Hi, first question: is it possible to search the forum? Somehow I don't seem to be able to search without skimming all articles.
My second question, anyone got experience with an Actaris G4 gasmeter? According to my google searches, it should pulse (magnetically) so a reed contact could enable me to hook it up to the Flukso.
Eric.
UPDATE 16/10/11 - icarus75:
* modified forum title
* added photos
Actaris G4 pulse read-out
Reed switch
Hi Eric,
It's best to create a forum entry per topic.
Re search: Good point. Let me see whether we can add search functionality to the site in the future. In the mean time, you can just limit a Google search to content on the Flukso website. This is what you would type in the Google search box when looking for reed relay entries on flukso.net (without the quotation marks): "reed relay site:flukso.net"
Re Actaris G4: No experience yet. But I'll be experimenting with some reed relays and water/gas meters in the near future. The trick is to find out the proper positioning of the reed relay on the gas meter so that it gets triggered by the rotating permanent magnet.
Cheers,
Bart.
I'll use and abuse google for my search requests :-)
The Actaris G4 has a small opening where a reed contact could get inserted.It appears several commercial solutions are available:
http://www.utilitymeterswarehouse.com/media/catalog/product/Itron_Actari...
(below is for another brand)
http://albacontrols.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/gas_ei_in_z61.jpg
Eric.
Gas meter sensor is up and running. Simple reed switch inserted in the opening below the (red) digits and filled this up quite nicely with a piece of gum.
Wired it up to input 4 and entered 10 (liter per pulse) as the meter constant.
No modifications to the gas meter and a simple and non intrusive solution.
Nice work, Eric!
Could you send me a close-up photo of the gas meter hack? I'll then add it to the forum post.
Cheers,
Bart.
Bart,
foto's moeten in je mail zitten. Ik zal eens kijken of ik een oplossing voor die uitsparing kan maken die wat professioneler is.
In elk geval is dit een eenvoudige oplossing, zonder iets aan de meter aan te passen.
Eric
What would be the maximum distance between gasmeter and fluksometer?
Your situation may be different, but it works here with 2 meter standard 2 wire cable between the flukso and the reed switch.
Eric.
1) The distance I have to bridge is at least 7 m?
2) If I want to create my own reed switch, what do I have to take into account when looking for a reed switch for the pulse signal?
something like:
http://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?id=8056
or rather
http://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?id=384174
I've used the reed switch as in the last URL. I didn't have much space to insert much.
And you'll probably gain better results when the reed switch is as close to the digits as possible.
As for the distance... You can test this with your cable length and a simple switch and watching the syslog output..
You should be able to bridge 10's of meters easily. The only thing the reed switch does is to go into a short circuit when the magnetic field crosses a certain threshold.