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Reading Gas meter

Posted: 09 Nov 2018, 13:16
by crazynight
Any suggestions for how I can read this gas meter using Espeasy?

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 09 Nov 2018, 13:38
by Domosapiens
I see 1 pulse =10 dm3
Is this reader an option?
https://www.letscontrolit.com/wiki/index.php/TCR5000

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 09 Nov 2018, 19:25
by HomeJCL
This is a std meter with a magnetic pulse, as there is no electrical connection !

It just has a mechanical totaliser with magnetic pulse for an additional electrical totaliser module, TCR5000 will not work

So a magnetic pulse sensor or similar reed or hall sensor should work.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 13:16
by adahmen
Hello,

I have a similar question regarding a gas meter.
I have an Elster BK-G4 and I'm using volkszaeher on a Raspberry PI to measure gas consumption.
But I'm looking to a new solution which offers me an easy way to retrieve the current BK-G4 total value.

I searched in this forum, but did not find an answer to my question.

Of course I can use ESPEasy to connect a reed contact and to count "pings" from the reed sensor.
But can I use ESPEasy to see my concrete energy total value (like the numbers on the BK-G4)?
Therefor it must be possible to set an offset and to set the value of a "ping".
With this information, ESPEasy would be able to deliver the numbers.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 14:57
by Shardan
Hello,

Yes and no.
It should be possible to connect the reed contact of the counter to an ESP and use the counter plugin to count,
then calculate needed values with rules and feed a dummy variable with that. Even an offset could be defined within the rules.

I wouldn't go this way. It has a major disadvantage: The counter values are volatile!
Says: Every power loss or reset will reset the values.

I'd always would submit the pure counter value and do the calculations on another device (RPi? PC?)
where they can be calculated, visualized and stored too.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 15:53
by adahmen
That's true (with the current ESPEasy Options.

But why not enhance the pulse counter device with an option to set an offset (as a starting value) and another option to enable storing this value (not only in RAM), so that this value is even available after reboot.

And yes, it's a bit volatile ... but if the ESP is down ... a RPI can even not count the pulsing :-)
So it's the same ...

Not sure where and how to discuss the small feature request ...

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 16:16
by grovkillen
Storing would need external EEPROM support or MQTT with retain activated.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 19:12
by adahmen
Not sure if we mean the same.
It should remain like the configuration of devices ....
Not sure how this is done and if it would be possible to do this with values the same way.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 19:29
by grovkillen
Continuously writing to the flash would wear it out so it's not recommended. That is why I suggested an external EEPROM which is easy to replace and cheap.

Re: Reading Gas meter

Posted: 16 Dec 2018, 20:39
by moebius
What advantage do you expect?