TED with Footprints
TED with Footprints


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TED: The Energy Detective with Footprints Software

4
3 Reviews | Add Your Review
Regular Price: $189.90Special Price: $164.95

We're sorry, this product is back ordered.

Quick Overview

Spill it. This electricity monitor & software tells you how your house is spending energy - right now - in terms that make sense. (Note: software is not compatible with Apple computers. TED folks are working on a Mac version).

Availability

Please note: this product is backordered. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Product Description

TED speaks. We listen. TED is The Energy Detective, a real-time home electricity monitor that is the equivalent of a digital stethoscope. It probes beneath the surface to really understand what is ticking in your house, and how much energy it uses. In our case, TED told us that our home entertainment center alone was costing us $30 a month when it was OFF! Yikes. The TED manufacturer provides a software package for hooking the device’s brain into your computer, providing a colorful graphic interface for tracking and storing energy use appliance by appliance, room by room, even light by light. TED plugs into any wall socket and into your home utility box. In the beginning... there is TED. Once you figure out how your home is spending your money, you can take steps to set things right. You can even get the kids involved. It's a game. How much can you save? (And what do you earn for saving it?) Use the tools herein to earn that money back, and you might just start to feel generous about prizes! You get started by installing TED in your home. TED is comprised of two components -- a transmitter that is easy to install in your electricial box, and the receiver that plugs into any wall socket. Information is transmitted over the existing wiring in your home. The installation instructions are clear and you or your electrician can have TED working in 10 or 15 minutes. Why we love TED: We think it all begins with measuring, and knowing. This is a solid, easy to use tool to get the information flowing. And you gotta love the name – TED. So assuring. Please note that the Footprints software is not compatible with Apple computers; bummer.

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Nitty Gritty

Installation is very simple and quick. A qualified homeowner or electrician can install TED in about 10-15 minutes. TED operates on the existing wires in your home, so there is no need to run any additional wires.

Customer Reviews

4

This is a great system - I've seen it in use at a friend's house- and I love the data presentation. We want to use it but we are Mac users - any idea when it might be available?

Posted by Gene on Jul 7, 2009 5:52pm
4

I bought TED with Footprints a few weeks ago from Energy Circle.

The installation process should have been fairly simple, but our electrical box (meter and panel from Square D) was crowded and the bars that carry power from the meter to the main breaker left little room for TED's current transformers (CTs) to fit. We finally made it work, but it required serious surgery (including removing the meter itself and calling the power company for a re-seal) -- if we had a different panel, the setup would have been done in less than 10 minutes.

After plugging the TED display in, I noticed that the light was blinking intermittently and not at the desired 1 second frequency (with several seconds of no activity). I'm not sure if there was excessive noise at the outlet or what, but shifting it to another outlet resolved the problem.

The Footprints software is, unfortunately, terrible. It locked up on several occasions on my Windows XP system. Plus, you need to leave your computer on all the time for the TED data to be logged. I opted not to use Footprints and wrote a custom application similar to what Energy Circle built. The TED 5000 looks to possibly solve some of the data logging issues, but it wasn't available when I was ready to buy.

As far as the "Energy Efficiency Impact" is concerned, on it's own, it does nothing to conserve energy. However, its measurement data is useful in helping YOU make concerted conservation efforts. Understanding energy requirements allows you to complete cost/benefit analysis regarding comfort and consumption, but once you've analyzed the data and made adjustments, the benefits of TED are mostly lost and it's relegated to somewhat of a novelty.

Posted by Greg Mayer on Jun 4, 2009 11:28am
5

Have been using TED for about a year with very good results. My home is all electric and knowing what it costs for heat and hot water as well as the electronics is very informative. Only problem is remembering which buttons to push for which results.

Posted by BobA on May 5, 2009 2:03pm

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