wireless energy meter

The first thing you should do is unpack your Efergy e2 monitor and install the batteries. It’s best to set it all up first on your table, this will make sure the wireless power monitor works and that it is linked to the transmitter.

Inside the box you will find the following items.

• 1x XL CT Sensor
• Transmitter
• e2 Wireless Energy Monitor
• USB Cable
• elink Software CD
• Software Guide for elink software
• Instruction Manual

Once your Efergy E2 is linked, its time to install the cable clamp into your power meter fuse box. There are a couple of options here, you can install the clamp either onto your mains incomer, which will check your overall power.

 

Warning

There is no need for an electrician to do this power consumption meter install, as we are not disconnecting any wires. Please take care when removing any covers in your fuse circuit box. There are live cables here, either 110v or 240v, or if using 3 phase power possibly 415v.

This is dangerous and electricity can kill so be careful. It’s a great idea to isolate all power beforehand from the main circuit breaker. I recommend getting some apprentice electrical tools when working with electricity.

Installation Tips

You can install the Efergy CT cable clamp onto a separate individual circuit like a Hot tub, Air-conditioner, or solar systems circuit to measure individual power for an appliance or solar feed-in.

What’s a CT clamp?

CT stands for Current Transducer and its designed to measure and report the AC current flowing in a single conductor. It is very easy to install just clamp it on a conductor cable and plug it into the transmitter.

Open the fuse box and look for the screws to take off the cable protection backplate. Once the plate is removed look for the cable you would like to monitor.

Most people like to monitor the power use for their whole house. So this will be the largest cable it’s called the Mains Incoming cable and is usually 16mm or more in size. Clamp wherever it is convenient and place the transmitter somewhere safe and out-of-the-way.

I have seen some videos where they leave the transmitter outside the switchboard box, I don’t recommend this unless your switchboard is inside. Power your switchboard board back up and check that you are seeing a reading of power usage.

Check out the video by Efergy on how to install your e2 sensor transmitter.

Solar Power Consumption Meter

The Efergy e2 is also able to monitor the feed-in power from your solar power system. Just attach the CT clamp around the solar feed-in cable that will be in your fuse breaker box. This is handy if you have an older solar system that does not display any power generation figures.

There are a few settings to go over in the e2 Efergy monitor, but the main settings are the voltage settings shown below. 120v for USA and 240v for Australia.

A 3 Phase power consumption meter is also available but its best to purchase the correct unit as it will come with the 3 CT clamps. If you do buy the single-phase e2 you can upgrade it to 3-phase by buying extra current transducer clamps for it.

Linking the Efergy power transmitter and the E2 monitor

Step 1 – Ensure three AA batteries are inserted in the transmitter and three AAA batteries are inserted in the wireless energy monitor. You can use either rechargeable NiMH or Alkaline batteries. Alkaline batteries should last longer but rechargeable will be cheaper in the long run. Make sure they go in the correct way.

Step 2 – Push in the link button on the reverse of the monitor for about two seconds. The transmission signal symbol on the e2 monitor will flash for one minute.

Step 3 – You now have 1 minute to press the link button on the front of the transmitter, once done the transmission signal symbol on the e2 display will become solid.

The default value for the transmission frequency updates is 10 seconds. This means the transmitter is sending information every 10 seconds. You can change to the following frequency by pressing and holding the transmitter button.

• 10 seconds, red flashing light
• 15 seconds, orange flashing light
• 20 seconds, green flashing light

If you change the frequency to 20 seconds updates, you will get longer run times before you need to change out the batteries in both units. The trade-off is your display will be frozen with the current power for 20 seconds. No big deal. I have it set to 20 seconds.

Efergy e2 Setting the time and date

The e2 classic power monitor needs to know the time and date in order to provide you with the correct historical information. Set the time and date as follows:

Step 1 On the back of the Efergy e2 display you will find the time set button. Press and hold for two seconds. The time setup will flash up on the display.

Step 2 Set the hour to the correct time by using backward and forward buttons. Once correct you can press the unit set button once to save the hours. Repeat for minutes, using the unit set button to confirm.

Step 3 Set the month by using the backward and forward buttons. Press unit set button to confirm and move to date set up. Repeat the process to set the year. Once you have the correct time and date have been set, push the unit set button to save and exit. The E2 meter is now set up.

Efergy Transmitter Range

So How far does the Efergy energy monitor transmit?  The Efergy e2 transmitter will work up to around 230ft/40m within the home. This is dependant on the amount and type of walls. It works on the 433.5MHz frequency range, which is well suited for multi-story home use.

Features of the Efergy E2 Power Consumption Meter

There are 9 new features on the Efergy E2 so you can get the latest in smart energy monitoring. It will help you understand better how much electricity and money you consume in your home.

There is a software package called elink, its free so you can download and track your whole energy usage on your computer. We will go over it shortly.

E2 Smart Power Monitor Features

• New and improved green back-lit LCD display
• Up to 5 different world currencies available (£, €, $, Kr, R)
• Showing per-day unit calculations
• Increased data storage capacity: up to 24 months of historical data.
• New Elink energy management software included for FREE
• Select up to 4 different tariff cost settings
• Improved incremental stepping on the voltage, costs, carbon emissions and alarm
• Audio alert if you go over your set maximum power consumption target. Alarm
• Peak time symbol when the most expensive electricity tariff is in use.

Main features

The Efergy e2 meter is a very portable compact display that fits in the palm of your hand and can be placed anywhere in the home. It’s able to view and display your real-time energy consumption (cost, CO2 and kWh)
If you want to see your historical data either daily, weekly or monthly data (cost, CO2 and kWh) just press a button.
You can view daily, weekly or monthly averages (cost, CO2 and kWh) and with a 12-month minimum battery life (with 2400 mAh alkaline batteries) you can rest assured that you won’t be constantly changing batteries. You have the option of either mains 5v powered or battery-powered, for the display unit. I chose batteries so we can move it around.

If the batteries in either the transmitter or the monitor fail or go low you can easily change them out and not have to reprogram the power consumption meter. You don’t even have to rebind it.
It’s very easy to set up and use and the biggest benefit is learning to understand your carbon footprint and how power is consumed.

Energy Now

My reading of 0.6KWh is usually our household average reading with not much load. Just fridge and evaporate air-conditioner running plus standby power on a few devices. This is equal to

• 14.1 KgCO2
• $1.82 KWh Per Day, as we have high electricity prices here.

We have set it up to alarm at 9KWh as we have much high power draw electrical items in our house, for example. Hot Tub Spa, Clothes Drier, Air-conditioner, Stove, Heaters, and dishwasher. The last thing we need is for all of these devices to be running and either trip the main circuit breaker or have to get a second job due to paying a fortune for electricity.

We have taught the children to watch the power consumption meter and try to improve and lower their energy usage. They are more conscious now on leaving lights and computers on all day long.

Efergy e2 Data Collection

One of the special features of the Efergy E2 Power Consumption Meter is the ability to view and download your energy history for up to 2 years. The free elink software once installed enables you to view any time of the day and compare the results.

You can get full details on each Day, Month, and Year total electricity usage, and is fully customize-able to whatever you like. You can even store a backup of your electricity usage on your computer in case of a failure.

Once you plug your smart meter into your computer via the supplied USB, the Elink software will auto-load up. Select “Get Data” and your history will be downloaded to the efergy software. From there you can drill down and see your usage.

What upgrades are available

If you want to expand your e2 power meter to be able to track your electricity usage online, check out the Efergy Engage hub.

This engage hub makes existing efergy elite and e2 classic power monitors able to talk to the internet. All you need to do is pair the efergy engage to your transmitter and then run an Ethernet cable to your router. You can now access all your energy data from anywhere. 

Think about going away on holidays and being able to check your home power usage. Are the neighbors stealing your electricity? Do you have a holiday house and need to check that the heater or air-conditioner is not left on? Do you have a business and need to check that all the machinery is turned off for the weekend? The applications are endless.

Great for tracking solar panel efficiency. Many old systems didn’t have remote tracking but this lets you add one. Easy as 1,2,3.

The online viewing platform is completely FREE of charge. You only pay for the Efergy Hub. With no subscription or monthly fees, it’s another way to look at your data. 

Conclusion

The efergy e2 electric usage meter is a fantastic portable device. Clamp anywhere and monitor anything. It works worldwide on any type of voltage, and you should only have to replace the batteries around once a year. I have had mine for over 1 year and still display good battery health using Eneloop batteries.

With the included software you can really start to monitor and save on your household power bills.

If you are into solar generation the Efergy Elite 4 will make your life easy with instant solar input power figures so you can check if your panels are working as they should.

Start with the Efergy power monitor and expand. It will pay for itself in no time.