Presentation: Reading data from smart meters with an IoT adapter
- Datum: Thursday, the 25th of April
- Zeit: From 19:30 to ca. 20:15
- Ort: At our Hackerspace (Kyburgstrasse 13 in 3013 Bern)
The process of installing smart meters in Swiss homes has been on-going for several years. The aim is to replace conventional electricity meters across the country by 2027. In Bern, EWB started installing devices of the types L+G E450 and Ensor eRS801 last year. BKW are planning the installation of 400'000 Kamstrup Omnipower smart meters, beginning mid 2024.
All smart meters in Switzerland come with an interface that should enable the owner to access the collected data themselves. The technical aspect of this access, however, is not trivial, as it requires special hardware and software.
To overcome this, a range of IoT adapters with an open source firmware - called gPlug - has been developed. These small devices can be connected to the smart meter using a single cable and make its data available on a website via WLAN in the local network or deliver it to a smart home system via MQTT.
A lot of engineering has gone into this. The hardware had to be optimised for series production without compromising reliability. The requirement to supply the device with both data and power via a single cable was a particular challenge for some of the interfaces.
In his presentation, Hermann Hüni will also describe the heterogeneous smart meter landscape in Switzerland. The different network operators install smart meters from different manufacturers, which also have different interfaces.