Smart Energy Audit Kit with Cloud Dashboard

Most small factories and workshops pay their electricity bill without knowing where the units actually go. Energy audits are usually done with a clipboard, a clamp meter and a few spot readings, which misses the patterns that matter: machines idling for hours, lighting circuits eating a third of daytime load, and power factor drifting below the utility's penalty threshold. The expensive problems are invisible in spot readings. This project turns the audit into an instrument: a portable kit with five non-invasive clamp channels that logs true electrical quantities continuously for days, computes per-load energy and tariff cost, and flags the classic waste patterns automatically on a cloud dashboard — so the audit report is built from measured data rather than estimates.

1. The five split-core CTs are clamped around the chosen load conductors and the voltage sense leads are connected to the bus by a qualified person.
2. The metering module samples voltage and current waveforms and computes true RMS V/I, active power, power factor and cumulative energy per channel.
3. The ESP32 polls the module over serial on a fixed schedule, validates each frame, and shows live values on the 16x2 LCD.
4. Every 5 seconds the ESP32 publishes a JSON payload (V, I, P, PF, kWh per channel) over Wi-Fi via MQTT to the cloud backend.
5. The backend stores the time series; the dashboard renders the 24-hour load profile, per-load kWh, tariff cost and live gauges.
6. The findings engine scans the data for idle-running (sustained kW with no load cycling), lighting share of daytime consumption and average PF below 0.90, and raises each finding with an estimated daily cost.
7. The student runs the calibration procedure against a reference meter, records the per-channel correction factors, and exports the period CSV for the audit report.

Tech stack:

• ESP32 (Wi-Fi controller)
• SCT-013 class split-core CTs (5 channels)
• PZEM-class AC metering module
• MQTT telemetry (JSON payloads)
• Web cloud dashboard (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
• Arduino IDE (C/C++ firmware)
• 16x2 LCD with on-device UI
• USB / Li-ion power option

• [Non-invasive 5-channel sensing] Five split-core CTs clamp around load conductors with no shutdown and no wire cutting, so the kit can be deployed on a live panel by a qualified person in minutes.
• [True electrical measurement] A PZEM-class metering module reports true RMS voltage, current, active power, power factor and cumulative energy per channel — not current-only estimates.
• [Live cloud dashboard] Readings publish over MQTT every 5 seconds to a web dashboard with a 24-hour load profile, per-load tables and daily energy bars.
• [Tariff costing] A configurable rupees-per-kWh rate converts every load's consumption into money, with daily cost totals that make the business case for fixes.
• [Auto-generated audit findings] The dashboard flags idle-running losses, lighting share of daytime load and power factor below the 0.90 contract threshold with quantified estimates.
• [On-device LCD] A 16x2 display shows live voltage, current, power and energy at the panel, so the kit works as a standalone meter without the cloud.
• [Buyer-run calibration] A documented procedure compares each channel against a reference plug-in power meter so the student verifies accuracy on their own build.
• [Exportable audit report] Daily and period summaries export as CSV for the audit report's measured-data appendix.

• Portable audit kit hardware: controller, 5 split-core CTs, metering module, LCD, enclosure
• ESP32 firmware with MQTT telemetry and on-device display
• Cloud dashboard source (single-file web app) with findings engine
• CT gain/phase calibration procedure with reference-meter comparison sheet
• Audit report template with measured-data appendix format
• Wiring and deployment guide (qualified-person panel work notes)
• Project report PDF (metering theory, CT principles, tariff analysis method)
• PPT presentation for final review
• Viva Q&A preparation document (true vs apparent power, CT burden, MQTT, power factor)

• Demo scale is single-phase; a three-phase plant needs three voltage references and is documented as an extension, not included.
• This is an audit instrument, not a revenue/billing meter — utility billing disputes are out of scope.
• CT accuracy follows the sensor's datasheet class; the buyer verifies it with the included calibration procedure rather than trusting a claimed figure.
• Findings are heuristic flags from electrical data, not a substitute for a professional energy auditor's judgment.
• Panel connection must be done by a qualified person; the kit is not a DIY mains-wiring project for unsupervised students.
• Cloud features need Wi-Fi; the kit falls back to on-device LCD logging display when offline.