This is for the Home Assistant InfluxDB v5.0.2 embedded. and Home Assistant Node-red 21.0.7. I have a pulse count electricity meter reader which works well, but I want to only take a meter reading once per month. I figured this out using a cronplus node addition. I then want to place this once per month reading into InfluxDB. I have looked at the instructions in various places but cannot figure out how I set up “measurements”. As a trial I have used an inject node and debug to get the reading from HA, which returns a correct value. But I just cannot understand how I have to then setup the payload etc, so it will then put into InfluxDB. (I can configure the appropriate access to InfluxDB ok - no problems with that) It is very embarrassing but I am really struggling with this. I have the flow working in the Node-Red but after looking at multiple YouTube tutorials and other instruction manuals on Node-red website I just cannot understand what information I need to “change” in the node to get it accepted by InfluxDB. There is lots of info about generating this random number and that random number in JSON, but nothing for taking the reading from an actual entity and changing it to be accepted by InfluxDB. Can someone please explain in simple language what I need to change and into what. I have very little JSON knowledge and maybe this is why I am struggling. This is the current flow: [Screenshot 2026-04-23 184944] This is the expression for the current state node: [Screenshot 2026-04-23 185550] Any help greatly appreciated, but please keep simple for my lack of understanding.

Do you want a fixed measurement in that influxdb out node or do you want to include it in the message? If fixed then put the measurement name in the measurement field in the node config, if variable then, as described in the help text for the node: " If the measurement field is not set in the node configuration, the user can send in data with a specified measurement name in msg.measurement". So in your inject node set msg.measurement to the measurement name you want. Note that if you want the timestamp to be the current time then don't provide a timestamp. If you want to add a tag then again look in the help text for the node. In particular: " If msg.payload is an array containing two objects, the first object will be written as the set of named fields, the second is the set of named tags." So in msg.payload you might want something like [ {value: 12345}, {entity_id: "the id"} ] That will write a field "value" with 12345 and a tag "entity_id" containing "the_id".

I am trying to take a reading from a specific sensor, read once per month (in this case a utility pulse generated meter reading) using the node Cronplus. it is this reading I want to pass onto InfluxDB so I can link to Gafana and plot my monthly meter reading. So in my flow I can get the payload as the current meter reading (at the time of using the test "inject" node) but when I look in InfluxDB there is an error "your query is syntactically correct but returned no results". I guess for that reason there is an error in the fields or payload I am writing to the InfluxDB out node. Unfortunately I have no idea what the fields are. I tried omitting the "measurement" in InfluxDB out and put it in the msg.measurement (kWh), it shows in the debug node and in InfluxDB but still with the same statement as above. however this then seems to corrupt the other sensors with the same measurement unit and so I put the kWh in the InfluxDB out node "measurement" again [image] Then I have to restart InfluxDB to get rid of the error. Hope that is clear?

Let's start again. What do you want to call the measurement? Note that the measurement is name should be a descriptor of the fields and tags within it. So it might be something like Meter_Reading. Is there only one data value (field) for that? What do you want to call it? Possibly something like 'value' or 'value_kwh' Do you also want a tag associated with each value? If you have multiple meters then that might be the meter id. When experimenting I suggest always dropping the measurement each time you try something else so that any existing data does not cause confusion.

So the sensor I am trying to measure form Home assistant is "sensor.electricity_meter_input_2_pulse_counter_value" and it's unit is kWh". It outputs the meter reading at that point in time. this is the current state node I have: [image]

You might find this terminology/config post of use: [image] How to effectively use InfluxDB FAQs An InfluxDB measurement is similar to an SQL database table. InfluxDB tags are like indexed columns in an SQL database. InfluxDB fields are like unindexed columns in an SQL database. InfluxDB points are similar to SQL rows. So I have a database called domotica with the following measurements: [image] The environment measurement contains all of my sensor data I have a couple of tags: location and type Location tags are real places such as "Kitchen" type tags are sensor measurement types su…

You do not appear to have answered any of my questions. I don't need to know anything about where the data comes from.

Sorry, I misread your question Measurement can be " Monthly Electricity Meter Read" The value can be "kWh" No Tags necessary

Thanks - its not so much about the InfluxDB per se but how I can format the info to get into the InfluxDB

Indeed, I use a standard flow to make sure I'm formatting the data correctly having previously ruined db's by sending the wrong data. [image] Here is the function node code: /** * Validate input suitable for the influxdb-out node. * We will ALWAYS use the "array containing two objects" payload * OR the singe Object payload (if no tags being used). * See the Description tab for more details. */ // check measurement field is set - if not exit with error if ( ! msg.measurement ) { node.error('msg.measurement is missing') node.send([null,msg]) return } let fields,tags // if payload is an object, assume that it contains fieldName:fieldValue pairs if ( msg.payload!== null && msg.payload.constructor.name === 'Object' ) { fields = msg.payload } else if ( msg.payload!== null && msg.payload.constructor.name === 'Array' ) { node.error('msg.payload cannot be an array. It must be an object containing fieldName:fieldValue pairs or a single value (which would be written to the `value` field name).') node.send([null,msg]) return } else { // Otherwise, we always use 'value' as the default field name fields = {'value': msg.payload} } const lstFields = Object.keys(fields) // check to make sure that there is a value field name - if not, continue but with a warning if ( ! lstFields.includes('value') ) { // Lets us turn off the warning if we know what we are doing :-) if ( msg.noValueField !== true ) node.warn('Default field name "value" not present, was that deliberate? Set msg.noValueField=true or use the `value` field name to avoid this msg') } // check to make sure that all field values are numeric - if not, exit with a warning let allNumeric = true lstFields.forEach( key => { // I use On/Off for simple switch values in MQTT but these are not useful // in InfluxDB, so translate them to ON=1 and OFF=0 (ignoring case). try { if ( fields[key].toLowerCase() === 'on' ) fields[key] = 1 if ( fields[key].toLowerCase() === 'off' ) fields[key] = 0 } catch (e) {} // then check to make sure the field is actually a number if ( parseFloat(fields[key]) !== fields[key] ) { node.error(`Field msg.payload.${key} is not numeric. Only use numbers for field values, text should go in tags. Value=${fields[key]}`) allNumeric = false node.send([null,msg]) return } }) // @ts-ignore if ( allNumeric === false ) { return } // check to make sure that if msg.tags is present, it is an object - if not, exit with a warning if ( msg.tags ) { if ( !(msg.tags!== null && msg.tags.constructor.name === 'Object') ) { node.error('msg.tags is not an object - it must contain tagName:tagValue pairs') node.send([null,msg]) return } tags = msg.tags } // Format the output to go to the InfluxDB out node if ( msg.tags ) { msg.payload = [ fields, tags, ] } else { msg.payload = fields } return msg; Mostly, I send data via MQTT.

In that case the relevant bit of the help text is: " If msg.payload is an object containing multiple properties, the fields will be written to the measurement." Assuming the value is in msg.payload then all you need in a function node is msg.payload = {kWh: msg.payload} msg.measurement = "Monthly Electricity Meter Read" return msg Though I recommend using a much shorter measurement name and I don't know whether spaces are allowed.

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Problems formatting for InfluxDB out for Influxv1 Home Assistant

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TotallyInformation 23 April 2026 19:43 9

You might find this terminology/config post of use:

Topic		Replies	Views
Getting data into InfluxDB General	4	1672	13 December 2020
Store data in InfluxDB show in Chronograf General database	33	1115	27 July 2022
Input data to Influxdb General database	34	3011	9 November 2021
Help needed with MQTT to influx General	22	4347	27 April 2020
Data in influxdb General	6	276	9 December 2022

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Problems formatting for InfluxDB out for Influxv1 Home Assistant

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