I’m debating whether to go to emporia or iotawatt. They both allow the user to obtain voltage and current through multiple channels. It seems that Emporia is more like a product that comes with its own app, and users can monitor it from anywhere. The most important thing is that the price of emporia is only half of that of iotawatt. But iotawatt ensures data privacy.
I’m curious what are the main reasons for those buying iotawatt?
Summary is here https://www.itekenergy.com/solar-energy/iotawatt-vs-emporia/
I’m very happy with the accuracy and reliability of my IoTaWatts.
The bottom line of the review is pick the one that best suits your needs.
The real question is what information do you need to make the decisions you want to be able to make that are making you consider such a system and how long do you believe you will need to keep getting that information?
There are a few companies that have entered this area only to leave some time later leaving their customers stranded. IoTaWatt is open source, so it will likely keep working for a long time. Things that depend on a cloud service and/or app will last as long as the company that supports them deems then worth supporting. This might be more than long enough for you, or it might be way too short.
All of these systems will give you data. If that is all you care about, any should be fine. Turning that data into actionable insights is hard. How hard depends on the system and your goals.
Yes, IotaWatt is aimed at groups that require higher profession and more flexibility
Make sense. This is the power of open source.
Therefore, IotaWatt is suitable for users who require higher data persistence, greater flexibility, and better accuracy.
IMO the distinguishing and unique feature of IoTaWatt is that while it can upload to several endpoints and deliver data via query API, it maintains all of the data locally for ten years or more for easy access and retrieval. All of the others rely on a real-time upload link to maintain a cloud database. Any downtime of the local WiFi, ISP, or cloud server results in a hole in the archive and an incomplete record of usage. IoTaWatt is immune from that. Moreover, upon restoration of the downed resource, IoTaWatt will query to determine where it left off and continue the upload from that point. I have a near perfect record of the last six years of usage in my home, and the same for other sites that I installed and maintain. As a result, the IoTaWatt and any cloud servers it uploads to will always be consistent with the meter, inverter or other unaffiliated measurement devices.
I Love IoTaWatt because (as @overeasy points out) the data is local and I can extract what I need with a simple HTTP query and feed it into my custom dashboard. No apps, no phone, no cloud needed. But yet, IoTaWatt can easily upload to cloud DB if you wish. Really nice product. Operating very nicely since Jan 21, 2023 …
I started with an Emporia but could not get it to work properly on Australia’s 3 phase power. Multiple support attempts and a replacement device did not resolve it. I still don’t understand why.
I am now using some of the CTs from the Emporia sets with IoTaWatt. IoTaWatt handles these OK (need to remove burden resistors) but not as accurate as the SCT013.