It looks like it's just a re-badged Prelude 1 made by GEO
This is a shame, as GEOs "Base Level" devices don't have any way of exporting the data, whereas their "intermediate" devices do.
I was inspired by this hack, but found that they were reading the LED light that flashes when the electricity meter records a unit of power going through it.
At first I thought I could physically open up the case and tap into it's circuitry, but this would be messy.
30 minutes of Googling later and I've found out it uses Wireless M-BUS as a radio standard between the battery powered receiver (attached to my mains electricity meter) and the little black npower reciever (with LCD display).
I doubt I can easily connect to the transmitter using M-BUS as the two devices are paired using encryption keys. Looks like I'll have to open up the wireless meter after all and see whats inside. Maybe there are some data tags I can connect to and steal the data that way, but it's unlikely.
Or I could just go and buy a new wireless electricity meter (defeating the point of a hack) or build one from scratch using an electricity clamp current meter. That would be more fun, but less of a hack and more of a build-from-scratch.
I've bookmarked everything and will shelve this plan for now :)
Hi, have you done anything more with this? I've got the same model and would love to hook it up to my Raspberry Pi.
ReplyDeleteI haven't inspected it yet. I think that the only way to get data out to something like a raspberry pi would be to open the smart meter and look for some of the data pins.
DeleteI've instead been looking into monitoring the red led that flashes on my electricity meter every time a certain amount of kw/h is consumed. This appears to be easier and slightly more accurate as it will eliminate any electrical interference.
Did you make any progress on this Sam? I've got one of these and am looking at integrating it into my Raspberry Pi home automation project without dismantling the thing if I can avoid it!
ReplyDeleteanything further - I have one too. John
ReplyDeleteSorry, no. I've given up on it at the moment, and have instead been exploring creating my own set of wireless sensors to collect data (e.g. temperature, humidity, etc) around my house, and collect the data with a raspberry pi, all based on the xBee standard https://www.sparkfun.com/pages/xbee_guide (it looks a lot more flexible than hacking a pre-made solution).
DeleteI'm not sure when I'll get round to this, or even updating my blog properly!