Thanks @cgmckeever , I look forward to hearing what you think after your 30 day Insight trial lapses.
Also, if your meter box has room, I’m sure it is an easy job to get another waterproof/resistant box (Pelican or similar), some grommets and wiring and just make a connection to the terminals in the battery compartment of the Flume to the external box. Luckily, I think from some of the photos of the device that the Flume uses 4 AA sized non-rechargeable lithium batteries? A larger battery holder could be rigged in such a way that the output voltage remains the same, but additional batteries could be added to increase the Ah available for longer life. Just have to see if the first 4 batteries are wired in series or parallel, then add in another 4 wired the same way (in the pack of 4) but added to the first in parallel to keep the output voltage the same, just adding available amp-hours.
Good discussion here - thanks! My Flume 2 came with one of the more ghetto-looking battery packs, so I just ordered one of the newer box-looking versions and a battery conversion kit.
Perhaps the battery-conversion kit won't work, but it's a relatively cheap experiment to try. I installed an outlet in my water-meter closet a while ago for a smart main shutoff valve (not yet installed - I gotta re-do some piping first), so I'm fortunate that I have an outlet available for the conversion kit.
I'll post up results back here after everything arrives.
Right here above, when you started speaking some strange foreign language ("wired in parallel," "output voltage," "amp hours") was where I got lost. Electricity = voodoo magic in my brain.
This part I get (physical stuff) and was thinking along the same lines (warranty voided, obviously). I actually accidentally popped my meter box open when I was installing it, and I have a vague memory of a small battery pack (not AA size) wrapped in black plastic, and the thing was flopping around loose at the end of the wires connecting it to the PCB. I was focused on not having the box open up so I could do the install, so I didn't really pay enough attention to it. I'll check later this AM and see what I actually have in there...
EDIT: Checked, and I mis-remembered - do have the 4AA batteries, but they are wrapped in black plastic and don't have the plastic case that I see on the web site:
I actually have power down by my water meter in the front yard - remnant of a light fixture that used to be in the front area of our yard by the sidewalk. My meter sits near that area. It's the type that is under this kind of cement cover in the yard.
I assumed that running power (even low-voltage) into that type of outdoor setup would be a bad idea, so wasn't considering it. But now wondering if I could do something similar to what you're doing. Add a waterproof box w/an outlet connected to the former lamp 110v wiring outside the water meter, and then run the low voltage into the Flume. I could use conduit... Would that would be crazy?
Yep, sounds like we have the same battery pack. I could likely try my conversion experiment with that one, but I figured what the heck - it'd be nice to have the newer pack no matter what as it seems like a cleaner design.
I don't think it's crazy talk to consider putting an outlet out there, but let me confirm that conversion kit works OK... I just installed a couple of those things for some battery stuff out in my garage and so far so good, but each device is different so I want to make sure it feeds enough juice to the Flume to keep it happy.
My meter is inside the house, so messing around with it easier than an outdoor setup.
Thanks @danabw for taking the time to get all the screen shots! It looks like the negative reviewer on Amazon was jumping to conclusions as to the lack of information (or the granularity of it) that was available without a subscription. I guess the only thing now is that like any cloud based platform that maintains a free database for its users, they can always pull a Wink and change the rules to hold you hostage lol! For those of you a little more “senior”, like Roseanne Roseannadanna (OG SNL from the 70’s) used to say “There’s always somethin’” or “Never mind!”.
I would love to have an outdoor outlet in the utility box so I could keep the Flume on an AC to DC transformer and not worry about battery changes. However, since that is not an option for me, rigging up an external battery pack with greater capacity seems to be the option of choice. Unfortunately, since my box is just on the outside of my walled property (in the easement net to the curb), anyone can lift the cover and take any equipment that is enclosed but not firmly attached to the meter (not that they would hopefully nor even think about it).
Also, has anyone had any local utility make a fuss over “attaching” non-city equipment to their meters?
@danabw Did you say you just got Flume2? Sounds like Amazon sent you an older Flume2 battery version if it has the standard 4 AA pack .. I wish I opened mine, because if it is the 4 battery type, I might try to extend it out for easier swap without mucking with the meter ..
I was expecting my Flume 2 to have the lithium battery pack, and when I saw that it had 4 AA's, I thought I had the wrong model. I confirmed it was the Flume 2 by looking at the print on the bottom, it says Flume2 on it. Also, the original Flume looks much different. I'm glad mine has the AA's.
Not sure I get what you're saying here. Can you elaborate a little? Does having the older (black) style battery pack make modding this for external power easier? My goal would to be able to avoid having to burn batteries to run it.
Yeah, Im not good with voltage math, the Lithium Pack says 3.3v, whereas if I had a 4AA in a case, I think I could just extend wires to another battery case. Unfortunately in my situation, I have power no where near it. But I dont want to dismantle the unit to replace batteries.
So, if I could run an extension outside the case that could be easily swapped, that would be ideal. If water gets where my meter is, I have bigger worries than some wet batteries
Putting (I assume you mean alkaline) batteries in parallel is not a good idea. Any difference in voltage will tend to try and "charge" the weak one. While its been done, for long life I'd stay with 4 batteries in series.
Heh, wish I could say the same. Mine ends up submerged for a while every time it rains. To their credit, it seems to hold up and is pretty well waterproof.
I just had the battery pack die after 8 months. I have the Flume 2 and it had the black battery pack wrapped with the black plastic label. The black one is easy to replace the batteries in. I'm not sure about the grey pack.
Flume is sending me a replacement battery pack under warranty. since the grey one is the newer one that's probably what I'll get.
Well, Flume seems to have good CS at least - that's always a good sign! I ordered one of the fancy gray battery packs, but I won't get it till later this week... I'll use either it or my old-school black-tape version to wire up my battery conversion kit.
I'll post results back here and the main Flume thread as soon as I have them!
I believe one year. Before I attempted to replace the batteries in my original pack I went ahead and ordered a 2nd one. Thought about cancelling the order but figured I'll keep it and make it just a tad quicker to swap out the next one.
Electricity = voodoo magic in my brain.
