Water Pulse Counter

[Tirnanah]

Hey All,

So getting ready to redo a bunch of plumbing since my water line into the house broke, and I can't get it replaced until some time this summer when the ground freezes. Since I'm replumbing anyway, I figured I would put in a pulse counter to monitor water usage through the GEM (for curiousity sake). So I was wonder if people would mind posting what type/model of pulse counter they are using. I believe I will have 3/4" PEX running into the house from a tank for now, but eventually I will get the line back to the well, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance,
Doug

[mwall]

if you are installing a new meter, take a look at Daniel L. Jerman Co.:

http://www.jerman.com/dljsjmeters.html

http://jerman.com/dljcmeters.html

you will see a pulse count for each gallon of water. not the cheapest around, but it has worked well for us, and they are rated for hot water as well as cold (e.g. for solar-heated water systems).

if you would like to detect smaller increments, try attaching a hall-effect sensor to an existing water meter to detect the magnetic field changes as the meter spins. if you are starting from scratch you will probably have to wire up some amplification logic, as the field in newer water meters is not very strong.

this hall-effect sensor from vernier is pricy, but has the amplification built-in:

http://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/mg-bta/

you might be able to find the older version, the mg-bin, for about about $25. it takes a 5V DC input, which you can get from the GEM. a description of the connector pinouts is here:

http://www.vernier.com/support/sensor-pinouts/

this works well on water meters such as the neptune T10.

be sure to install the water meter on the demand side of your pressure pump, downstream from the accumulator. if you install it on the supply side you will see the same number for total water consumption, but you will see the consumption happen as your water system re-pressurizes instead of when the water is consumed.

there is another thread in this forum, 'Pulse Output for water meter', that describes how to attach an optical sensor to an existing water meter.

http://brultech.com/home/community/view ... ?f=2&t=480

[Tirnanah]

Thanks so very much for the information. More concerned with getting water back in the house, but I will definitely be ordering one of these in the near future. I like that the pulse counter is built in already, no additional junk required.

Get this in, then I'll have to get my SQL stuff written so I can have it text me when I'm running out of water

Thanks again,
Doug

[Tirnanah]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but that water meter is 100% awesomeness... For anyone that wants to put in a new water meter, I HIGHLY recommend the DLJ water meter. It's built like a flipping tank.

1 question not answered in any of their documentation however, which wire is the pulse? I'm assuming black is ground and red is the pulse, but just want to verify before I actually hook it up to the GEM.

Thanks,
Doug

[Teken]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but that water meter is 100% awesomeness... For anyone that wants to put in a new water meter, I HIGHLY recommend the DLJ water meter. It's built like a flipping tank.

1 question not answered in any of their documentation however, which wire is the pulse? I'm assuming black is ground and red is the pulse, but just want to verify before I actually hook it up to the GEM.

Thanks,
Doug

Doug,

Would you mind documenting and taking some picture of the install along with any problems you encounter. Also would you mind telling us what the final price is for this bad boy.

I would really like to do this for my water but I am still looking for something that is turn key I can just mount and go.

Teken . . .

[mwall]

1 question not answered in any of their documentation however, which wire is the pulse? I'm assuming black is ground and red is the pulse, but just want to verify before I actually hook it up to the GEM.

doug,

there is no pulse/ground, it is simply a switch. connect to either counter 3 or 4 of the gem - the 'dry' contact counters.

m

[Tirnanah]

Thanks MWall! I'll get that hooked up this weekend.

Teken: Pictures are below. I recently changed all the piping coming into the house to pex, so installation was cake (once I read the instructions and bought two other parts and did it right ). Cut the pex, stick this in, and it starts running. It is literally built like a tank, I was very happy with the purchase... I think it was $131 for the meter and shipping to Alaska...

This is the exact model I bought: http://shop.watermeters.com/DLJ75C-3-4- ... DLJ75C.htm. It came with the pulse counter already installed on the .1x gallon pulse counter. Unfortunately I had to mount mine under the house because of the way the lines run, but I mostly wanted it for pulse counting anyway...

Thanks,
Doug

[Teken]

Doug,

That is a thing of beauty right there! I would love to be able to install one of these water pulse meters on to my existing unit.

Are you aware if they sell just the probe that attaches to the water meter? I would think this is all I would need and it would save me a lot of money to hire a plumber and remove the existing unit and also have to call the water company to make the correction to the water meter reading.

Thank you for taking the time to share the install along with photo's!

Teken . . .

[Tirnanah]

No problem on the pictures and stuff. I take pictures of everything I do to the house anyway.

I'm not on city water, so I have no existing meter to attach it to . The idea is that currently we are using a tank, and I'm going to set something up to notify us when it's less than 20 gallons left so we know to watch it as the pump runs a few more times... Once we are back on our well some time later this summer (since summer doesn't seem to want to get here!), it will be pure curiousity sake of what we are using on a given week/month/year.

Couldn't you cut the pipe further into the house (past your pressure tank) and put in a 2nd meter? Obviously you'll pay off of what the city meter says, but if you just want monitoring?

Thanks,
Doug

[Teken]

No problem on the pictures and stuff. I take pictures of everything I do to the house anyway.

I'm not on city water, so I have no existing meter to attach it to . The idea is that currently we are using a tank, and I'm going to set something up to notify us when it's less than 20 gallons left so we know to watch it as the pump runs a few more times... Once we are back on our well some time later this summer (since summer doesn't seem to want to get here!), it will be pure curiousity sake of what we are using on a given week/month/year.

Couldn't you cut the pipe further into the house (past your pressure tank) and put in a 2nd meter? Obviously you'll pay off of what the city meter says, but if you just want monitoring?

Thanks,
Doug

I could do that, but will need to price out what the final costs will be to complete this task. If there is a cheaper method that is turn key to simply attach the sensor and also have all of the required equipment to simply attach to the GEM that would be ideal.

I never knew getting into water pulse monitoring would be so difficult!

Teken . . .