Hello, I'm sorry, but I am in desperate need of some help. I try to get started on projects and just usually hit a road block. I have a situation where I have had 2 minor and 2 major water "leaks" at my house. The current one is significant and I have no idea where it is. Anyway I purchased a water meter and an electric water valve what I would like to do is have the water meter count the gallons per day / total, when the meter senses flow it would "time stamp" the start and when the flow stops, it would "time stamp". If the flow lasts more than say 30 minutes, it would trigger a relay to close the valve. I am currently trying to use 2 ESp32s so the "transmitter" / outside unit would transmit to the inside unit the total gallons and trigger an LED when there is water flow and another if the valve is closed.
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Nothing to suggest until you tell us where in the water pipes you placed the meter.
I fail to see where all the above is going to get you. You already know you have leaks and a couple of strategically placed stopcocks, always a good investment, will at least give some indication of what is going on downstream of them.
There is a swag of water flow projects around - all much the same. A stripped down version of this might be useful, but I hardly dare ask how. I use it to create timestamps on a file when flow exceeds 1litre/min.
No leaks are involved but, if a new one occurred, I would get a suggestion, and know exactly when it happened.
We have no idea where your water comes from! From a commercial distribution with a meter and all piping underground? OR a tank filled with rain water? OR a well with a windmill pump? Or a well with a bucket that someone uses to fill a tank? Do you have flushing toilets? Most likely water leaks.
Use a "listening stick", or build an electronic version of it.
Leo..
Hello Forum, Here is a better explanation; I receive "city" water, from their meter (underground) to my home is approximately 25' of underground pipe. A couple of years ago an above ground PVC pipe, to a hose bib, was broken and the water ran for about 6 hours during the night. Currently I've been informed of excessive water use by the Water Co., they stated I used more than 14,000 gallons of water in the month of December, most likely between 12/17 - 12/19, I was here on the first 2 days and at work on the third day. My normal water usage is about 20 gallons per day. I have detected no leaks anywhere inside or out and I have documented the meter reading in the morning before work and again when I returned home and there was no change, so no water was used. The Water Co. insists that I "used" the water. So If there was some sort of leak / flow during the night or while I was at work I would like to automatically close the water valve coming into the house. I have not yet installed my water meter and electric valve as I would like to have a working sketch first. Thank you all.
Thank you for the clarification. I see you have discovered that PVC gets brittle and breaks easily when exposed to sunlight.
Please do several preliminary tests. 1. is the ground wet around the meter and around the shut-off valve? The water meters and shutoff valves sometimes leak.
2. read the meter yourself every day at the same time. See if you detect a leak.
3. If your underground water line is iron/steel, a leak will be steady and will make noise that can be detected with a special microphone and amplifier. Most likely will be the first thing a plumber will do when you call one for service. These leaks do not start and stop on certain days.
4. If the leak is in the pipe, you can dig down and put a clamping sleeve over the leaking hole as a temporary patch.
Good luck!
@cxplorrken
Can you tell us more about these products you purchased?
Please provide a place where we can see their datasheet and thus be able to suggest an effective project.
There are several websites on the web with liquid flow meter designs, but none of them may be fully adapted to your needs.
So, knowing the products you purchased, we can help you modify any of these projects.
Thanks Paul_KD7HB
1 - The ground is not wet around the shut-off valve.
2 - I have read / photographed the meter a couple of times before I left for work in the morning and again when I got home 8+ hours later, with no change in meter reading.
3 - Not sure of material coming out of meter / shut off valve, goes underground for about 25' and comes up through concrete slab as 3/4" PVC and switches to 3/4" CPVC after secondary shut off valve.
4 - No leak detected.
Thanks
I am not a lawyer, but when meters are read by people, sometimes they get lazy. Tell the water people you want to see the reader's actual records and give them a couple of day to produce them. If they won't/can't, take your lawyer to a meeting with them and get to the original records so you can see where the discrepancy is.
Sure sounds like you do not have a water leak.
Thanks ruilviana,
Both items purchased on Amazon.
Water meter - DAE V-75P Vertical Water Meter with Pulse Output, 3/4” NPT Couplings, Measuring in Gallons
Electric Valve - U.S. Solid - Motorized Ball Valve- 3/4" Stainless Steel Electrical Ball Valve with Full Port, 9-24V DC and 5 Wire Setup, can be used with Indicator Lights, [Indicate Open or Closed Position].
I have messed around with both of these. I removed the "Hall Sensor / Pulse sensor" from the water meter and can read pulses when passing a magnet by it. I can also operate the electric valve with a 24v power supply. Neither are installed yet. This is what I would like to do:
ESP 32 remote (at / near the water meter and valve) - ESP32 sleeps until "flow" is detected - sends signal via ESPNow to ESP32 Base unit (in house), which will "time stamp" using RTC (attached to Base unit) and trigger Green LED, indicating water flow. When water flow stops it will again send signal to Base unit which will "time stamp" end of flow and Green LED will go off. If the water meter runs more than 30 minutes (adjustable variable), it will automatically trigger relay to close electric valve (also illuminating Red LED on Base unit via ESPNow), until I press a button on either Base or Remote unit to open valve again. I want the water meter gallons to be continuously counted (total gallons to compare with city water meter) and daily gallons, to reset at midnight each day. These numbers will be saved via an SD card reader / writer attached to Base unit? I can then use the time stamps and gallons to determine when there may be "excessive" usage. There are times when I may be away from home for more than a day or so and would like the security of know the water will not be running. Again, any help in getting this together would be greatly appreciated.
That implies no leaks. What sort of leak only leaks when you are home? Further, if you wasted water @ 7000 gallons a day, surely there would be some evidence of that?
Your best advice is in post #10, and sending all that stuff back to Amazon might help pay for the lawyer.
Paul_KD7HB, Their meters are digital and they use some kind of receiving device that captures the signal from the meter, Bluetooth? They are not manually read.
I downloaded the datasheet for your flow meter.
It does not use a hall sensor to measure flow.
According to the datasheet of this model that you indicated, it uses a "dry switch" type "reed switch".
See the datasheet.
Pulse Output
1 pulse per 1 gallon, a dry contact (i.e. no voltage) reed switch with
2 wires, 1.5m. The third party system should not generate electricity
more than 0.01A (typically 0.005A like DAE AMR), 24VAC/DC.
Model V-75P
Did you recommend a different product?
V-75P-Datasheet-1.1.pdf (621.4 KB)
ruilviana, Yes, a reed switch, my mistake. But I did have success testing it with the ESP32 to count the pulses / gallons as I passed a magnet nearby, which is what would happen when the dial spins on the water meter.
Okay, I think you're on the right track.
Ok, so can anyone help me get some code together to make this work?
Nick_Pyner, thanks, I will see where I can go with this.
My issues are:
1 - I am not proficient at putting all this together.
2 - I was hoping I could timestamp with the RTC attached to the base unit, not the remote unit.
3 - Will still need to put Remote unit to "sleep" until flow is detected then send signal to Base unit.
4 - I will still need to communicate (ESPNow) between the 2 ESP32's.
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