On Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:29:42 +0100, T i m wrote:

On Tue, 8 Jun 2021 12:07:49 +0100, Chris B wrote:

snip

One minor problem might be visibility of the meter but this could easily
be solved with smart a meter or a smart phone on a selfie stick. (or at
a real push move the washer out to read the meter).

snip

Along the camera lines could be the use of a ESP32Cam module, set up
as a webcam and then accessed whenever you need to view (live stream)
or take a photo of the meter?

https://www.instructables.com/ESP-32...Fi-Getting-St/

The boards have a pretty bright LED to enable you to take a picture
(or view video) in otherwise total darkness and they are cheap enough.

It could be stuck onto the back of the WM with some double sided tape
and looking at the meter and only needs to be powered (5V, a few mA)
when required. Access from a PC or your phone?

It does need a bit of setting up but it's quite easy if you are
reasonably PC literate and/or already familiar with such things (like
the Arduino Microcontrollers).

I bought mine from Aliexpress for less than a fiver each delivered,
including the camera and were very easy to set up following the
guides.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Those boards don't typically come with a uUSB interface (easy for
powering with a Poundshop phone charger) but you can buy a tiny uUSB
'breakout board' for a few pence, once you have them setup). You will
also need an interface board to program them but again, very cheap and
you only need one.

Or what about asking to relocate the meter when your smartmeter is
installed?