Late Thursday the gas company installed a new device on the gas meter for _Automated Meter Reading _. Now they will do a drive by reading. *
The Encoder, Receiver, Transmitter (ERT) has a battery the size of a regular AA battery. I've read some about this, but the life expectancy of the battery is not in any material. The entire project for my area started in July and will end October 2008.
Anyone familiar with the battery life of these devices?
We have had these in our area for both gas and water for a long time. The expected battery life is 10 years.
JK
Thanks. This was the question I missed, when I spoke with the installer. I thought about it later and was curious..
10 years might be a little optimistic. It's no doubt a litium battery. The have a shelf life of about 5 years even with nothing attached to them. Yes, some will go longer than that. It's recommended to have the meter serviced and checked for accuracy every 5 years anyway. Sometimes these things go a little "flooey" and the reading on the mechanical meter inside the house may be different than the reading they are getting outside. Sometimes by a LOT.
My gas meter and the device are both outside - one place. If the battery does last 10 years; I want some for other devices :))
I don't how long the battery was on the shelf. Apparently (limited info), the ERT uses little power and transmits "low battery" to the drive by reading. My WAG is they have to last awhile if you have 1.2 Million to replace.
Our water reading is automated, but no battery as I know of.
-- Oren
"I wouldn't even be here if my support group hadn't beaten me up."
I used to work for a company that now is one of the big players in this market. (Hexagram) The first version they introduced used a Tadiran lithium thionyl chloride cell. This is a different chemistry than typical lithium cells. The projected life under the very low duty cycle application was 20 years. The first units were installed about 22 years ago. I just read where those first units are still operating. These cells have extremely low self discharge, but can only deliver relatively low current, so are not suitable for high discharge rate applications. No idea if the current generation of remote read equipment uses the same type cell or not.
Paul F.
Here's a link to the article describing how the original remote reading modules I referred to in my previous post are still operating after 20 years...
they just installed the remote reading gas meter this summer.
I was told the batrtery is good for at least 7 years, since it only transmits when requested report in.
must be a interesting technology, i wonder how toll road fast pass work? no batterys there
The EZPass toll gizmos used in cars here in NJ/NYC have batteries. They have to be periodically swapped out for a new unit, not user replaceable.
And if you get the transponder via the ever friendly PA turnpike commission they charge you $60+ to replace it (I don't remember the exact amount he told me). My buddies EZpass recently failed for some reason. There was no physical damage
I am PA as well.
If they attempt to charge me 60 bucks for a failure they lost me as a customer.
I mean drive over it smashed fine.
They charge 3 bucks a year rent, if you get auto $ refill.
So he should of just added another one to his account. II have 3, one per vehicle
Here in NJ they charge you $1 a month fee for EZpass, which over time is even worse. The Port Authority just said they want to raise the toll for getting into NYC via tunnel or bridge from the current $6 to $8. And our great Gov Corzine said he thought it was a swell idea. Oh, did I mention I pay $10K a year in property tax?
One way or another they screw all of us here in NJand the people are dumb enough to let in keep going on. They just started spending $200mil on Stem Cell research. And on the ballot tomorrow is a question authorizing another $450bil in new debt, for a state that is already deep in debt, to pay for the same thing. Does anyone believe for a minute that these crooks and scoundrels that can't do anything right have any chance of that money resulting in anything more than more waste, kick backs, and corrupiton?
Thanks, Paul. Interesting stuff.
Paul Franklin wrote: ...
In a former life we investigated them as a power source for a wireless remote monitoring device for preventative maintenance prediction monitoring, but couldn't get the required power, unfortunately. The advantage would have been a great boon in minimizing access to some really yucky places in paper-processing mills and power plants for a couple of examples...
--
For some reason I thought an EZPass system would read a sticker on the car.. kind of like scanning bar codes in the local store.
-- Oren
"I wouldn't even be here if my support group hadn't beaten me up."
He already had the max on his account.
You might want to check out one of the other agencies. I switched ours when the turnpike added the rental fee.
And as a point of interest I though handing over I-80 to the efficient turnpike commission was a dead idea but my other friend lives close to I-80 and just got a letter from the turnpike about a public meeting where the conversion of I-80 to a turnpike will be discussed.
Of course not. We have had the best government money can buy for a long time and as you say the voters love it and ask for more.
George posted for all of us...
No they don't!
George posted for all of us...
Yeah Fast Eddie did it again subterfuge...
Oren posted for all of us...
There used to be a system like that - see the stickers every so often... EZ-pass is a transponder it's activated when passing and sends the info to bill you.
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