Smart Meter Project using ESPhome

[Tobster]

Dear all,

I want to build a smart meter IR reading device using ESPhome. I found the SML component which makes me optimistic that the sensor data processing part should work.

However, my soldering abilities are limited and I have no 3D printer, meaning I looked for components that just have to be put together. In my plan I ended up with the components from M5stack.

Note, (I know sounds funny) I have no power plug close to the electric switching compartment and as this is a rental home, I cannot change anything in the wiring. Therefore, I would like to go on with a battery pack (or power bank) and deep sleep for most of the time, and frequent updates on power consumption (say every 30 mins).

Generally I would be in favor of a M5core Basic v2.6 but it is a bit larger. A 2000mAh battery would have to be external and I assume the large display will consume quite a lot of power. The more recent M5core2 currently seems to be not supported out of the box.

Therefore, maybe a M5StickC maybe would be better as there is the large battery pack available.

Now my questions are:

• I found several ongoing developments and threads regarding recent M5 components in ESPhome. To what I understand, both M5core2 and M5stickC PLUS are still not running without deeper coding experience. Can someone comment? Did I miss some final working recipe or ESPhome update to include those devices?

• I would prefer to go on with M5stack sensors to avoid soldering. Now this M5Stack IR sensor could be worth a try, I hope. But it has to be attached to pins working in UART mode, and I found the M5stack docs to be not really clear about it: While I read that generally, the UART units can be coupled to any pin, the “port system” of M5stack makes clear assignments of which sensors have to be attached to which port (and thus pins). Can someone confirm I can simply plug in the sensor to the GROVE port of the M5stickC PLUS (“Port C”, if I’m right) and define it to work in UART mode, ignoring that the IR sensor module originally is designed to be attached to ADC (“Port B”)? Or can I plug the sensor to a “Port B” of the M5core and change its setting from ADC to UART? Note, that ESPhome generally uses pins, not ports.

• Has someone a guess whether deep sleep on M5core or M5stickC PLUS on a 2000mAh battery will lead to acceptable battery times above four weeks? Assume a cycle of 25mins sleep and 5min wake up time.

I placed the question also here.

Thanks a lot and best wishes,
Tobias