Question about SW3L functioning

[Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo]

Hey there, Dragino Team, 

I'm wondering if someone could confirm if there is a way to set the SW3L to detect flow and send the data message only when the flow is no longer detected. I'm thinking this for measuring a water dispenser. BUT IT IS MANDATORY not to have any external energy source,  I need this to be 100% battery-based, with no cables.

As far as I understand, the wiki page mentions "the alarm for continuous flow" and it would work for my purposes. Here are my specific questions.

1. Would it be necessary to power the flow sensor with an external energy source for this alarm mode?
2. How could I calculate the battery life for x pours a day, for example?

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Best regards

[Mengting]

Hi, Juan,

Thank you for reaching out with your questions about the SW3L’s flow detection capabilities. Below are the details addressing your concerns:

1. Flow Detection & Alarm Functionality

Currently, there is no way for SW3L to send data after detecting that the water flow has stopped. 

It seems that the continuous water flow alarm function is not suitable for your situation either. The SW3L can only monitor water flow events that last for a certain period of time and issue an alarm, not after the water flow event stops.

For example: AT+PTRIG=15,3   --> Set Stop duration: 15s, Alarm Timer: 3 minutes.

If the sensor detects the water dispenser, when water flow in the water dispenser triggers the interruption of SW3L, SW3L will detect every 3 minutes whether the water flow is still continuous.

The alarm will only stop when the water flow event stops for 15 seconds. Otherwise, an alarm will be triggered every three minutes during the continuous water flow period.

2. Power Requirements

1. No external power is needed for the flow sensor or alarm function under typical usage. The SW3L operates on battery power.

2. High-frequency alarms: If the Alarm event is triggered frequently and a very short Alarm Timer is set, the SW3L will always be in an alarm state, and the power consumption will increase significantly. In this case, it is recommended to use an external power supply.

3. We are sorry, due to the variability of alarm frequency and duration, it is temporarily inconvenient for us to test the power consumption of the alarm.

Currently, we only calculate the battery life based on the cumulative water flow in the default mode. When the node automatically uplinks data every 20 minutes:

Best Regards
Ting
Technical Support Engineer

 

Dragino Technology Co., Limited

Room 202, Block B, BCT Incubation Bases (BaoChengTai),  No.8 CaiYunRoad

LongCheng Street, LongGang District ; Shenzhen 518101,China

Direct: +86 755 86610829 |Fax: +86 755 86647123

------------------------------------------------------------------

发件人：Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo <juanandresc...@gmail.com>

发送时间：2025年7月2日(周三) 09:16

收件人："Dragino-user"<dragin...@googlegroups.com>

主　题：Question about SW3L functioning

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[Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo]

Hello and thanks for the response . 

I still have some doubts.

If I set the stop duration to 2 second for example.. that time would be enough for assuming a glass of water is being poured. That would work. Then. The timer could be set to 1 minute. That would mean that the system would check every 1 minute if the flow is still present for more than 2 seconds. 

If understand correctly, that setup would be sufficient to have the data about the number of pulses and calculate every cm3 of water in each pour.

Best regards 

---

Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo

📱 España: +34 672624219 📱 Chile: +56 9 90732053 💬 WhatsApp 🔗 LinkedIn

[Mengting]

Hi, Juan,

I think you have misunderstood the meaning of the Stop Duration parameter.

AT+PTRIG=2,1        -->Set Stop duration: 2s, Alarm Timer: 1 minute.

//The SW3L alarms if the water dispenser keeps draining for a minute, and if it keeps draining, then it alarms every minute. Unless it detects that the water flow stops for up to 2 seconds, in which case it won't alarm again.

Best Regards
Ting
Technical Support Engineer

 

Dragino Technology Co., Limited

Room 202, Block B, BCT Incubation Bases (BaoChengTai),  No.8 CaiYunRoad

LongCheng Street, LongGang District ; Shenzhen 518101,China

Direct: +86 755 86610829 |Fax: +86 755 86647123

------------------------------------------------------------------

发件人：Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo <juanandresc...@gmail.com>

发送时间：2025年7月2日(周三) 19:17

收件人：Qiu MengTing<ti...@dragino.cc>

抄　送："dragino-user"<dragin...@googlegroups.com>; "vizqu...@fen.uchile.cl"<Vizqu...@fen.uchile.cl>; "domingo....@iowlabs.com"<domingo....@iowlabs.com>

主　题：Re: Question about SW3L functioning

[Juan Andrés Cabrera Lillo]

Thanks for clarifying Ting