powerduino

                                        
Monitor power usage (kWh) with Arduino and Nagios / Icinga

                    

        
        

            
            

                

    

    
powerduino


Please check the GitHub site for all the examples and required files:


https://github.com/MortenMiddelthon/powerduino


Monitor power usage (kWh) with Arduino and Nagios / Icinga


This project includes the following components:


    

  • Arduino code for reading a photo resistor pulse and write output over USB serial
    • 

  • Icinga/Nagios plugin for reading USB serial output from the Arduino.
    • 

  • Icinga/nagios configuration example
    • 

  • MySQL/MariaDB database definition
    • 



Arduino setup


The included code assumes that the photo resitor is connected to analog input pin 0, but you
can easily alter the code if you want to use another pin. Use a 10K ohm pull down resistor
connected to ground. The Arduino will output it's reading over USB serial.
To get a proper fit over the pulse light from your power meter you can print out and use the
included 3D model


Adafruit has en excellent tutorial on how to connect a photo resistor to an Arduino:


https://learn.adafruit.com/photocells/using-a-photocell


Parts list:



Icinga/nagios setup


The included perl script will try to read from the USB port where the Arduino is connected.
With my Arduino Nano this was /dev/ttyUSB0, but you might have to change this.
The user running the script must be in the dialout group (on Debian at least), and I run it using
screen:


/usr/bin/screen -S powerusage YOURPATH/readpowerusage.pl


Detach from screen using ctrl+a+d.


This script will continuously read from the USB port and write the power usage readings to
the MySQL/MariaDB database. Please remember to adjust the SQL username/password/database settings
to your environment.


The included icinga/nagios perl plugin reads from the SQL database and outputs power usage
readings to the icinga/nagios, along with performance data. I personally recommend pnp4nagios
to graph the performance data.


MySQL/MariaDB setup


To set up the database use the following commands. These settings must be updated in the included
perl scripts:


% mysql -uroot -p


mysql> create database powerusage;


mysql> grant all on powerusage.* to power@localhost identified by 'YOURPASSWORD';


% mysql -uroot -p powerusage < sql/powerusage.sql


In the table called 'manualreading' enter the current value from your power meter, in kWh:


mysql> insert into manualreading (kwh,timestamp) values (YOURPOWERREADING, UNIX_TIMESTAMP());