My Smart meter "i-credit 500 PRI", has an 3200 impulse/kWh flashing infared LED.
http://www.securetogether.com/iCredit-family.aspx
Would a device something like hhhh://phk.freebsd.dk/Eldims/
{replace the "hhhh" with "http", as your spam filter didn’t like it?}
work to detect the flashes and convert these into usable pulses. (i think the pulses are about 30ms). (how clean does the signal need to be)? is a sketchy sign wave ok, or does it need to have proper digital shape?
This would then show 100% correct energy usage, and you could just stick it onto the meter?
I would have loved to use the normal S0 wired pulse way, but i dont think i have that option with my meter.
Also, this seems like quite a common thing for meters to have (the LED), have you heard of this before? i have tried searching, but no luck.
If possible, would you even be able to have your own sensor based option that reads the LED?
Regards Ralph.
Hello Ralph,
The FLM's pulse ports (4 and 5) can read out any type of sensor, as long as it's output is an open-collector one. So if you'd place an NPN opto-transitor in front of your meter's LED, connecting the emittor to - and the collector to + of the pulse port, then this should work.
A 3200 imp/kWh would mean that you have to set the meter constant to 0.312(5) on the FLM.
Since each type of LED has a distinct spectrum and intensity, it's not straightforward to provide a generic solution.
Cheers,
-Bart.
would something like this work? its NPN, but thats about all i can match....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/10-pieces-IR-3mm-round-clear-NPN-photo-transi...
Hi Ralph,
The best way to find out is to try. Positioning of the sensor relative to the LED is crucial. You could already test by connecting a scope or multimeter to the photo-transistor and measure impedance or voltage.
Cheers,
Bart.