Hello,
I am new here and would like to ask my first question.
I am planning to build a single-family house next year. At the moment, I am trying to get an overview of the options offered by the different trades.
Since I work as a software developer, I am naturally interested in technology, and I have been looking into bus systems. After some research, including here on the forum, I have concluded that it probably isn’t worth it, as such a system would simply be underutilized.
For example, during the Christmas season in my current apartment, it annoys me that I can’t control the Christmas lights with a central switch—but for the four or five weeks when this matters, the effort is too much for me.
It would certainly be appealing to control any lamp or outlet with any switch, but usually you set it up once as you want it and don’t change it later.
Now I have been looking into smart metering, that is, the electronic monitoring of utility meters. This topic interests me a lot. For my new build, I would like to have monitoring for electricity, gas, and water meters.
There seem to be different options for this—I would prefer a connection via Ethernet. Essentially, it is important just to read the values via software on a PC.
Has anyone done this, especially for gas and water meters?
I’m not sure what my utility providers would say if I don’t use their meters, or if that even poses any issues.
Or do I always need a meter from the utility provider and then just connect my smart meter behind it?
I have read a bit about KNX FacilityWeb, which apparently are devices that have a KNX bus but each with their own web server. This could be a possible way. Ideally, I want a fairly integrated solution, not some patchwork arrangement where a scanning module is just clipped onto the existing meter. Or is this the only option because utility companies won’t cooperate otherwise?
What other systems would you recommend?
I also have no idea how much a standard electricity, gas, or water meter costs compared to a smart meter—maybe such an effort isn’t worthwhile in this case after all.
MacDisein
I am new here and would like to ask my first question.
I am planning to build a single-family house next year. At the moment, I am trying to get an overview of the options offered by the different trades.
Since I work as a software developer, I am naturally interested in technology, and I have been looking into bus systems. After some research, including here on the forum, I have concluded that it probably isn’t worth it, as such a system would simply be underutilized.
For example, during the Christmas season in my current apartment, it annoys me that I can’t control the Christmas lights with a central switch—but for the four or five weeks when this matters, the effort is too much for me.
It would certainly be appealing to control any lamp or outlet with any switch, but usually you set it up once as you want it and don’t change it later.
Now I have been looking into smart metering, that is, the electronic monitoring of utility meters. This topic interests me a lot. For my new build, I would like to have monitoring for electricity, gas, and water meters.
There seem to be different options for this—I would prefer a connection via Ethernet. Essentially, it is important just to read the values via software on a PC.
Has anyone done this, especially for gas and water meters?
I’m not sure what my utility providers would say if I don’t use their meters, or if that even poses any issues.
Or do I always need a meter from the utility provider and then just connect my smart meter behind it?
I have read a bit about KNX FacilityWeb, which apparently are devices that have a KNX bus but each with their own web server. This could be a possible way. Ideally, I want a fairly integrated solution, not some patchwork arrangement where a scanning module is just clipped onto the existing meter. Or is this the only option because utility companies won’t cooperate otherwise?
What other systems would you recommend?
I also have no idea how much a standard electricity, gas, or water meter costs compared to a smart meter—maybe such an effort isn’t worthwhile in this case after all.
MacDisein
M
MacDisein7 Feb 2013 18:46I believe it wasn’t made entirely clear what I’m looking for.
My point is not that the energy supplier provides me with a meter and I then access my consumption data through their online portal. Rather, I want only myself to be able to access my consumption data by connecting via LAN to a meter installed in my house.
By now, I have found some suitable devices that can do this – but their price range is higher than I consider reasonable. For this reason, I have put the topic aside for the time being.
I’m not sure how linking is handled here in the forum – if anyone is interested in my research, feel free to send me a message, and I will share my findings.
My point is not that the energy supplier provides me with a meter and I then access my consumption data through their online portal. Rather, I want only myself to be able to access my consumption data by connecting via LAN to a meter installed in my house.
By now, I have found some suitable devices that can do this – but their price range is higher than I consider reasonable. For this reason, I have put the topic aside for the time being.
I’m not sure how linking is handled here in the forum – if anyone is interested in my research, feel free to send me a message, and I will share my findings.
MacDisein schrieb:
What matters to me is that I—and only I—can access my consumption data by connecting via LAN to a consumption meter installed in my house.What are the benefits of this?
Hi,
I think most people understood what you wanted. Unfortunately, we slipped a few steps back and started questioning the topic in general (sorry about that). I have seen some electricity meters from different companies that had LAN connections (e.g., Siemens). These cost more than 2500€ (about 2700 USD). In general, until about three years ago, it was planned to equip devices with wireless technology, which might also be in line with what you want. For the devices we used in research, the manufacturer provided descriptions of accessible interfaces to retrieve the data. A suitable counterpart (client) had to be developed by us. Unfortunately, I don’t know to what extent this has already reached the consumer market, but some electricity providers planned to sell complete packages that included the functionality you are looking for.
I think most people understood what you wanted. Unfortunately, we slipped a few steps back and started questioning the topic in general (sorry about that). I have seen some electricity meters from different companies that had LAN connections (e.g., Siemens). These cost more than 2500€ (about 2700 USD). In general, until about three years ago, it was planned to equip devices with wireless technology, which might also be in line with what you want. For the devices we used in research, the manufacturer provided descriptions of accessible interfaces to retrieve the data. A suitable counterpart (client) had to be developed by us. Unfortunately, I don’t know to what extent this has already reached the consumer market, but some electricity providers planned to sell complete packages that included the functionality you are looking for.