Long time lurker here. I am attempting my first serious Arduino project. I want to tap into a water meter and collect the meter data (gallons pumped) as it is working. Unfortunately, once I opened the digital meter I realized I don't have the slightest idea where to begin. I know it's a long shot, but I thought if I threw up a few pics maybe someone could give me an idea how I might be able to tap into the signal going to the digital display and have it go into the arduino as an input. Here is the meter I am working with. I picked up the meter from a friend. He said it was for fuel, but the 1" works with the water pump I am using. I know this may seem like dumb questions to some, but thanks for any advice you might have.
A vendor / model is probably more useful than pictures.
Sure, thanks. The meter is a GPI 01A31GM Fuel Meter. The full specs can be found here:
http://gpimeters.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=27_49_88&products_id=53
I suspect "tapping into" was the first mistake. You might consider putting it back together, if you can, and and selling it back to your friend. You can then pick up off eBay, for about 1/10 the price, a simple hall effect flow meter which is easily connected to an Arduino using, using wires in plain sight and pre-existing code.
Something like this
Some background is here
and there have been discussions on this forum
As for the bluetooth bit, which I guess is the main reason for wanting to do this with Arduino, it is essentially a matter of sending the data you might normally send to the serial monitor to a bluetooth module instead. That might sound a bit glib but it is really quite simple.
Basic background here