UK Smart Meter Users - Access your meter data without HW

[neilk]

Hi all,
Up until recently in order to get meter / energy usage data in the same day required buying something called a "Consumer Access Device" that pairs with your smart meter. My Glowmarkt IHD/CAD plugin provides support for that and gives you instantaneous energy stats via the MQTT feed. The earliest you could get consumption data without it was after midnight for the previous day. Hildebrand recently added an API call that will pull the data from your meter "on demand", it won't give you real time, but you will get the data for the last full 30 minute period that the meter measures (they collect 48 readings a day). I am happy to add support for this halfway house to the plugin, but wanted to check if this was of interest or use to anyone. UK users only I am afraid, they would need a smart meter that is supported by the Free bright app. Let me know if anyone is interested, users who already have a CAD already get real time access, so no additional benefit.

Neil

[siclark]

If I could get a smart meter I would be interested! I like the idea of real time, but not sure I would use it, so being sensible, it would be nice not to have to buy a CAD just to get the more recent data.
I have asked Octopus, but no idea where I am on the queue.

[neilk]

In which case I will give it a go, I think it may well be easy enough to do but testing may be a pain (I will try just switching off the cad) as otherwise the data is available real time ish.
I need to tidy a couple of things anyway.

Getting a meter seems to be a postcode lottery via Octopus, some in days others months. Some people may be able to get moved up the priority list via the smart@octopus.energy email who seem to be able to help.

[siclark]

2 years on and Octopus finally fitted a smart meter yesterday. I am waiting for it to show up in the Bright app which will hopefully be today, as the gas is still missing even from the Octopus app.

I will see what I can get via the API before buying their display/CAD for the local MQTT access.

[durosity]

Does your plugin work with both the SMETS1 and SMETS2 modules? I have a SMETS1 that this would be quite nice with if it works


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[siclark]

This might help you but sure Neil can explain more.

https://shop.glowmarkt.com/products/glow-stick

[neilk]

The original GlowStick is available for SMETS1, but it doesn’t support local MQTT from what I understand and it may have limitations on meter type. They did talk about a new screen less device that does do local MQTT as well but I am not sure if it has been released. The plugin supports both local and cloud MQTT which works well if you are not worried about the round trip and reliance on broadband connection. The support people at Hildebrand are extremely responsive and knowledgeable so I would suggest dropping them a note. It is possible the SMETS1 response is different, but we can work a fix on that if you get one and it is a problem as the data format is a little different and I don’t have one to test.

[siclark]

Neil, if Resouce Type is missing/blank in the drop.down for Glowmarkt Daily Consumption, do I need to give it more time?

The Bright app is showing me data under the electricity and gas tabs but the home screen says it can't do the summary information yet.

I want to just use the API for now as haven't bought their device yet.

[neilk]

If the App is not fully updating it may need some time to report, but I will take a look in the morning to remember how it is populated.

Thanks,
Neil

[siclark]

Jon persuaded my to buy the Glowmarkt display so I will use MQTT anyway, so you dont need to worry.

[neilk]

It does work really well and they are helpful with the support. I will take a look anyway as I cannot test “not having the IHD configured” so possible I am missing something.
Neil

[siclark]

The Bright app is fully working now but still nothing populated in that drop down

[neilk]

I just created a new device with debug logging from the plugin enabled (I have edited to remove other non relevant entries) and as you select the "Glowmarkt Daily Consumption" model it should drop the resource type list to the log (as you see below at 11:13) which is used to populate that pull down in the device config. The log entires below show a sucessful device creation. I can add better logging if you don't get anything sensible.

Code: Select all

21 Apr 2023 at 11:13:34
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              gas.consumption
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              gas.consumption.cost
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              electricity.consumption
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              electricity.consumption.cost
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Starting device: Test Electricity
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              No update for Test Electricity
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Updating device
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Time remaining on token is 434 days, 6:34:33.129045
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Updated resource 30b5fb84-ed2b-4df4-a8a4-0fc003996b81 of type electricity.consumption
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              {'status': 'OK', 'name': 'Smart Meter, electricity consumption', 'resourceTypeId': 'ea02304a-2820-4ea0-8399-f1d1b430c3a0', 'resourceId': '30b5fb84-ed2b-4df4-a8a4-0fc003996b81', 'classifier': 'electricity.consumption', 'data': {'valid': True}}
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Stopping device: Test Electricity
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Starting device: Test Electricity
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              No update for Test Electricity

Thanks,
Neil

[siclark]

Cheers.. starting again with the plugin I get this now in debug log, tokens deliberately obscured, however nothing populates in that drop down.

Code: Select all

   GlowmarktCAD Debug              <Response [200]>
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              {'valid': True, 'token': 'xxxxxxxxx.eyJ0b2tlbkhhc2giOiJiNGY2MjE0Y2Q1MjEzY2FjYjMwZDhmNjRlN2EyZGEyNjViYWUyZjBiZDQ5ZGMzNzlhYWFhNDc0YjkyODczMWM3OWYxNjllYjVkYjU2Y2RiMTEyNWZmNjkyZjRlYjFhNDEiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjoiMS4xIiwiaWF0IjoxNjgyMDc1Mjk1LCJleHAiOjE3Mjk1OTUyOTV9.uvB-pFFHYNocOcV9X0inb5K_1sMDN_EvIo80wG9LnYM', 'exp': 1729595295, 'userGroups': [], 'functionalGroupAccounts': [], 'accountId': 'xxxxxx-1d90-4d27-8c01-1c8acc7b8d47', 'isTempAuth': False, 'name': ''}
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              xxxxxxxxx.eyJ0b2tlbkhhc2giOiJiNGY2MjE0Y2Q1MjEzY2FjYjMwZDhmNjRlN2EyZGEyNjViYWUyZjBiZDQ5ZGMzNzlhYWFhNDc0YjkyODczMWM3OWYxNjllYjVkYjU2Y2RiMTEyNWZmNjkyZjRlYjFhNDEiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjoiMS4xIiwiaWF0IjoxNjgyMDc1Mjk1LCJleHAiOjE3Mjk1OTUyOTV9.uvB-pFFHYNocOcV9X0inb5K_1sMDN_EvIo80wG9LnYM
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Token is xxxxxxxxxx.eyJ0b2tlbkhhc2giOiJiNGY2MjE0Y2Q1MjEzY2FjYjMwZDhmNjRlN2EyZGEyNjViYWUyZjBiZDQ5ZGMzNzlhYWFhNDc0YjkyODczMWM3OWYxNjllYjVkYjU2Y2RiMTEyNWZmNjkyZjRlYjFhNDEiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjoiMS4xIiwiaWF0IjoxNjgyMDc1Mjk1LCJleHAiOjE3Mjk1OTUyOTV9.uvB-pFFHYNocOcV9X0inb5K_1sMDN_EvIo80wG9LnYM
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Expiry is 1729595295
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Time remaining on token is 549 days, 23:00:02.279209
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              Getting Resources
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              gas.consumption
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              85b7d0ab-8ed8-4502-844a-xxxxxxx
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              gas.consumption.cost
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              43fae985-414b-4aa0-a38e-xxxxx
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              electricity.consumption
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              c5a9d2ba-fc2c-4359-8fa1-xxxxxxx
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              electricity.consumption.cost
   GlowmarktCAD Debug              ccd85f01-c3c4-4ec9-879f-xxxxxxx

[neilk]

That is strange, I wonder if this is because when you first ran it the resources were not available, it should however update the plugin preferences file when you open and save the plugin configuration.

Could you try doing just that (opening and saving the plugin config) which should refresh the resource list that the device config uses to populate that list.

If that doesn't work could you check out the plugin preferences file "com.barn.indigoplugin.GlowmarktCAD"

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Prefs type="dict">
	<API_enable type="bool">true</API_enable>
	<Label1 type="string"></Label1>
	<Label2 type="string"></Label2>
	<Label3 type="string"></Label3>
	<Label4 type="string"></Label4>
	<Label5 type="string"></Label5>
	<Label6 type="string"></Label6>
	<Label7 type="string"></Label7>
	<MQTT_enable type="bool">true</MQTT_enable>
	<MQTT_enable_local type="bool">true</MQTT_enable_local>
	<Pound_enable type="bool">false</Pound_enable>
	<bright_account type="string">neil.@XXXXXXXXXX</bright_account>
	<bright_password type="string">XXXXXXXXX</bright_password>
	<electricity.consumption type="string">XXXXXXXX-ed2b-4df4-a8a4-0fc003996b81</electricity.consumption>
	<electricity.consumption.cost type="string">XXXXXXX46f5-a9b7-246384d425db</electricity.consumption.cost>
	<gas.consumption type="string">53094110-6acd-48ed-ac75-ce7f071d4228</gas.consumption>
	<gas.consumption.cost type="string">b8e6dd9d-47fc-4a90-8caf-3fe7b0670b86</gas.consumption.cost>
	<refresh_frequency type="string">10</refresh_frequency>
	<resource_list type="vector">
		<Item type="string">gas.consumption</Item>
		<Item type="string">gas.consumption.cost</Item>
		<Item type="string">electricity.consumption</Item>
		<Item type="string">electricity.consumption.cost</Item>
	</resource_list>
	<showDebugInfo type="bool">true</showDebugInfo>
	<simpleseparator1 type="string"></simpleseparator1>
	<simpleseparator2 type="string"></simpleseparator2>
	<simpleseparator3 type="string"></simpleseparator3>
	<simpleseparator4 type="string"></simpleseparator4>
	<simpleseparator5 type="string"></simpleseparator5>
	<token type="string">XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXbkhhc2giOiJkNDBjZmVhM2ZlZTFjN2YyYTk3YTc2YTdlZTY4MDkzMGU4ZTMwMzM1YTFjNjc4YzI1NDExODI3M2U3NmMyOTEyZjk0OGM1NmYxYTM4MDc5YTViOGU2YzZjZmFkM2NiNDciLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjoiMS4xIiwiaWF0IjoxNjgyMDgzNTI4LCJleHAiOjE3Mjk2MDM1Mjh9.6kkNmPL3_W8D6KcaLlATCONxhbC64mre2spUOHVyrlE</token>
	<token_expires type="integer">1729603528</token_expires>
</Prefs>

and see if it is creating the resource_list entry.

If that doesn't work I will push a new version with more logging and also that adds local MQTT support that you will need when the unit arrives anyway and I now realise I have never published !

Neil