Data entry tool for photos of power meter

October 21, 2013 6:35 AM

In order to get a better idea of our power usage, I have been taking photos of the meter on my mobile phone, and then manually adding the meter level and photo's timestamp to a spreadsheet. Is anyone aware of any software that can help with this data entry?

Ideally, I'd like something that would-
* show each image in a folder in turn
* for each image, extract the timestamp
* allow me to type the current meter reading

Bonus points for automatic recognition of angle of meter dial hands (our meter is like this one )

posted by spongeboy to Technology (6 answers total)

Wouldn't it be easier just to type the reading into an email and then mail it to yourself, rather than try to calalog photos and OCR the readings? It would take two seconds to read the meter and you can then just write 2212 in the subject line as you walk to the bus or whatever. You can then just cut and paste the reading and the time stamp into your spreadsheet.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:58 AM on October 21, 2013

Not directly what you asked - but it may be that you could get hold of a device which would attach to the insulated wire as it enters the meter - and which would then transmit this device to a wireless receiver. The Owl is such a device. This is aimed at the UK - however the sensor is just measuring your power consumption by measuring the current flowing into the meter - and then relaying it to a display that calibrates this consumption into units and finally money spent. It should be useable anywhere - or you could look for something locally.
posted by rongorongo at 7:02 AM on October 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Best answer: What OS are you using? With Linux or OS X it could be easily done with a shell script. For each image:

1. get the exif date using ExifTool or jhead
2. display the image with open (OS X) or xloadimage/display/xv/… (linux)
3. prompt you to key in the reading to the terminal window
4. spit out the date and value to a text file

Automatic recognition would be a bit harder, though the iPhone/Android app Utility Meter Reader claims to be able to do it. If one had a lot of time and mad skills, I'm sure that OpenCV would be up to it.

(if your utility allows you to attach anything to your meter, the Black & Decker Power Monitor (or functionally-identical Power Cost Monitor from Blue Line Innovations; the hardware's the same) will allow you to have easy meter readings and instantaneous power display indoors. Many places are clearing out their B&D power monitors for $30 or so. They are a slightly fiddly install, but they work well. I've only been trying to integrate reading one of these automatically for the last couple of years; it's a bit hard to pick up the RF signal …)
posted by scruss at 7:35 AM on October 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

You might have better luck with Utility Meter Reader than I did, but it couldn't get it to read my ancient gas meter, or worryingly, an electric meter fascia I happened to have around the place.

Nice idea. Shame about the execution (and the patent).
posted by scruss at 8:33 AM on October 21, 2013

(Both TED and The Owl use current transformers. Ones that you can afford aren't terribly accurate, so you won't get exactly what your bill reads. The Black & Decker reads pulses from the meter (or the rotor directly) so reports what your meter reads exactly.)
posted by scruss at 1:12 PM on October 21, 2013

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions!

Utility Meter Reader is exactly what I'm looking for, but like mentioned here, it exactly doesn't read my meter (which is somewhere between the ages of @scruss's two meters).

@Admiral Haddock - I'll try that, but I think it might just a be a little bit too long to complete. I don't mind the mindless 'snap a photo', I usually do this in the mornings when I'm not too sharp.

@scruss I'm using Windows, I should be able to do something similar with Powershell.

Re: meter reader hardware - the B&D one looks interesting. We have an unsecured meter cupboard, but if the price is ~$30 I'll be happy to risk it.
posted by spongeboy at 4:02 AM on October 22, 2013