Every Shower needs this Upgrade! (Saves you Money)
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Date: 2022-08-21
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Comments and reviews: 14
Piotr
Well You could've used temperature measuring pipe, this takes care of charging gives You a temperature of Your water and You could make it measure Water usage, and All You had to do was hook up just a ESP with battery to get the water flow. You don't need to make the waterflow be linear with rotations, You should get the valve with a handle attach the thing for measuring angle and create in excel or better software a function that would show You the curve of rotations to flow rate (dm 3/s) And You will be fine unless You just drip some water. This project Would've been so much easier (battery would charge with a turbine inside and battery would support it before it reaches the voltage still needing the switch You used)
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Well You could've used temperature measuring pipe, this takes care of charging gives You a temperature of Your water and You could make it measure Water usage, and All You had to do was hook up just a ESP with battery to get the water flow. You don't need to make the waterflow be linear with rotations, You should get the valve with a handle attach the thing for measuring angle and create in excel or better software a function that would show You the curve of rotations to flow rate (dm 3/s) And You will be fine unless You just drip some water. This project Would've been so much easier (battery would charge with a turbine inside and battery would support it before it reaches the voltage still needing the switch You used)
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Bosstown
In defence of the cheap flow meter, I suspect that higher end devices do exactly the same thing but have a calibration in their datasheets. The problem is that you aren't directly measuring flow rate, you're measuring rpm as a proxy for flow rate, and since it's an impeller with gaps around the blades a higher flow rate will change the relationship between flow and speed (guessing here but presumably higher flow rates didn't increase speed by as much, would expect to see bypassing to an extent/less efficient operation. Intuitively it makes sense that pulses should match up with fixed volumes but once you lose the assumed linear relationship that goes out the window.
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In defence of the cheap flow meter, I suspect that higher end devices do exactly the same thing but have a calibration in their datasheets. The problem is that you aren't directly measuring flow rate, you're measuring rpm as a proxy for flow rate, and since it's an impeller with gaps around the blades a higher flow rate will change the relationship between flow and speed (guessing here but presumably higher flow rates didn't increase speed by as much, would expect to see bypassing to an extent/less efficient operation. Intuitively it makes sense that pulses should match up with fixed volumes but once you lose the assumed linear relationship that goes out the window.
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Travis
I don't like the lipo battery solution, since it needs to be changed and has relatively short lifespan. I would harness the power from the waterflow instead, and put a supercapacitor to sustain it for a minute or two. And the display is in my opinion quite important, I guess watching those numbers going in real time is more terrifying than watching them on a phone afterwards. A timer would be a must too, because this problem has to be solved(right. The most effective way is to reduce the time taking shower.
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I don't like the lipo battery solution, since it needs to be changed and has relatively short lifespan. I would harness the power from the waterflow instead, and put a supercapacitor to sustain it for a minute or two. And the display is in my opinion quite important, I guess watching those numbers going in real time is more terrifying than watching them on a phone afterwards. A timer would be a must too, because this problem has to be solved(right. The most effective way is to reduce the time taking shower.
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Mladen
You should really mark pulseCount as volatile since you are updating that value in interrupt so that compiler does special optimizations for it and you avoid some of the really hard to debug issues. I'd also implement sleep mode which Atmel supports. In that mode its power consumption is really really low around 0. 1 micro-amp and interrupt can wake it up. It's simple to implement and makes rest of the code event easier to implement since you'd just have to upload stuff, call sleep and be done with it.
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You should really mark pulseCount as volatile since you are updating that value in interrupt so that compiler does special optimizations for it and you avoid some of the really hard to debug issues. I'd also implement sleep mode which Atmel supports. In that mode its power consumption is really really low around 0. 1 micro-amp and interrupt can wake it up. It's simple to implement and makes rest of the code event easier to implement since you'd just have to upload stuff, call sleep and be done with it.
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Slushee
Loved the video! Good topic and good solution.
I would have approached the home assistant part in another way: I wouldn't have used home assistant at all, but I would have used grafana+prometheus.
It's really easy to code for the esp32 to communicate with prometheus, and it's really easy to host grafana and prometheus with docker.
Grafana has awesome graphs, and you can easily configure it to do math and calculate cost among tons of other things.
Great video though!
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Loved the video! Good topic and good solution.
I would have approached the home assistant part in another way: I wouldn't have used home assistant at all, but I would have used grafana+prometheus.
It's really easy to code for the esp32 to communicate with prometheus, and it's really easy to host grafana and prometheus with docker.
Grafana has awesome graphs, and you can easily configure it to do math and calculate cost among tons of other things.
Great video though!
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piotrchmiel87
Very nice idea, which can be also extended to measure how much washing machine or dishwasher use. Isn't it possible to read pulses from your water measure? By the way I achieved similar, but obviously less accurate shower water usage sensor with humidity sensor next to shower. I observed that there is more or less the same pressure and mix of hot and cold water used everytime, so I calculate just time based on humidity changes.
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Very nice idea, which can be also extended to measure how much washing machine or dishwasher use. Isn't it possible to read pulses from your water measure? By the way I achieved similar, but obviously less accurate shower water usage sensor with humidity sensor next to shower. I observed that there is more or less the same pressure and mix of hot and cold water used everytime, so I calculate just time based on humidity changes.
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dumbasPL
Many of the moderm power/water meters have either a wireless or a ir/wired interface where you can easily read the data of them in a similar way that your utility company does. I know a few people that do exactly that. This gives you the most accurate graphs possible(literally the exact same that your utility company sees and charges you for) and does not require any modifications to the meters themselfs
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Many of the moderm power/water meters have either a wireless or a ir/wired interface where you can easily read the data of them in a similar way that your utility company does. I know a few people that do exactly that. This gives you the most accurate graphs possible(literally the exact same that your utility company sees and charges you for) and does not require any modifications to the meters themselfs
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Bradley
Awesome build, I d be interested if the variability in the water sensor is consistent enough to be calculated I m thinking if you can measure rpm and adjust the output accordingly. E. g, if 1k rpm = 5 liters per minute and 2k rpm = 20 liters per minute and 3k = 25 lpm we should be able to create a curve to approximate the output based on flow rate makes me want to build it just to find out: )
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Awesome build, I d be interested if the variability in the water sensor is consistent enough to be calculated I m thinking if you can measure rpm and adjust the output accordingly. E. g, if 1k rpm = 5 liters per minute and 2k rpm = 20 liters per minute and 3k = 25 lpm we should be able to create a curve to approximate the output based on flow rate makes me want to build it just to find out: )
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matneu27
Nice idea but I am a bit in doubt how long the tiny propeller works depending on the amount of minerals and chalk which will plate it sooner or later. In industrial purposes there are also systems which measures free from mechanic by a heating resistant and a thermal readout behind. The more water flows the higher the difference. Anyway those sensors are not sold for a budget
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Nice idea but I am a bit in doubt how long the tiny propeller works depending on the amount of minerals and chalk which will plate it sooner or later. In industrial purposes there are also systems which measures free from mechanic by a heating resistant and a thermal readout behind. The more water flows the higher the difference. Anyway those sensors are not sold for a budget
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BoltzBrain
Nice Project,
The missing precision of lowend waterflow sensors is also one thing i had my share of problems with.
Right now i am trying to create a easy to build and accurate DIY flow sensor.
Also you could have added a temp sensor so you can also calculate the energy usage from your shower, in times of raising energy prices it would have been a neat feature.
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Nice Project,
The missing precision of lowend waterflow sensors is also one thing i had my share of problems with.
Right now i am trying to create a easy to build and accurate DIY flow sensor.
Also you could have added a temp sensor so you can also calculate the energy usage from your shower, in times of raising energy prices it would have been a neat feature.
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SilentlyPrickable
9: 53 You don't need to install HACS in order to get the additional cards and integrations, you can install it manually (most of the times there is a guide for that at the specific github - mini-graph-card has ti there as well.
But good for you that you instaled HACS anyway, it's much easier with it for your future HA modifications.
Nice project though.
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9: 53 You don't need to install HACS in order to get the additional cards and integrations, you can install it manually (most of the times there is a guide for that at the specific github - mini-graph-card has ti there as well.
But good for you that you instaled HACS anyway, it's much easier with it for your future HA modifications.
Nice project though.
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BobDev
What are you talking about, you can do whatever you want after the meter, normally homes have there pressure regulators and valves to close meter off (in case it breaks and you need to replace it.
Even if you had doubts just call your local company and tell them you want to install electronic measuring device after the meter and they can check it out if they want to.
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What are you talking about, you can do whatever you want after the meter, normally homes have there pressure regulators and valves to close meter off (in case it breaks and you need to replace it.
Even if you had doubts just call your local company and tell them you want to install electronic measuring device after the meter and they can check it out if they want to.
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Joseph.
yeah I bought a shower head with a off valve and it saves me a lot of water. 9 and you can get a valve adapter that lets you turn any shower head into a shut-off head.
the reason you may want this is so you can find the perfect temperature once and then you don't have to touch it ever again, you just walk in and turn the valve on and let the water through.
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yeah I bought a shower head with a off valve and it saves me a lot of water. 9 and you can get a valve adapter that lets you turn any shower head into a shut-off head.
the reason you may want this is so you can find the perfect temperature once and then you don't have to touch it ever again, you just walk in and turn the valve on and let the water through.
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PastelComGini
It's a fantastic idea to put somewhere out of sight. Sorry man, but the sensors are ugly AF. I know, it's a test, you're an inventor. But I guess you're single. I doubt your wife would accept that thing in the bathroom.
It's cool, I'm not criticizing the project, but I guess that maybe you could print something to cover the sensors.
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It's a fantastic idea to put somewhere out of sight. Sorry man, but the sensors are ugly AF. I know, it's a test, you're an inventor. But I guess you're single. I doubt your wife would accept that thing in the bathroom.
It's cool, I'm not criticizing the project, but I guess that maybe you could print something to cover the sensors.
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