In Belgie (Antwerpen) webhebben we have digitale watermeters from Kamstrup, the Multical 21.
now, in stead of DIY solutions, I’ve found the MC21 Pulse Adapter
It sends “pulses” through the attached wire…
Well, I don’t know a lot about electrity… but is there a way to “convert” those pulse into something else that Home assistant can work with? Wild guess: like connecting to an open-close sensor or something else that can send zigbee “open/close” messages, or something else that can connect to HA?
While technically possible to make a Template using input from a Sensor in combination with Scripts and Templating, that is not how such a device would practically need to work, as instead it would be better if most of the work should really be processed and stored locally on the device instead and then it would only present the calculated result to Home Assistant as an entity for consumption the water integration, as that way it does not matter if your Home Assistant instance is down for a perioid of time.
So while not impossible it is for sure going to be much more complicated or at least a steeper learning curve if want to build a new Zigbee device instead of an ESPHome (ESP8266/ESP32) based solution.
However, if you are an Embedded Software Engineer/Developer when I for one would appreciate if someone would develop a Zigbee device product that could read those. To get start with Zigbee read:
First of all, thank you very much for your answer. Now, I will have to take some time to think about what I can/should do.
ESPHome is totally new to me… But, I see the name more and more appearing in HA… Ignored it so far, but maybe it’s time to have a look at it…
thanks!
You can look at Espressif ESP32 and ESP8266/ESP8266 modules as a less expensive alternative to Arduino with built-in WiFi (and sometimes also built-in Bluetooth). The big difference there when comparing to different Zigbee platforms which so far have primarily targeted professional Embedded software developers/engineers who develop high-volume products is that ESPHome is made for and by DIY home automation enthusiasts so they are already components or custom components available than an advanced DIY user with some basic scripting skills can cobble together something that can work practically using only Automations and Templates without having to dive into the full ESPHome C++ API, (the same can by the way also be said about Tasmota which is another popular alternative for ESP8266/ESP32 and ESP32 that can be easier to get started with beginners but will be less flexible for advanced stuff in the long run unless you are a C/C++ programmer). Many people start out by buying some ESP8266/ESP8285 and/or ESP32 development boards to play around with the most commonly available simple sensors made for the Arduino based development boards:
With Zigbee you almost always have to be a C and/or C++ programmer unless you want to do something really simple like only reading a popular binary or digital sensor and not process the data locally, as then you can just use the Zigbee Configurable Firmware tool by PTVO → https://ptvo.info as it allows just about anyone to build firmware for Texas Instruments based radio modules → https://ptvo.info/zigbee-configurable-firmware-features/ which recently also added support for CC2652 and CC1352 SoC (for which there are modules and development kits that do not cost a lot):
However, if you are or want to become a professional Embedded software developer/engineer then suggest that you instead look at all the evaluation boards and development kits from Silicon Labs. Noting that you would at least need to buy one of Silabs starter kits to get registered access to their Zigbee SDK:
PS: I for one do hope that you are or want to become a professional Embedded software developer/engineer as I would love to see more Zigbee-based products. Note there that if you develop a Zigbee-based product using Silicon Labs Zigbee SDK (or Texas Instruments Zigbee SDK and hardware for that matter) then it should be relatively easy to later port that firmware application to their Thread/ (including Matter/CHIP) SDK and/or Bluetooth SDK using the same hardware and thus convert the product to those other protocols.
There are many inexpensive counters that translate pulses to Modbus and those can be read in Home Assistant. I use Pulse counter MB-LI-4 Lo to read gas meter pulses and a RS485 to TCP convertor (because of the distance) although you can also us a 3€ USB → RS485 convertor if your meter is close to your HA appliance. I’m also considering this impuls adapter, but did anyone try it? Waterlink mentions you are not allowed to put anything on the meter (https://water-link.be/faq/clip-on) so I can imagine they may have disabled the infrared port on the meter.
