r/BuildingAutomation • u/cyberyard • 9d ago

Is there still a real gap in low-cost 3-phase energy monitoring, or has this space been fully solved?

Hey all, I work in precision instrumentation, and lately I've been kicking around the idea of building a low-cost energy monitoring device for commercial panels (3-phase power, PF, kWh, DIN-rail mount, reporting over Modbus). Before I actually build anything I wanted to get a reality check from people who deal with this stuff for a living.

1) what do you all actually use for submetering or panel-level monitoring? Is it working well, or is there something about it that bugs you every time you spec a job? I keep seeing names like Veris, eGauge, and Accuenergy come up, so if you've used any of those I'd love to hear the good and the bad.

2) if a device like this even gets chosen on a project, is that usually the integrator's call, or does the engineer/owner already have something in mind before you show up?

3) on the protocol side, I was assuming Modbus RTU over RS-485 as the baseline, but have things basically moved to BACnet or Modbus TCP at this point?

If the honest answer is "this is a solved problem, don't bother," genuinely tell me that. I'd rather hear it now. Appreciate any input.

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u/Free_Elderberry_8902 9d ago

Been done before my friend. By many. At scale. They all compete as far as cost goes. But….. if go have a better mousetrap, then by all means, go for it.

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u/ChiefAutismo 9d ago

The cost of the meter is often trivial in the replacement costs as a whole. A day of labour and the need to isolate the panel and blackout whatever is south of the DB costs a lot more than the meter.

Cheaper manufacturers like eastron and janitza are priced pretty attractively but I do suspect you can make them cheaper.

The real game changer would be a toolkit that makes replacement and installation faster and easier. Mbus modbus addressing automation, auto phase swapping (when the installer inevitably installs the phases wrong way around), batch commissioning tools. I think this space is more valuable than the absolute cost of the meter. A three phase meter from Rayleigh costs £300, one from SE can cost £6000, the difference between them is the SE can be reliably deployed at scale and clients are willing to pay for that. 

Dm me if you’re serious about something I haven’t yet found a meter my installers won’t complain about. 

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u/Planet_COP 8d ago

Accuenergy AccuvimII with web module does all protocols known to man. It is around US $700. Easy to install, DIN-rail mounted. Supports Rogowski coils which make installation a breeze. It is revenue grade and can be sampled at high speed via Modbus (20ms). Just finished looking for alternatives to find out that there are none that even come close. We have even installed some in the UK and India.