Amazon flow meter

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Vette67

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Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong? I just tried to wire up a flow meter. Background, I have a home made calcium reactor I’ve been using for 20 years or so. Every once in a while, the effluent line jams, and then CO2 builds up and the pump cavitates. I’d like to put a flow meter on the pump, which uses 1/2” vinyl tube attached to a 500 gph iwaki pump.
IMG_2132.jpeg

There it is all hooked up. The meat of it is I bought this flow meter .
DIGITEN FL-408NPT Water Flow... Amazon.com
It has 3 wires. Red (power), black (ground), yellow signal.
IMG_2133.jpeg

So I cut apart a sense extension cable. Following the Pinout diagram above, and tracing wires with a multi meter, I followed pin 1 (ground) to the black wire on the flow meter. Pin2 (voltage) to the red wire, and pin 4 (analog signal) to the yellow wire.
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And when I set up a flow meter in the hydros app, I get nothing, zero flow. Anything seem obvious on why I would get nothing? Changing that flow rate model changed nothing either. Still zero.
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If anyone has any ideas that I could try, I’d appreciate the help. I just got this system a month or so ago and this is my first attempt at doing something DIY with the Hydros stuff. Not that it matters, but I have an X3 and X4 together in a collective
 
I have never tried to connect a different brand of flow meter to the Hydros. I do have a Hydros flow meter and it works hooked to the sense port but it already had the sense port connector on the flow meter.
 
Danny said:
I have never tried to connect a different brand of flow meter to the Hydros. I do have a Hydros flow meter and it works hooked to the sense port but it already had the sense port connector on the flow meter.
Click to expand...
If Hydros made a 1/2” flow meter, I wouldn’t even need to ask this question. I’d definitely just buy one and be done with it. I don’t even care if it’s accurate. If it’s not zero, then the CaRx is running. If it is zero, then it’s cavitating, so turn off the pump.
 
You need to hook the yellow wire to digital input. I just made this out of the same flow meter.
 
I'm kimd of confused by the specs on Amazon. If accurate, the working voltage on this model is 24V which would definitely be problematic. The Sense port only has a 5V power source. Specifications on the same brand, same size, just BSP threads shows a working voltage 5-24V. Don't know if something has changed with the Digiten NPT meters as I did have one connected to Hydros at one time and it worked perfectly fine as you have it wired. I would tend to believe the 24V is a misprint but if it isn't working then definitely worth placing an inquiry with Digiten.
 
I did notice that as well. And was thinking the same thing. You also mentioned that Gredia made good flow meters, so I am going to buy this one and see if it works any better. This one at least states that the working voltage is 5-24. We will see what happens when I get this one and hack it all apart. They aren’t all that expensive so I’m not too concerned about price. And it’s fun to experiment like this.

Thanks again for your reply. I will follow up when I try this one out.
 
I think you have the pins wrong. I have learned that the pinout is different of different sense items. If you buy a sense extension it has all for pins wired. I have an old broken Hydros flow sensor i took apart to check the pinout.
1 = BLK
2 = red
3= white
4 is empty
 
John Neuzil said:
I think you have the pins wrong. I have learned that the pinout is different of different sense items. If you buy a sense extension it has all for pins wired. I have an old broken Hydros flow sensor i took apart to check the pinout.
1 = BLK
2 = red
3= white
4 is empty
Click to expand...

That’s interesting. I would have thought that this would be an analog signal from the flow meter, not a digital signal. I’ll have to try hooking that wire up and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks for that suggestion.
 
John Neuzil said:
I think you have the pins wrong. I have learned that the pinout is different of different sense items. If you buy a sense extension it has all for pins wired. I have an old broken Hydros flow sensor i took apart to check the pinout.
1 = BLK
2 = red
3= white
4 is empty
Click to expand...


After seeing @John Neuzil 's reply and searching one of my previous flow meter posts, I ammend my previous reply. Think your meter should be wired pin 1 to black, pin 2 to red and pin 3 to yellow. Still somewhat confused by the Amazon specs and tend to believe it's a misprint and should actually be 5V(or maybe even 3V)-24V working voltage. Don't presently but have previously used the DIGITEN sensors and they have worked.
 
Let me just start by saying, you guys rock. This has been such an enjoyable experience for me, and all of the responders on this post made this possible. But first of all, it works!
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Now into the details; the good, the bad and the ugly, all in the interest of full disclosure and future reference. First of all, @thom_smith, you were correct. I went onto Digiten’s website and confirmed, the voltage is indeed 3 - 24 volts for this flow meter.
IMG_2146.jpeg

Second of all, the digital IO, pin 3 is the correct wire to use. Seems counter intuitive to use a digital IO pin for an analog device, but it works. So that’s good.

Third of all, and this one is all me, direction matters! I did look but couldn’t see a direction indicator on the meter, and when I went on the website, wouldn’t you know, there’s a big embossed arrow on it. So yeah, I guess I’m blind! And as 50/50 chance would have it, I installed mine backwards.
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So after wiring it correctly, and installing it correctly, I am all good. As a community, you guys are second to none. This has been such a positive experience, watching advice be questioned and then updated based on new information; it’s just awesome to be a part of. So thank you all for helping me on my learning journey. And to future me, and to whoever also decides to hardwire a Digiten flow meter, I hope this thread is helpful!
 
delock said:
How is the after market sensor working now?
Click to expand...
It is still working. Every once in a while, it freezes, but I suspect it’s because some of my CaRX gravel gets sucked through it. If this was on another device besides a carx, it would probably work flawlessly. I would not hesitate to add this exact same flow meter elsewhere in my tank.
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This meter does work with HYDROS. Power it from the Sense port, put ground on pin 1, 5V on pin 2, and the signal on pin 3 even though it’s labeled digital. Make sure the flow direction arrow is correct and that the meter supports 5V input. Once wired that way, it reports flow reliably, with occasional sticking only if debris passes through.
 
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