One of the keys to reducing your household water usage lies in knowing how much water you use for what purposes. Debuting at CES 2021, the Pleco Smart Water Watch is designed to provide you with that information.
The setup is manufactured by California-based startup Nudge Systems, and consists of four parts: a sensor, a battery housing/transmitter (which is hard-wired to the sensor), a display unit and an iOS/Android app.
Users attach the sensor to their home’s existing water meter, via an integrated strap. That sensor passes data to the battery housing, which in turn wirelessly transmits the data to the display unit. That unit uses the home Wi-Fi network to relay the data to the cloud for analysis, with both it and the app finally displaying the processed results
“Most of the water meters in the US use the same working principle of magnetic coupling between the moving part inserted into the water flow and the dial mechanism,” Nudge Systems’ Daniela Camargo tells us. “We created a system that detects this magnetic field and processes the signal from it, from a single point at the water entry. Our unique proprietary algorithms then process these signals and convert them into usage at shower, irrigation, [toilet] flush, faucet, etc by analyzing the patterns of the water flow (rate, duration, etc).”
The system is also reportedly capable of detecting leaks in the water line, alerting users to their presence. It additionally provides data such as total water usage per day, week and month, along with variations in water usage at different times of day.
Pleco Smart Water Watch keeps an eye on home water usage [New Atlas]