Installation and safety requirements

Who is allowed to install this

UL requires that the Energy Sentry Demand Management System be installed by a duly licensed and qualified electrician or electrical contractor. Homeowners are not permitted to install the product.

This is not a formality. The job means working in an energized service panel, clamping current transformers onto the incoming service conductors above the main breaker, and adding a circuit. Installing it yourself voids both the warranty and the UL listing.

If you bought a unit and need an installer, call us. Electricians, if this is your first Energy Sentry installation, call before you start.

Current transformer placement

The CTs are how the system sees the building. If they are wrong, nothing downstream works.

• Clamp both CTs on the incoming main conductors, above the main breaker lugs. Above the lugs reads 100 percent of the service load, including anything fed ahead of the main. Below the lugs you measure a subset and control against a number the utility is not billing.
• Both CTs face the same direction. The label reads "label to source" and points toward the utility. Both labels up is the standard.
• Orientation is not optional on solar homes. Without solar the firmware takes the absolute value, so orientation technically does not matter. Install label-up anyway. With solar, the firmware needs correct phasing to tell consumption from production, and a mismatched pair gives readings that look plausible and are wrong.
• Standard residential CTs are 200-amp split-core, approximately 1000:1 ratio. Split-core snaps on without pulling the meter. Solid-core toroidal CTs cost less but require threading the conductor. Rogowski coils suit tight spaces and need an amplifier module.
• Check lead length first. Standard CT leads are 6 feet. Verify that reaches from the top of the panel through the conduit into the controller, and extend before you close up.
• Land the leads at the green four-position terminal block at the top right of the main board, white-black-black-white reading left to right.

Enclosure mounting

The residential unit ships in a grey NEMA 3R raintight enclosure, which is what most Arizona services need since the panel is outside.

• Mount as close to the main panel as practical. Knockouts are on the bottom of the can.
• Watch the hinge. The lid lifts off a left-side hinge, so mounting to the right of the panel can put the door in the way. Left is usually better.
• Four 1/4-inch lag bolts through the corner holes. Two will hold it. Four is the standard.
• Connect to the panel with 1-inch seal-tight or carflex conduit through a knockout.
• Pull the internal panel before you knock anything out. Hammering on the can transfers shock into the electronics, and an empty box is easier to work in.

Controller power, panel space, and clearance

• The controller runs from a dedicated single-pole 15-amp breaker. Dedicated means dedicated. #14 AWG from that breaker to the primary leads of the power transformer at the far left of the relay plate.
• On solar homes, leave room to move that breaker. Commissioning may require swapping the controller's supply from one phase to the other to get phasing right. If the panel is full and you are using tandem breakers, plan for that before you close up.
• Confirm panel space for the controller breaker plus the controlled load circuits before quoting the job.
• Respect NEC working clearance at the service panel and the controller: clear working space, minimum 30-inch width, and headroom per the NEC edition your jurisdiction has adopted. Do not mount the enclosure or route conduit where it obstructs required clearance or blocks the dead front.
• Keep the display readable. Do not mount it above eye level or behind a gate.

Grounding

Bond the enclosure: run a ground conductor from the panel to the ground lug inside, under the relay plate or logic cover.

The 50-amp latching relay requires a ground for its driver circuit. This is mandatory. The green lead on the relay control harness lands on the ground lug or a grounding screw inside the enclosure. Skipping it does not always fail immediately, which is exactly why it gets skipped. Land it. Red and black go to the relay terminals on the main board.

The relay wiring rule that matters most

The relay must break the compressor circuit. Never the thermostat's R power leg.

Line voltage is the recommended method. A 50-amp latching relay in the controller enclosure interrupts one phase of the 240V condenser circuit. #8 AWG into both silver lugs under the relay's cover, either phase on single-phase service. This kills the whole unit, which is what you want, so the house holds its cool in the thermal mass instead of the blower pushing warm air around after the compressor stops.

Low voltage is legacy. The two 5-amp relays on the board break the 24V control circuit at the Y wire, the compressor call, or the yellow condenser relay wires at the condensing unit.

Do not break the R wire. R is the 24V power leg to the thermostat. Breaking it reboots the thermostat on every shed cycle: a screen that blanks and restarts several times an afternoon, schedules that can drop, and a shed the owner can see. Break the compressor call, not the power to the control.

Line voltage is also far less likely to be disconnected by an HVAC technician who does not recognize the wiring, which is one of the most common causes of a system that quietly stops saving money. Install the warning sticker or magnet inside the panel door and on the enclosure.

One meter, one DAC

Each utility meter gets exactly one demand controller. Two controllers on one meter cannot coordinate. Each sees the full service load, each acts independently, and they will shed against each other and produce worse peaks than either would alone.

Multiple meters means one unit per meter. A single meter serving loads spread across a building means one controller reaching the distant loads by power line carrier, not a second controller.

Commissioning settings, for the electrician

Installer-level, entered by holding the front panel button for five seconds. Homeowners should not be in this loop. Full detail is in the manual; these are the values that get set wrong most often.

• Daylight saving (dS): 0 on every Arizona installation. A unit that shifts an hour controls against the wrong on-peak window for half the year.
• Rate Selector (RS) sets schedules, seasons, holidays, and averaging period, then locks them. SRP E-27 = 3. SRP E-16 = 11. APS legacy = 2. APS current = 10. Averaging follows: SRP 30 minutes, APS 60 minutes.
• Demand Range (DR): 40 for standard 200-amp split-core CTs. Some older internal documentation lists 48. That is a known error. 40 is correct, per the manual and per Bill Brayden.
• Number of relays (nR) matches the actual channel count, not the factory default.
• Priorities. Dryer highest, air conditioning next and grouped so multiple units rotate, then electric heat, then water heater, pool, and spa lower. Minimum on and off times apply to air conditioning only; resistive loads get zero.
• Verify before you leave. ID must read non-zero. Drop DL below the current uncontrolled load and confirm every controlled load sheds, then raise it and confirm they restore. Return DL to the agreed operating value.

At handoff, tell the owner plainly: the Demand Limit is theirs, everything else is not, and switching the utility rate plan to a demand-based schedule is their responsibility.

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Electricians: call toll free (888) 461-9336, direct (970) 461-9600, or email help@energysentry.com before you energize if anything here does not match what you are looking at. Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM Arizona time.