Comments on: The Energy Detective – TED Footprints (Computer Power Monitoring Software)

By: What

What — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:48:58 +0000

OK, it looks like I'll be doing more research around energy monitors. I just found the wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Energy_Detective which outlines several competitive solutions. My main requirement is no ridiculous lock on a data port and an easy format (e.g. CSV). If data is collected I can manage that on my own. I will not use Windows.

By: What

What — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:42:49 +0000

bud_maker_mike, did you have to purchase their software to unlock the unit to get your script to work with your TED?
This lock is the only reason I haven’t already made a purchase. I see no value in the unit without the use of the data ports. If the lock weren’t an issue, I’d be purchasing one now.

By: bud_maker_mike

bud_maker_mike — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:25:01 +0000

Here's the above python script modified to display the TED live data plus log it to a MySQL database. Once its in MySQL you can do all sorts of things with the data. This script works great in Fedora Linux recording it via /dev/ttyUSB0, but does require the pyserial module to be loaded. http://www.bananabend.net/energy_detective

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:40:54 +0000

Has anybody tried klaxxon’s hardware mod from last February?
I took my TED 1000 apart, and looked up the two chips’ data sheets, and it looks like I would have to cut the trace to pin 5 of the FT232 chip (serial-to-USB), and connect that pin to pin 2 of the TDA5051 chip (power-line data receiver).
Does anybody know anything about the data format in this mode of operation?

By: aleaf

aleaf — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:13:14 +0000

I would like to get a TED but u all are scaring me.I do not know if I should get one.

By: Tim Kelley

Tim Kelley — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:45:02 +0000

I just got my TED DOA.
1.First off the front cover didn’t even have the screws to hold it in place. It looks like maybe the screw were suppose to be put in first and then the front cover. Mine has no screws so the panel is loose. Nice Job!
I hooked the device up and the MTU flashed Green.
Set the house code to 1. Nothing. I made sure I was on the right side of the panel and tried many circuits in the house to make sure. The RTU never flashed one time. Calling tonight to see if I can get it exchanged. That will be the real test of a good company. I wonder if they test these units before they send them off.

By: Micah Dowty

Micah Dowty — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:54:42 +0000

Greg wrote:
> I was told by their tech support that the TED unit now requires some data to be sent to the unit
> to get it to start logging, but as of yet they haven’t told me what that data is.
I found the same thing, when I was trying to write a data logger for my TED. Looking at the data sent by the Footprints service, it appears that a 0xAA character is sent to the RDU every second, as a request for more data.
I wrote a Python module last night which can receive data from my model 1001 RDU, with firmware version 9.01U:
http://svn.navi.cx/misc/trunk/python/ted.py
To see if it works with your TED, run it with one command line argument: your TED’s serial port. It should start dumping raw packet data, along with some really basic decoded data (kW, volts, house code, utility rate).
This file can also be used as a library module, from other Python programs. My plan is to add a simple rrdtool data logger/grapher, and run this on an embedded Linux box like a Linksys NSLU2. It would be a really low-power way to log detailed data from the TED 24/7.

By: tinkererguy

tinkererguy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:13:57 +0000

Thank you for making a forum for TED 1001 users! See Windows Home Server integration idea here: http://www.myrocontrol.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=10&start=0 and here: http://forum.wegotserved.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3713

By: Greg Gulik

Greg Gulik — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:47:27 +0000

I recently got a TED 1001 unit so I could track energy usage. Two things I’ve learned so far:
- You MUST buy their footprints software to enable the USB data port. Even though I never intended to use their software I had no choice but to buy it, otherwise the unit they send you has the port locked.
- Apparently their protocol changed in a recent version because the python script posted by ted above doesn’t work on my unit, even though it DOES log to their software on a Window machine.
I was told by their tech support that the TED unit now requires some data to be sent to the unit to get it to start logging, but as of yet they haven’t told me what that data is.

By: tai viinikka

tai viinikka — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:03:55 +0000

James Jones> There’s a guy on flickr who is doing some interesting stuff…
No James, if you mean me, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m going to grab that little python script now and see if it works for me! Thanks Ted!