Metering
Metering Evalutation
| Attribute | Cost (money) | Interoperability | long term relationship | Deployment Readiness | Build Quality |
| Inhemeter |
3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Gomelong Meter (no PLC meter with built-in relay) | |||||
| Sagewood Meters | |||||
| Calin Meter | ? | 5 | 5 | ? | 5 |
| Spark Meter | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| China Brandless Meter |
5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| iSmart Meter | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Hoptele Meter | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
Inhemeter
China/UG based OEM. Edwin Cho is our contact. 0 774 667667, +86 135 3210 1631. 1way Meter boxed FOB 46Usd
Cloud Vending System 100 USD per month up to 1000 meters
Free On Board (FOB)
Which means not including shipping and inland transport and any clearance fees
Sagewood
Sagewood is a UK based logistics supplier. +44 7831 135528 - Manoj
Got some feedback on this one . Here goes…
Hi Hilary, all good am still in china snd heading back tomrrow to uk.
China was on national holidays from 30 April to today May 5.
Now working on it.
I have discussed with the team - Due to small number of meters for the system, we suggest a cloud version so you don’t have to invest in hardware. Many endusers are doing this.
Meters we can handle but MOQ is around 2000 metres.
Or we can manufacture them to very with other orders. So you don’t have to worry about MOQ.
Allow me few days and I revert back.
Hoptele
China supplier / OEM. Single phase PLC meter. Wall mount with PLC support and inbuilt relay. DIN rail mount with PLC support but no inbuilt relay. 70 US per meter. No vending system.
Gomelong
China based supplier, has a local distributor in Uganda. Gomelong Meter (no PLC meter with built-in relay). May have none PLC option. Pricing for "digital meter" (probably with no relay) 127k UGX per unit.
Spark Meter
Kenya based. Proprietary system (Meters + AMI). 70 USD per meter. Comes with a DTU that requires line of sight to meters. 1 DTU per 2000 meters max. 600 USD per year per DTU.
Calinmeter
Have a DIN rail PLC with built-in relay. Waiting on quote. May also have AMI
iSmart
Found these ones online. They also have a PLC with built-in relay.
Wired vs Wireless meters
Wireless open standards
Comparison
| Protocol | Frequency | Range | Data Rate | Topology | Power Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zigbee | 2.4 GHz, 915/868 MHz | Short | Up to 250 kbps | Mesh, Star | Very Low |
| LoRaWAN | 868/915 MHz | Long | 0.3–50 kbps | Star | Extremely Low |
| Wi-SUN | 868/915 MHz | Medium to Long | 50–300 kbps | Mesh | Low to Medium |
| Bluetooth LE | 2.4 GHz | Short | 125 kbps–2 Mbps | Star, Mesh | Very Low |
| IEEE 802.11ah | Sub-GHz (~900 MHz) | Medium | Up to Mbps | Star, Tree | Low |
| IEEE 802.15.4 | Various | Short–Medium | 20–250 kbps | Mesh, Star | Very Low |
| Thread | 2.4 GHz | Short | 250 kbps | Mesh | Very Low |
Recommended for Residential Microgrid Applications in Uganda:
-
LoRaWAN: If covering a large geographical area (kilometers), due to its excellent range, penetration, and low power use.
-
Wi-SUN: For robust, medium-to-large-scale smart metering networks, especially if a mesh topology is desirable.
-
Zigbee/Thread: Ideal for dense residential areas where devices (meters) are closer together, benefiting from low power and reliable mesh networking.
Wired Open standards
Comparison
| Protocol | Standard | OSI Layers | Medium | Topology | Range | Data Rate | Typical Application Areas | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G3-PLC | ITU-T G.9903 | Layers 1-2 | Power Lines | Mesh, Star | Up to several km | 2.4–35 kbps | Smart grids, AMI, smart meters | Robust, designed for noisy environments; supports IPv6, strong security |
| PRIME | ITU-T G.9904 | Layers 1-2 | Power Lines | Mesh, Star | Up to several km | 21–128 kbps | Smart metering, distribution automation | Optimized for higher-speed PLC, widely used in European smart meter rollouts |
| IEEE 1901.2 PLC | IEEE 1901.2 | Layers 1-2 | Power Lines | Mesh, Star | Up to several km | 2.4–500 kbps | Smart grids, smart cities | High interoperability, IPv6 support; ideal for utility and smart city deployments |
| M-Bus (Meter-Bus) | EN 13757 | Layers 1-2 | Twisted pair cable | Bus | Up to ~1 km | 0.3–38.4 kbps | Meter reading (water, heat, gas) | Widely used in Europe; reliable, low-cost wired solution |
| KNX | ISO/IEC 14543-3 | Layers 1-2 | Twisted pair cable | Bus, Star, Tree | Up to ~1 km | 9.6 kbps | Building automation, home control | Open standard for building automation, popular in Europe |
| BACnet MS/TP | ASHRAE 135 | Layers 1-2 | RS-485 twisted pair | Bus | Up to ~1.2 km | 9.6–115.2 kbps | Building automation, HVAC controls | Common in building and industrial automation; robust, scalable |
| Ethernet | IEEE 802.3 | Layers 1-2 | CAT5/CAT6 cable | Star, Tree | Up to ~100 m | 10 Mbps–100 Gbps | Networking backbone, smart buildings | High-speed, standard networking; widely supported across industries |
| RS-485 (EIA-485) | EIA-485 | Layers 1-2 | Twisted pair cable | Bus | Up to ~1.2 km | Up to 10 Mbps | Metering, industrial control systems | Simple, robust, widely used for serial data transmission |
| CAN Bus | ISO 11898 | Layers 1-2 | Twisted pair cable | Bus | Up to ~1 km | Up to 1 Mbps | Automotive, industrial automation | High reliability, robust error detection, common in harsh environments |
Recommended Wired Protocols for Residential Microgrid Metering (Uganda)
-
PLC-based (e.g., G3-PLC or IEEE 1901.2):
-
Ideal due to existing infrastructure (power lines).
-
Good for scalable, reliable deployments.
-
-
RS-485:
-
Robust, simple wiring suitable for smaller clusters.
-
Common for direct-wired connections (local clusters).
-
-
M-Bus:
-
Suitable if integrating gas, water, or heat metering alongside electricity
-
Comparison between wired and wireless
| Aspect | Wireless Option (Wi-SUN/LoRaWAN) | Wired Option (G3-PLC, RS-485) | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation Cost | 🟢 Lower | 🔴 Higher (cabling, labor) | Wireless ✅ |
| Maintenance Cost | 🟡 Moderate (battery replacements) | 🟢 Low (no batteries required) | Wired ✅ |
| Reliability | 🟡 Medium (environment dependent) | 🟢 High (consistent, stable) | Wired ✅ |
| Scalability | 🟢 High (easy additions) | 🔴 Moderate to low (harder additions) | Wireless ✅ |
| Range/ Coverage | 🟢 Good (with repeaters) | 🟢 Excellent (using PLC) | Wired (PLC) ✅ |
| Security | 🟡 Good (depends on setup) | 🟢 Very Good | Wired ✅ |
| Installation Time | 🟢 Short | 🔴 Longer | Wireless ✅ |
| Physical disruption | 🟢 Minimal | 🔴 High (trenching, wiring) | Wireless ✅ |
💡 Recommended Choice: Hybrid or G3-PLC
📌 Primary Recommendation: G3-PLC (Wired)
Given your scenario (dense apartment blocks with existing electrical infrastructure and meters located closely on the ground floor), G3-PLC offers significant advantages:
-
Low Ongoing Maintenance: No batteries to manage.
-
High Reliability: Stable signal leveraging existing wiring.
-
Cost-effective (long-term): Minimal ongoing costs after initial installation.
-
Robust & secure: Highly suited for apartment complexes.
📌 Alternate Recommendation: Hybrid (PLC Backbone + Wireless Endpoints)
If flexibility or future expansions matter, consider a hybrid setup:
-
Use G3-PLC within each block to connect meters reliably to a local gateway.
-
Connect block gateways to a central system via wireless (Wi-SUN or LoRaWAN). This reduces physical disruption between buildings while maintaining the reliability within each block.
This hybrid method provides the best of both worlds—flexibility and low maintenance.
Links
CalinMeter
We got the API docs here