Rebe's meter retrofit solution reads existing mechanical water meters, gas meters, electricity meters and analog gauges using an on-device reading camera, and delivers the values over native Modbus RTU — so meters can be connected to an energy management or SCADA system without being replaced, without interrupting supply, and without fitting communication modules to the meters themselves.
Need product specifications, use cases or references?
Call +86 130 4890 6506 for selection guidance and comparable project types Email usAlmost every energy-management or SCADA project in an older plant hits the same wall. The site has hundreds of meters — mechanical water meters, gas meters, pointer-type panel instruments — and none of them have a communication interface. The options on the table are all bad:
| Option | Why it fails on site |
|---|---|
| Replace every meter with a smart meter | Requires an outage, pipework work and re-verification of the replacement meters, plus a capital budget that rarely gets approved |
| Retrofit communication modules onto each meter | Only works for meter models designed to accept them; older mechanical meters cannot take one |
| Keep sending people to read meters | Errors, no history, and an ongoing labour cost that never ends |
| Do nothing | The energy-management project stalls at the first meter |
Not a better meter. A way to read the meters that are already installed, without touching them.
That is what this solution does: an industrial camera or edge box is mounted to observe the meter face or dial, reads it at the device, and makes the value available over RS485 / Modbus RTU for your system to poll. The meter itself is never modified, never disconnected, and never replaced. Put another way, it digitizes mechanical water, gas and electricity meters and pointer-type panel instruments that have no data output — the retrofit is at the reading step, not at the meter.
The site is not shut down and the meters are not touched. The retrofit is installed alongside the existing instruments.
| Role | Why it matters to them |
|---|---|
| System integrators and automation contractors | Delivers the meter data layer of a project that would otherwise stall — without a meter-replacement budget |
| Water and gas utilities | Mechanical meter estates that cannot be economically replaced |
| Industrial plants and parks | In-plant metering where production cannot be interrupted |
| Substation and distribution room O&M | Pointer-type panel instruments turned into queryable history |
Typical settings: industrial parks with mixed-vintage metering · water supply networks · substations and distribution rooms · plants where continuous production rules out shutdowns.
⚠️ This section is a boundary, not a disclaimer. It matters more than the positive cases above, because a wrong fit here is a compliance problem rather than an inconvenience.
| Situation | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| The meter already has a working communication interface (Modbus, DLT645, M-Bus and similar) | Read it over that interface. It is more accurate and removes the image-recognition step entirely |
| The reading is used for trade settlement or legal metrology | Use a metering device with the appropriate verification/approval. Image-based reading is not suitable for legal metrology or billing |
| The dial is not visible, is obstructed, or the lighting is very poor | Fix the mounting position and the lighting first — recognition cannot compensate for a dial the camera cannot see clearly |
| Millisecond-level real-time control is required | Image-based reading is periodic sampling, not a control-loop input. It does not belong in a real-time control path |
What this solution is: a digitisation path for meters that already exist. It is not a replacement for a measuring instrument.
Recognised readings depend on the dial's graduations, the image quality and the recognition method — so they must not be used for legal metrology or trade settlement.
| Reading camera | Edge computing box | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | Bullet camera | Square enclosure |
| Reads | Pointer gauges, status meters, level gauges, digital displays | Mechanical water meters, electricity meters, gas meters |
| Typical setting | Substations, factories, panel instruments | Meter rooms, water and gas metering |
| Size / weight | 186 × 84 × 93 mm / 1 kg (net) | 100 × 100 × 45 mm / 0.5 kg (net) |
Both share the same interface, so a site can mix them.
Native Modbus RTU matters: your gateway, PLC or SCADA master can poll these devices with no protocol driver and no vendor middleware. Integration is done from the device's register map, so ask us for it to confirm the values you need are exposed.
For what the retrofit approach means in general — and which instruments it does not suit — see reading pointer and analog gauges remotely and on-device recognition.
These devices are specified for hot, humid plant rooms and outdoor cabinets. Whether a different product suits your particular cabinet is a question for its supplier.
We can provide: selection guidance · integration and network design guidance · product documentation on request
Call +86 130 4890 6506 for selection guidance and comparable project types Email usTell us your site conditions and what the data needs to connect to — we reply within one business day.
| Specification | Reading camera | Edge computing box |
|---|---|---|
| Function | Local sampling, meter reading recognition, recognition library upgrade | Not published — ask us |
| Applicable meters | Pointer gauges, status meters, level gauges, digital displays | Mechanical water meters, electricity meters, gas meters |
| Form factor | Bullet camera | Square enclosure |
| Dimensions | 186 × 84 × 93 mm | 100 × 100 × 45 mm |
| Weight | 1 kg (net) | 0.5 kg (net) |
| Core board | ARMv7-A, 1.2 GHz, quad-core | Not published — ask us |
| Memory | 512 MB | Not published — ask us |
| Operating system | Linux 4.14 | Not published — ask us |
| Resolution / zoom | 720P / 10× zoom | Not published — ask us |
| Power supply | DC 10–16 V, < 1.5 A, < 18 W (at 25 °C, 12 VDC) | DC 10–28 V, < 1.5 A, < 18 W |
| Uplink — serial | RS485, 1000 m, 300 W surge protection, Modbus RTU, 4800 bps even parity (default) | Same |
| Uplink — Ethernet | 100 Mbps | Same |
| Operating temperature | −40 °C to +70 °C | −40 °C to +70 °C |
| Ingress protection | IP66 (IEC 60529 / GB/T 4208) | IP66 (IEC 60529 / GB/T 4208) |
⚠️ "Not published — ask us" is deliberate. The two devices are documented as sharing the same communication and environmental specification, but their compute and imaging specifications are documented per device — and for the edge computing box the detail is not published. Writing "Same" there would have been an assumption presented as a specification.
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | You tell us the meter types, quantity and mounting conditions at each location |
| 2 | We confirm which form factor suits each location and how the RS485 runs would be routed |
| 3 | A chargeable sample unit can be quoted, for you to verify recognition on your actual meters |
| 4 | Once verified, the remainder is supplied and integrated into your gateway or SCADA master |
We deliberately start with a sample. Meter reading accuracy depends on the meter face, lighting and viewing angle at your site. The sample is quoted as a chargeable unit — confirming it on a real instrument is faster and cheaper than arguing about it in a specification.
No. That is the entire point of the solution. Existing mechanical water meters, gas meters, electricity meters and analog gauges stay exactly where they are. The reading device is mounted to observe them.
No meter is disconnected or opened, so no supply interruption is required for the meter itself. The reading device needs a power feed and a communication path, which are installed alongside.
Over RS485 using Modbus RTU, or over Ethernet. Both are standard interfaces — your gateway, PLC or SCADA master polls the device directly. No proprietary middleware is required.
The reading camera covers pointer gauges, status meters, level gauges and digital displays. The edge computing box covers mechanical water meters, electricity meters and gas meters.
The devices are rated −40 °C to +70 °C and IP66, which is the specification you need for unconditioned plant rooms and outdoor enclosures.
Accuracy depends on your specific meter face, the lighting at the mounting position and the viewing angle. We do not publish a single blanket accuracy figure because it would not be honest across different meter types. Instead we can quote a chargeable sample unit so you can verify recognition on your own meters before committing to a rollout.
Lighting is a mounting and installation question, not a zoom question: we recommend a small local light on the meter face where ambient light is poor, and the camera is positioned so the dial fills the frame. Zoom does not change how much light reaches the sensor, so it is not the lever here. Tell us your lighting conditions during scoping and we will specify the mounting and whether a local light is needed.
Each reading device observes one meter. Contact us with your meter count and meter types and we will scope the quantities with you.
We supply system integrators, automation contractors and utilities. If you are delivering a project for an end customer, we support you as the supplier — we do not approach your customer.
To scope a retrofit, tell us three things: your meter types, roughly how many, and the mounting conditions (indoor panel, outdoor cabinet, meter room).
Call +86 130 4890 6506 — we will confirm which form factor fits, and can quote a chargeable sample unit for you to test on your own meters.