[chbot] Electrical Meter LED pulse detection and capture

[Andrew Sands]

Hi,

Not really wanting to be that guy, however is the Arduino ESP8266 code you have used available / github / gitlab? Or do you have links to possible alternatives or basic starting ideas.

Stay safe, keep the social distance.

Regards all,
Andrew

On Mon, Aug 23, 2021, at 19:42, Tokala wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Sorry I haven't replied before now. I'm working through lockdown so have been very busy.
> 
> My power usage monitor uses an Arduino ESP8266 that has a small LDR circuit that collects the pulses from my power meter. My meter pulses 1000 times per Kw/H. https://photos.app.goo.gl/nZdce2HDEbvERMRf9
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bg7j75GA8e5rhpWE8
> 
> The ESP8266 subscribes to a channel on my MQTT server. The ESP8266 listens to the channel and when I put a particular command on the channel, the ESP8266 sends its current pulse count onto a second channel. The ESP8266 counter is then reset to zero. I poll the channel every 5 minutes so I'm getting the power usage at a 5 minute cadence.
> 
> A script on my home automation server reads the pulse count MQTT channel and then uploads the value to a No-SQL database (InfluxDB https://www.influxdata.com/products/influxdb/). No-SQL allows you to place any information, in any format, into the database so I can use the same database for many different applications.
> 
> To graph the power usage I use Grafana. https://grafana.com, it queries the InfluxDB directly and give a nice pretty interface. Gafana allows you to drill down on data and export in CSV.
> https://photos.app.goo.gl/BUvp7WFJgxsQsjHQ6
> 
> Darran
> 
> 
> 
> Sent with ProtonMail <https://protonmail.com/> Secure Email.
> 
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Monday, August 23rd, 2021 at 2:25 PM, hamster at snap.net.nz <hamster at snap.net.nz> wrote:
> 
>> For what is is worth, I have a few PCBs with an LDR and transister buffer for sensing these LEDs. If anybody wants one just ask and I can post you one. 
>> 
>> Because of the slow response of LDRs and ambient light changes it is best used with a ADC rather than trying to use high gains and triming it to work with a digital input. 
>> 
>> Mike
>> 
>> 
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Henri Shustak <henri.shustak at gmail.com>
>> Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2021, 1:26 PM
>> To: Christchurch Robotics <chchrobotics at lists.ourshack.com>
>> Subject: Re: [chbot] Electrical Meter LED pulse detection and capture
>>> Hi I am not this person. Also, I have not gotten a pi to monitor the flashing. But I do know that the pulse of the LED on a digital smart power meeter is able to report various information such as current.
>>> 
>>> It is just based on the frequency of the pulses.
>>> 
>>> Hope that helps.
>>> Henri 
>>> 
>>> > On 18/08/2021, at 11:34 AM, Andrew Sands <andrew at theatrix.org.nz> wrote:
>>> > 
>>> > Hi all,
>>> > 
>>> > During the Q and A around the possibilities of how to use a raspberry pi to monitor a water pump, a gentleman from the group stated that he had some form of detector monitoring the power pulse LED on his mains electrical meter.
>>> > 
>>> > I began a brief discussion with him (sorry, whomever you are as I completely forgot to ask your name, me I'm just one of the Andrew's) before Mark shuffled us all out of the building.
>>> > 
>>> > So, now that I might have a couple of extra days of 'forced' downtime would it be possible for said gentleman to describe what he has implemented / installed to the group via this reflector or pointers to a website. Or just communicate with me via direct email, it would be very much appreciated.
>>> > 
>>> > Everyone keep up the social distancing, stay safe and just go make something.
>>> > 
>>> > Regards all,
>>> > Andrew Sands
>>> > (022)681 6655
>>> > 
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