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Question about monitoring without continuous power.

Considering buying two Sonoff Pow 2 units. I want to monitor home with two forced air furnaces to compare usages for rental. (On same Meter). I do not want to control them or have them malfunction/switch by having a heater component in series. I would like to wire up so when (perhaps 12O volt) fan kicks in it powers Sonoff POW 2, and perhaps install a small LED bulb for consumption. I just need to compare the two furnaces for percentage of time on over a month. Will Sonoff work without having continuous power to transmit WiFi correctly? Or are there continuous power inputs? ...or better way to do this.
2 CommentsSorted by Oldest First

Is it really a 120V fan in a 240V heater?  Check that.

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I don't know how accurate this would be as there would be a delay going both on and off line.

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One other way I can think of to do your job without butchering the POW is to use an external 120V relay between an always powered POW and your light bulb load.  In other words wire up a POW to an always on hot and neutral with a light bulb as the load and turn it on.  In series with the light bulb circuit place the NO contacts of an external relay.  Connect the 120V coil of the external relay across your fan motor circuit such that the relay energizes when the fan motor comes on.   When the external relay contacts close your light bulb will light and start drawing current through the POW.


You will want to select a 120V relay with a continuous duty rating.

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