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A power energy monitor is a device that safely samples the AC Voltage, and AC Current flow, from one, or more, electrical phases, and from this, derives a range of accurate mains power measurements which can then be used for smart metering, or energy monitoring purposes.
These individual measurements can then be extrapolated into a range of useful real-time data such as total RMS Power, Active, Re-Active Power, Harmonic Power, Power Factor, Phase Angles, Frequency, etc.
The purpose of extracting the power energy data within Solar Inverter installations, as an example, will enable you to much better manage what you do with the available energy, ways of storage, EV Charging, divert under certain conditions, and control flow from, and to, the grid.
All this data is far more extended information than the basic electric meter functionality, allowing for smart IoT systems and greater efficient use of our own energy. It may sound complicated but it does not need to be and all depends on your setup, use-case and what you want to achieve.
IPEM PlusThe new IPEM Plus STEM board has been launched, with availability in April.
IPEM Plus is a powerful ATM90E36 Smart Home and Industry Automation, Mains Power Energy Monitor Board, and Kit.
It has been designed to easily monitor, and offer a flexible interface too, a whole range mains installations.
Home | Industry | Housing | Educational | Farming | Agriculture | Solar | Energy
Using its 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, Thread and Zigbee ESP32-C5 radio module, you can use the IPEM Plus to connect to a whole range of Smart Monitoring applications and projects.
Extending further, the built-in LoRa radio opens up long range and remote monitoring.
Another example is for remote Industrial, or Agriculture, sites, that could use the built-in RS485 interface to send the data back over a twisted pair cable (similar to a phone line).
Built to Reliably Stand-Alone, with Instant Power Up and Low PowerIPEM Plus includes the latest upgraded Espressif ESP32-C5, which has all the many features of the ESP32-C6, but with the dual band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-fi. Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee.
The ESP32-C5 MCU enables the IPEM Plus to run as a low power, reliable, self-contained monitoring board. Ideal for local or remoting monitoring requirements. Powered from local DC or AC.
Expanding the mains current sensors, either CT Clamps, or Rogowski Current Transformers, maybe connected. This allows for IPEM Plus to be used for both lower current Home systems and Industrial or commercial installations, which require higher current monitoring in hundreds of Amps.
- The accurate Atmel ATM90E36is used for Enhanced Poly-Phase High-Performance Wide-Span Energy Metering, with fast SPI data communications to an Espressif ESP32-C5 MCU.
- The board can safely monitor a range of mains AC circuits, from Single phase, Split or Dual phase (such as USA), and both types of Three phase, Star and Delta. Full 50 Hz and 60 Hz.
- An onboard accurate 16bit ADC allows for monitoring of DC voltages up to 80V.
- The RS485 port allows interfacing to other local or remote sensors and monitors.
- Accurate Real Time Clock DS3231SN, with Battery Backup Option.
- A galvanically isolated OPTO output can be used to safely connect or drive a range of external systems or devices.
- Two expansion ports, SPI and I2C, facilitate an optional display panel
- MicroSD card, for buffering or logging data. This is mounted in the display panel.
- The IPEM Plus has been designed to be compact, with an option to fit into a DIN enclosure, for cabinet or rack installations.
As with all our boards, safety is paramount, with AC sensing being from lower voltage inputs, through galvanically isolated mains transformers. Examples are bell transformers. This allows the IPEM Plus to fully safely function at voltages below 20V.
AC MonitoringAll AC Mains is safely and galvanically isolated using a low voltage transformer. Examples are bell transformers.
Supports AC Monitoring Around The World- Europe and UK which typically is 230 V @ 50 HzWith ranges around 216 V to 253 V
- USA and Canada which typically is 120 V or 230 V @ 60 HzWith ranges around 114 V to 126 V
- Japan which typically is 100 V @ 50 Hz or 60 HzEastern Japan is 50 Hz, and Western Japan is 60 Hz
- World typically is 220V-240 V @ 50 Hz
Following in the footsteps of the original popular IPEM boards, this IPEM Plus is the latest in IoT Mains Energy Monitoring for Home and Industry Automation.
IPEM Plus is a self-contained ESP32-C5 based IoT monitoring board. Ideal for local, or remoting, monitoring requirements.
IPEM Plus connectivity allows Wi-Fi connections to 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, with Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee. In addition, you may also use the inbuilt LoRa Radio IoT 850 MHz through to 930 MHz.
IPEM Plus is the replacement to the original IPEM boards
Where can IPEM Plus be used?The IPEMPlus board can be used in a number of projects and installations such as:
- Homes
- Education
- Offices
- Commercial
- Factories
- Farms
- EV Charging
- Smart Metering
- Greenhouses
- Factories
- Industry
- Solar Farms
- Wind Farms
- Off Grid Systems
- Remote and/or Hill Top Sites
All original IPEM boards and variants were based on the ESP32-WROOM. EPEM was based on the ESP32-C6, which has proven to be successful and reliable.
With the advances in Espressif MCU technologies, moving away from the humble ESP32 to the newer ESP32-C5 provides increased speed advantage plus 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi, plus the superior and powerful radio with Zigbee, thread and mesh.
LoRa / LoRaWANTo enable remote site mains monitoring, where Wi-Fi or Ethernet is not viable, adding a LoRa interface was an obvious solution.
LoRa Long Range IoT Data Radio IntegrationIn addition, to compliment the powerful C5 radio, the IPEM Plus has an onboard LoRa SX1262 Transceiver Radio.
This allows IPEM Plus to be also used on remote Power Energy Monitoring projects, using the integrated LoRa and LoRaWan long range wireless network. This includes networks such as TTN,Meshtastic,Helium and ChirpStack.
The LoRa radio module operates from 850 MHz through to 930 MHz, so providing worldwide capability. This uses the LoRa module E22-900M22S, incorporating the Semtech SX1262.
Example bands:
- AS923 (AS1) band (920-923 MHz) in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore
- AS923 (AS2) band (915–928 MHz) in Asia
- AU915 band (915–928 MHz) in South America
- CN779 band (779-787 MHz) in China
- EU868 band (863–870 MHz) in Europe
- IN865 band (865-867 MHz) in India
- KR920 band (920-923 MHz) in Korea
- RU864 band (864-870 MHz) in Russia
- US915 band (902–928 MHz) in North America
The IPEM Plus LoRa Wireless includes the expanded Satellite IoT range, enabling direct-to-satellite IoT connectivity, with suitable installation antenna.
Radio and U.FLWith IPEM Plus boards potentially going into metal, or shielded cabinets, or needing external antennas, aside from ethernet, the U.FL connection interest has also peaked.
As previously mentioned, the ESP32-C5 includes a powerful radio module, opening up a range of IoT applications that include:
Wi-Fi 6- 2.4 GHz (2400 ~ 2483.5 MHz)
- 5 GHz
- 802.11ax (20 MHz bandwidth)
- 802.11b/g/n (20/40 MHz bandwidth)
- CE Max EIRP 19.81 dBm
- 2.4 GHz (2400 ~ 2483.5 MHz)
- Bluetooth LE
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Bluetooth Mesh
- CE Max EIRP 18.46 dBm
- 2.4 GHz (2405 ~ 2480 MHz)
- 802.15.4
- Thread Mesh
- CE Max EIRP 10.29 dBm
- 2.4 GHz (2405 ~ 2480 MHz)
- 802.15.4
- Zigbee Mesh
- CE Max EIRP 10.40 dBm
Zigbee and mesh are expanding in an range of home, farming and industrial applications, so will be interested to see how this develops over time.
Using a mix of LoRa and Zigbee, installations could offer remote mesh systems, with a mix of communications technologies.
RS-485To interfacing to other Smart Meters, Devices and Smart Batteries which have an RS-485 MODBUS interface, the IPEM Plus includes a standard industry interface which allows you to collect, or control, other devices on the RS-485 bus.
This RS-485 interface could also be used to control local CCTV on remote installations, or even send data from the IPEM Plus board over a single twisted pair, up to around 1, 200 meters (4, 000 feet), in distance. Ideal for farms and remote installations.
Real Time ClockThe need to maintain a very accurate real time clock when metering, or logging, was requested by some users. Ideally battery backed up.
This feature was included on the IPEM PiHat and EPEM, so I have included it on the IPEM Plus too.
Using the same extremely accurate and low power DS3231SN real time clock IC, with integrated temperature compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO), this is easily controlled via I2C and maintained via external optional plug-in CR2302 3V coin battery.
Board ConfigurationConfiguration of the IPEM Plus is using traditional jumpers.
Data OutputData provided from the IPEM Plus can be extrapolated through your code in any way you wish, in order to easily integrate with your IoT Home Automation system, or Solar Installation monitor.
All software and code is open source, community based and allows you to develop and integrate as you wish.
The main process typically used for publishing data (internally or externally), is via MQTT, or you could use other publishing routes such as to Home Assistant, Domoticz, Zabbix or Home Assistant.
Data from the ATM90E36 includes:- Mains RMS Voltage (each phase)
- Mains Frequency (each phase)
Import and Export Values
- Mains RMS Current
- Calculated RMS Power
- Active Power (Absorbed or Used by the Load)
- Calculated Total Active Power
- Re-Active Power
- Calculated Total Reactive Power
- Apparent Power (Total Amount of Power Flowing from Source to Load)
- Calculated Total Apparent Power
- Fundamental Power
- Harmonic Power
- Power Factor
- Phase Angle
Development is primarily supported through Visual Studio Code (VSCode) and Arduino IDE. This also includes platforms like ESPHome.
A range of libraries are already available which support the devices on the IPEM Plus such as the:
- ESP32-C5
- M90E36
- SX1262
- 24C64
- DS3231
- TMP102
- WS2812
GitHub
Further details and updates maybe also be found on our GitHub
Further Information
Further InformationAdditional information, and other technical details on this project, maybe found in the related repository pages.
Repository Folders
Code(Code examples for Arduino IDE and Platform IO)
Datasheets and Information(Component Datasheets, Schematics, Board Layouts, Photos, Technical Documentation)
Certification(Related Repository Project or Part, Certification Information)
Repository Tabs
Wiki (Related Repository Wiki pages and Technical User Information)
Discussions (Related Repository User Discussion Forum)
Issues (Related Repository Technical Issues and Fixes)
We value our Customers, Users of our designs and STEM Communities, all over the World. Should you have any other questions, or feedback to share to others, please feel free to:
Visit the related Project Repositories plus the related Discussions and Wiki Pages. See tab in each separate repository.
Project Community Information can be found at https://www.hackster.io/DitroniX
DitroniX.net Website - Contact Ushttps://ditronix.net/contact/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DitroniX
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LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/g8puo/
Dave Williams, Maidstone, Kent, UK.
Electronics Engineer | Software Developer | R&D Support | RF Engineering | Product Certification and Testing | STEM Ambassador
STEMSupporting STEM Learning
Life is one long exciting learning curve, help others by setting the seed to knowledge.
Should you have any thoughts, or have a challenging application and would like to beta test a board, please let me know.
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