Hi all, I came to HA in a roundabout fashion - I had a water leak and realized my utility-provided flow monitoring was useless for high volume leaks as it would only notify me after 24 hours. 
So I looked into economical dumb ultrasonic flow meters and then looked into how to make them smart. So here I am, I have a new HA Green with piles of my smart devices integrated, including trying out (and removing) one HACS integration over the last 7 days.
What I plan to do is eventually integrate the TUF-2000M flow meter I have, trying to follow the work that was done here. As I realize that is a tall order, I wondered if I should start with an easier integration - my Envisalink connected DSC alarm system.
Would I learn more by trying to set up the Envisalink system by editing the configuration.yaml and starting that way, or should I just use the updated HACS integration? I haven't done any config editing at this point.
I am fairly computer literate, have done programming in years past, and eager to learn.
Any input on either learning workflow, the flow meter integration, or the Envisalink welcome!
Well, I couldn't wait so I did both.
The Envisalink is now connected by editing configuration.yaml AND my TUF-2000B is connected and sending data! I need to sort out the sensor configurations a bit, but yay!
This is the way. It's a "tinker"-friendly platform. Try things out and evolve as you learn and connect more devices.
Necessary with this approach, however, is a decent backup/recovery process. Which includes testing to make sure you can "go back to the way I had things set up yesterday" if (when!) needed.
Enjoy the ride!
I have a Droplet water meter. One of my goals was leak detection, so I have a few automations to warm me of issues, but I'm not sure it would respond fast enough or w/o false positives. So I also have leak sensors that will immediately turn off the water.
By the way, if you are just starting out and comfortable editing config files, you might take a look at using packages. It's essentially allows you to create a separate configuration.yaml file for each project you work on.
FWIW, why I use them:
- As projects get more complex with helpers and template sensors, it allow you to keep all related code in one place. For example, I have separate files for irrigation, house water, security, HVAC, etc.
- They are text source files so you can add a detailed overview and inline comments.
- You can store them in github and thus always have all your changes to look back at as well a commit messages .
- Automations get more complex over time and for a project you might end up needing many automations. The common approach is to start using trigger IDs and
chooseblocks to combine (perhaps) unrelated code into a single automation. But with packages I create many small automations that do a single thing. Less YAML nesting and easy to see what an automation does (one trigger and one actions).
Thanks @busman!
The leaks I am looking for are big leaks - like in the garden hoses that we have connected to motion-activated sprayers, or in our irrigation system, if a diaphragm was to rupture or something. So leak detectors wouldn't be a good option I don't think. The system my utility provides will hopefully help to identify small leaks (like toilet flappers)
I learn by doing, so while I have HACS installed and the more robust Envisalink integration available, I wanted to try the Envisalink addition by adding it to the configuration.yaml because it would add everything I need. It worked, so mission accomplished! I will look at packages next.
Ha. Last week I got notified of pressure drop in our irrigation system. It’s a neighborhood well and often the pressure drops. I later discovered the garden hose had broke and 1500 gallons of water had poured out. That system doesn’t have a automatic shut off valve so ignoring the notification didn’t really help.
Yeah - like that 