The problem Shakthi solves

Problem Statment

With the increase in the tariff, monsoon fluctuations, and water scarcity, every good civilian would like to optimize the energy consumption at his residence. As expected, saving energy has an equal effect as compared to putting up Solar panels and producing alternate energy. Thus one Unit of Energy saved would be more efficient and more economical than generating one unit of Energy.

This product is essentially a smart plug that connects between your appliance and electrical outlet and provides the following features.
-Round-the clock Energy monitoring
-Alerts on reaching a monthly, weekly set-point
-Ability to control the functioning of the devices connected
-Scheduling of ON/OFF of devices and help become more productive
-Access from anywhere daily, weekly and monthly report

Other features

Elegant design
-Ergonomically designed product for Home use
-Universal socket for easy connectivity
-Unique body design for plug-in and plug-out operations
-High grade electrically insulated design

Energy Monitoring
-Monitor Energy consumption round the clock
-Measures Actual Energy usage along with reactive/apparent usage
-Tamper-proof energy monitoring with ability to store Energy usage up-to 3 months
-Handles all variety of Loads and measures Energy with high accuracy.

Planning and Scheduling
-Plan and schedule Electrical equipment based on date, time and duration.
-Support recurring patters of On/Off of Electrical equipment
-Condition Based Rules to turn On/Off of Electrical equipment
-Support IFTTT (coming soon)

Control – Remote or Local
-Switch ON-OFF Electrical equipment from anywhere and from any device
-Shows latest Control status of Device
-Condition Based Rules to turn On/Off of Electrical equipment
-Support IFTTT (coming soon)

Challenges we ran into

Problems we face building product

• As this project was mainly hardware we had to basically learn how everything works from scratch
• Connecting the ESP32 to the wifi was a hassle because of some configuration mistake in the IDE
• The senors had to be manually calibrated.
• The current sensor was not showing accurate reading even after calibrating multiple times (we will have to shift to a new sensor).
• One of the relay modules got short-circuited and didn't work so we have a back up really and we used that.
• As we are using a third part application called blynk to give input and get output we weren't able to properly integrate Alan ai voice assistant in the provided time