Drive by water meter readings.

[John Brown]

We had a communication from the water bandits recently. They are going to replace our meter with a new one that can be read from a moving vehicle, apparently. I've heard of these already, of course, but then I got to wondering how these things are powered. I know I could probably Google it, but I like to speculate pointlessly.
So batteries? Possibly, but I'm guessing the receiver would need to be active frequently, if not permanently. So maybe they incorporate a micro turbine to keep a battery topped up?

 

[sammy.se]

I assume a sealed lithium battery, like the ones in smoke alarms that last 10 years, or more!

 

[Agent_zed]

I assume a sealed lithium battery, like the ones in smoke alarms that last 10 years, or more!

I would guess the same. My meter was replaced as it no longer transmitted, meter part still worked fine. assume the battery went.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

They'll still find a way of lying. I had an email saying my bill would be an estimate as their meter reader couldn't read the meter the day before as a car was parked over it. The meters are in the middle of two adjacent drives, and In eight years I've never known anyone park there. My neighbour goes absolutely nuts if someone parks overhanging her drive by six inches, and I and three builders were in the front garden for the whole of the day concerned.

 

[Spectric]

I think they will just be dormant in some idle state until the vehicle ask for the data where they wake up just to transmit that data. I really hope they don't ever consider going down the Lithium battery route for gas meters !

 

[John Brown]

I think they will just be dormant in some idle state until the vehicle ask for the data where they wake up just to transmit that data. I really hope they don't ever consider going down the Lithium battery route for gas meters !

That would still require having the receiver active. But you're probably right about Lithium cells. Occam's razor.

 

[Spectric]

That would still require having the receiver active

I was thinking along the lines of a cars key fob where the fob is dormant until engaged into the ignition barrel where a coil is energised and powers up the key fob to retrieve the rolling code.

 

[John Brown]

I was thinking along the lines of a cars key fob where the fob is dormant until engaged into the ignition barrel where a coil is energised and powers up the key fob to retrieve the rolling code.

How is that relevant to a reading from a moving vehicle?

 

[Richard_C]

Lithium Thionyl Chloride aparrently, service life up to 20 years but some utility companies have been replacing after 10. Meter costs c. 2x a standard one but 20000 can be read per day depending on housing density, 200 for the old type.

 

[flh801978]

Well my water meter is in the cellar of my house and about 10 metres from the road so the signal must be good to read that from a moving car
Ian

 

[porker]

I worked on Smart meter technology about 3 years ago. The stuff we were working on would last between 10-15 years on a single battery using a low power wide area (LPWA) technology. The limiting factor was probably the self discharge of the cell rather than the actual consumption. Technology like NB-IoT can read devices in cellars and in meter pits where normal signals won't reach. This technology isn't based on drive past though and works through the standard mobile network.

 

[llangatwgnedd]

My gas meter continuously sends readings to the smart thingy.
Installer told me that the battery lasts 10 years.

 

[selectortone]

This brings back memories for me. Back in the 80s I worked for a company that manufactured radio telemetry equipment which was being widely adopted by utilities like water companies for reading things like water level in remote service reservoirs. Prior to this it was done using telephone lines and dail-up modems, but after the GPO privatisation this started to get costly.

Anyway, the holy grail was always the dream of being able to read domestic meters from the roadside, rather than having to enter peoples' properties.

My company was one of the market leaders but the best we could quote was c£500 per property. No takers .

Interesting to see it's finally getting there after all these years.

 

[John Brown]

The thing that used to amaze me, back in the olden days, was that the electricity and gas suppliers would each send their own meter reading person, often within days of each other.

And of course the smart gas meters need power too - that hadn't really occurred to me, as Octopus supply electricity and gas to us, and installed both smart meters at the same time.
As for NBIoT, the last time I looked it was pretty much non-existent in the UK, and I ended up with LoRa, which has the disadvantage of needing gateways.

 

[John Brown]

I also remember many moons ago talking to someone at Westinghouse(?) who were planning to read electricity meters remotely over the power lines. Don't know what happened to that.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

On a slightly different tack, I always wondered why electricity, gas and water suppliers didn't get their heads together and employ one meter reader for all meters.

 

[pgrbff]

I also remember many moons ago talking to someone at Westinghouse(?) who were planning to read electricity meters remotely over the power lines. Don't know what happened to that.

Electricity meters in Italy are read over the power lines.

 

[John Brown]

On a slightly different tack, I always wondered why electricity, gas and water suppliers didn't get their heads together and employ one meter reader for all meters.

Which is what I said, a couple of posts back. Except I didn't include water, as hardly anyone had water meters back then.

 

[Keith Cocker]

I remember the meter readers being employees of the Gas and Electricity Boards. They wore proper uniforms. They probably had pensions and security of employment as well. I understand the vehicle that reads our meter remotely now is our bin lorry?

 

[John Brown]

I remember the meter readers being employees of the Gas and Electricity Boards. They wore proper uniforms. They probably had pensions and security of employment as well. I understand the vehicle that reads our meter remotely now is our bin lorry?

Interesting. I hadn't heard that.