AMRSCM2MQTT: Send AMR/ERT Utility Meter Data Over MQTT

Forked from amridm2mqtt but adapted to use SCM instead because that's what my gas meter uses

Original code was: (c) 2018 Ben Johnson. Distributed under MIT License.

Otherwise the rest is me: (c) 2023 Connor Kennedy. Still distributed under MIT License

Using an inexpensive rtl-sdr dongle, it's possible to listen for signals from ERT compatible smart meters using rtlamr. This script runs as a daemon, launches rtl_tcp and rtlamr, and parses the output from rtlamr. If this matches your meter, it will push the data into MQTT for consumption by Home Assistant, OpenHAB, or custom scripts.

Docker

You can run this with Docker using the published image at ghcr.io/conroman16/amrscm2mqtt:latest. Quick start with docker run (requires USB access and host networking):

docker run \
  --name amrscm2mqtt \
  --pull=always \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --network host \
  --privileged \
  --security-opt seccomp=unconfined \
  --device /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb \
  -e WATCHED_METERS="12345678" \
  -e MQTT_HOST="127.0.0.1" \
  -e MQTT_PORT="1883" \
  -e MQTT_USER="" \
  -e MQTT_PASS="" \
  ghcr.io/conroman16/amrscm2mqtt:latest

Using docker compose (a sample docker-compose.yml is included here):

1. Create an env file amrscm2mqtt.env next to docker-compose.yml:

WATCHED_METERS=12345678,87654321
MQTT_HOST=127.0.0.1
MQTT_PORT=1883
MQTT_USER=""
MQTT_PASS=""

2. Bring it up:

docker compose up -d

Notes:

• Host networking and USB device pass-through are required so rtl_tcp can access the RTL-SDR and expose it locally.
• The image supports multiple architectures (amd64, arm64, arm/v7).

Requirements

Tested on Debian 13 (trixie)

rtl-sdr package

Install RTL-SDR package

sudo apt-get install rtl-sdr

Set permissions on rtl-sdr device

/etc/udev/rules.d/rtl-sdr.rules

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bda", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2838", MODE:="0666"

Prevent tv tuner drivers from using rtl-sdr device

/etc/modprobe.d/rtl-sdr.conf

blacklist dvb_usb_rtl28xxu

git

sudo apt-get install git

pip3 and paho-mqtt

Install pip for python 3

sudo apt-get install python3-pip

Install paho-mqtt package for python3

sudo pip3 install paho-mqtt

golang & rtlamr

Install Go programming language & set gopath

sudo apt-get install golang

https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/SettingGOPATH

If only running go to get rtlamr, just set environment temporarily with the following command

export GOPATH=$HOME/go

Install rtlamr https://github.com/bemasher/rtlamr

As of modern Go versions, go get is no longer used to install binaries. Use go install with an explicit version:

go install github.com/bemasher/rtlamr@latest

Ensure $GOPATH/bin (typically $HOME/go/bin) is on your PATH, or copy the binary into a directory on your PATH.

To make things convenient, I'm copying rtlamr to /usr/local/bin

sudo cp ~/go/bin/rtlamr /usr/local/bin/rtlamr

Install

Clone Repo

Clone repo into opt

cd /opt
git clone [email protected]:Conroman16/amrscm2mqtt.git

Configure

Copy template to settings.py

cd /opt/amrscm2mqtt
sudo cp settings_template.py settings.py

Edit file and replace with appropriate values for your configuration

sudo nano /opt/amrscm2mqtt/settings.py

Install Service and Start

Copy armidm2mqtt service configuration into systemd config

sudo cp /opt/amrscm2mqtt/amrscm2mqtt.service /etc/systemd/system/amrscm2mqtt.service

Refresh systemd configuration

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Set amrscm2mqtt to run on startup

sudo systemctl enable amrscm2mqtt.service

Start amrscm2mqtt service

sudo service amrscm2mqtt start

Configure Home Assistant

To use these values in Home Assistant, configure the MQTT broker extension to connect to your server of choice, then place the following in configuration.yaml:

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - state_topic: "readings/12345678/meter_reading"
      name: "Total Gas Consumption (ft³)"
      device_class: gas
      unit_of_measurement: 'ft³'
      unique_id: total_gas_consumption_cf
      state_class: total_increasing

Testing

Assuming you're using mosquitto as the server, and your meter's id is 12345678, you can watch for events using the command:

mosquitto_sub -t "readings/12345678/meter_reading"

Or if you've password protected mosquitto

mosquitto_sub -t "readings/12345678/meter_reading" -u <user_name> -P <password>