Using an inexpensive rtl-sdr dongle, it's possible to listen for signals from ERT compatible smart meters using rtlamr. This script runs as a daemon, launches rtl_tcp and rtlamr, and parses the output from rtlamr. If this matches your meter, it will push the data into MQTT for consumption by Home Assistant, OpenHAB, or custom scripts.
TODO: Video for Home Assistant
If you use Docker and would rather launch this under a container see
Tested under Raspbian GNU/Linux 9.3 (stretch)
Install RTL-SDR package
sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr
Set permissions on rtl-sdr device
/etc/udev/rules.d/rtl-sdr.rules
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bda", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2838", MODE:="0666"
Prevent tv tuner drivers from using rtl-sdr device
/etc/modprobe.d/rtl-sdr.conf
blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu
sudo apt-get install git
Install pip for python 3
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Install paho-mqtt package for python3
sudo pip3 install paho-mqtt
Install Go programming language & set gopath
sudo apt-get install golang
https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/SettingGOPATH
If only running go to get rtlamr, just set environment temporarily with the following command
export GOPATH=$HOME/go
Install rtlamr https://github.com/bemasher/rtlamr
go get github.com/bemasher/rtlamr
To make things convenient, I'm copying rtlamr to /usr/local/bin
sudo cp ~/go/bin/rtlamr /usr/local/bin/rtlamr
Clone repo into opt
cd /opt
sudo git clone https://github.com/ragingcomputer/amridm2mqtt.git
Copy template to settings.py
cd /opt/amridm2mqtt
sudo cp settings_template.py settings.py
Edit file and replace with appropriate values for your configuration
sudo nano /opt/amridm2mqtt/settings.py
Copy armidm2mqtt service configuration into systemd config
sudo cp /opt/amridm2mqtt/amridm2mqtt.systemd.service /etc/systemd/system/amridm2mqtt.service
Refresh systemd configuration
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
Start amridm2mqtt service
sudo service amridm2mqtt start
Set amridm2mqtt to run on startup
sudo systemctl enable amridm2mqtt.service
To use these values in Home Assistant,
sensor:
- platform: mqtt
state_topic: "readings/12345678/meter_reading"
name: "Power Meter"
unit_of_measurement: kWh
- platform: mqtt
state_topic: "readings/12345678/meter_rate"
name: "Power Meter Avg Usage 5 mins"
unit_of_measurement: W
Assuming you're using mosquitto as the server, and your meter's id is 12345678, you can watch for events using the command:
mosquitto_sub -t "readings/12345678/meter_reading"
Or if you've password protected mosquitto
mosquitto_sub -t "readings/12345678/meter_reading" -u <user_name> -P <password>