Help understanding reed switch

Hello Team,

I know this is not part of your equipment but I was wondering if anybody could tell me how exactly reed switches are installed on water meters?

I have this one and have never installed it because I have no idea were it goes on my water meter…

https://www.flukso.net/content/water-probe

What model water meter do you have? I have that exact meter and I wouldn’t be able to improve on the description in your link as to where the prpobe goes. Look for a black plastic cap over the hole.

Heads up though… using the official Elster T-probe (mechanical reed switch) I found there are situations where it becomes unstable. It seems to depend just where the magnet comes to rest after a water draw. If you’re unlucky and it rests in the critical spot, you can get spurious triggers. This isn’t the standard mechanical switch de-bounce issue (which you also need to deal with). This will give random pulses all night long if the magnet comes to rest in just the right spot. I ended going with an electronic version which has been rock solid.

Thanks for your reply… I am in the US and the model of my water meter is very obscure… It does not have any info… I think I might have no choice but to buy my own water meter and install inside my property. There is many out there with built in reed switches…

Thoughts?

Is your meter read electronically, or does a person come around and photograph the dials? I know in parts of northern CA the meters are read electronically, so the water provider is already using the magnetic feature of the meter and I’m sure they wouldn’t want you tampering with that.

Yup is electronic. Thanks for your advice!

I just got this, https://www.daecontrols.com/home/submeters/water-meters/water-meters-pulse
Will install this weekend and report back! :slight_smile: