Water meter with wifi for remote meter reading

[Arthur]

I've been combing the web for a wireless (ideally wifi) water meter to remotely read and measure water consumption. Nothing obviously suitable pops up in my browser, so any help/advice most appreciated.

This sort of thing seems to be the right sort of idea, but can it live outdoors? Also, I can't immediately find further info.



I'll probably have to fit the wireless water meter just inboard of the municipal meter, which is above ground about 40 metres from my nearest wireless AP, so first choice is a device that's pretty rugged and rain- and sun-proof; otherwise I'll have to build a box in an awkward place.

Would be most grateful for any tips if you have any knowledge or experience. As an aside, I have about twenty Tasmotised Sonoff switches around the place, so the first choice is a smart device that uses Tasmota-compatible Espressif chipset.

 

[Magnum]

ESP has an option for this. Some DIY though.

 

[SirFooK'nG]

Found one on Takealot, not clear on the subscription after the 1st 3 years....

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[Ianf1]

Try this https://www.theforumsa.co.za/blogs/entry.php/114-The-efficient-management-of-water-within-Estates

 

[deweyzeph]

Found one on Takealot, not clear on the subscription after the 1st 3 years....

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.

www.takealot.com

The problem with this device is that it uses an embedded sim card to send data over a cellular network. I'm also looking for something similar but it has to work with WIFI and I don't want to be locked into some third-party's setup.

 

[deweyzeph]

I've been combing the web for a wireless (ideally wifi) water meter to remotely read and measure water consumption. Nothing obviously suitable pops up in my browser, so any help/advice most appreciated.

This sort of thing seems to be the right sort of idea, but can it live outdoors? Also, I can't immediately find further info.

View attachment 1205824

I'll probably have to fit the wireless water meter just inboard of the municipal meter, which is above ground about 40 metres from my nearest wireless AP, so first choice is a device that's pretty rugged and rain- and sun-proof; otherwise I'll have to build a box in an awkward place.

Would be most grateful for any tips if you have any knowledge or experience. As an aside, I have about twenty Tasmotised Sonoff switches around the place, so the first choice is a smart device that uses Tasmota-compatible Espressif chipset.

I've been looking for something like this as well ever since I got hammered with a R10 000 water bill because the mains pipe between my meter and my house burst underground. Haven't found anything yet.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Wow and to think I can make these things... so easily... and use an IoT SIM so no data loading needed, ever.
This thing is like 3-4 weeks of work to design/develop...

And no third party setup either... with Wi-Fi to boot too.

 

[rog163]

Nice thread- would also like something like this to keep track of usage

 

[Arthur]

Thanks for the pointers, @Magnum, @SirFooK'nG, and @Ianf1. Much appreciated.

As @deweyzeph says, the GaugeIT and estate systems use either cellular or private packet radio networks and the data is stored on their own servers and accessed via the web, so there are subscription fees.

First prize is a wifi-accessible smart meter with a simple browser-accessible little http server - and one I can ideally flash with Tasmota or some other open source code I can check myself. There's no way I'm letting stuff onto my network that phones home to zeus-knows-where.

 

[Arthur]

Please keep the recommendations coming. This thread might be useful for others who don't necessarily have the exact same requirements.

 

[PaulGherkin]

First prize is a wifi-accessible smart meter with a simple browser-accessible little http server - and one I can ideally flash with Tasmota or some other open source code I can check myself. There's no way I'm letting stuff onto my network that phones home to zeus-knows-where.

Can be done... Everything I do is open-source.
I'd use an ESP8266 running code I write myself, with a small web page and an accessible API of some kind. Maybe MQTT or somesuch. Have done this before.

There are two things you need to know.
The logistics of getting the plumbing done and, using a proper meter (they ain't as cheap as whatever you can buy from CHINA)

Proper as in traceable to SANS... calibrated and accurate to within 100ml

 

[rog163]

Water Meter CBI ELECTRIC Nanowater

Real time and accumulated consumption of up to 16 circuits and 4 water meters user selectable names to identify circuits: water, total consumption graphs for each circuit and water meter every: hour for the last 7 hours, day for the past week, week for the past 7 weeks, month for the past 7...

leroymerlin.co.za

Can across this while doing a google search- just not sure how it would work with our water meters?

 

[wab512]

Did a quick search and got this: http://www.nanoview.co.za/

Water Meter CBI ELECTRIC Nanowater

Real time and accumulated consumption of up to 16 circuits and 4 water meters user selectable names to identify circuits: water, total consumption graphs for each circuit and water meter every: hour for the last 7 hours, day for the past week, week for the past 7 weeks, month for the past 7...

leroymerlin.co.za

I know it's probably not 100% what you are looking for, but wondering how easy it will be to hack/interface with a ESP to make it wireless.... (Not even sure my meter has the 'hole' they are referring to, need to check).

Anybody used these before?

 

[Arthur]

Did a quick search and got this: http://www.nanoview.co.za/

Water Meter CBI ELECTRIC Nanowater

Real time and accumulated consumption of up to 16 circuits and 4 water meters user selectable names to identify circuits: water, total consumption graphs for each circuit and water meter every: hour for the last 7 hours, day for the past week, week for the past 7 weeks, month for the past 7...

leroymerlin.co.za

I know it's probably not 100% what you are looking for, but wondering how easy it will be to hack/interface with a ESP to make it wireless.... (Not even sure my meter has the 'hole' they are referring to, need to check).

Anybody used these before?

Quite a nifty little reed switch probe and transmitter at the meter. Obviously also requires the NanoView control and display unit. I wonder what sort of radio link they use, and how the data comms is modulated and encoded? A capable IoT boff like @PaulMurkin should be able to hack into the signal and cobble together a simple receiver that talks through a browser (not that I'm suggesting he do so ).

Pulled up a pic of my meter and it doesn't have the hole. Not that it's a showstopper as I'm prepared to get another downstream meter.

Might work for some people, but not first prize for my requirement.

 

[PaulGherkin]

Quite a nifty little reed switch probe and transmitter at the meter. Obviously also requires the NanoView control and display unit. I wonder what sort of radio link they use, and how the data comms is modulated and encoded? A capable IoT boff like @PaulMurkin should be able to hack into the signal and cobble together a simple receiver that talks through a browser (not that I'm suggesting he do so ).

Pulled up a pic of my meter and it doesn't have the hole. Not that it's a showstopper as I'm prepared to get another downstream meter.

Might work for some people, but not first prize for my requirement.

I don't use reed switches.
I use a hall effect sensor and push that into the appropriate hole of a Elster/Kent V100 water meter.
Then I write code to count the pulses which are different for the various sub-models in the V100.
The most recent one I had was 3 pulses per revolution of the rightmost counting wheel IIRC.

All of the V100 models I've bought from PlumbLink have the reader facility. The probe from Elster/Kent is ridiculously priced and just does what I can do for R700 less DIY.

 

[wab512]

Quite a nifty little reed switch probe and transmitter at the meter. Obviously also requires the NanoView control and display unit. I wonder what sort of radio link they use, and how the data comms is modulated and encoded? A capable IoT boff like @PaulMurkin should be able to hack into the signal and cobble together a simple receiver that talks through a browser (not that I'm suggesting he do so ).

Pulled up a pic of my meter and it doesn't have the hole. Not that it's a showstopper as I'm prepared to get another downstream meter.

Might work for some people, but not first prize for my requirement.

The more I think of it, if you can get the Reed switch probe done right, it can go directly into the ESP and transmit via Wifi. You just need to get the measurement right...

I will have a look at my meter over the weekend. If it does not have a hole there is no use for me to investigate at this stage.

 

[PaulGherkin]

The more I think of it, if you can get the Reed switch probe done right, it can go directly into the ESP and transmit via Wifi. You just need to get the measurement right...

I will have a look at my meter over the weekend. If it does not have a whole there is no use for me to investigate at this stage.

Reed switches need to be debounced in software... they can/do fail.
Hall effect switches provide clean logic levels.

 

[B-1]

Cant you stick an espcam over your meter and do character recognition?

 

[PaulGherkin]

Cant you stick an espcam over your meter and do character recognition?

 

[neoprema]

Someone should consider water meters using LoRA or Sigfox - so no Wi-Fi nor SIM card required. There's already pool sensors doing this in our major cities, shouldn't be hard to get a water meter to.