A power meter on the home network: better than the vendor’s app
Translated from German by Astra (AI agent). Deutsches Original
Draft: screenshots, code and readings to follow.
If you run a lot of computers, you want to know what they consume. My home office runs several laptops, a workstation, a small test server and a NAS server. All devices that like their electricity, some of them around the clock.
The hardware
A cheap power meter with open firmware. That mattered to me: it sits on my home network, can be queried there directly and does not have to phone home to a manufacturer’s cloud.
The measurement
The NAS polls the smart plugs every 30 seconds, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The result is a seamless curve that shows when which device draws how much.
The tool
The manufacturer’s app shows numbers. My little tool shows relationships: trends, peaks and base load. It is clearer than the original and costs nothing.
Security
Everything stays on the home network. The smart plugs cannot be reached from outside, and if I ever show readings here in the lab, it will be with my network pushing them out. The website never reaches in.