Brultech Software Sneak Peak

I have been privileged with a beta test of the new Brultech software. I just wanted to let you all know the new software mentioned on Brultech's site is not "vaporware" and give you a sneak peek.

First, there is new software called "ECM Engine". It is pretty much an upgrade on the "ECM Interface Application." It can monitor up to 3 different ECM's over different connection methods (zigbee, ethernet, serial). You can name inputs and assign them pictures (some pictures are included). It also logs to a SQLite database, which can be read by the "Electricity Monitoring Dashboard"

Attached are screenshots from the "Electricity Monitoring Dashboard". It reads data from the SQLite database from ECM Engine, and serves up a webpage. The screenshots speak for themselves.

Both pieces of software are windows only (I tested on XP pro).

I cannot speak for all the features that may be in the final product, but I can definitely say that Paul is headed in the right direction with this (in my opinion).

==Edit==

See attached.

View attachment Brultech_ECM_Dashboard_Preview.pdf

I don't see any screenshots, but it does sound promising.

Link no worky....

Are there any restrictions on how the three ECM's can be connected? Can they be any combination of the various connection methods? Any idea why they limited it to three? Is the presentation of the data as if there is one "big" logical ECM with up to 21 channels, instead of three separate seven channel ECM's?

Ira said:

Are there any restrictions on how the three ECM's can be connected? Can they be any combination of the various connection methods? Any idea why they limited it to three? Is the presentation of the data as if there is one "big" logical ECM with up to 21 channels, instead of three separate seven channel ECM's?

Click to expand...

It doesn't seem like there are any restrictions... it seems like you can mix and match. Don't know why only three. In the dashboard, it seems like they are all just channels - however, I only have one ECM, so I don't know for sure. It will make sense when you see the screenshots... when it gets approved...

I added a temporary link until the local one gets approved.

I think it is interesting how the first chart gives a somewhat false impression of your energy usage. To me, it looks like it is saying your consumption between 5:20 and 5:33 increased more than it really did based on the visual representation. Is what really happened that at 5:20, "AC 1" and "Garage 2" increased consumption, and that one of those is part of "Main 1" and the other is part of "Main 2", so those two also showed large jumps, making it look like consumption went up twice as high as it really did? If that's true, then the Y-axis scale doesn't make sense. Then again, I could be all wrong in my interpretation of the graph. But if I'm not, it seems like it would be good to have an option to have the "mains" show up on that chart as different color line graphs above the "component bars". In most cases, the lines for the "mains" would be somewhat above all the bars, unless you were monitoring every individual circuit. In other words, have an option to display cumulative channels on the same graph as individual channels, but using a different graphing method. It looks like you can de-select certain channels, but I think most people what to see total consumption, along with the "heavy hitters" on the same screen, but with a more visually correct presentation.

I took delivery of an ECM-1240 last week to replace my TED 1000, and after talking to Paul about some things, I will probably buy two more. But I gotta admit, for a simple visual display with a lot of impact of how your energy consumption is going at any given moment, the TED Footprints dashboard was great in my opinion. Certainly not as powerful as Brultech's new software, but that one Footprints screen is really good in my opinion. Hopefully Brultech can provide something like that in the future.

Ira said:

I think it is interesting how the first chart gives a somewhat false impression of your energy usage. To me, it looks like it is saying your consumption between 5:20 and 5:33 increased more than it really did based on the visual representation. Is what really happened that at 5:20, "AC 1" and "Garage 2" increased consumption, and that one of those is part of "Main 1" and the other is part of "Main 2", so those two also showed large jumps, making it look like consumption went up twice as high as it really did? If that's true, then the Y-axis scale doesn't make sense. Then again, I could be all wrong in my interpretation of the graph. :huh:

Click to expand...

Please note that the screens are out of order in the PDF. "Live Data" is the first screen you see.

It seems that at 5:20 my hottub decided to heat. Since that is 220, both garage 1 and garage 2 jumped. That is fed from the main panel, so main 1 and main2 jumped accordingly. You're right - that isn't represented correctly on a stacked graph. I did mention a situation like this to Paul in my comments to him.

Looks very good in premise. I've never had an unresolved problem with hardware or support, and Paul has always been extremely helpful. I think that in the past few years though as a general rule, that so many companies whether start-ups or established businesses, seem to have created a new "department" who's sole function is to make up promises of "coming soon", "expected by end of month" etc., etc.. They may then say that availability will be "next Tuesday" or "end of the month", but just aren't quite up to specifying a year.....:huh:.

That looks awesome. I'm a little disappointed that it is windows only though. :huh:

Any idea what it's written in? I'd love to throw it on one of my linux boxes that is handling my cameras, logging, and other things and not have to fire up a separate windows box just for this.

signal15 said:

Any idea what it's written in?

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I can't say about the ECM Engine. I know the dashboard is ASP/.net oriented. The beta version had a stand alone webserver so you don't need to worry about IIS.

VMware is your friend.

3tones said:

signal15 said:

Any idea what it's written in?

Click to expand...

VMware is your friend.

Click to expand...

VirtualBox is way friendlier.

This is great! I've been researching various graphing methods for CQC, or hoping that Dean would come across with a CQC widget for graphing, but this looks like it might be better than all of those.

Sooo...this software will talk to the brultech on the RS232 port then, right? So no other software (such as CQC) will be able to communicate with the brultech while the software is in use?

beelzerob said:

Sooo...this software will talk to the brultech on the RS232 port then, right? So no other software (such as CQC) will be able to communicate with the brultech while the software is in use?

Click to expand...

Yes, RS-232, Ethernet, or wireless. In the case of RS-232, the Engine will take control of the serial port, so no other application will be able to access the ECM. I think you should be able to access the SQLite database and get data just like the dashboard does, though.

beelzerob said:

This is great! I've been researching various graphing methods for CQC, or hoping that Dean would come across with a CQC widget for graphing, but this looks like it might be better than all of those.

Sooo...this software will talk to the brultech on the RS232 port then, right? So no other software (such as CQC) will be able to communicate with the brultech while the software is in use?

Click to expand...

Have you tried this yet for graphing?
http://www.talluscorp.com/mediawiki/index....art_Application