Starting my journey on integrating my energy meter into my HA setup. I am in Australia and I have (see photo) this smart power meter.
I’ve heard these meters have built in ZigBee, because apparently you can buy one of these which appears to connect to the meter via ZigBee?
So I am wondering if anyone else has managed to interface to their smart meter, and if so was there a software or application you used, or did you just use HA or ESPHome?
All help, suggestions, greatly appreciated.
I have the same meter.
It has an Intellihub antenna unit outside the meter box:
As this has an IMEI number I’m guessing it connects via the cellular mobile network.
The information on the Intelihub is very sparse.
But this is probably good news. If the meter has built in zigbee it is not being used by my power provider.
Bad news is that the zigbee function of the meter seems to have to be enabled by your power provider and may require an extra hardware dongle.
Also if your provider is using the zigbee network, rather than mobile cellular, you won’t be able to bridge their zigbee network.
My provider is only providing power use information via their paid cloud service and their proprietary app. I have an SMA power meter fitted to the switchboard as part of my solar install so I dont need this (it interfaces directly with Home Assistant).
Worst case: you can monitor the Wh LED on the meter. Or better still fit a Shelly EM or if you are into DIY the cheaper PZEM004T works well with ESPHome .
The Landis + gyr 350 use zigbee as far as I’m aware. You need your provider to allow access, which they usually won’t do that unless you have hardware that they approve of, eg. The rainforest device.
It’s a separate protocol (zigbee security vs zigbee homeautomation), which means it needs a separate stand alone hub, as far as I know. It also apparently sends usage data back to the provider via zigbee mesh network.
I looked into it a year or so ago and didn’t really get anywhere.
Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. Looks like I either add a CT clamp or count the LED flashes on the meter. I’d have to get an electrician involved for the clamp, so I am thinking of starting with the LED flash counter. Which I am not thrilled about.
The rain forest EAGLE appears to be able to integrate via ZigBee, but not sure how deep that goes. I might reach out to them and see if they have any options like API or HA integration. Who knows, might be something there?
Worth asking, but your bigger issue is going to be getting your power provider to join the party.
Yes, have written to my power provider.
So I reached out to my energy provider, and found they offer a service to connect a Home Area Network device. So of course it peaked my interest, and now I am trying to work out whether or not I can create my own HAN device, or do I need to use a HAN device created by a supplier.
See the screen capture below… it’s asking for a MAC address and an installation code. I will do some more digging and see what I find.
The ‘Device’ drop down lists a whole range of devices, including In-home displays (IHD), Smart Thermostats, Computers and Smart appliances (such as refrigerator or dishwasher). Very interesting, and wonder if I could connect something like a ZigBee gateway?
The product names that come up in the Device drop down include…
Percepsion IHD
Chameleon IHD
Pipit 500 IHD
Intercel eKo IHD
Planet Innovation USB Dongle
Rainforest Eagle Gateway
Other In-Home Display
Other Load Control Device
Other Load Smart Thermostat
Other Range Extender
Other Smart Appliance
Very interesting indeed.
Looked at the specifications for the Pipit 500 unit found here.
And the specs are interesting…
Technical Specifications
Type: ZigBee Smart Meter Display
Standard**: ISO 9001
Power: 5V DC from 230V 50Hz AC adaptor, <0.6W
RF: ZigBee 2.4 GHz
Compatibility: Jemena / United Energy distribution network / Citipower / Powercor distribution network
Assuming I go down the CT clamp road, I also found the following board, which looks good but not sure if it would work with ESPHome?
Has anyone had any experience with the setup at the link? Would be interested in the experiences.
Thanks, Mark
They support ESPHome so it should connect well with Home Assistant.
That’s awesome, thanks Tom 
Tom, am I correct that this hardware is for US split-phase power supply?
If so, do you have any suggestions for EU hardware?
I’ve found this Aeotec device on Amazon.de, but then I will have to buy a ZWave dongle too.
I looked for the Shelly EM, but is seems that only the Shelly EM3 is available, and that quite expensive. More importantly, I have 3 fuse boxes in different parts of the house, so I’ll need to buy 3 sensors.
There’s plenty of Shelly EM stock. https://shop.shelly.cloud/shelly-em-120a-clamp-wifi-smart-home-automation#143
Though as mentioned in this post it is not good for split phase power measurements:
You need something that can measure the voltage of the two phases as well as the currents.
None of the devices mentioned so far can do that except for 2x PZEM-004T.
You don’t have a master feed where you can use a clamp to see total energy usage? Unless you have 3 meters, there has to be power running from the meter to a master breaker and then on to breaker/fuse boxes. Between the meter and master breaker is the best place to put a clamp, if you have access.
Split phase users can always use 2 Shelly EMs (one per phase). It is a shame they don’t have a US version with a second voltage sense connection. Honestly, unless it would add a lot of cost, they could just have that on a single updated model and customers who don’t need it just wouldn’t use it. Maybe with the proper hardware and firmware support, the “O” connector could have a secondary function as a voltage sense port for split phase.
Sure but the price becomes prohibitive compared to the PZEM.
Not sure if this is a big piece of information, but I thought I would share. I reached out to the Rainforest Automation company regarding their Eagle-200 product.
To my surprise Rainforest Automation replied advising me that Home Assistant already has support for the Eagle-200.
Please take a look at this link for more information: link
It seems the power provider is happy for me to connect the Eagle-200 to the power meter via ZigBee, and Rainforest is saying the Eagle-200 interfaces with Home Assistant.
So I will do some more investigation on what information is provided via the HA and Eagle integration.
Is anyone using an Eagle-200 integrated with Home Assistant?
Thanks for the link. Like a Lemming I was just looking on Amazon and did not think of going to the Shelly web store.
You are correct, there is a main fuse box, and in fact 4 others.
I was thinking of putting EM on Garden, Ground, and Main, that way I can calculate:
You can get accurate readings using Shelly EM for the Main input and ground by placing 2 Shelly EMs in the main box. Use the first Shelly to measure the input on main phase 1 and output to ground phase 1 (make sure the Shelly is powered from phase 1). For the second Shelly, measure phase 2 for the same input/output, and power it from phase 2.
Unfortunately, a single Shelly placed elsewhere won’t give you an entirely accurate measurement for your garden. You could do 2 Shelly’s in your ground box and pick something else to monitor (the first floor sub panel, or some other large circuit running in that panel) and do the same as above. Alternatively, you can do 2 Shelly’s in the ground box, configured the same as what I mentioned in the main box (measure the input to the box) and use the second Shelly in the main box to measure a feed such as your heating to get usage info for heating your house.
The lower cost ESP sensors mentioned above previously are also an option, but you will want 6 - 8 of them, depending on how you do the config. Without looking in depth, my assumption is that you can use additional pins on an ESP32 to attached more than one clamp sensor per ESP. You should be able to look at the sample config/code and an ESP board breakout and find additional pins of the same type to use.
This info regarding the Shelley devices sounds interesting. I have a number of conundrums I am trying to solve, so perhaps devices like the Shelley may be worth a look?
So based on above, does anyone know where I might find a circuit diagram on how I might implement Shelley to perform the monitoring of the main feed into my house and the power coming from my solar inverter?
Hi @gregoinc how did you get one with the Rainforest. I too live in VIC AU and want to connected the smartmeter via Zigbee. Did you find somewhere to buy the Eagle-200 - am keen to know if it supports both usage and export (from solar). Thanks
