Optical Meter Probe

So I bought a used probe figuring I could do *something* with it.

It's a US Microtel PM-500. It snaps on the power meter's optical port.



Has anyone ever seen information on interfacing with this thing? I mean last resort, I'll just build one of these http://www.solarshare.net/HT/OC/oc.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and build it into the housing.

But if I could interface with it directly, that would be better. I'm sure people have done this before...but I can't seem to find anything. I'd love to interface it with my home automation for automatic reporting.

What are you looking to do with this?

Read the power meter

Why not just use a Ted or something?

Wheres the challenge in that?

It's a great way to go.. the ANSI Optical port has all the goods.
I read all the interesting data tables out of my SDG&E meter every 60 seconds.
The values agree 100% with my bill, which is really the only accuracy that matters.

I wrote up a whole lot of information on how to do it on the Xantrex (solar inverter) forums a few years ago, and the forums are all gone now. So much for that archive.

There have been a few threads here on the subject. Search for ANSI?

If you're up for hacking some Perl code to do it, I can share what I have. The protocol is just optical RS-232, and it's all well-documented by ANSI. The only tricky part is getting the password to your meter (one of three passwords, actually). SDG&E's GE kv2c meters and some PG&E meters are well-known, but others (iTron OpenWay) are not.