The kMeter Loadable Kernel Module for montioring Sensus Protocol Absolute Encoder Water Meters
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
by: Rich Zimmerman
This Loadable Kernel Module is for reading a sensus compatible water meter via GPIO.
In order to work, the meter must be a typical 3 wire absolute encoder model.
Water Meter Pinout
------------------
most Sensus compatible meters (including the elster/AMCO meter) there are 3 wires (or three labeled
terminals):
RED: This is the clock signal and must be wired to an OUTPUT on the controller module.
Typically these require at least 5V to work, so if you're running 3.3V outputs (e.g. Raspberry Pi),
you'll need an opto-isolator or transistor to bump it up to 5V.
GREEN: This is the data signal and must be wired to an INPUT on the controller module. The meter will
pull this low to signify a bit and it'll float otherwise, so you'll have to pull this high to
work properly.
BLACK: Tie this to ground.
NOTE: There are no guarantees that these wire colors correspond to your meters. The meter's I've tested
have all been fairly robust about putting the wrong wires to the wrong terminals, but be careful!
Sensus Protocol
---------------
The sensus protocol sends data as 7 bits, 1 start, 1 stop, 1 parity bit. Baud rate is controlled by
toggling the clock pin. The module is currently configured to a 1000us clock cycle. That seems to be
about as fast as I can get and reliably read the couple different manufacturer's meters I have. YMMV.
This is controlled by the TICK_TIME variable in the code (tick time is 1/2 the full cycle time, so 500us
is the default)
The data is ASCII encoded in the following format:
V;RBxxxxxxx;IByyyyy;Kmmmmm
where xxxx is the meter read value (arbitrary digits, but not more than 12)
yyyy is the meter id (arbitrary digits)
mmmm is another meter id (arbitrary digits)
Note that the IB and K parts are optional
The line is terminated with a carriage return and then repeated.
Water Read Precision
--------------------
The precision of the water read value is typically something that can be programmed into the meter itself.
Most meters come factory programmed to only give values in terms of 10s or even 100s of gallons or liters.
Therefore, the meter read value will only give you the most significant digits of the meter dials. To give
full precision (even down to the tenth of a gallon if so equipped) you need specialized hardware. For
example, for Sensus branded meters you need the FieldLogic Hub software package and the TouchRead autogun.
I would LOVE to be able to reprogram Sensus compatible meters to give full resolution, but I don't have any documentation as to how to do that. If anyone out there does please send it to me!
Building
--------
To build, you'll need the kernel headers for your current kernel.
e.g. on Raspberry-pi it's easy. Just run
apt-get install raspberrypi-kernel-headers
to build, cd to the directory and make
to install the module use the insmod command. The module won't do anything without some parameters
passed to it. To get info on the parameters, type:
modinfo kmeter.ko
So, for example:
sudo insmod kmeter.ko debug=0 dataPin=27,22 clockPin=17,17
This will fire off the module and read data from two separate meters that are sharing a clock pin.
debug is set to 0 so there won't be a lot of chatter.
If you want to debug, set debug to true and monitor the kernel log file (e.g. tail -f /var/log/kern.log)
Reading Data
------------
When this module runs, it creates a sysfs at /sys/kMeter. This filesystem is described below
/sys/kMeter/poll_interval (the rate at which we poll the meter in seconds)
The next section has per meter variables. Replace the # with a meter number
/sys/kMeter/#/clockPin - the gpio pin assigned to the clock. (typically the red wire. 5V logic only)
/sys/kMeter/#/dataPin - the gpio pin assigned to the data input.(typically the green wire (must pull high))
/sys/kMeter/#/value - the meter read value
/sys/kMeter/#/number - the meter number (if supplied. If not this will return a -1)
/sys/kMeter/#/k_number - the meter k_number (if supplied. if not this will return a -1)
/sys/kMeter/#/lastTime - the last unix time that the meter was successfully queried.
Note on sharing clock pins
--------------------------
This is somewhat experimental. Generally when the clock pin is set low for a second or so, the meter
will reset its send buffer. The module takes care of this. If this didn't happen, the two meters
would inevitably get out of sync in sending data. Generally it's a good idea to NOT share clock
pins if you can avoid it. That said, I run it in a sprinkler app with a shared pin and have so
for months without issue. No guarantees here though.