Installing a meter reading system

Forum is open to all questions, answers, and discussions related to water meters, ours or others.
PlumBill
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:19 am

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by PlumBill »

Jameson, from my limited knowledge of these systems, this looks good. A few questions. Excuse me if I am confused. This is not my field of focus. I am looking at these from an overall perspective and will have my plumber and electrician install once I have made a decision.

1. I mount your water meters in my multi-unit properties.
2. I connect these meters to your new Omnimeter Pulse v.4.
3. Is this connection to the meter by wireless, wired twisted pair, or RS485?
4. What is my simplest way to connect for remote reading? I would like to be able to read them from my office, but a site visit would also work.

For my six unit strip center, I guess I would need two of your Omnimeter Pulse v.4. Is this correct? And six of these meters for my 17 unit?

Thanks
Bill
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by Jameson »

Hello Bill,

I appreciate your questions, not a problem at all.
1. I mount your water meters in my multi-unit properties.
Yes, you would plumb in our 3/4" Pulse Output Water Meters just like any plumbing fitting. They are easy to install because they have swivel NPT pipe fittings. If you want to know how much water a particular space is using just place it in the incoming water line to that space.
2. I connect these meters to your new Omnimeter Pulse v.4.
Yes you would connect the Pulse Output wires from the water meter to the Pulse Input Terminal Blocks on the Electric meter. It will be laid out like this diagram: http://documents.ekmmetering.com/EKM-Me ... -Input.png
3. Is this connection to the meter by wireless, wired twisted pair, or RS485?
The pulse output wires are just an opening and closing of a switch. The electric meter senses these switch closures and counts them. You could use either twisted pair wire or bell wire for this connection from the water meters to the Omnimeter Pulse v.4. Each water meter needs a dedicated run or wire to the Electric meter. The RS485 connection is from all of your Electric Pulse Counting meters to the iSerial gateway (or USB converter)
4. What is my simplest way to connect for remote reading? I would like to be able to read them from my office, but a site visit would also work.
I would say the simplest connection from the Omnimeter Pulse v.4 to your computer (running the EKM Dash software) would be the USB converter. But this requires you to be at the site to read your meters. To read your meters over the internet, you would use the EKM iSerial (RS485 to TCP converter). This requires a bit of knowledge of computer networks (i.e. you will have to open a port in the firewall of your router) Here is some information about how to setup the iSerial: http://documents.ekmmetering.com/EKM-iS ... -Sheet.pdf

Yes, if you would like to count the pulses from 6 water meters you will need 2 Omnimeter Pulse v.4 meters. And for 17 water meters you would need 6 Omnimeter Pulse v.4. You would only need 1 iSerial or USB converter. The Omnimeter Pulse can also meter electricity if you are interested, but this is not required. You would just power the Omnimeter Pulse v.4 with 120 volts (the water meters do not require power).

Best regards,
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
PlumBill
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:19 am

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by PlumBill »

Jameson, all this seems simple to connect and install. However I do not have a computer, nor broadband connection a that location. While this could be done, there would hopefully be a simpler solution. It is possible I could talk one of my tenants into letting me use their computer, but in these days over security concerns, that may be tricky.

I may be leaving the realm of plumbing here, but there must be a way this could be done though some kind of wireless, perhaps cellular connection that is simpler than me installing a dedicated phone line and computer at the strip center location.

Any ideas? This is likely a question that will be of benefit to others like me as well.
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by Jameson »

PlumBill,

I would suggest a broadband connection if it is available (for reliability and lower cost). If your tenant were to let you plug the iSerial into their network, they would never notice that you were there. The amount of data that you would ever transfer per month is insignificant by todays standards. It really does not open their network to security issues. Even if you were to get your own internet, I would venture to say you would be money ahead vs cellular.

When you go cellular, data does become a concern, we have customers who have cellular connections for car charging networks or monitoring wind farms (areas where a wired internet connection could be out of reach). But the data itself costs money, you could read your meters less frequently to pay less for cellular data. A cellular to ethernet modem is what you would need. Here is an example: http://www.sixnet.com/product/industria ... er-207.cfm

So the best from my perspective would be to get on your tenants connection. Otherwise I would get your own internet. You will not need to have a computer at the remote site (only the iSerial). You will just use the computer that you have where you are, and will read your meters over the internet (or cellular).

Hope this helps,
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
PlumBill
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 2:19 am

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by PlumBill »

Jameson,

This is beginning to sound simpler than I thought. I thought that I would have to have my tenant open their network and have my connection have access to their information in order for me to connect. You say that I don't need to do this?

I will give you a call tomorrow and see what we can do to get started.
Jameson
Posts: 860
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:42 pm
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Contact:

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by Jameson »

PlumBill,

You will still have to have access to your tenants router settings (if you want to utilize their internet connection). This is because you have to open up a port in the firewall of their router, you will also want to enable Dynamic DNS (if they do not have a static IP address).

Regards,
Jameson
EKM METERING
http://www.ekmmetering.com
831.425.7371
Torch-12
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:13 pm

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by Torch-12 »

I just set up an EKM Omnimeter Pulse v.4. I attempted to edit the date and time of the meter and received the message: "To make this change you need to enter the password for the meter". Where would I find the password for the meter?

Thanks,
Seth
Posts: 17
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2011 1:40 pm

Re: Installing a meter reading system

Post by Seth »

Torch-12,

Thanks for the OmniMeter Pulse!

The default password for the meters is "0" ("zero", without the parentheses).


Thanks,

Seth
Post Reply