SMETS2 Smart Meters (United Kingdom) [UPDATE?]

[kingswindsor (George King)]

@Confused and @AndrewFG have previously posted on the subject of getting information into Openhab from UK SMETS2 smart meters. These links refer SMETS2 Smart Meters (United Kingdom) [UPDATE] and Bulb.co.uk SMETS2 Smart Meters to openHAB
I’m an Octopus customer and they now have (maybe always have had) an API that allows access to data for gas and electricity consumption and the electricity rate. I was wondering if there was now a way to use this natively within OH3? Are there any bindings that would work if configured correctly with the Octopus API?

Given the energy cost crisis here it would be good to at least have a way to get consumption or costs rates at least up on the OH dashboard. If there are no ways at the moment I’ll look into it further but I though I’d ask first before digging in. Maybe a bit like this but without using a 3rd party website Accessing your Octopus smart meter data | by Guy Lipman | Medium

George

[AndrewFG (Andrew Fiddian-Green)]

FWIW my ‘solution’ was based on the ‘bulb’ integration, and in the meantime that company went broke, so the solution no longer works…

[crystollic]

I used the http binding to pull data from the Octopus API. The readings were always 24hours behind so you couldn’t see realtime consumption.

I would probably put an opto counter on the flashing led to get a real-time read that doesn’t need a “cloud” connection.

[MDAR (Stuart Hanlon, UK importer of Velbus hardware)]

@crystollic

I would probably put an opto counter on the flashing led to get a real-time read that doesn’t need a “cloud” connection.

That’s exactly what I’ve done with a velbus VMB7IN device, as well as with my water and gas (hall effect flow sensor and a reed switch)

Example

Current Kw

And accumulated KWH over the past year

Gas M³

[kingswindsor (George King)]

Thanks all for the thoughts on this. I’d also prefer to go for the local approach rather than relying on cloud connections. The information is also richer and up-to-date! Is there any more information/advice/guides out there on getting an opto counter (Velbus or otherwise) working? I’ve had a quick search but have not come up with anything that appears very relevant. Many thanks. I’ll look into this further next week when I have more time.

[MDAR (Stuart Hanlon, UK importer of Velbus hardware)]

Hi

The Velbus solution works as part of a bigger installation, you’d need a minimum of three Velbus components to create a working network.

• VMB7IN to connect a really simple LDR detector circuit. (An LDR and variable resistor to find the sweet spot to trigger a NPN transistor to create the clean 0v pulse. You could try just an LDR and a trim)

• VMBRSUSB for the link between Velbus and openHAB

• Any other Velbus device, because each module must see at least one other to start the timings on the bus (VMBRSUSB doesn’t count in this)

• 12V to 18V DC power (~200ma)

Once the physical side is done, you only need to configure the channel of the VMB7IN to convert the pulses into kWh values.

Normally, it’s 1000 pulses per KW

Page 5 of this very old PDF shows a VMB7IN connected to an in-line pulse generating sensor, this can easily be an LDR over the kWh led on your meter.

note_vmb7in_en_nl_fr_de_es.pdf

[kingswindsor (George King)]

Thanks Stuart
I’ll read up on all that info on the web-site.
George