This project is a DIY Zigbee-enabled gas meter that measures and tracks gas consumption. The device integrates with Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant, providing accurate readings for energy management and analysis. It’s designed to be battery-powered and operate autonomously, addressing common challenges of similar solutions.
- Real-time gas consumption tracking in cubic meters (m³).
- Real-time gas flow tracking in cubit meters per hour (m³/h)
- Zigbee communication for seamless integration with Zigbee2MQTT and Home Assistant.
- Battery-powered for installation flexibility.
- Double battery connector to allow battery replacement without counting interruption.
- Built-in counter to prevent data loss if the network or Home Assistant goes offline.
- Easy setup and minimal hardware requirements.
- OTA firmware updatable.
- Device button with rich functionality
Zigbee is a low-power, reliable wireless protocol ideal for IoT devices. Unlike Wi-Fi, Zigbee consumes minimal energy, making it perfect for battery-operated devices. While commercial Zigbee gas meters aren’t readily available, this project demonstrates how to build one from scratch using affordable components and the ESP32-C6 module.
Below are some screenshots of the device integrated into Zigbee2MQTT:
- The gas meter’s rotating wheel has a built-in magnet.
- A magnetic sensor detects each full rotation of the wheel, corresponding to a predefined volume of gas.
- The ESP32-C6 processes the data, maintaining a cumulative counter (currentSummDelivered) and calculating instantaneous demand (instantaneousDemand) in m³/h.
- These metrics are sent via Zigbee to Zigbee2MQTT, which forwards them to Home Assistant.
Before this project, I used a modified door sensor to monitor gas usage. While functional, it had several drawbacks:
- Short battery life: The door sensor required frequent battery replacements.
- Data loss: If Zigbee2MQTT or Home Assistant went offline, pulse data was lost, leading to discrepancies.
- Complexity: Managing counters and automations in Home Assistant was cumbersome.
After searching for commercial Zigbee gas meters and finding none, I decided to create a custom device tailored to my needs.
The device button has implemented gesture recognition. The gestures signaled are PRESS, RELEASE, SINGLE_CLICK, DOUBLE_CLICK and HOLD. In the code there are more gestures such as NONE (No current gesture set) and UNKNOWN_CLICK (set when failing to recognize any of the properly defined gestures).
Once a gesture is recognized, the functionality attached, if any, is raised:
- PRESS: The button is pressed. The internal led is switched on. Zigbee radio is enabled.
- SINGLE_CLICK: The button is pressed and released in less than 400ms and not pressed again in 400ms. Force report of the Current Summation Delivered, Battery percentage, Status and extended Status registers. The Battery voltage is updated internally at this time. Note it is not reported because it is not possible in the Zigbee specifications.
- DOUBLE_CLICK: The button is pressed and releasses in less than 400ms, then pressed again in less than 400ms and released in less than 400ms and not pressed in less than 400ms. The device is restarted (counter is not reset)
- HOLD: The button is keep pressed for 3 seconds. The device leaves the network and starts comission process to find another network.
- NONE: The led is turned off, note the led is turned off for multiple other causes such as entering sleep mode etc.
!!HELP NEEDED!! December 9th 2025 If you have some experience with ESP32 and Zigbee devices or you just want this project to move forward. PLEASE CONTACT ME and help me debug this device!
December 15th 2025 - Most of the problems fixed. Remaining issues are:
1 - Home assistant support for the smart meter devices that reports m³/h as a unit of power (when the fluid is GAS) is not supported. So I created another cluster for reporting the counter as an analog input cluster. Note this is a problem because the maximum count value of a float is 16777216 but I added this just for testing. 2 - Voltage value is not transmitted to the server as part of the value report (in zigbee terms) I actually I know i can force read the value from the server but I don't know how to push the value from the device to the server.
This project is still in the development phase. While it is not yet deployed for real gas consumption measurement, I have a working prototype on an ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 development board in a test environment. The prototype uses two buttons: one simulating the gas meter pulses and the other functioning as the main device button. The software is fully operational, I'm actually working on the hardware side.
For the time being, I've decided to use a 2S lipo battery that can hold 8.4v and can be safely discharged to 7.0v. I've already develop the software to report battery at 100% level when it is 8.4v and 0% when it is 7.0v. There is also an attribute to get the battery voltage in millivolts.
I've provided an update to Zigbee2mqtt to generalise the seMetering cluster so it can be used for electrical meters and gas meters. Hopefully that will simplify a lot the code to add to the external converters and that code can be reused by others
I've just implemented and tested OTA support so in theory I could just distribute new firmware versions
See the TODO section below for specific tasks that need to be completed.
One of my main concerns is power consumption and battery life. The software includes battery status measuring and reporting.
Currently, the prototype runs on a development board, but the long-term goal is to use only the ESP32-C6 chip, eliminating unnecessary components. To achieve this, I will need help reviewing schematics and PCB designs, as I’m not an expert in hardware design—just an enthusiast. If you have experience in this area, your input would be greatly appreciated.
For discussions and contributions, please join the ongoing thread on the Home Assistant Community: 👉 Zigbee Gas Counter
To build this project, you’ll need:
- ESP32-C6-WROOM-1 or a compatible development board.
- Magnetic reed switch for pulse detection.
- 10kΩ resistor (pull-down).
- 8.4 LiPo battery. TBD
- DC to DC voltage step down. I'm temporarily using an old MP1584 set to convert 8.4v to 3.3v.
- Optional: Custom 3D-printed enclosure for the hardware.
- ESP-IDF (Espressif IoT Development Framework): Installation Guide
- Zigbee2MQTT: Setup Guide
- Home Assistant: Official Website
First, download the project code from the GitHub repository:
git clone https://github.com/IgnacioHR/ZigbeeGasCounter.git
cd ZigbeeGasCounterSet the corrent target for the ESP32-C6:
idf.py --preview set-target ESP32C6Ensure ESP-IDF and its tools are installed on your machine.
Clear previous configurations:
idf.py -p PORT erase-flashCompile the code and flash it to the ESP32-C6 board:
idf.py build
idf.py -p PORT flash
idf.py -p PORT monitorThe device has just one button, but multiple gestures are recognized
- Button press: When the main button is pressed, if the device was is sleep mode, zigbee radio is enabled. Note, button press is the first gesture of a possible list of gestures recognized
- Button release: No specific action is associated to this gesture
- Single click: A single click is detected when the time between press and release is shorter than 250ms. When single click gesture is detected, the device shall refresh data on the server side, including the battery status and voltage value (note the voltage value is not refresh in the server side automatically, there is a note on this topic), device error conditions are reset and reevaluated again.
- Double click: A double click is detected when the time between press and release is sorter then 250ms and the button cycle is executed twice. When this gesture is recognized the device is reinitialized.
- Unknown click: This happens when the user triple-click or press-click-press in a way that does not fit in a single or double click. No action is associated to this gesture
- Long press: When the button is pressed and not released for 3 seconds, the device is ordered to leave the network and start the commision process to join an open network again.
Note the counter value is readable and writeable so it is possible to set the current value using zigbee front end
The cumulative gas consumption (currentSummDelivered) is stored in the device’s NVS to prevent data loss. The counter is automatically restored upon reboot.
The device uses sleep modes to conserve energy. It wakes up:
- When gas consumption is detected.
- Periodically (e.g., every hour) to send reports.
You can adapt this project for other pulse-based meters (e.g., water or electricity) by modifying the code to reflect the appropriate measurement units and formulas.
This project includes a custom manufacturer name and code:
- Name: “MICASA” – A playful mix of “mi casa” (my home) in Spanish.
- Code: 0x8888 – Chosen arbitrarily for this DIY project.
If you want to contribute or improve this project, feel free to fork the repository and open a pull request. Suggestions are welcome!
Here are the planned improvements:
- Design a custom PCB for the ESP32-C6, connectors and resistors.
- Create a 3D-printed enclosure for secure installation.
- Light-Sleep mode, the chip is not entering Light-Sleep
By improving the content structure and emphasizing actionable steps, this README not only serves as a guide for your project but also inspires others to create their own Zigbee devices.