It looks like a new product is getting ready soon. Below is the description listed from Lowe’s own website but currently none is available.
- Customize your home with a smart home system
- Connect security, energy and temperature devices
- Create custom use scenarios by adding as many devices as you need
Here’s the direct link to it, or search on Lowes.com for “Z357PA30-USB”
http://www.lowes.com/pd_520374-41166-Z357PA30-USB_4294713131__?productId=50146604
***Update 3/29/2014***
I’ve been told through the resource I have is that this smart meter link is to be connected to the Iris smart hub via the USB port and is used to measure electricity usage in the home, however this meter is only used for certain utilities and is not available in all markets.
***Update 5/18/2014***
The product is taking off lowes.com
Uh… Any idea what it does?
No clue. I hope to find out but the description does look interesting.
Just a complete guess but could it plug into a computer and allow your computer to act as a hub. With that description it seems like that may be an option. I really have no other clue…
http://static.squarespace.com/static/50bd87e9e4b0362498974864/t/52e97d33e4b0ef22a6115287/1391033651349/RapidConnect%20USB%20Stick%20v1.0.pdf
this zigbee USB document has the same model number as the lowes smart meter link as stated on page four of the PDF.
http://mmbnetworks.com/
you can find the USB stick by going to the products page.
Anybody see some of the new Videos? It shows an Asset protector. I like this idea. This way I’ll know when someone is tampering with something, like my safes, or other valuables in the house. The ideas for IRIS protection are endless!
http://www.lowes.com/cd_Iris+Video+Center_1339164114368_?ytID=GFhe5r8ofPw
Yep we’ve seen this before and it’s been there for some time. We’re still waiting for it to be release.
It appears that this USB stick will plug into the IRIS hub and allow it to interface with the smart meter in your home. Many communities and towns have been switching to these wireless “smart” meters to avoid having to require the meter reader physical read the meter. This would effectively replace a more physical means of monitoring power (like the IRIS current monitoring hardware that is out of stock every). Hope to see this soon!!!! I don’t see it on the Lowes website.
I used it briefly with the 1st gen hub and it worked great. It plugged into the hub and allowed it to connect to the Southern California Edison (SCE) smart meter on my house. It gave me near instantaneous info on how much power was being drawn, so I could run around the house turning stuff on and off to see what was drawing power, and then I could make adjustments to try to lower our electric bill. Unfortunately, just a couple of months after I had shelled out $70 for this thing, they switched to the 2nd gen hub which did not seem to recognize this thing when it was plugged in. Lowe’s support kept saying that they would probably get to it eventually, but here were are over a year later, and it still doesn’t seem to be supported. 😦 And yet Lowe’s still has it on store shelves around here, and still on their web-site. At best, it seems very sloppy for them to leave it on the site, and at worst, potentially very shady if they are leaving this on their website in hopes of clearing their inventory of this now apparently worthless product.
Also, Lowe’s support once told me that this was only supported in Southern California. I do not know if it ever worked anywhere else. They also couldn’t find in their web-store at first when I called for help, but then they realized that they had to set the zip code in the store to a Southern California zip code to get this product to even show up in the search results. So, for anyone curious, you could try 90505 as a zip code for Torrance, CA, which is my local store is located.
UPDATE: I asked this on the Lowe’s web site in the Community Q&A section for this product, and I got a response (but won’t hold my breath):
“Is this supported yet with the 2nd gen hub? (and if not, why is it still being sold? Mine stopped working right after switching to the 2nd gen hub)”
RobH on 07/24/2017
Answer
Iris Customer Support on 07/27/2017
“We’re currently working on bringing back energy monitoring to Iris. You can stay tuned for updates on our community over at https://community.irisbylowes.com“