Watt Check: Smart choices. Big impact.

You already know that the Sense Home app helps you monitor your home’s use of electricity overall, and that as our machine learning starts detecting devices, you can see how they contribute to your home’s energy use overall. But what of the devices not yet “learned” by your Sense system? And what about devices you only use occasionally or only sometimes during the year? Or devices that are difficult to detect?

Get insight. Simply. Now.

Sense recently announced the Watt Check tool, which extends the lights-only version of the original Watt Check, gives you the information you want, when you want it.

Measure how much electricity an individual device uses as soon as you set up the Sense Home app. Or measure any time you just want to evaluate how much a device’s use contributes to your electricity bill. And as usage changes.

Ready to get started?

Step 1
In the Dashboard tab, scroll down to the Watt Check card and let it walk you through the steps to understand how much a device contributes to your bill.

Step 2
Choose from a range of appliances that turn on and off easily, or measure “something else” and tell Sense about that device for future updates.

Step 3
Once the measurement is complete, Watt Check lets you manipulate its results to define time amounts and increments that you can more closely mirror your home’s usage patterns – and compute for differences in use over time or as seasons change.

Using Watt Check to get smarter about your energy use

• The Watt Check process only requires about 15 seconds per device, though you may have better results if you run your tests during periods when large devices in the home are turned off (think of the clothes dryer or check for a relatively flat Meter tab).
• It complements Sense’s device detection to let you see what energy a device uses even before machine learning has isolated the device’s signature.
• Watt Check may help you name devices that are detected, as it can help you differentiate between devices with similar electronic signatures.
• You can compare the readings in your Meter tab for the time you run your Watt Check, and see what impact that device has on your home’s overall usage.
• Watt Check can help you get some answers to what’s in your ‘Other’ and ‘Always On’ bubbles at the Now tab.
• If your electricity provider bills you by rate zones, covering times of the year or times of day, you can use Watt Check with the Meter feature to decide when your household should (and not) run certain appliances whose use can be managed.

We hope you enjoy this new feature. If you find it useful, let us know with a review at the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.