The 24 hour view is the smallest resolution FortrezZ provides.
Thanks John. Would a modification of the device handler code be able to get more resolution or is it limited by the reporting of the device? I am in the California drought and I bought the device to help me determine where the HECK all my water goes. I want to see how much water I used in the last 15 minutes, 30 minutes and hour. (in addition to the existing graphs, which are great.
Thanks again
Hi @brian93109, the device can go as small as 10 seconds to 60 seconds for reporting intervals. The issue isn’t with the DH or the physical device, but with the charts. FortrezZ would have to create a 1 hour chart for us, or you can log the value being sent to FortrezZ’s servers to Google sheets (which is done everytime the flow stops).
Can’t a smartapp just grab the cumulative gallons every minute and report last 10, 20, 30, 60 minutes? Where can I find someone that can actually write an app like that? I’m not a programmer, just a tech loving water conserver.
Sorry for the delayed reply. I’ve been traveling the last couple days.
Yes, a SmartApp can do exactly that but it also relies on the DH to get the data from the device. In the water meter’s case, it’s neither a SmartApp or DH problem. The device handler actually sends every single reading to FortrezZ’s cloud to build the chart.
One option, as I mentioned above, is to request FortrezZ create an hourly chart that the DH just updates like it does today. I think that might take a while since there’s nothing really motivating them to do that.
The other option, which I think could be your best method would be to use one of a few existing SmartApps that log data elsewhere, like a Google spreadsheet. You can then go nuts with the data you collect. Here are a couple:
Here’s an example using Google and SmartTiles to display a chart:
And here’s another option for logging:
Hi @brian93109,
Here’s another update. I modified the flow meter DH to add the capability “Power” so that any one of the logging apps I mentioned above will capture the last gallons used. Since ST doesn’t have any capability for flow, I had to use Power, and technically the device (and the DH) acts like a power meter.
After working on another project, I would highly recommend using the app Simple Event Logger to capture your usage, it’s by far easier and it’s a whole lot better:
Here’s what my logging looks like. Remember that “power” is really gallons used:
Hi, I got my flow meter installed and running a couple days ago. I’m loving it!
I just came across this community support page and looks like several of you have been busy updating the DH.
The official one from Fortrezz is working fine, but yours is tweaked out nicely. Would you consider it to be stable and performing well? If so I’ll go for your community version.
Thank you!
Todd
Thanks Todd, and welcome to the Community!
It’s been very stable, but ST’s latest mobile app release changed the look/feel a bit compared to the images above. It’s a text/image rendering problem they’ve had for a very long time impacting many custom DH’s in the community.
If you have any questions on usage or functionality, just let me know.
Thanks for the quick reply.
So if I decide to go for it would I just delete the official DH, then install yours. Save > Publish and everything turns up roses? Don’t need to do anything with the SmartApp?
Thanks again!
No worries. You just need to install my code, and the just edit the device in the IDE and change the field titled “Type” to the DH you just created.
Hi,
I got you dh code properly installed and running but now the flow
measurement is way to high and there seems to be a longer lag in updating
vs the FortrezZ code. Am I not using your current stable code? I also lost
my graph history when using your code. Is that normal?
Thanks again for all your help. This is really cool stuff!!!
No worries, it’s addicting, trust me…
FortrezZ’z code is set to update every 60 seconds, but mine allows you to change that to as low as 10 seconds. Tap on the gear in the upper right hand corner to get to Device Preferences. You’ll see a setting for Reporting Rate. Use any number from 1 to 6. 1 being 10 seconds and 6 being 60. I’ll eventually change that so it’s easier to remember. Next, set your high flow rate. Once you’re done, tap on Done and those setting will be set.
Your graph history is still there, but due to those rendering issues I mentioned (and the latest 2.3.5 app release bugs), and with the carousel tile now used to show the graph, just tap on one of the time option times and your chart will show up.
My code also allows you to reset your meter back to zero, which also resets charts. It’s helpful if you want to sync this with your water company’s readings. It’s not necessary to reset your meter, but occasionally the meter spits out a crazy high number and it will throw your charts off. I save all my data to Google Sheets via the Simple Event Logger smartapp. I recommend giving that a good look.
Also, tapping on the tiles for highest usage or highest flow will reset just those metrics.
Again, remember that ST’s latest release of the app that just came out introduced some odd behavior depending upon if your iOS or Android, so exiting the device and going back in should resolve the rendering issues.
You’re the BEST! Thanks for the quick responses. Is it normal that the
lowest flow is 0.6 gpm? I’ve got a trickle going and that seems to be the
lowest.
Thanks @tkurtz. Yes that’s normal especially if you use the lowest reporting interval. The math used for flow rate won’t go any lower because the reporting interval is set to 10 seconds, and the readings come in as gallons per minute. You can see the math used on line 294. If you go back to 6 (or 60 seconds), you will see that gpm flow rate be a little smaller.
I personally wanted to see a faster reporting interval over a super exact flow rates. The faster I could detect (and monitor) flow, the quicker I could trigger automations to turn off water valves.
Since the water meter is technically a “power” meter, any smartapp monitoring “power” capabilities can use this device to notify you if power (water flow) is detected when you’re not home. Like when your neighbor (or their contractors) use your spigot and hose while you’re away to clean their paint brushes…
wow @johnconstantelo, you’ve done some really fine work here. I keep saying thank you but it’s so well deserved and I suppose sense you aren’t charging us for your app greatness, gratitude is what you should receive in spades.
Ok, so from what I can tell it’s working extremely well. I’m uploading logs to google spreadsheet and Smartthings released an update to the Android mobile app so it seem to be rendering everything flawlessly.
Couple more questions for you. What’s the point of the power tile? Is that necessary to record power so we can log to goggle?
What app do you like to use to get alerts of flow while you’re at home when outside of normal flow hours? During the hours of 11pm-6am I don’t expect flow and would like to be alerted of it but not via my phone because I have my phone silenced during those hours. A siren would also be really bad…don’t need to wake wife and kids. I was thinking something like turning on my bedroom light have having it blink or flash until I told it to quiet down. Thoughts? I can’t seem to find any apps that support triggering from the flow meter.
Best.
Todd
Thanks @tkurtz, I enjoy doing this stuff.
The purpose of that tile is to show you if the meter is running on batteries, AC power, or low battery.
My use case is a little different than yours. I want to know flow when our mode was away, so I use ST’s Energy Alerts simple smartapp. For your use case, you should be able to do that with CoRE.
I have been using my FortrezZ flow meter and SmartThings for about a month. I finally got around to reading this thread and I really like what I see. I installed your interface and changed the device to use it but I get no information showing on the graphs. I changed the frequency from 1 to 6 as well. I tried all three graphs and they all show no flow information. I started some water flowing and the interface showed the flow. When I change it back and refresh the graphs all is back. Also the total gal this period shows as 0 with the new interface. I probably screwed up something and would appreciate any advice you can offer.
What does the Right Now tab look like? After you changed preferences, or at least just opened up preferences, did you tap on Done?
Also, when did you copy the code over? I literally just discovered (Friday) that FortrezZ has a certificate issue with their website used to send data and create charts. I’ve already emailed their support, but haven’t heard back yet. I just changed my code to use http vs https until they fix the certiciate issue. Give the latest version a try.
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Wow thanks for responding so quick. I just installed it this morning so I should have the latest code.
06-10-2017 : Changed to “http” from “https” for the URL for post/get functions because of certificate issues FortrezZ’s site is having. Will change back once fixed.
Attaching Right Now tab. And yes I changed preferences and tapped on done. I just re-enabled your interface and it still says 6 that I set it to.
This DH looks great. I haven’t gotten a water flow sensor yet. Is the general consensus that the FortrezZ is among the best? This is just a monitor right? I also need a shutoff valve separately if I want that functionality? And I assume again Fortrezz for that?
Have you had a look at webCoRE and its Fuel (beta) analytics? I don’t know much about the analytics provided OOTB, however with Fuel you can easily have this log and see graphs of the data, assuming it exposes the water flow numbers which I assume it does.