If you have Badger water meters with the Orion Endpoint GIF2014W-OSE, this post should help you read the data for use in Home Assistant. Here is what my meters look like. I have separate lines and meters for the house and outdoor, since they get charged at different rates.
The GIF2014W-OSE broadcasts data from the water meter over radio frequency (RF). Monthly or quarterly the township water department drives around neighborhoods reading these RF signals to determine everyone’s water usage. You can read the same data with a software defined radio (SDR). I’m using a RTL-SDR Blog V4 dongle with a 915MHz LoRa Antenna and ferrite beads (to filter noise) on a USB extension cable. It plugs directly in to my Home Assistant server.
If you want to test the SDR on your computer before setting everything up in Home Assistant check out the rtl_433 repo on GitHub.
To get started in HA, make sure you’re running a MQTT broker. I use the recommended Mosquitto broker. Install the MQTT Explorer and rtl_433 (next) apps. Note, the main rtl_433 HA app wasn’t updated yet with the latest version of rtl_433, which is needed for the GIF2014W-OSE, so that’s why I had to use the (next) version. It may be updated by the time you’re reading this.
The configuration for the rtl_433 (next) app is stored in a file. I have mine at /homeassistant/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf and here is how my app configuration looks.
Below is a good start for the config file’s contents. Put in your IP address, user, and password.
sample_rate 1600k
gain 28
hop_interval 22
pulse_detect autolevel
pulse_detect minlevel=-35
report_meta level
report_meta noise
report_meta stats:1
output mqtt://[MQTT_IP],user=[MQTT_USER],pass=[MQTT_PASSWORD],retain=1
protocol 282
frequency 905.3M
frequency 906.1M
frequency 906.9M
frequency 907.7M
frequency 908.5M
frequency 909.3M
frequency 910.1M
frequency 910.9M
frequency 911.7M
frequency 912.5M
frequency 913.3M
frequency 914.1M
frequency 914.9M
frequency 915.7M
frequency 916.5M
frequency 917.3M
frequency 918.1M
frequency 918.9M
frequency 919.7M
frequency 920.5M
frequency 921.3M
frequency 922.1M
frequency 922.9M
frequency 923.7M
The water meter endpoint broadcasts across the range of 904.4 to 924.6Mhz and this is going to hop between the 24 frequencies (taken from a GitHub comment) listed in the config every 22 seconds. You may need to tweak the gain, pulse_detect, and other settings depending on your setup. Use your favorite AI to help. If you these next couple of lines to the config file you can see more of what happening, but I wouldn’t leave these in after everything is working.
verbose 7
output json
output log
You can view the HA app’s logs to see more details. When everything is running, open up MQTT Explorer and look for the rtl_433 topics. Hopefully within an hour or two you’ll see something similar to this.
In this screenshot 40338908 and 40313961 are the ids for my meter endpoints. You may see a bunch of other ids for other meters in your neighborhood. You may have physical tags on the devices with their IDs or you can compare the reading values to what is displayed on the water meter.
Now this data can be brought in to Home Assistant. It’ll take some tinkering and customization to fit it all for your HA install. I’m also writing this over a week after setting everything up, so I don’t remember the order of adding everything, but you should be able to do most of it at once and restart. Make sure to update the name, unique_id, source, and state everywhere to fit your needs. The state_topic‘s need to match what you see in MQTT Explorer, and any other cross references have to match your renames. Only use what applies to your situation. If you only have one meter, remove all the outdoor/sprinkler stuff. I’m scraping the Saginaw Township water rates from their web site, so that stuff is going to be very custom, but gives you an idea of what you can do.
In configuration.yaml:
mqtt:
binary_sensor:
- name: "House Water Meter Leak"
unique_id: "house_water_meter_leak"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313908/leaking"
payload_on: "1"
payload_off: "0"
device_class: moisture
- name: "Outdoor Water Meter Leak"
unique_id: "outdoor_water_meter_leak"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313961/leaking"
payload_on: "1"
payload_off: "0"
device_class: moisture
sensor:
- name: "House - Water Meter"
unique_id: "house_water_meter"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313908/reading"
unit_of_measurement: "gal"
device_class: water
state_class: total_increasing
icon: mdi:water-pump
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) / 10 }}"
- name: "House - Water Meter Daily Snap"
unique_id: "house_water_meter_daily_snap"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313908/daily_reading"
device_class: water
state_class: total
unit_of_measurement: "gal"
entity_category: diagnostic
icon: mdi:history
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) / 10 }}"
- name: "House - Water Meter - Freq 1"
unique_id: "house_water_meter_freq1"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313908/freq1"
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) }}"
unit_of_measurement: "MHz"
state_class: measurement
device_class: frequency
- name: "House - Water Meter - Freq 2"
unique_id: "house_water_meter_freq2"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313908/freq2"
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) }}"
unit_of_measurement: "MHz"
state_class: measurement
device_class: frequency
- name: "Outdoor - Water Meter"
unique_id: "water_meter_outdoor"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313961/reading"
unit_of_measurement: "gal"
device_class: water
state_class: total_increasing
icon: mdi:water-pump
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) / 10 }}"
- name: "Outdoor - Water Meter Daily Snap"
unique_id: "outdoor_water_meter_daily_snap"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313961/daily_reading"
device_class: water
state_class: total
unit_of_measurement: "gal"
entity_category: diagnostic
icon: mdi:history
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) / 10 }}"
- name: "Outdoor - Water Meter - Freq 1"
unique_id: "outdoor_water_meter_freq1"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313961/freq1"
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) }}"
unit_of_measurement: "MHz"
state_class: measurement
device_class: frequency
- name: "Outdoor - Water Meter - Freq 2"
unique_id: "outdoor_water_meter_freq2"
state_topic: "rtl_433/9b13b3f4-rtl433-next/devices/Orion-Endpoint/40313961/freq2"
value_template: "{{ value | float(0) }}"
unit_of_measurement: "MHz"
state_class: measurement
device_class: frequency
scrape:
- resource: https://saginawtownship.org/departments/public_services/water_distribution.php
scan_interval: 86400
sensor:
- name: "Saginaw House Water Rate Raw"
select: "article ul li"
index: 2
value_template: >
{{ value | regex_findall_index('Combined:\s*\$?\s*(\d+\.\d+)', ignorecase=True) }}
- name: "Saginaw Outdoor Water Rate Raw"
select: "article ul li"
index: 2
value_template: >
{{ value | regex_findall_index('\(Sprinkler Meter\)\s*\$?\s*(\d+\.\d+)', ignorecase=True) }}
utility_meter:
house_daily_water:
name: "House Daily Water"
unique_id: house_daily_water
source: sensor.house_water_meter
cycle: daily
always_available: true
outdoor_daily_water:
name: "Outdoor Daily Water"
unique_id: outdoor_daily_water
source: sensor.water_meter_outdoor
cycle: daily
always_available: true
In templates.yaml:
- binary_sensor:
- name: "Outdoor Water Flowing Hourly"
unique_id: outdoor_water_flowing_hourly
device_class: moving
state: >
{{ states('sensor.outdoor_water_hourly_change') | float(0) > 0 }}
- name: "House Water Flowing Hourly"
unique_id: house_water_flowing_hourly
device_class: moving
state: >
{{ states('sensor.house_water_hourly_change') | float(0) > 0 }}
- name: "Sprinklers Watering"
unique_id: sprinklers_watering
device_class: running
state: >
{{ is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_1_watering', 'on')
or is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_2_watering', 'on')
or is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_3_watering', 'on')
or is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_4_watering', 'on')
or is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_5_watering', 'on')
or is_state('binary_sensor.sprinkler_zone_6_watering', 'on') }}
- name: "Outdoor Water Leak Persistent"
unique_id: outdoor_water_leak_persistent
device_class: problem
delay_on: "02:00:00"
state: >
{% set water_usage = states('sensor.outdoor_water_hourly_change') | float(0) > 0 %}
{% set sprinklers_active = states('sensor.sprinklers_active_last_hour') | float(0) > 0 %}
{{ water_usage and not sprinklers_active }}
- name: "House Water Nightly Leak Possible"
unique_id: house_water_nightly_leak_possible
device_class: problem
state: >
{% if now().hour == 6 and now().minute == 0 %}
{# If water usage increased 7/9 hours from 9p-6a #}
{# (allowing for minor signal lag and missed reads) #}
{{ states('sensor.house_water_flowing_9_hours') | float(0) > 6.8 }}
{% else %}
{{ states('binary_sensor.house_water_nightly_leak_possible') }}
{% endif %}
In automations.yaml:
- id: '1770044944973'
alias: Notify - Water Meter Leak Detected
description: ''
triggers:
- trigger: state
entity_id:
- binary_sensor.house_water_meter_leak
- binary_sensor.outdoor_water_meter_leak
from:
- 'off'
to:
- 'on'
actions:
- action: notify.mobile_app_nickphone
metadata: {}
data:
title: "\U0001F6B0 Water Leak Flag Detected!"
message: The internal leak flag for {{ trigger.to_state.name }} has been triggered. This
usually indicates continuous flow for the last 24 hours.
data:
priority: high
ttl: 0
- id: '1770082584926'
alias: Notify - Outdoor Water Leak
description: Alerts family when unexplained water flow persists for 2 hours
triggers:
- entity_id: binary_sensor.outdoor_water_leak_persistent
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
trigger: state
conditions: []
actions:
- action: notify.mobile_app_nickphone
metadata: {}
data:
data:
priority: high
ttl: 0
tag: outdoor-leak-alert
color: '#ff0000'
title: "\U0001F6B0 Outdoor Water Leak Detected"
message: 'Unexplained water flow has been detected for over 2 hours. Current
hourly rate: {{ states(''sensor.outdoor_water_hourly_change'') }} gal.'
- id: '1770084282355'
alias: Notify - House Water Leak Possible
description: Water meter usage increased every hour from 9p-6a
triggers:
- at: 07:01:00
trigger: time
conditions:
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.house_water_nightly_leak_possible
state: 'on'
actions:
- data:
title: "\U0001F3E0 House Water Alert"
message: Potential water leak detected! Water usage increased every hour from
9 PM to 6 AM.
data:
priority: high
ttl: 0
tag: house-leak-alert
color: '#ffa500'
action: notify.mobile_app_nickphone
- id: '1770485349188'
alias: Count House Water Meter Frequency Updates
triggers:
- entity_id: sensor.house_water_meter_freq_1
trigger: state
actions:
- target:
entity_id: input_number.house_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour
data:
value: '{{ states(''input_number.house_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour'')
| float(0) + 1 }}'
action: input_number.set_value
- id: '1770485394121'
alias: Count Outdoor Water Meter Frequency Updates
triggers:
- entity_id: sensor.outdoor_water_meter_freq_1
trigger: state
actions:
- target:
entity_id: input_number.outdoor_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour
data:
value: '{{ states(''input_number.outdoor_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour'')
| float(0) + 1 }}'
action: input_number.set_value
- id: '1770485452657'
alias: Reset Water Meter Freq Hourly
description: ''
triggers:
- hours: /1
trigger: time_pattern
actions:
- action: input_number.set_value
metadata: {}
target:
entity_id:
- input_number.house_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour
- input_number.outdoor_water_meter_freq1_updates_per_hour
data:
value: 0
- id: '1770038217308'
alias: Notify - Saginaw Water Rate Changed
description: ''
triggers:
- entity_id:
- sensor.saginaw_house_water_rate
- sensor.saginaw_outdoor_water_rate
id: rate_changed
trigger: state
alias: Saginaw Water Rate Changes
- entity_id:
- sensor.saginaw_house_water_rate_raw
- sensor.saginaw_outdoor_water_rate_raw
to: unavailable
for:
seconds: 30
id: scrape_failed
trigger: state
alias: Saginaw Water Rate Raw Scrape Changes
actions:
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: rate_changed
- condition: template
value_template: "{{ trigger.from_state.state not in ['unknown', 'unavailable']
and \n trigger.to_state.state not in ['unknown', 'unavailable'] }}\n"
sequence:
- data:
title: "\U0001F4B0 Water Rate Change"
message: 'Rate for {{ trigger.to_state.name }} has changed! Old Value: ${{
trigger.from_state.state }} New Value: ${{ trigger.to_state.state }}'
data:
priority: high
ttl: 0
action: notify.mobile_app_nickphone
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id: scrape_failed
sequence:
- data:
title: '⚠️ Scrape Error: Saginaw Water'
message: 'The scrape for {{ trigger.to_state.name }} failed or returned
non-numeric data. Stable value of ${{ states(trigger.entity_id.replace(''_raw'',
'''')) }} is being maintained. Check: https://saginawtownship.org/departments/public_services/water_distribution.php'
data:
priority: high
ttl: 0
action: notify.mobile_app_nickphone
In Devices -> Helpers there are a bunch, but some come from templates above and others when you add the water data to your Energy dashboard (after a reboot and data starts coming in). Here’s my list of helpers:
Some key findings when I started looking at the data. My meters are broadcasting many times per minute, but the gallons used reading only changes at 11 minutes after every hour. They do this to save the endpoint battery I guess. So no realtime data, but hourly is better than nothing.
In the data, there is a leaking flag. From what I’ve read this flag only gets turned on if the usage increases for 24 hours straight. Not great for leak detection, but would have been useful last summer when something busted on a sprinkler line and I didn’t find out for a week or so. I have leak notifications based on these flags, but my custom leak notifications should trigger sooner. If the sprinklers have been off and the outdoor usage increases two hours in a row, I’ll get an alert. If the house usage have been increasing all through the overnight I’ll get an alert in the morning.
Once everything is setup, let it run. After several days, check out the freq1 sensor data, which should look similar to these graphs.
Your meters might be different, but mine hop between three frequencies at a time. There’s a low, medium, and high. Every 8 hours (3:11am, 11:11am, and 7:11pm), one of the frequencies increases by 400MHz, so over the course of a day they all increase. Then one day they all peaked and reset to the lower end of a frequency band.
From all this data I knew:
- Low Band: 904.8 – 910.8 MHz with changes at 7:11 pm
- Med Band: 911.2 – 917.2 MHz with changes at 3:11 am
- High Band: 917.6 – 923.6 MHz with changes at 11:11 am
I also tracked how many times per hour I caught data from each meter.
Not bad, but some hours I’d only get one or two data packets for a meter. Technically enough, but there was a risk of missing data. Since I knew the pattern I felt I could do smarter frequency hopping with my SDR to listen for data and then capture a lot more. It worked!
I was getting a lot more reads and rarely less than 10 in any hour. In order to do this I updated the rtl_433.conf file to replace the 24 frequencies with three bands.
# Low band - shifts at 7:11 PM ET (904.8 - 910.8 MHz)
frequency 904.6M
frequency 905.0M
#frequency 905.4M
#frequency 905.8M
#frequency 906.2M
#frequency 906.6M
#frequency 907.0M
#frequency 907.4M
#frequency 907.8M
#frequency 908.2M
#frequency 908.6M
#frequency 909.0M
#frequency 909.4M
#frequency 909.8M
#frequency 910.2M
#frequency 910.6M
#frequency 911.0M
# Mid band - shifts at 3:11 AM ET (911.2 - 917.2 MHz)
frequency 911.0M
frequency 911.4M
#frequency 911.8M
#frequency 912.2M
#frequency 912.6M
#frequency 913.0M
#frequency 913.4M
#frequency 913.8M
#frequency 914.2M
#frequency 914.6M
#frequency 915.0M
#frequency 915.4M
#frequency 915.8M
#frequency 916.2M
#frequency 916.6M
#frequency 917.0M
#frequency 917.4M
# High band - shifts at 11:11 AM ET (917.6 - 923.6 MHz)
frequency 917.4M
frequency 917.8M
#frequency 918.2M
#frequency 918.6M
#frequency 919.0M
#frequency 919.4M
#frequency 919.8M
#frequency 920.2M
#frequency 920.6M
#frequency 921.0M
#frequency 921.4M
#frequency 921.8M
#frequency 922.2M
#frequency 922.6M
#frequency 923.0M
#frequency 923.4M
#frequency 923.8M
# ^ keep blank line
The two uncommented frequencies in each band are the ones on either side of the frequency currently used by the meters. I added a scripts folder and a new update_rtl433_channels.sh file in there.
#!/bin/bash
# update_rtl433_channels.sh
#
# Advances one band's frequency pair in the rtl_433 config.
# Finds the two uncommented frequencies in the band's section,
# comments out the first one, and uncomments the next one after the pair.
# If the pair is at the end of the section, wraps to the first two.
#
# Usage: update_rtl433_channels.sh <low|mid|high> [config_path]
BAND="$1"
CONFIG_PATH="${2:-/config/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf}"
if [ -z "$BAND" ]; then
echo "Usage: $0 <low|mid|high> [config_path]"
exit 1
fi
if [ ! -f "$CONFIG_PATH" ]; then
echo "Error: Config file not found: $CONFIG_PATH"
exit 1
fi
# Determine the section header
case "$BAND" in
low) SECTION="# Low band -" ;;
mid) SECTION="# Mid band -" ;;
high) SECTION="# High band -" ;;
*) echo "Error: band must be low, mid, or high"; exit 1 ;;
esac
# Find start line of this section
SECTION_START=$(grep -n "$SECTION" "$CONFIG_PATH" | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)
if [ -z "$SECTION_START" ]; then
echo "Error: Could not find section '$SECTION' in config"
exit 1
fi
# Find end line: next section header or end of file
NEXT_SECTION=$(tail -n +$((SECTION_START + 1)) "$CONFIG_PATH" | grep -n "^# .* band -" | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)
if [ -z "$NEXT_SECTION" ]; then
SECTION_END=$(wc -l < "$CONFIG_PATH")
else
SECTION_END=$((SECTION_START + NEXT_SECTION - 1))
fi
echo "Band: $BAND (lines $SECTION_START-$SECTION_END)"
# Get absolute line numbers of all active (uncommented) frequency lines in this section
ACTIVE_ABS=()
for LINE_NUM in $(seq "$SECTION_START" "$SECTION_END"); do
if sed -n "${LINE_NUM}p" "$CONFIG_PATH" | grep -q "^frequency "; then
ACTIVE_ABS+=("$LINE_NUM")
fi
done
if [ "${#ACTIVE_ABS[@]}" -ne 2 ]; then
echo "Error: Expected 2 active frequencies, found ${#ACTIVE_ABS[@]}"
exit 1
fi
FIRST_ABS=${ACTIVE_ABS[0]}
SECOND_ABS=${ACTIVE_ABS[1]}
echo "Active:"
echo " Line $FIRST_ABS: $(sed -n "${FIRST_ABS}p" "$CONFIG_PATH")"
echo " Line $SECOND_ABS: $(sed -n "${SECOND_ABS}p" "$CONFIG_PATH")"
# Find the next commented frequency line after the second active one
NEXT_COMMENTED=""
for LINE_NUM in $(seq $((SECOND_ABS + 1)) "$SECTION_END"); do
if sed -n "${LINE_NUM}p" "$CONFIG_PATH" | grep -q "^#frequency "; then
NEXT_COMMENTED=$LINE_NUM
break
fi
done
if [ -z "$NEXT_COMMENTED" ]; then
# At end of section — wrap to first two
echo "End of section, wrapping to first two"
# Comment out both active lines
sed -i "${FIRST_ABS}s/^frequency /#frequency /" "$CONFIG_PATH"
sed -i "${SECOND_ABS}s/^frequency /#frequency /" "$CONFIG_PATH"
# Find the first two commented frequency lines in the section
WRAP_LINES=()
for LINE_NUM in $(seq "$SECTION_START" "$SECTION_END"); do
if sed -n "${LINE_NUM}p" "$CONFIG_PATH" | grep -q "^#frequency "; then
WRAP_LINES+=("$LINE_NUM")
if [ "${#WRAP_LINES[@]}" -eq 2 ]; then
break
fi
fi
done
for ABS in "${WRAP_LINES[@]}"; do
sed -i "${ABS}s/^#frequency /frequency /" "$CONFIG_PATH"
done
else
# Normal advance: comment the first, uncomment the next
echo "Advancing: commenting line $FIRST_ABS, uncommenting line $NEXT_COMMENTED"
sed -i "${FIRST_ABS}s/^frequency /#frequency /" "$CONFIG_PATH"
sed -i "${NEXT_COMMENTED}s/^#frequency /frequency /" "$CONFIG_PATH"
fi
echo ""
echo "Active frequencies:"
grep "^frequency " "$CONFIG_PATH"
This file needs a permissions change. Install the Terminal & SSH app in HA, start it, open it, and type:chmod +x /config/config/update_rtl433_channels.sh.
In configuration.yaml:
shell_command:
rtl433_shift_low: 'bash /config/scripts/update_rtl433_channels.sh low /config/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf'
rtl433_shift_mid: 'bash /config/scripts/update_rtl433_channels.sh mid /config/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf'
rtl433_shift_high: 'bash /config/scripts/update_rtl433_channels.sh high /config/rtl_433/rtl_433.conf'
In automations.yaml:
- id: '1770813439694'
alias: RTL 433 - Shift Low Band Frequencies
description: Advances low band frequencies at 7:11 PM ET daily
triggers:
- trigger: time
at: '19:11:00'
actions:
- action: shell_command.rtl433_shift_low
- delay:
seconds: 5
- action: hassio.addon_restart
data:
addon: 9b13b3f4_rtl433-next
mode: single
- id: '1770813477228'
alias: RTL 433 - Shift Mid Band Frequencies
description: Advances mid band frequencies at 3:11 AM ET daily
triggers:
- trigger: time
at: 03:11:00
actions:
- action: shell_command.rtl433_shift_mid
- delay:
seconds: 5
- action: hassio.addon_restart
data:
addon: 9b13b3f4_rtl433-next
mode: single
- id: '1770813511146'
alias: RTL 433 - Shift High Band Frequencies
description: Advances high band frequencies at 11:11 AM ET daily
triggers:
- trigger: time
at: '11:11:00'
actions:
- action: shell_command.rtl433_shift_high
- delay:
seconds: 5
- action: hassio.addon_restart
data:
addon: 9b13b3f4_rtl433-next
mode: single
Make sure to uncomment the correct pair of frequencies in each band, update the automation trigger times, and make sure the slug for the rtl433-next app is correct. Each time an automation runs the active frequencies are updated for the associated band. Since they should be on both sides of the frequency used by the water meter both can read the RF broadcasts. When it gets to the end of the band’s frequency list, it shifts up to the top of the list.
A lot of this is dependent on your water meters and situation, but hopefully it gives you enough information to make it work.
Nick Momrik 