wiki.volkszaehler.org

Postfossil BV from the Netherlands: http://www.postfossil.nl/

offers a meter reading device at: http://www.youless.net/home.html

In germany the device is available via: http://www.bg-etech.de/

English manual can be found at: http://www.bg-etech.de/images/YouLess/Youless-manual-1.3C_EN.pdf

The device has a lan interface and can be used with analog ferraris meters as well as digital S0 input.

This is a screen shot of the web interface offered:

Information on how to access the device: http://wiki.td-er.nl/index.php?title=YouLess

In my environment the youless device has the ip address 192.168.0.12 Using the url http://192.168.0.12/a?f=j the json response is:

{"cnt":"22018,290","pwr":3789,"lvl":0,"dev":"","det":"","con":"*","sts":"","raw":1}

The json encoded information has the current meter count / kWh in „cnt“ and the current power level in Watts in „pwr“. This information needs to be converted to volkszaehler format and posted to the middleware - this is what the code below does.

The following code is an attempt to read data from the youless logger and post it to the volkszaehler middleware. As of version (2017/06 June) it's working in my environment.

There are three files used:

• php file: vzapihelper.php
• php file: yl.php
• sh file: yl.sh (the only file you have to enter individual code. UUIDs of your VZ-Channels an the IP adress of your youless device)

to edit or create a file type the following in your console of your volkszaehler raspberry or what else:

sudo nano /etc/yl.php

the file „yl.php“ in the folder „etc“ doesn't exist before, so you now have created. Insert the following code and press „STRG“ +„X“ to save an exit the file:

<?php
  /**
   * read meter data from youless device
   * and post it to volkszaehler
   * $Header: /etc/yl.php,v 1.14 2014/06/01 10:40:37 wf Exp wf $
   */
 
// common code for reading and posting
require __DIR__.'/vzapihelper.php';
 
   /**
    * read the meter
    */
   function readyouless($url) {
    $json=readUrl($url);
 
    // get the meter reading
    $meter=json_decode($json, true);
    // Will dump a beauty json :3
    // comment out next line if you'd like to debug the json message
    // var_dump($meter);
    return $meter;
   }
 
   /**
    * transfer youless reading to vz middleware
    *   param 1: url to read from youless
    *   param 2: vzurl - middleware url of volkszaehler
    *   param 3: channel uuid for power reading in Watt
    *   param 4: channel uuid for energy reading in kWh
    *   param 5: shall we post the cnt reading?
    */
   function youless2vz($url,$vzurl,$cuuid_pwr,$cuuid_cnt,$post_cnt) {
     // read data from youless
     $meter=readyouless($url);
     // get values 
     $pwr=$meter["pwr"];
     $cnt=$meter["cnt"];
     // the level is not interesting for digital meters
     // if you have an analog meter you might want to use and show this
     // $lvl=$meter["lvl"];
 
     // convert to php compatible value
     $cnt=str_replace(",",".",$cnt);
     // calculate Wh from kWh
     $cnt1000=$cnt*1000.0;
 
     // get human readable time stamp 
     $now=date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
 
     // display progress (comment if you use this in cron job)
     printf("%s YL: % 5d Watt % 10.3f kwH\n",$now,$pwr,$cnt);
 
     // post data to middleware according to: 
     // http://wiki.volkszaehler.org/development/api/reference
 
     # first post the power reading in Watt
     post2vz($vzurl,$cuuid_pwr,$pwr);
 
     # then the energy reading in Wh
     if ($post_cnt) {
       post2vz($vzurl,$cuuid_cnt,$cnt1000);
     }
 
   }
 
  $loop=0;
  // possible command line options
  // --loop --url= --vzurl= --cuuid_pwr= --cuuid_cnt= --delay= --cnt_modulo=
  $longopts=array("loop","url:","vzurl:","cuuid_pwr:","cuuid_cnt:","delay:","cnt_modulo:");
  $shortopts="";
  $options=getopt($shortopts,$longopts);
  // the url to read the youless device from (json option)
  $url=checkoption("url",$options);
  // the volkszaehler middleware url
  $vzurl=checkoption("vzurl",$options);
  // channel uuids
  // power (watts)
  $cuuid_pwr=checkoption("cuuid_pwr",$options);
  // energy (kWh)
  $cuuid_cnt=checkoption("cuuid_cnt",$options);
 
  // loop option - if no set just one shot (e.g. in cron)
  $doloop=array_key_exists("loop",$options);
  if ($doloop) {
    // how often to post to middleware
    // delay in seconds between posts 
    $delay=intval(checkoption("delay",$options));
    // how many delays for posting a kwH reading
    $cnt_modulo=intval(checkoption("cnt_modulo",$options));
    $maxloop=2147483647; // MAXINT
  } else {
    $maxloop=1;
    $cnt_modulo=1;
  }
 
  // run once or in a loop
  while ($loop<$maxloop) {
    youless2vz($url,$vzurl,$cuuid_pwr,$cuuid_cnt,$loop % $cnt_modulo==0);
    if ($doloop) {
      sleep($delay);
    }
    $loop++;
  }
 
?>

now do the same for the second file, the vzapihelper.php. Type the following in your console:

sudo nano /etc/vzapihelper.php

Insert the following code and press „STRG“ +„X“ to save an exit the file:

<?php
  /**
   * vzapi helper functions
   * $Header: /etc/vzapihelper.php,v 1.3 2014/05/30 06:57:23 wf Exp $
   */
 
  /**
   * get a curl channel
   */
  function curl($url) {
    //  Initiate curl
    $ch = curl_init();
    // Disable SSL verification
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);
    // Will return the response, if false it print the response
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    // Set the url
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
 
    return $ch;
  }
 
  /**
   * read the given url
   * @param $url:the url to read from
   */
  function readUrl($url)  {
    $ch=curl($url);
 
    // Execute
    $result=curl_exec($ch);
    return $result;
  }
 
  /**
   * post to the given url
   */
  function postUrl($url,$fields) {
     $ch=curl($url);
     $fields_string="";
     //url-ify the data for the POST
    foreach($fields as $key=>$value) { 
      $fields_string .= $key.'='.$value.'&'; 
    }
    rtrim($fields_string, '&');
    curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POST, count($fields));
    curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $fields_string);  
    $result=curl_exec($ch);
    return $result;
   }
 
   /**
    * post data to vz middleware
    *   param 1: vzurl - middleware url of volkszaehler
    *   param 2: channel uuid 
    *   param 3: value to post
    */
   function post2vz($vzurl,$cuuid,$value,$debug=false) {
     // post data to middleware according to: 
     // http://wiki.volkszaehler.org/development/api/reference
 
     // adapt timestamp to volkszaehler conventions
		 $timestamp=time()*1000;
 
     # first 
     $posturl=$vzurl."/".$cuuid.".json";
     $fields=array("ts"=>$timestamp,"value" => $value );
     $presult=postUrl($posturl,$fields);
     if ($debug) {
       echo $presult;
     }
   }
 
  /**
   * check that option $opt is available in $options
   * return the value if available
   */
  function checkoption($opt,$options) {
    if (array_key_exists($opt,$options))
      return $options[$opt];
    else
      die("option $opt missing!\n");
  }
 
?>

The last file ist the yl.sh. The script automatically will be started from the crontab (Taskmgr) of your linux system, so that the youless device is also working after a reboot.

Type the following in your console:

sudo nano /etc/yl.sh

Insert the following code and press „STRG“ +„X“ to save an exit the file:

#1 /bin/bash
while true
do
php /etc/yl.php \
  --url="http://IP ADRESS OF YOUR YOULESS DEVICE/a?f=j" \
  --vzurl="http://localhost/middleware.php/data" \
  --cuuid_pwr="ENTER HERE THE UUID OF THE CHANNEL FORM YOUR VOLKSZAEHLER YOU WANT TO POST THE CURRENT POWER TO" \
  --cuuid_cnt="ENTER HERE THE UUID OF THE CHANNEL FORM YOUR VOLKSZAEHLER YOU WANT TO POST THE METER READING (Zählerstand) TO" \
  --delay=15 \
  --cnt_modulo=12 \
  --loop
done
exit 0

Here is a statement of the parameter

• $url - the url to read the youless from
• $vzurl - the url your middleware runs at
• $cuuid_pwr - the channel id to post the power reading in Watt to
• $cuuid_cnt - the channel id to post the power reading in Wh to (resolution 1000)
• $delay - how long to wait between posts default: 5 secs / 12 readings per minute
• $cnt_modulo - how often to send the kwH reading default: on every 12th reading / once per minute

To make the sh-file executable for crontab (Taskmgr) you have to give the rights. Type the following into your console:

sudo chmod +x /etc/yl.sh

To edit the crontab type

crontab -e

and add the following line on the bottom of the file:

* * * * * /bin/bash /etc/yl.sh

It's very important the under this line is another line which is empty oder you can type a #. If it's not the crontab won't work.

So that's it. now it should work.

You also can test your configuration if you enter the following code in your console:

php /etc/yl.php \
  --url="http://IP ADRESS OF YOUR YOULESS DEVICE/a?f=j" \
  --vzurl="http://localhost/middleware.php/data" \
  --cuuid_pwr="ENTER HERE THE UUID OF THE CHANNEL FORM YOUR VOLKSZAEHLER YOU WANT TO POST THE CURRENT POWER TO" \
  --cuuid_cnt="ENTER HERE THE UUID OF THE CHANNEL FORM YOUR VOLKSZAEHLER YOU WANT TO POST THE METER READING (Zählerstand) TO" \
  --delay=15 \
  --cnt_modulo=12 \
  --loop
done
exit 0

the output should look like:

2017-04-29 10:59:00 YL:   640 Watt     50.595 kwH
2017-04-29 10:59:05 YL:   639 Watt     50.596 kwH
2017-04-29 10:59:10 YL:   639 Watt     50.597 kwH

For any feedback please contact wf (at) bitplan.com or tiedi (at) web.de. Enjoy …

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