uni-meter is a small tool that simulates a Shelly Pro3EM device for the usage with the Hoymiles MS-A2 storage. It is not a full implementation of a Shelly Pro3EM device, currently only the parts that are needed by the Hoymiles storage are implemented.
The real electrical meter data currently can be gathered either from a VzLogger webserver or from a SMA energy meter using the SMA energy meter UDP protocol.
The idea is to further enhance the tool in the future by adding more input and output devices to get a universal converter between different electrical meters, inverters and storage systems.
The release versions are packaged as GitHub package.
You just have to download the uni-meter-<version>.tgz archive from the assets on the right side of the package's page.
The project can be build using Java 17 and Maven 3.8.5 or later by simply typing
mvn installwithin the project's root directory.
Afterward you will find a uni-meter-<version>.tgz archive in the target
directory which can be used to deploy the tool to the target system which most likely is a Raspberry Pi.
To install the tool on a Raspberry Pi, you need to have a Java 17 runtime installed. To check if this is the case, type
java -versionIf the output shows a version 17 or later, you are good to go. If not, you can install the OpenJDK 17 using the following commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jreAfterward, you can copy the uni-meter-<version>.tgz archive to the Raspberry Pi. In theory, you can extract the archive
to any location you like, but all the scripts and configuration files included assume an installation in the /opt
directory. So preferably you should extract it to the /opt directory using the following commands:
sudo tar -xzvf uni-meter-<version>.tgz -C /optsudo ln -s /opt/uni-meter-<version> /opt/uni-meterTo make the tool discoverable by the Hoymiles storage via mDNS, the avahi-daemon is used. On recent Raspbian versions,
the avahi-daemon is already installed and running. To check if this is the case, type
sudo systemctl status avahi-daemonIf you see an output like active (running), you are good to go. If not, you can install the avahi-daemon using the
sudo apt install avahi-daemonand enable it using the following command:
sudo systemctl enable avahi-daemon
sudo systemctl start avahi-daemonAfterward you can copy the provided service files to the /etc/avahi/services directory.
sudo cp /opt/uni-meter/config/avahi/*.service /etc/avahi/services/The daemon will automatically pick up the new service files and announce the tool via mDNS. No restart of the
avahi-daemon is needed.
The provided service files announce the Shelly Pro3EM emulator running on port 80. Even if I used another port within the service file, the Hoymiles storage does not seem to evaluate the port information and still connects to port 80. Maybe future Hoymiles firmware version also will honor the port information.
In the meantime this has the disadvantage that the uni-meter tool has to bind to port 80 which requires root privileges.
Using nginx or using setcap to run the tool as a non-root user is possible but not covered in this documentation.
The configuration is done using a configuration file in the HOCON format (https://github.com/lightbend/config/blob/main/HOCON.md).
The provided start script assumes the configuration file to be located in the /etc directory. To do so, copy the
provided configuration file to that location using:
sudo cp /opt/uni-meter/config/uni-meter.conf /etc/uni-meter.confThen use your favorite editor to adjust the configuration file to your needs as described in the following sections.
To use the VzLogger webserver as an input source set up the /etc/uni-meter.conf file as follows and replace the
<vzlogger-host> and <vzlogger-port> placeholders with the actual host and port of your VzLogger webserver.
Additionally provide the channel UUIDs of your system.
uni-meter {
output = "uni-meter.output-devices.shelly-pro3em"
input = "uni-meter.input-devices.vz-logger"
input-devices {
vz-logger {
url = "http://<vzlogger-host>:<vzlogger-port>"
energy-consumption-channel = "5478b110-b577-11ec-873f-179XXXXXXXX"
energy-production-channel = "6fda4300-b577-11ec-8636-7348XXXXXXXX"
power-channel = "e172f5b5-76cd-42da-abcc-effeXXXXXXXX"
}
}
}You will find that information in the VzLogger configuration file. As a
default, the VzLogger is configured in the /etc/vzlogger.conf file. Make sure that the VzLogger provides its
readings as Web service and extract the needed information from that file:
{
// ...
// Build-in HTTP server
"local": {
"enabled": true, // This has to be enabled to provide the readings via HTTP
"port": 8088, // Port used by the HTTP server
// ...
}
// ...
"meters": [
{
// ...
"channels": [{
"uuid" : "5478b110-b577-11ec-873f-179bXXXXXXXX", // UUID of the energy consumption channel
"middleware" : "http://localhost/middleware.php",
"identifier" : "1-0:1.8.0", // 1.8.0 is the energy consumption channel
"aggmode" : "MAX"
},{
"uuid" : "6fda4300-b577-11ec-8636-7348XXXXXXXX", // UUID of the energy production channel
"middleware" : "http://localhost/middleware.php",
"identifier" : "1-0:2.8.0", // 2.8.0 is the energy production channel
"aggmode" : "MAX"
},{
"uuid" : "e172f5b5-76cd-42da-abcc-effef3b895b2", // UUID of the power channel
"middleware" : "http://localhost/middleware.php",
"identifier" : "1-0:16.7.0", // 16.7.0 is the power channel
}]
}
]
}To use a SMA energy meter or a Sunny Home Manager as an input source, set up the /etc/uni-meter.conf file as follows
uni-meter {
output = "uni-meter.output-devices.shelly-pro3em"
input = "uni-meter.input-devices.sma-energy-meter"
input-devices {
sma-energy-meter {
port = 9522
group = "239.12.255.254"
//susy-id = 270
//serial-number = 1234567
network-interfaces =[
"eth0"
"wlan0"
// "192.168.178.222"
]
}
}
}The above configuration shows the default values which are used, if nothing is provided. If your port and group are
different, you have to adjust the values accordingly.
If no susy-id and serial-number are provided, the first detected device will be used. Otherwise, provide the values
of the device you want to use.
The network interfaces to use are provided as a list of strings. Either specify the names or the IP addresses of the interfaces you want to use.
After you have adjusted the configuration file, you can start the tool using command
sudo /opt/uni-meter/bin/uni-meter.shIf everything is set up correctly, the tool should start up and you should see an output like
24-12-04 07:29:08.006 INFO uni-meter - ##################################################################
24-12-04 07:29:08.030 INFO uni-meter - # Universal electric meter converter 0.9.0 (2024-12-04 04:58:16) #
24-12-04 07:29:08.031 INFO uni-meter - ##################################################################
24-12-04 07:29:08.033 INFO uni-meter - initializing actor system
24-12-04 07:29:10.902 INFO org.apache.pekko.event.slf4j.Slf4jLogger - Slf4jLogger started
24-12-04 07:29:11.707 INFO uni-meter.controller - creating Shelly3EM output device
24-12-04 07:29:11.758 INFO uni-meter.controller - creating VZLogger input device
24-12-04 07:29:16.254 INFO uni-meter.http.port-80 - HTTP server is listening on /[0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0]:80Now you should be able to connect your Hoymiles storage to the emulator using the Hoymiles app.
To start the tool automatically on boot, you can use the provided systemd service file. To do so, create a symlink
within the /etc/systemd/system directory using the following command:
sudo ln -s /opt/uni-meter/config/systemd/uni-meter.service /etc/systemd/system/uni-meter.serviceAfterward, you can enable the service using the following command so that it will be automatically started on boot:
sudo systemctl enable uni-meterTo start and stop the service immediately run
sudo systemctl start uni-meter
sudo systemctl stop uni-meterThe status of the service can be checked using
sudo systemctl status uni-meterIf you start the tool directly from the command line, all error messages will be printed to the console. If you start the
tool using the systemd service, you can check the log messages in var/log/uni-meter.log.
As a default the log level is just set to INFO. For debugging purposes you can set the log level to DEBUG or even
TRACE within the /opt/uni-meter/config/logback.xml file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Configuration status="WARN">
<appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
<encoder>
<pattern>%d{yy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS} %-5level %-24logger - %msg%n</pattern>
</encoder>
</appender>
<root level="INFO">
<appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
</root>
<logger name="uni-meter" level="TRACE" additivity="false">
<appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
</logger>
</Configuration>A restart is necessary for these changes to take effect.