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Monitor the counter of an electricity meter with Arduino and infrared light sensor.

The software consists of two parts:

• Data acquisition part running on an Arduino Nano. It controls the infrared light barrier, detects trigger levels and communicates with a master computer over USB serial.
• Data recording part running on a the master computer (Raspberry Pi). It retrieves the data from the Arduino over USB serial and stores counter and consumption values into a round robin database.

There is a blog in german language that explains use case and function: Infrarot Lichtschranke mit Arduino zum Auslesen des Stromzählers.

Commands from host (RasPi) to Arduino

• D - retrieve and print raw data
• T - enter trigger mode and print trigger data (0/1)
• S low high - Set trigger levels (e.g. 85 90)
• C - Cancel data acquisition and enter command mode

Arduino is in trigger mode upon start - Send C to enter command mode

Schematics