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Arduino Based Smart Energy Meter

Article in International Journal of Progressive Research in Engineering Management and Science · February 2023

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

Arduino Based Smart Energy Meter

Alan P. Nebrida1, Chavelita D. Amador1, Clyed M. Madiam1, Glenn John S. Ranche1,
Niel Carlo P. Nieves1
1College of Engineering, Electrical Engineering Department, Nueva Vizcaya State University, Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines.
Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract: - This study constructed a Smart Energy Meter where energy consumptions can be viewed by the consumers based on
real-time using data from smart meters. Its goals are to increase productivity, make readings more precise, and take less time to
determine an individual residence's energy consumption. The device is made up of the PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter, RS-485 UART
Serial Converter, NodeMCU ESP8266, Blynk IoT Application, Arduino Uno R3, and LCD Arduino Keypad Module Shield Board.
The PZEM-016 is used in this smart energy meter to measure voltage, current, power, frequency, power factor, and energy
consumption. Because it lacks its own display, an RS-485 was utilized to communicate with the NodeMCU and Arduino Uno. The
NodeMCU sends the parameters to Blynk IoT App as long as it is connected to a fixed mobile WiFi. The Blynk will then display a
real-time measurement of the parameters. The Arduino Uno is programmed to display the parameters to the LCD Keypad Module.
The device was tested in an actual household. The researchers conducted 48-hour observation on the household where the energy
displayed in the Blynk IoT App and the LCD display matches at approximately 9 kWh which is the same as the actual energy meter
of the house that is 9kWh. The device is also tested on different appliances which resulted in the same energy consumption in both
the Blynk IoT App and LCD display with the ratings of the appliances. The device was found functional.

Key Words: Smart Energy Meter, IoT Application, AC Energy Meter, Microcontrollers, Blynk Cloud.

I. INTRODUCTION These companies in return charge electricity consumers an

equivalent amount of money based on their consumption. The
One of mankind’s greatest triumphs has been the discovery of energy meter was introduced to help electricity companies
electricity, which has become one of the most essential measure the amount of electrical energy consumed by
prerequisites for pleasant life. Electricity is now employed in customers. Methods used by energy companies for metering
almost every area of human life, including communication, and billing of power (electricity consumed) has seen immense
transportation, health, mining, agriculture, industry, and transformation over the years.
commerce. Electricity is mostly used in industries to power Energy dispersion and rational usage are important
large machinery that produce items. Cooking, watching requirements for a tolerable life. The current method of Energy
television, air conditioning, lighting, and space heating are just charging has a number of drawbacks, including excessive labor
a few of the commercial and domestic uses. Electricity is utilization, human errors, and customers’ inability to monitor
essential not only for social growth and human wellbeing, but their Energy usage, as well as an increase in the overall cost of
also for the total development of our country. In most parts of the system [3]. Basic energy meters are divided into two
the world, electricity is generated and supplied to consumers by categories: electromechanical energy meters and electronic
electricity companies. energy meters. The electromechanical induction Watt-Hour
meter is the most often used energy meter. The
electromechanical induction meter measures the rotation of an
Manuscript revised February 17, 2023; accepted
February 18, 2023. Date of publication February 19, electrically conductive and non-magnetic metal spinning at a
2023. speed proportionate to the power travelling through it. The
This paper available online at www.ijprse.com power usage is related to the number of rotations or revolutions.
ISSN (Online): 2582-7898; SJIF: 5.59
An energy meter displays the amount of energy utilized on a
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Light Emitting Diode (LED)
display, and some meters may broadcast data to remote
locations. Many inaccuracies in traditional billing are

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

attributable to human error. Time consuming approach, manual When the NodeMCU ESP8266 is connected to WiFi the
meter reading always contains a potential of human mistake. It consumer can monitor real-time feedback of the smart energy
includes a lot of power theft and corruption; increased meter through the Blynk IoT Application. Another RS-485
manpower needs are some of the frequent problems that are UART Serial Converter is used to communicate the PZEM-016
studied from traditional billing.[5] to an Arduino Uno which is interfaced to an LCD Arduino
These energy meters are crucial for determining how much Keypad Module Shield Board to display the parameters that the
electricity is consumed in particular residences. With the advent PZEM-016 measured.
of technology, these energy meters have been gradually
improving to address the difficulties that conventional meters II. METHODOLOGY
have caused. The issue is when residents are oblivious of their
everyday consumption, consumers will not know how much 2.1 Conceptual Framework
energy the various appliances consume until they receive the The conceptual framework consists of input, process, and
monthly bills [11]. This study constructed a Smart Energy output. The inputs are the following knowledge, software and
Meter where energy consumptions can be viewed by the hardware requirements.
consumers based on real-time using data from smart meters. Its
goals are to increase productivity, make readings more precise,
and take less time to determine an individual residence's energy
consumption, sustain that consumption, and/or reduce that
consumption.
The general objective of the study is to construct a smart energy
meter to simplify the monitoring of energy consumption. To be
specific, this study aims to: (i) design a smart energy meter that
can be monitored in Real-Time; (ii) create a program using
NodeMCU ESP8266 and Arduino Uno to run the smart energy
meter; (iii) test the functionality of the smart energy meter.
The significance of this study is to offer a simple method for
reading energy consumption meters so that households may
promptly monitor their usage. It is significant for the consumers
as they can monitor their consumption in real-time thus, they
can track their consumption and identify energy waste points
and control spending on power consumption. Additionally, it is
designed to make it easier for the utility reader to produce quick
and precise meter readings while also introducing them to the
benefits of adopting smart energy meters.
The study focuses on the design and construction of a Smart
Energy Meter. This was designed to monitor the real-time
energy consumed in the household via the Blynk IoT (Internet
of Things) Application in an android phone at the same time the Fig.1. Conceptual Framework
real-time energy usage will also appear in an LCD display
incorporated in the Smart Energy Meter. The study will use the The knowledge requirement is Arduino IDE programming
PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter to measure the voltage, current, while the software requirement is Arduino IDE software and
active power, energy, frequency, and power factor. The PZEM- Blynk IoT Application. The hardware requirement composes of
016 module is without a display function; therefore, the data is PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter, RS-485 UART Serial Converter,
sent through RS-485 UART (Universal Asynchronous NodeMCU ESP8266, Arduino Uno R3, and LCD Arduino
Receiver-Transmitter) Serial Converter. The RS-485 converts Keypad Module Shield Board. The process consists of the
the data into digital data and can communicate with the following design, assembly and testing. The design consists of
NodeMCU (Node Microcontroller Unit) ESP8266 for data the Conceptual Diagram, Block Diagram, Conceptual Diagram,
transmission.

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

Process Flowchart, Program Flowchart and Component consumption in real time. Another RS-485 UART Serial
Layout. The assembly is the Conceptual design, PZEM-016 to Converter was used to convert the data into digital data and
NodeMCU ESP8266 Wiring Diagram and PZEM-016 to transmit it to an Arduino Uno which is programmed to read the
Arduino Uno Wiring Diagram. The testing consists of data and to display the parameters in real time in an LCD
appliances such as electric fan, refrigerator and water pump and Arduino Keypad Module Shield Board
on an actual household. The output is the Arduino Based Smart
Energy Meter. 2.3 Block Diagram
A block diagram of the smart energy system shown in Figure 3
2.2 Conceptual Diagram was conceptualized.
Figure 2 shows the conceptual diagram of the smart energy
meter.

Fig. 3. Block Diagram

When the PZEM 016 is connected to the circuit it will start to
measure the voltage, current, power, frequency, power factor,
and energy usage of the circuit. The 5V DC output of the PZEM
016 AC Energy Meter was used to power the system. The RS-
485 UART Serial Converter is used to communicate the data to
the microprocessors of the system. As the system started to
work the NodeMCU ESP8266, through its programming, will
send the parameters measured to Blynk IoT App. As long as the
mobile WiFi that the NodeMCU ESP8266 is programmed to
connect is open it can upload the parameters to the Blynk IoT
App. The Blynk IoT App should also be connected to a WiFi
for it to receive the data. Additionally, the Arduino Uno will
Fig.2. Conceptual Diagram also start its program to display the parameters in the LCD
Arduino Keypad Module. Everything that is measured by the
This smart energy meter uses the PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter PZEM 016 can be viewed in real time either in the LCD
to measure the voltage, current, active power, frequency, power Arduino Keypad Module or the Blynk IoT App in an android
factor, and energy consumption. As the PZEM-016 AC Energy phone. The users can reset the energy usage back to zero
Meter does not have its own display capability the RS-485 through the reset button in the Blynk IoT App or through the
UART Serial Converter was used to convert the data from the LCD Arduino Keypad Module following the programmed steps
PZEM-016 in to a digital data and transmit it to the NodeMCU of the Arduino Uno.
ESP8266 which is programmed to read and transmit the
measured data to the Blynk Cloud from which the Blynk IoT 2.4 Program Flowchart
Application in an android phone will display the voltage, The program flowchart shown in Figure 4 was conceptualized.
current, active power, frequency, power factor, and energy

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

simultaneously and will fluctuate the parameters every second

in their display making it a real-time measurement.

2.5 Component Layout

Figure 5 shows the connection of the smart energy metering
device.

Fig.4. Program Flowchart Fig. 5. Component Layout

The PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter measures the voltage,
The system of the Smart Energy Meter will start to boot up. The current, active power, frequency, power factor, and energy of
PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter will then start the measurement the circuit. There are two RS-485 UART Serial Converters used
of the parameters from the household’s circuit, which is the in the system to convert the data into digital data and transmit
voltage, current, active power, energy, frequency, and power to the two microprocessors used to display the parameters
factor. The PZEM-016 will then transmit the data through the measured. The NodeMCU ESP8266 is programmed to connect
RS485 UART Serial Converter wherein it will convert the to a fixed Mobile WiFi network, which is provided in this study,
parameters into digital data and transmit it to the two thus it can connect to Blynk IoT Application via Virtual Pins
microprocessors of the system, the NodeMCU ESP8266 and which is also coded in the NodeMCU ESP8266. The Blynk IoT
Arduino Uno R3. The NodeMCU reads the parameters Application can then display the parameters measured by the
measured. When the NodeMCU is online, the NodeMCU will PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter. Simultaneously, the
transmit the data to the Blynk Cloud. If the NodeMCU is not microprocessor Arduino Uno R3 is also programmed to display
online, the mobile WiFi needs to be fixed until it is online. If the measure parameters to an LCD using the LCD Arduino
the Blynk IoT Application is online it will display the Keypad Module Shield Board that is directly connected over it.
parameters transmitted by the NodeMCU in the Blynk Cloud
which is the real-time energy consumption of the household. 2.6 Wiring Diagram
Simultaneously, the Arduino Uno R3 receives data and displays 2.6.1 PZEM-016 to NodeMCU ESP8266
it on the LCD Arduino Keypad Module in real-time. Both Figure 6 shows the connection of the wiring diagram from the
programming of the NodeMCU and Arduino Uno works PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter to NodeMCU ESP8266.

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 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

linked to the A terminal of the meter to transfer data. The B pin

of the RS-485 is connected to the B terminal of the meter. The
Gnd pin of the RS-485 is connected to the 5V ground of the
meter. The RS-485 will convert the data into digital data and
will transmit it to the Arduino Uno where the Receiver Out
(RO) pin of the RS-485 is connected to the Digital 0 (D0) pin
of the Arduino Uno. The Data In (DI) pin of the RS-485 is
connected to the Digital 1 (D1) pin of the Arduino Uno. The
Receiver Enabled (RE) pin of the RS-485 is connected to the
Digital 2 (D2) pin of the Arduino Uno. To provide power to the
Arduino Uno, the 5V positive of the meter is connected to the
5V pin of the Arduino Uno whilst the Gnd pin is connected to
the 5V ground of the meter. The LCD Arduino Keypad Module
Shield Board is attached above the Arduino Uno connecting all
the LCD Arduino Keypad Module Shield Board pins to
corresponding pins of the Arduino Uno.
Fig.6. PZEM-016 to NodeMCU ESP8266 Wiring Diagram
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The current transformer coil sensor of the PZEM-016 is clipped
in the live wire of the circuit. Two wires are then connected to 3.1 48 Hours Test Data for Household (Blynk IoT App)
the main circuit where one wire is connected to the live wire It shows the reading of the smart energy meter in the Blynk IoT
and the other is connected to the neutral. Once the wires are App; at the second row it shows the reading during the
connected the PZEM-016 will start measuring the data from the installation of the devices. It shows the values of the voltage,
circuit. To transmit data, the A terminal of the meter is current, power, energy, frequency, and power factor are 220.9
connected to the A pin of the RS-485 UART Serial Converter. V, 0.796 A, 162.1 W, 0.007 kWh, 60 Hz, and 0.94, respectively.
The B terminal of the meter is connected to the B pin of the RS- On July 24, the voltage is 228.3 V at 5:00 am while at 11:00 am
485. To provide power to the RS-485, the 5V positive of the the voltage is 217.7 V, then at 11:00 pm the voltage strikes to
meter is connected to the Vcc pin of the RS-485 whilst the Gnd 221.8 V. The current is 0.574 A at 5:00 am then drops to 0.313
pin is connected to the 5V ground of the meter. The RS-485 will A at 11:00 pm and rises to 0.896 A at 11:00 pm. The power at
convert the data into digital data and will transmit it to the 5:00 am is 125.3 W while at 11:00 am the power is 64.4 W then
NodeMCU where the Receiver Out (RO) pin of the RS-485 is at 11:00 pm, it rises to 186.1 W. The energy consumed at 5 am
connected to the Digital 5 (D5) pin of the NodeMCU. The Data is 0.885 kWh while on 11:00 am it is 1.619 kWh and at 11:00
In (DI) pin of the RS-485 is connected to the Digital 6 (D6) pin pm the energy consumed is 4.355 kWh. The frequency is
of the NodeMCU. The Receiver Enabled (RE) pin of the RS- approximately equal to 60 Hz at 5:00 am, 11:00 am and 11:00
485 is connected to the Digital 2 (D2) pin of the NodeMCU. pm. The frequency is 0.98, 0.95 and 0.94, at 5:00 am, 11:00 am,
And the Data Enabled (DE) pin of the RS-485 is connected to and 11:00 pm, respectively. At 12 noon until 5 pm the app is
the Digital 1 (D1) pin of the NodeMCU. To provide power to offline due to the network problem. On the second day, July 25,
the NodeMCU, the 5V positive of the meter is connected to the the measured voltage at 5:00 am is 225.8 V then drops to 216.4
3V pin of the NodeMCU whilst the Gnd pin is connected to the V at 11:00 am. Then suddenly strikes to 224 V at 5:00 pm then
5V ground of the meter. drops to 222.61 V at 11:00 pm. The current at 5:00 am is 1.361
A then drops to 0.486 A at 11:00 am. At 5:00 pm the current is
2.6.2 PZEM-016 AC Energy Meter to Arduino Uno 0.334 A and at 11:00 pm it strikes at 0.854 A. At 5:00 am the
The PZEM-016's current transformer coil sensor is hooked into power is 275.3 W while at 11:00 am the power measured is 98.7
the live wire of the circuit. Two wires are then connected to the W. The measured power at 5:00 pm is 62.1 W then at 11:00 pm
main circuit where one wire is connected to the live wire and it is 171.729 W. The frequency is approximately equal to 60
the other is connected to the neutral. The PZEM-016 will begin Hz. The power factor for 5:00 am, 11:00 am, 5:00 pm and 11:00
measuring the data from the circuit as soon as the wires are pm are 0.90, 0.94, 0.84 and 0.904, respectively. The total
connected. The RS-485 UART Serial Converter's A pin is energy consumed for 48 hours is 8.995 kWh.

ALAN P. NEBRIDA, et.al.: ARDUINO BASED SMART ENERGY METER 42

 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PROGRESSIVE RESEARCH IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, VOL.4, NO.02, FEBRUARY 2023.

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Wireless Monitoring System Using Blynk Application via
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the values measured and displayed in both the Blynk
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REFERENCES
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ALAN P. NEBRIDA, et.al.: ARDUINO BASED SMART ENERGY METER 43

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