[sokoloff]

I have one running a few home automation type tasks (an IP->serial gateway for my whole-house audio, SDR radio to monitor 4 utility meters [only 2 meters are currently reporting data as my 2 water meters are not reporting usage via radio to me or to the utility], and controlling relays for the sprinkler system). Next steps are I plan to create an Alexa skill that will control the whole-house audio and let me "pause" the sprinklers as needed and integrate with weather forecasting to predict near-future rainfall so I can save water/increase plant health if rain is expected.

I'll be honest: it's a lot of fun, but if I lived 100 lifetimes, it would never save me time on balance. ;)

I also use one to run stratux as another poster mentions. That one saved ~$650 vs buying the COTS solution.

[bronco21016]

Curious about your SDR meter monitoring. Any links or description of how that works? Would love to monitor my electric and water without using the energy company's devices.

[sokoloff]

I didn't do any actual hard work. I just used rtl-amr, which was super-easy to grab, compile, and use.

http://bemasher.net/rtlamr/

http://bemasher.net/rtlamr/signal.html has information on how it works, but you don't need to do/know anything about the protocol to get it to work.