SMART ELECTRICAL PANELS

WHAT IS A SMART PANEL?

In short, a smart electrical panel is an advanced version of a traditional electrical panel. It has modules and other controls inside of it that allows it to connect to the internet, for remote monitoring and control of energy usage. It does more than just basic power distribution by offering features like real-time energy consumption tracking, circuit control (you can turn it off and on remotely), and integration with smart home systems and battery storage solutions.

WHAT ARE THE SMART PANEL OPTIONS?

SPAN was the first smart panel created and we are slowly seeing more coming on the market from both startups and established brands. A few others are LUMIN, Schneider Home Pulse, Leviton and Savant.

WHICH SMART PANEL SHOULD I CHOOSE?

Every individual and every home is different and each panel tends to have certain features that will be more attractive to different people. Some features like energy readings are the same but other features are unique to certain panels at the moment. Here are some examples:

GENERATOR: For those wanting to install an automatic stand-by generator, it is very common to create an emergency panel for the essentials or adding several load shed modules to avoid needing to install a very large and expensive generator. In that case the Leviton panel with the smart module will work well because we can connect it to the generator’s transfer switch and whenever there is a power outage the Leviton panel can automatically shed (turn off) the non-essential breakers which would be programmed into the Leviton app with the help with the electrician to avoid overloading the generator. We recently did this very thing in a very large home in Fairfield, Connecticut where owner would need a $50,000 generator to run his entire home but instead we installed 2 Leviton panels with smart breakers for much less and he was able to run just his essential with a $10,000 generator.

BATTERIES: If the home has batteries or solar, and the goal is maximizing that energy the SPAN panel will work well as we can connect it to a few different brands of batteries and be able to shed circuits during a power outage when battery hits certain percentages, and home owner will be able to tell in minutes, not percentages, how long the battery will last. We recently did this in Westport, CT where the goal was maximizing battery life for the family.

TO AVOID UPGRADING SERVICE: For those that perhaps cannot upgrade their panel for some reason or the cost is too high then although SPAN would be great for this, if on a budget LUMIN would be an amazing option.

HERE ARE SOME LINKS FROM SPAN THAT EXPLAINS SOME OF ITS FEATURES

HERE ARE SOME LINKS FROM LEVITON THAT EXPLAINS SOME OF ITS FEATURES

HERE ARE SOME LINKS FROM LUMIN THAT EXPLAINS SOME OF ITS FEATURES