Sensor for Gas Natural Spain meter [Schlumberger G 2000-G4]

Hello Everyone,

Has anyone managed to attach a sensor to this meter for being able to monitor gas usage?

I tried with the popular magnet ones which use to work for other meters. However, it seems it doesn’t do the job with this specific model. Any position advice or other method suggestion?

magnet sensor

TIA

I’ve a Schlumberger G4 Gallus 2000:

with a reed switch allocated in the hole under the second wheel from the right where the magnet is suposed to be

the reed switch is attached to a esp32-cam with i2c configured in esphome, I can also take photos with the measurement.

The reed switch should be smaller enough to be allocated inside the hole, I use this:

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B07Y9SW7DD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you want more information, let me know.

Hey @lerele!

Thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, my meter has not any hole under the display:

This is a photo I just took. I guess your model has an additional feature for the purpose.

I am not sure whether this grey thing is hiding the hole you have, but that grey plastic thing is sealed with an official stamp, so I cannot open it to check. I guess I will have to try another approach, althoug I am sure which one. :frowning:

I cannot try the camera option, because the meter is installed outside my landed house. That’s the reason I need something more simple. What I wanted to do is to attach a sensor to a window battery one (the usual Aqara ones). As far as I know, the can be used for this, because a template sensor can be set up for the counter to be increased one unit everytime a contact closure happens.

Mayte you can try with a magnetometer like this one:

https://github.com/tronikos/esphome-magnetometer-water-gas-meter

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That could be a good option indeed! Only thing is that I’ll have to find a way to battery power it… or perhaps I can run a cable for the magnetometer part only. Will think about it and do some research. but it will be worth it to try first whether the magnetometer works with this specific meter. It is cheap and I have a few ESP32 lying around, so will do it asap. Thanks a lot!

I just checked the magnetic field behaviour of the meter with my phone when gas is running, and this is the result, so it definitely should work!

This worked! Thanks again for all your feedback and advise.

Cheers and gracias!

De nada.
:+1: :+1: :+1: :+1: :+1:

A little bit off-topic question:

Has any inspector seen your cables attached to the meter? Have they told you something like you cannot attach any third party cable or device to the meter or so? I am not sure whether yours is inside your place. Mine is outside because it is a landed house. The sensor is not easy to be seen though. I tried to hide it as much as possible:

I don’t think anyone sees it as it is at knees height. However, I am curious to know what they usually do when they see a sensor like this. I honestly believe that this is not illegal. The sensor is not even touching the meter at all, just the support. However, you know how these kind of workers could be and they usually know what they are trained for only. If they see anything out of their knowledge, they will probably think that the meter counter is being tampered… I hope I am wrong!

Mine is inside home, and the inspector has not seen it, but sure, when I have to pass the 5 year inspection, I will remove it to avoid problems.

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How did you power up the sensor in the end, with batteries or installing wires? I have this same gas meter and could potentially run a cable alongside the gas pipe given there’s room around it but I’m concerned this might bring trouble on the next inspection.

Installing wires. Battery lasts less than a single day. I guess this specific sensor needs quite a lot of continuous power to work. I managed to hide it quite good and no issues in the 2-3 months I used it. However, this system makes the values to offset quite often, so I eventually took it out.