Using ESPhome to build a water flow rate meter

[fabal45 (Fabien)]

Hi Vincent,

Very good job. Thank you to this share.
So, could you share your connexion schema ?

Best regards.
Merci d’avance

[donparlor (Vincent Gagnon)]

I will send a complete update very soon. I’m just very busy and don’t have much time to spend on preparing that post. But I will! Thank you @fabal45

[fabal45 (Fabien)]

Great. Thank you very much to this answer and the work.

Petite question pratico pratique, est-ce que ce type de mécanisme se fait ressentir sur l’usage ? J’entends par là, perte de pression ou encore nuisances sonores ?

[donparlor (Vincent Gagnon)]

I haven’t heard any noise and it does not seem to reduce flow.
Logically it must slow flow a little, but it is negligible.

[benek984]

Can you share your sensor code for this meter? I am about to order one. Thank you in advance.

[ThomDietrich]

Hey friends,
maybe you can help me with this related use case. I want to go one step further and implement a heat monitor, which combines water flow with temperature differences:

Water flow energy sensor / heat meter DIY (not just water flow)

Hey friends, help with this implementation challenge would be appreciated! For illustration: [image] I want to implement an “energy flow meter” or “heat meter” in ESPHome, for which in its core we need to multiply the water volume going trough a cycle loop with the back-minus-forth temperature difference (the effective energy loss). The resulting sensors in ESPHome should be: Water volume through the loop, total counter (Liter) Current water flow rate (Liter per minute) Current energy loss…

Would love to discuss

[solomos (Gerasimos Solomos)]

hello everybody,

I bought the YF-B1 sensor

Water Flow Sensor YF-B1

I’ve been struggling to figure out how to calculate the Liters/min and Liters/hour.
According to the datasheet F=11*Q

What are the two columns with numbers ???
Does it mean 2 liters > 22 pulses, 2.1 liters > 23.1 pulses ???

So far I have the following code for liters/hour but am not quiet sure if it’s right.

  - platform: pulse_counter
    pin:
      number: 4
      mode:
        input: true
        pullup: true
    unit_of_measurement: 'L/hour'
    id: water_usage
    name: "Instant water flow"
    update_interval: 5s
    filters:
      - lambda: return (x / 660);   # 660 = 11 * 60 min  

Is this correct ?

[solomos (Gerasimos Solomos)]

Anyone please ??
I need to finish the project and have the wife happy …

[sparkydave (🇦🇺 Dave)]

@solomos

Does it mean 2 liters > 22 pulses, 2.1 liters > 23.1 pulses ???

I think that’s what the datasheet is saying.

[valsergi (Sergio Valbuena)]

Hi!!
I have bought for my installation a sensor similar to yours but the exact model is the following YF-B10 and I can’t understand what would be the necessary adjustment to calibrate this sensor, that is, the lambda that I have put, could you help me?

I’ll post the specs here.

(6 * Q-8) Q= L/Min ±5%

What would be the setting for my sensor. Thank you, I hope it arrives so I can configure it.

[donparlor (Vincent Gagnon)]

Maybe you could try the following:

sensor:
  - platform: pulse_counter
    pin:
      number: 4
      mode:
        input: true
        pullup: true
    unit_of_measurement: 'L/min'
    accuracy_decimals: 2
    id: water_usage
    name: "Instant flow rate"
    update_interval: 5s
    filters:
      - lambda: return 6 * (x / 396) - 8;

Let me know if it returns correct values.

[valsergi (Sergio Valbuena)]

@donparlor

Let me know if it returns correct values.

Ok, Thank you.

I am waiting for it to arrive, I have the board ready and with the configuration ready to load. And when it arrives I will try to imitate your config, I found it very interesting.

Greetings!

[valsergi (Sergio Valbuena)]

I have been looking at the whole post, I am waiting for a sensor with similar characteristics to the one used by you (@NoGrout , @donparlor ) and it is very long and difficult to understand, there is the possibility of sharing the complete code, that is, everything that refers to this automation, sensors, automations, input_numbers, binaries etc… thanks!

[NoGrout (Patrice W.)]

Hello valsergi, despite many attempts and the help of Donparlor, I have not managed to get consistent data. I’ve been using the energy_water module since a recent update, unfortunately the data isn’t consistent either. I had many other occupations in the meantime, and I left this function aside. I remain very interested in this subject.

[DeeBeeKay]

Hi @NoGrout, I just wanted to say that it is possible you have a bad sensor. Do you have a second one you could test with?

I mention it only because I have had to replace them in the past.

[tomasmcguinness]

I installed a YF-B10 into my primary heating loop and connected it to ESPHome.

Works brilliantly, giving me the flow rate of the water around my central heating loop. The only downside is that it’s incredibly noisy and the house travels through the water, so we can hear it everywhere!!!

I’m going to have to remove it as it’s driving us all mad

[valsergi (Sergio Valbuena)]

And could you tell me what formula you used to correctly manage the liters / min so that when mine arrives, adjust it. User @donparlor provided me with the following information, is it correct? is it the same as yours?

filters:
- lambda: return 6 * (x / 396) - 8;

[NoGrout (Patrice W.)]

Hello! thank you for this idea. it is indeed a possibility, unfortunately I do not have a valve in advance

[valsergi (Sergio Valbuena)]

Nop. Wrong values!!!

Thank´s

[tomasmcguinness]

• lambda: return (x / 396);