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Thread: Reading Elster V210P water meter with TPR6 RF module

  1. #1
    Automated Home Jr Member
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    Default Reading Elster V210P water meter with TPR6 RF module

    Hi,
    I just got an Elster V210P water meter with 868MHz TPR6 RF module installed at my house.


    I am developing my own home automation system (in C#) and was wondering if I can read values from this water meter somehow.

    I found out that the RF module uses the Wavenis protocol but so far I was not able to find much more information.


    Do you think this would be possible? Has anyone done this already?

    If yes, what hardware (868MHz transceiver?) would I need and where can I get this from?
    Ideally I would want to connect this to an Arduino or similar but I'm open to any suggestions at this point.

    Any pointers where to start on the software side?


    Thanks!
    Chris

  2. #2
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    Nobody has any ideas? ;-)
    Maybe somebody knows a better place to ask this question?

  3. #3
    Automated Home Legend TimH's Avatar
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    Go on then, I'll bite

    Have you tried contacting the manufacturer?
    There are contact details on the back of this datasheet, which also seems to confirm 868 Mhz operation.
    http://www-elstermesstechnik-de.dyn....0115e_0411.pdf

    Googling brings up a host of cheap 868 Mhz receivers (https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourc...eceiver+module). The firewall here is playing up so I can't look at any of the search results. My guess is that you'd want one with a pulse output which the arduino (or similar) could count.

    There was a good hobby site (www.mollyology.com, I *think*) but again, the firewall means I can't check it now. Anyway, that author had implemented pulse-counting for his leccy meter (IR flashes, but the pulse-count bit would be the same, I expect).

    HTH, please post back what you find.

    Cheers,
    Tim.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for replying!

    Contacting the manufacturer is a good idea (why didn't I think of that?). ;-)


    I had already done a bit of research but it didn't turn up too much. It seems it's not just a pulse. According to the datasheet of the RF module on the meter it speaks a protocol called Wavenis. I was not able to find much detail on this.

    I could try with one of these 868MHz receivers (they are cheap enough to try) but I have a feeling it would need to be a specialised transceiver (and probably not only a receiver).

    I didn't expect to get a full solution here, but these meters must be quite common in the UK now. So I was wondering if anyone has already tried and made some sort of progress getting readings from these meters.

  5. #5
    Automated Home Legend TimH's Avatar
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    Starting with the manufacturer is a good idea for all of these questions

    Wavenis could well be widespread (in terms of number of units deployed) but there's not much I've come across in the "hobby" space...
    I'm also not a programmer, so a critical review of what I do find is not easy.

    However, there seemed to be a few links worth pursuing (you may have already seen them) e.g.:
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/cor...urce=directory
    http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/electro...sujet_4_24.htm (in French)
    ...and one other which I can't find now, but will add later.

    There's quite a lot of pinterest hits too, but I'll leave you to create an account and investigate.

    The receiver boards I saw, while small, didn't seem like the complete solution and they needed other bits to be able to read and diagnose what's being sent. I guess that's where the arduino fits in for your plan.

    Good luck,
    Tim.

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    OK, so I contacted the manufacturer Elster (now part of Honeywell). They confirmed that it uses the Wavenis protocol but he is not able to provide any protocol details as they are confidential. He did send me datasheets for their "Waveport" reading devices but that is not too much use as they are probably not available to the public (I asked but haven't got a reply yet) or if they are, they are probably prohibitively expensive.

    It also seems that if the meter is read too often, the battery in the RF module will not last very long.

    So it seems I will have to drop the idea of trying to read that meter...

  7. #7
    Automated Home Legend TimH's Avatar
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    Bummer! it would not be unreasonable for them to release the protocol to you if you agree and sign their NDA. In practice I guess they can just refuse

    There are a couple of other options, not quite as elegant though.
    The first is to optically read your existing meter, I recall some posts about this for gas and electric metering so go-by examples should be available.
    The second is to install your own meter downstream (ie closer to your property) of the water boards meter, then you can choose whatever one you like, eg one that gives a direct pulse output per X litres of water passed.

    I'm writing this on the phone so it's not easy to find relevant links. I'll come back with some when I'm at my grandad-box

  8. #8
    Automated Home Legend TimH's Avatar
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    So herewith the links, finally...

    A great resource for home automation, including metering of services:
    http://bwired.nl/

    Wavenis & Linux
    https://www.gurux.fi/node/4406

    Wavenis & Arduino
    https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=63367.0

    Also, have a google for "meter reading with webcam", e.g.
    https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/15...-with-a-webcam
    There are loads of similar hits

    Good luck!

  9. #9
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    Thanks for that (and sorry about the delay).
    I'll have a closer look at the Wavenis links you posted.

    I did have a look at the article about meter reading with a webcam. I'll keep that in mind for other projects but I'm afraid I can't use this for my water meter. It is installed in a small "manhole" (only slightly bigger than the meter itself) on the road outside my house. There is no power there and no way to run a cable from the house either.

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