Does the water probe support this kind of meter?

by Ghosty on

Hello,

instead of the grenade type of water meter I have this water meter at home (Belgium):
https://goo.gl/photos/nYAkw6sG5oRW5nzo7
I was wondering if it would be possible to measure anything with this kind of meter.
I would like to know before I also order a water probe because it's not much use to buy one if I can't do any measurement.
Was also wondering are there alternatives for installing my own water meter in the circuit that actually gives a pulsed output (which don't cost an arm and a leg), I am a tinkerer who is not afraid of adapting my water installation if I have to ...

‹ no IP-connect fmlocal visualizations of gebhardm 101 - Dummys guide to use ›
B-Man's picture
B-Man |

it looks like single jet water meter
http://www.fluidflo.com.au/single-cold-wate-c-910_1490.html
from what i can see they are factory installed pulse units so if theres not one on it it may not be able to work.

i have a multi jet one
http://www.fluidflo.com.au/multijet-cold-water-c-910_1494.html
and the pulse is an additional item
http://www.fluidflo.com.au/pulse-water-meter-p-1091.html

theres a way to test them if they send a pulse. i m not sure but i think it was if you put a compass ontop of it and use some water and it the compass goes funny then it can be recorded with a pulse sensor.

heres some helpful information
http://www.edcheung.com/automa/water.htm

maybe if you can find out the part number or something of the meter and see if it has pulse

dijka007's picture
dijka007 |

I use an optical sensor on a meter that's almost the same (a Sensus 620). It looks at the little red/silver wheel that turns once per liter. For around € 5,- in parts and half an hour of tinkering I got that working.

Sensor TCRT5000, hooked up to the Flukso with just one added resistor. This https://www.flukso.net/content/gas-reading-actaris-g4rf1 is where I got the idea.

Ghosty's picture
Ghosty |

Can you elaborate a bit on that optical sensor, the thread mentions contained a lot of pictures of which almost none are still visible, I don't have a problem constructing something myself (I have an electronics degree) so I was first thinking to buy a hall sensor (and hope enough magnetic force comes through the brass casing) but from the thread I got that you measure it optical with an IR distance meter or something ... but how is that accurate enough?

gebhardm's picture
gebhardm |

Well, a "degree" seems not enough but some inspiration (sorry to insist) - so, here are the "usual" steps to perform on finding a sensor that may (sic) fit to your requirements:

  • Pulse capability of a meter usually is indicated by some evidence in imprint; as there is no "direct" imprint, the meter seems to not provide "direct" pulse sensing.
  • Using a magnetic sensor (either reed switch or hall sensor) needs a magnet in the meter; thus, test with a compass or your smartphone if there is a magnet built in (which I doubt) - no magnet, no magnetic sensing; as imprint is missing the meter likely does not offer this capability
  • The little spinning wheel with the metallic surface seems a feasible indicator for "some kind of indirect electronic" meter reading. Thus, taking some time to use a search engine will bring you to either the proposed solution to "read" the spinning with an optical sensor (evidence is provided above) OR to use a "cyble target" reading device (which is rather expensive and also the "target" looks a bit different); the latter is read inductively, thus is capable to also indicate the direction of the wheel spinning.

I also follow the proposal to use an optical sensor; using a search engine on "tcrt5000" will bring plenty of pictures to show how to use such; issue may be the distance between glass and spinning wheel to be detectable by the sensor (that has just to be tested - and 5$/Eur should be worth it - you may also use one of the zillions of schematics on light barriers with a CNY70 or equivalent, even a photo transistor and a comparator). Then you need a power supply for the sensor - your "degree" will enable you to read (first find) the schematics of the FLM to potentially use a port to take power directly - more safe is using a little power plug, e.g. USB power plug. In any case a sensor to be connected to a pulse port should be either open-collector or a reed switch - supply for pulse detection comes from the Fluksometer...
Enough evidence to make you just experiment a little? Alternatively, as also written above, this forum already provides plenty of discussion threads on attaching any kind of sensors. Use your preferred search engine with the search string addendum site:flukso.net to search just this site...

Fluc's picture
Fluc |

Ghosty, i use also an optical sensor like you ordered. It works good, only pay attention to the reflectivity of the glas. A small piece of mat scotch glued above the disk will do the job.
Test the rotating speed with filling a 10 liter bucket, if it turns 10 times than the meter constant shall be 1.

Ghosty's picture
Ghosty |

Received my sensor (see link in previous post) yesterday, crafted a piece of wood to fit it on the meter today
A bit similar to this:
http://dribibu.xs4all.nl/home-en/33-flukso-and-energy-monitoring/320-wat...
had to test a bit with adjusting the potentiometer till it clearly saw a difference between the metallic and non metallic side of the disk (and yes added a piece of scotch tape).
Hooked it up to 6a (Vcc), and 3 - (gnd) 3+ (signal) and I saw pulses in my mqtt page ... so hope to see some readings tomorrow ;)

Consider laser cutting or 3D printing a replacement for the piece of wood at fablab Leuven (its like a hackerspace but university funded so they have fun toys) so it looks nicer and fits with tighter tolerances.

Gas and water probes installed! :)
https://goo.gl/photos/C5vdY2TMFA7MN4UJ7

Thx