MeterReader

A Python script for a Raspberry Pi with a Pi NoIR camera and an infrared LED light that turns on the LED light, snaps a pic of the meter, saves it to disk, and sends it to the property manager via email.

View the Project on GitHub EncyclopediaRed/MeterReader

MeterReader

A remote meter reader that snaps a picture of the meter and sends it to an email address you specify. Finished Build of The Meter Reader Finished Meter Reader with top seperated from body of the irrigation valve cover Underside of the Meter Reader Showing the Camera and LED

Why It Exists

Recently my office needed a way to record water meter dials at the end of each month so we could send them to a 3rd party billing service. The water meters were inaccessible without a lot of effort, so we needed a way to read the meters remotely. The reader needed to be able to snap a picture of the meter dial in the dark and be suspended high enough to be able to keep the photo in focus. An irrigation valve cover was perfect for this as it had the holes at the bottom to clear the waterpipes going in and out of the meter. It also allowed for enough height for the installed camera, and was cheap ;).

After testing a number of LED lights, the best for the job ended up being an infrared LED. It was bright enough in photos (using a Pi NoIR Camera) and didn’t lens flare against the plastic cover of the meter. The Pi NoIR Camera perfectly picked up the light from the LED and was able to take incredibly clear and detailed photos of the meter.

Connected via WiFi, the Raspberry Pi will check the current day and time with a cronjob and if the Day is the last day of the current Month, at 01:00 the cronjob will fire meterread.py.

Materials List

Building

Electronics Mockup Sketch Electronics Actual Build

Resources

The meterread.py code is really just a hodgpodge of bits of scripts from similiar projects. I’ve included any references to any of the code and help I found below.