USB Error reading: [Errno 13] Access denied (insufficient permissions)

[adibu]

I am unfortunately inexperienced with lx and python usb so might be something obvious to others.

When starting the HY1361 is discovered as "That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy sound meter detected (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523)" (autodetected) but then I get this error:

USB Error reading: [Errno 13] Access denied (insufficient permissions)

on the Raspi5 (on Bookworm, meter connected to Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1a86:7523 QinHeng Electronics CH340 serial converter.

Any hints how to get it working?

(also tried the docker setup with similar error - I assume the error is system related)

Regards,
Adi

[wmnl25]

Hi @adibu did you find a solution in the end yourself? I'm experiencing the same error. Python is able to open the serial port and is in the dialout group, but nevertheless the permission error persists.

2025-05-30 19:54:44,465 - INFO - Detected specified device: That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,466 - INFO - Starting Noise Monitoring on USB device. 2025-05-30 19:54:44,471 - INFO - Detected specified device: That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,472 - INFO - Noise monitoring on USB device. 2025-05-30 19:54:44,473 - ERROR - USB Error reading: [Errno 13] Access denied (insufficient permissions) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,475 - INFO - Detected specified device: That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,476 - INFO - Reconnected to USB device. 2025-05-30 19:54:44,578 - ERROR - USB Error reading: [Errno 13] Access denied (insufficient permissions) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,579 - INFO - Detected specified device: That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523) 2025-05-30 19:54:44,581 - INFO - Reconnected to USB device.

After adding a UDEV rule (SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="1a86", ATTR{idProduct}=="7523", MODE="0666", GROUP="plugdev") to

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/50-ch340-libusb.rules

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

sudo udevadm trigger

And replugging the device, it shows

2025-05-30 22:32:09,873 - INFO - Detected specified device: That mysterious volume meter darksider did buy (Vendor 0x1a86, Product 0x7523) 2025-05-30 22:32:09,874 - INFO - Reconnected to USB device. 2025-05-30 22:32:09,976 - ERROR - USB Error reading: [Errno 32] Pipe error

[wmnl25]

Just for debugging purposes, I was able to get readings with this (simple) code.

import serial
import time
import struct

class HY1361:
    def __init__(self, port='/dev/ttyUSB0'):
        try:
            self.ser = serial.Serial(
                port=port,
                baudrate=115200,
                bytesize=8,
                parity='N',
                stopbits=1,
                timeout=1
            )
            print(f"Connected to HY1361 on {port}")
        except serial.SerialException as e:
            print("Serial connection error:", e)
            exit(1)

    def read_packet(self):
        while True:
            byte = self.ser.read(1)
            if byte == b'\x55':  # Start byte
                frame = byte + self.ser.read(5)
                if len(frame) == 6 and frame[5] == 0xAA:
                    value = struct.unpack('<H', frame[2:4])[0]
                    return value / 10.0
                else:
                    print(f"Invalid packet: {frame.hex()}")
            else:
                continue

if __name__ == "__main__":
    meter = HY1361()
    try:
        while True:
            spl = meter.read_packet()
            print(f"Sound Level: {spl:.1f} dB")
            time.sleep(0.2)
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print("Exiting...")

Output:

pi@pi3b:~ $ sudo python hy1361.py 
Connected to HY1361 on /dev/ttyUSB0
Sound Level: 37.9 dB
Sound Level: 41.5 dB
Sound Level: 41.5 dB
Sound Level: 41.5 dB
Sound Level: 44.0 dB

[BashfulBladder]

@adibu & @wmnl25 - to fix this HY1361 issue, I took a lot of the code you provided, went through the newer mute-client code for a single line to fix the higher decibel readings & then it went haywire with a git fork.... so here is a diff & hopefully @wmnl25 can figure it out & make a decent fork.

diff -u orig/NoiseBuster-1ad78b976308ef6f3844ec60c5eb08198b84284a/noisebuster.py ~/Desktop/noisebuster.py
--- orig/NoiseBuster-1ad78b976308ef6f3844ec60c5eb08198b84284a/noisebuster.py	2024-10-17 10:44:43
+++ ~/Desktop/noisebuster.py	2026-05-31 14:22:45
@@ -51,6 +51,9 @@
 import usb.util
 import requests
 import schedule
+import serial
+import time
+import struct
 
 # Now load the configuration
 def load_config(config_path):
@@ -86,6 +89,37 @@
 # Convert IDs from config to integers if specified
 usb_vendor_id_int = int(usb_vendor_id, 16) if usb_vendor_id else None
 usb_product_id_int = int(usb_product_id, 16) if usb_product_id else None
+
+## from https://github.com/silkyclouds/NoiseBuster/issues/8#issuecomment-2924766755
+class HY1361:
+    def __init__(self, port='/dev/ttyUSB0'):
+        try:
+            self.ser = serial.Serial(
+                port=port,
+                baudrate=115200,
+                bytesize=8,
+                parity='N',
+                stopbits=1,
+                timeout=1
+            )
+            print(f"Connected to HY1361 on {port}")
+        except serial.SerialException as e:
+            print("Serial connection error:", e)
+            exit(1)
+
+    def read_packet(self):
+        while True:
+            byte = self.ser.read(1)
+            if byte == b'\x55':  # Start byte
+                frame = byte + self.ser.read(5)
+                if len(frame) == 6 and frame[5] == 0xAA:
+                    #value = struct.unpack('<H', frame[2:4])[0]
+                    value = (frame[1] << 8) | frame[2]
+                    return value / 10.0
+                else:
+                    print(f"Invalid packet: {frame.hex()}")
+            else:
+                continue
 
 # Now set up logging with colorization and file handler
 
@@ -383,6 +417,7 @@
         sys.exit(1)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    meter = HY1361()
     main()
 
 # Queue for handling failed InfluxDB writes
@@ -636,7 +671,7 @@
     while True:
         current_time = time.time()
         if current_time - window_start_time >= DEVICE_AND_NOISE_MONITORING_CONFIG['time_window_duration']:
-            timestamp = datetime.utcnow()
+            timestamp = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
             delete_old_images()
             logger.info(f"Time window elapsed. Current peak dB: {round(current_peak_dB, 1)}")
 
@@ -649,7 +684,7 @@
             }]
 
             # Log the current peak dB regardless of InfluxDB or MQTT
-            logger.info(f"Current noise level: {round(current_peak_dB, 1)} dB")
+            # logger.info(f"Current peak noise level: {round(current_peak_dB, 1)} dB")
 
             # Send data to InfluxDB if enabled
             if INFLUXDB_CONFIG.get("enabled") and influxdb_client and write_api:
@@ -668,7 +703,7 @@
                 realtime_topic = f"homeassistant/sensor/{DEVICE_AND_NOISE_MONITORING_CONFIG['device_name']}/realtime_noise_levels/state"
                 realtime_payload = json.dumps(realtime_data[0]['fields'])
                 send_to_mqtt(realtime_topic, realtime_payload)
-                logger.info(f"Data published to MQTT: {realtime_topic} -> {realtime_payload}")
+                # logger.info(f"Data published to MQTT: {realtime_topic} -> {realtime_payload}")
 
             if current_peak_dB >= DEVICE_AND_NOISE_MONITORING_CONFIG['minimum_noise_level']:
                 peak_temperature_float = float(peak_temperature) if peak_temperature is not None else 0.0
@@ -701,11 +736,11 @@
                     logger.debug("InfluxDB is disabled or not properly configured; skipping write.")
 
                 # Publish to MQTT if enabled
-                if mqtt_client and MQTT_CONFIG.get("enabled"):
-                    event_topic = f"homeassistant/sensor/{DEVICE_AND_NOISE_MONITORING_CONFIG['device_name']}/noise_levels/state"
-                    event_payload = json.dumps(main_data['fields'])
-                    send_to_mqtt(event_topic, event_payload)
-                    logger.info(f"Data published to MQTT: {event_topic} -> {event_payload}")
+                #if mqtt_client and MQTT_CONFIG.get("enabled"):
+                #    event_topic = f"homeassistant/sensor/{DEVICE_AND_NOISE_MONITORING_CONFIG['device_name']}/noise_levels/state"
+                #    event_payload = json.dumps(main_data['fields'])
+                #    send_to_mqtt(event_topic, event_payload)
+                #    logger.info(f"Data published to MQTT: {event_topic} -> {event_payload}")
 
                 capture_image(current_peak_dB, peak_temperature_float, peak_weather_description_adjusted, peak_precipitation_float, timestamp)
 
@@ -718,16 +753,11 @@
         # Read current noise level from the device
         try:
             if dev:
-                ret = dev.ctrl_transfer(0xC0, 4, 0, 0, 200)
-                dB = (ret[0] + ((ret[1] & 3) * 256)) * 0.1 + 30
-                dB = round(dB, 1)  # Round to one decimal place
-                if dB > current_peak_dB:
-                    current_peak_dB = dB
-                    if WEATHER_CONFIG.get("enabled"):
-                        peak_temperature, peak_weather_description, precipitation = get_weather()
-                        peak_precipitation_float = float(precipitation)
-            else:
-                logger.error("USB device not available")
+                dB = meter.read_packet()
+                logger.info(f"Sound Level: {dB:.1f} dB")
+            if dB > current_peak_dB:
+                current_peak_dB = dB
+            
         except usb.core.USBError as usb_err:
             logger.error(f"USB Error reading from device: {str(usb_err)}")
             logger.debug("Exception details:", exc_info=True)
@@ -740,7 +770,7 @@
             logger.error(f"Unexpected error reading from device: {str(e)}")
             logger.debug("Exception details:", exc_info=True)
 
-        time.sleep(0.1)
+        time.sleep(0.2)
 
 def schedule_tasks():
     try: