Water Meter sensor - Australia, Victoria

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61

For anyone else in the same situation, this yaml got met there.

sensor:
  - platform: template
    sensors:
      total_litres:
        friendly_name: "Water Meter Litres Used"
        unit_of_measurement: "L"
        value_template: >
          {% set pulse_count = states('counter.water_pulse_counter')|float %}
          {% set pulse_weight = 5 %}
          {{ (pulse_count * pulse_weight) | round(2) }}

In my situation each pulse is 5L

62

Sorry for the delay - I need to sign on here more often,
But thatā€™s exactly what Iā€™ve got, more or less.

63

Dang. Well, the ā€˜smart meterā€™ has been running for a week now and I can see info on their website but the interface uses scripting that appears to break access via the likes of parsehub. So try as I might, I canā€™t find a way to capture the data automatically. No doubt this is intentional to prevent scrapers that are being used for evil, but I just want to access my data in a way that makes sense to me. Sigh.

64

@zagnuts The website also says data transmissions happen once a day, so I donā€™t think it will be useful for instantaneous usage. Have you had any luck with the EN13757 interface via the optical slots on the face of the meter, based on this thread? https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/1gup36y/ultrasonic_water_meter_reading/

Iā€™m looking to get data off the device as well, just had mine installed through SEWater as well! AI on the Edge via ESPCAM might also be an option, but I donā€™t think the screen stays on all the time. Happy to help test if you come up with something!

65

Interesting. I havenā€™t tried that yet, but might give it a go.

66

Apropos of nothing but to show how useful this sort of monitoring can be, I noticed that my water usage has been steadily increasing over the past year. When I looked at the data coming from the water meter (which has been in place only for the last few months) I can see that it was always increasing, even during the nights.
I called in a plumber and he found a leaking toilet (I hadnā€™t noticed - I suppose I was facing the other way at the time!!!) and repaired that.
I was able to watch the data from the water meter coming in in real time and it immediately stopped increasing and was steady (until we flushed the toilet as a test).
Last night was the first night for some months that shows 0L water usage.
Lesson: it pays to monitor what is going on in your home - while the plumber cost me money, it will be paid for in the coming months by lower water bills.
Susan

67

So, have had a closer look and the challenge will be doing it without potentially compromising the protection from water ingress into the meter. Most of the external readers I can find stick in front of the lights, and would prevent the lid from closing. As the meter is outside, this would risk moisture resting on the top of the meter and over time getting in causing it to fail. Potentially could put a larger lid over it - such as some sort of bucket - but it would need to be RF transparent to enable the signal to get out as well as UV resistant.

Iā€™m looking to see if there is an alternative - maybe some thin optic fibres that could channel the light from the transmitters, under the closed lid, to the reader mounted externally. Or, just get a plumber to put my own meter in after the mains. That might be easier.