Sensing from Pulse Output Replicator

I have a OKO XM05-2101 which is described as having an ‘optional replicated pulse output’. The actual meter has an icon on the right hand side which looks like a horse-shoe magnet, as can be seen on the PDF in the link.

  1. Does this icon suggest that my meter has this replicated pulse output?
  2. Any tips on positioning a sensor or what type to use. There is lug on the right hand side of the meter near the icon, to which I am inclined to attach the a hall sensor (or reed switch).
  3. I’m expecting to be able to detect these pulses at the same rate as the actual meter is sending them, but can’t find any mention of others using this technique. Does anyone know why?

BTW, although this gas meter is ‘smart’, there is no associated IHD and the only a dumb electricity meter on site. FWIW the actual gas meter is a Honeywell BK-G10M.

TIA

Welcome, Julian, to the OEM forum.

The easy way to see if your meter has a magnet inside the ‘fastest’ register is to use a conventional magnetic compass, and watch the needle as the register makes one complete revolution. I can’t recollect seeing a meter, or a photo of one, with the magnet symbol. There’s mention in the manual (P.7) saying the BK-G…M version (yours) can accept a pulse transmitter, but what this is isn’t clear. I think there’s a good chance you’ll find a magnet in there. I’d hold the compass in front of, then underneath, the register drum.

I think you’ve not looked in the right place - there’s a page in ‘Docs’ Pulse Counting — OpenEnergyMonitor 0.0.1 documentation

But… Do you mean you want to look for a pulse output from the replicator? I’d doubt that it has one - why should it if it sends its data via Bluetooth?

I’d recommend a miniature reed switch. There’s zero risk of a spark even if you have a gas leak, and it requires no power supply.

Hi Robert,

Thank you for the response.

The OKO XM05-2101 is the pulse reader for the BK-G10M, and the magnet symbol was shown in the picture of the XM05 in the link I posted. It covers the area intended to read the pulse output from the BK-G10M.

Although the XM05 has bluetooth, it is only intended for commissioning, not for consumer use via their app which requires corporate credentials.

All of which is all why I’m looking to use the pulse replicator. I did see the pulse counting pages (thank for the link) but it doesn’t mention doing this via a replicator.

Thanks again.

I’d never seen a replicator mentioned before. Nobody writing here is likely to have used or needed one because emonCMS would appear to do everything that the replicator does in one way or another - the emonTx, emonTH and emonPi can all use a reed switch directly (I’m using an emonTH) and when the pulse count is fed into emonCMS, you can do the maths and get out the accumulated gas volume, and by adding in the calorific value, the energy. The only hard part is the instantaneous power - and unless the replicator has access to more than the pulses/register count, it too will have the same fundamental problem: you only know the rate of using gas between the previous pulse and the one that’s just arriving and you’re doing the maths on. In between, you know nothing.

If you use the gas meter’s data directly, you’re not tied to a commercial provider for access to your data, which has come to be a source of tears a few times in recent history.

I can’t find anything relating to the OKO XM05-2101, so I can’t comment about it.