How 'smart' is my meter?

I now have solar installed, and got a new bidirectional meter (landis Gyr Focus kWh). It’s a smart meter but I don’t have a way to get data. There’s an LED but I don’t see (with my phone) any blinking, and the manual for the meter seems to say the LED is only active for the first 24 hours. Is there maybe some smart gadget that reads the LCD display, or some other way to get consumption?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiO4JaB77P7AhWMhf0HHe5xAKQQFnoECA4QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.solar-electric.com%2Flib%2Fwind-sun%2FFocus-technical-manual.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2zXcqgjSUegW1LuRlJes6o

Chapter 9 :wink:

Saw that. None of it is accessible.

Apparently the LED does nothing after the first 24 hours. Is there any other way to read this type of meter?

Hi Jim,

I’m no expert at this, but read this thread and the Meter Documentation as posted by @BebeMischa and this alternative solution came to mind. It may or may not work… just thought I’d throw it in for you to consider.

It uses a cheapo webcam to capture the display image and then work out the reading from the image captured of the display.

I hope it helps,

Cheers,

Mike.

Supposedly, our electric utility has committed to installing new smart meters that will allow homeowner access. The stated timeline is “soon” so for the time being, I’m hanging on for that.

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Probably the least ‘painful’ route! :grin:

Cheers,

Mike.