I would like to monitor my electric meter w/HA. But I’m having difficulties seeing the meter with rtlamr.
(This is something I posted in the rtlamr github discussion. But that site gets little traffic. So I though I’d ask the HA crowd as my ultimate goal is to use HA to monitor my electric meter.)
I have rtlamr set up to the extent I can start it like this:
rtlamr -msgtype=all
…and see my (everyone’s) water meter. That’s great. But what I really want is to monitor my electric meter. It is a GE / Silver Spring Networks NIC 314. And I can see someone had added this meter back on Jan 7, 2018 to the Google Doc list of meters here:
…which is very tantalizing. But I don’t know how they were able to configure rtlamr to listen to this electric meter.
I have used the FCC ID (“OWS-NIC514”) to look up the meter. Interestingly Itron Inc. appears as the Applicant Name. I suppose this is good news as Itron is supposed to be supported by rtlamr.
However, there are 7 entries. 4 with frequency range 902.3 to 926.9. But 3 with frequency range 2405.8 to 2480.9. I’m thinking that SDR’s operate in the 900MHz+ range and this news of a 2405.9 to 2480.9 range meter is … well, bad news for rtlamr users?
I also see that my electric utility offers a sync up with commercially available wireless receivers. The fact that you need to log into your electric utility account and start this process leads me to believe the meter needs to be configured-for/told-about the wireless receiver.
Only problem w/this approach … it appears the companies that once offered these receivers have dropped them or integrated them into expensive devices with many unwanted, unusable or redundant features.
The meters are often protected, so no accidental/unwanted access occur.
That means the interface might be shutdown, the communication is encrypted, you need a special user created, the protocol might need to be set up.
These things are often handled by logging in on your account at the provider and then meter is configured through their access and you will be given username, encryption key, protocol definition and so on.
It might seem annoying, but it is for your security and that type of access is likely far superior to any DIY hacks, because you get a direct digital connection to your meter, which is more stable and often offer additional data.
The problem with “compatible” COTS receivers is that some have been dropped (no sign of them on the OEM’s web site) and some (might, OEM is not really clear) have been integrated into much more expensive devices which contain unwanted or not-compatible features (i.e. HVAC controller).
The HA Opower option may be an alternative. But I have to figure out how that works.
My advice is to talk to your provider and see what they can tell you.
They know how it is configured and know what is possible and more importantly what is not possible.