I am hoping someone may have the ability to scan the front and top of a utility gas meter that looks like the one above.
I would like the use this scan to model a front cover similar to the one shown in this link below, but suited for this type of meter.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4845512
The purpose of this project is to hold a esp32 board to get consistent meter readings and feed them into home assistant. Here is the project below.
https://github.com/jomjol/AI-on-the-edge-device
Any help would be appreciated.
Why wouldn’t you just make a camera mount that can clamp onto one of the two gas pipes and can gimbal for a good view? Seems a lot more flexible and easier to get right the first print.
That’s actually not a half bad idea, thanks for that!
I don’t know this exact meter, but I had a little optical sensor on my meter for years. There was a dial that rotated once per a given volume, it had a black part and a white part. This way a single led and light detector could measure exact revolutions and be able to read out the value. This way it didn’t have to read the numbers, which is much harder and can’t measure small increments very well.
My meter got replaced with a smart kind years ago, so now I simply have a port that can be read out directly with way more information. But my janky led and light detector thing worked very well for years. Since this was years ago it ran a very simple PIC micro, nothing like a full fledged ESP platform.
This model on Thingiverse looks like it might be fairly close.
If you’re already using an esp32 why not just get a simple ultrasonic sensor and measure flow on an indoor inlet pipe? You may need to know the pressure (probably 1.7 kPa) and temperature but that should be possible to calibrate against your meter readings
Then your project just becomes a simple pipe clamp that can be indoors
Afaik scanning will require extra tuning steps. Alternatively you can take rough measurements of few cross sections, then print them on paper, cut the contours and check how it fits, make adjustments and repeat until you are satisfied
Damn ngl that thing looks thicc af 🥵💦
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A esp32 board is a micro-board with a camera on it, it along with the proper software will allow to see and read the digits on a dial and send them to home assistant.
Think of it like holding a camera with your hands and taking a picture of your meter readings.
Yeah not sure how your request got misunderstood. Now if you’d said “and a display” then… Well.
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It’s difficult to conclude he meant anything but that. You are more worried about the opinion of your gas company than the rest of us are, and that’s fine.
You’ve made your point, now please hush while the rest of us live more exciting lives.
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A esp32 board is a micro-board with a camera on it, it along with the proper software will allow to see and read the digits on a dial and send them to home assistant.
Think of it like holding a camera with your hands and taking a picture of your meter readings.
Are you serious?
Lollll dude what do you think OP is doing here exactly? “Hacking” the meter? He’s just trying to get an accurate reading remotely, don’t be so dramatic.
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You’re not really helpful because you misunderstood what they’re trying to do. Look at the Thingiverse link. They want to place a camera in front of the meter. Not disassemble it or touch the meter at all, except for attaching a mount that holds that camera. Not touching a meter (just barely touching the casing) and pointing a camera at it should be allowed in most countries.
But you’re right, you shouldn’t mess with your meters. Or rewind the mileage on your car, or swap price-tags in the store. That’s all fraud and not allowed.
Btw, we have meters that have a magnet inside of the dial, so you can read it with a reed-switch.
It’s only fraud if you’re doing it to defraud somebody (like taking their money). OP is not.
When he disassembles and adds or replaces parts to the meter
TIL a fridge magnet is “disassembling, adding or replacing parts” to a refrigerator.
The fix would be lightly grasping the 3D printed part, and giving it a slight pull. There’s no disassembly, no part replacement, and no adding parts. It’s essentially a clip on camera mount.
A clearly-labeled plastic box smaller than the actual metal meter is not likely to cause this law to be invoked, since there is no way in hell that a reasonable person could mistake it for the real thing. It would be like mistaking a Tonka toy for actual construction equipment.
![[Help] Looking for a 3D scan of a Utility Gas meter in Ontario.](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/fcc9e2b8-510e-4e47-be02-b9f514c1f216.jpeg){kind=link}