AION EMS Zeus becomes more useful when it knows which devices are responsible for your household consumption.
By registering measured appliances and electrical loads, Zeus can separate known device consumption from the rest of the house, track when devices are active and build a clearer picture of where your energy is actually going.
You do not need to register every light bulb or small appliance. Start with the devices that have a meaningful impact on your energy consumption.
Before You Start
The device should already be available in Home Assistant.
For the best results, the device should provide at least one of these measurements:
- Power — current consumption in W or kW
- Energy — accumulated consumption in Wh or kWh
Typical devices you may want to register include:
Computers · Pumps · Kitchen appliances · Washing machines · Dryers · Dehumidifiers · Pool equipment · Workshop equipment · Smart plugs · Servers · Entertainment systems
Devices without their own Power or Energy measurement normally cannot be individually accounted for by Zeus.
Step 1 — Open Device Manager
Open:
AION EMS Zeus → Device Manager
Select:
Add Device
Choose the device type that best represents the equipment you are adding.
For a normal electrical appliance or measured household load, use the appropriate general load/device category.
Give the device a clear name that you will immediately recognize later.
For example:
Computers
Washing Machine
Pool Pump
Home Server
Step 2 — Connect the Power Sensor
If available, select the Home Assistant entity representing the device’s current electrical power.
This should normally use:
W or kW
For example:
Computer Power: 185 W
The Power measurement allows Zeus to understand whether the device is currently active and how much it contributes to the live household demand.
Step 3 — Connect the Energy Sensor
If the device provides an accumulated Energy measurement, configure that as well.
A suitable Energy entity normally uses:
Wh or kWh
and commonly has:
device_class: energy
with:
state_class: total_increasing
Power and Energy are different measurements.
Power = what the device is using now
Energy = how much the device has consumed over time
Do not place a W/kW Power entity into a field expecting Wh/kWh Energy.
Step 4 — Save the Device
Save the configuration.
The device should now appear in Device Manager as a registered Zeus device.
Check that its live Power approximately matches the original Home Assistant entity.
For example:
Home Assistant: 420 W
Zeus: approximately 420 W
Small differences caused by update timing are normal.
Registered Loads
Once a household device has a valid Power measurement, Zeus can include it in Registered Loads.
Imagine your home is currently consuming:
House: 4.0 kW
and Zeus knows about:
Heat Pump: 800 W
Water Heater: 1,000 W
Computers: 300 W
Other registered devices: 400 W
Zeus can account for those known loads and distinguish them from the remaining household demand.
Unknown Consumption
The part of your household demand that Zeus cannot associate with a registered device is shown as:
Unknown Consumption
This is intentional.
Unknown Consumption can include:
- unregistered appliances
- lighting
- standby loads
- devices without individual measurement
- small electrical consumers
- other household circuits
It does not automatically mean your energy configuration is wrong.
Why Unknown Consumption Is Useful
Without Unknown Consumption, an energy dashboard can create the impression that every watt has been explained when it has not.
Zeus deliberately keeps the difference visible.
As you register more important measured loads, the Unknown Consumption portion can become smaller.
This can even help you discover loads you had not previously considered significant.
Do Not Register the Same Load Twice
This is important for correct energy accounting.
A physical device should normally be represented once in the registered-load model.
For example, if a smart plug already measures your computer system as one combined load, do not also register another sensor representing the exact same consumption as a separate device.
Otherwise Zeus may count the same electrical consumption twice.
Combined Devices
Sometimes one power meter measures several physical devices together.
That is fine.
For example, one smart plug may measure:
Computer + Monitors + Network Equipment
You can register that measurement as:
Office Equipment
or:
Computers
Zeus does not require every physical appliance to have its own sensor.
The important thing is that the registered measurement accurately represents the load you want Zeus to account for.
Devices With Only Power
A device does not need an accumulated Energy sensor to be useful.
With Power only, Zeus can still use the device for:
- live consumption
- registered-load accounting
- activity detection
- Command Center load information
- Home Energy Timeline events
Adding Energy provides additional historical information, but it is not required for basic device monitoring.
Devices With Only Energy
An Energy-only sensor can contribute to historical consumption information, but Zeus cannot reliably determine the device’s immediate operating state without live Power evidence.
Where possible, configure both.
Activity Detection
Zeus can use live Power to determine whether a registered device is active.
This enables events such as:
Computers started
and:
Computers stopped
to appear in the Home Energy Timeline.
Zeus uses activity handling designed to avoid generating repeated events from tiny power fluctuations around the detection threshold.
Temporary unavailable measurements should also not be interpreted as genuine device shutdowns.
Step 5 — Verify the Device
A simple test is to switch the device on and off while watching Zeus.
When the device starts:
- Its Home Assistant Power entity should increase.
- Zeus should show approximately the same Power.
- Registered Load consumption should increase.
- Unknown Consumption may decrease accordingly.
- The Home Energy Timeline may record the activity.
When the device stops, the reverse should happen.
Check the Energy Balance
Registering a household device should not change the total House consumption.
It only helps Zeus explain that consumption.
For example, before registration:
House: 3.0 kW
Registered Loads: 1.0 kW
Unknown: 2.0 kW
After registering a 500 W measured appliance:
House: 3.0 kW
Registered Loads: 1.5 kW
Unknown: 1.5 kW
The House remains 3.0 kW.
If registering a device causes total House consumption itself to increase, review the configuration for possible double counting.
Which Devices Should I Register?
You do not need to turn Zeus into an inventory of every electrical object in your home.
Start with large, flexible or interesting loads.
Good candidates include:
- Heat-producing appliances
- Pumps
- Computers and servers
- Washing machines and dryers
- Pool equipment
- Workshop equipment
- Large kitchen appliances
- Permanently running equipment
- Other loads with meaningful consumption
Small loads can remain part of Unknown Consumption unless individually tracking them provides useful information.
Special Devices
Some equipment should use its dedicated Zeus device type instead of being registered as a generic household load.
For example:
Heat Pump → use Heat Pump configuration
Independent Water Heater / ELWA → use DHW / Water Heater
Battery → configure as part of the energy system
Dedicated device types provide additional intelligence that a generic household device does not.
Smart Control
Registering a device does not automatically give Zeus permission to control it.
Normal household devices can remain monitoring-only.
Smart Control is a separate capability with explicit permissions, supported control profiles and safety requirements.
Do not enable control simply because a device is registered.
Troubleshooting
Device always shows 0 W
Check the original Home Assistant entity.
If Home Assistant also shows 0 W, Zeus is receiving the correct value.
If Home Assistant shows consumption while Zeus remains at zero, review the Power mapping.
Device shows an unrealistic value
Check the unit.
A sensor reporting kW must not be interpreted as W, and vice versa.
Unknown Consumption remains high
This can be completely normal.
Compare the known registered loads with your actual household equipment and decide whether another significant measured load should be registered.
Timeline shows no activity
Check that the device has a valid live Power sensor and that its operating consumption is large enough to be clearly distinguishable from standby.
Household Devices Connected
Once your important measured loads are registered, Zeus can provide a much clearer explanation of your household consumption.
You can always add more devices later.
There is no requirement to reach 0 W Unknown Consumption. The goal is useful and honest energy accounting, not artificially forcing every watt into a category.
Next: Verify Your System
Register what you can measure. Keep the unexplained energy visible. Let Zeus build the complete picture.