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Meters & Metering Technologies:

Installation practices for reliable

Meter and AMR / AMI Systems

BY: GARY ZIEGLER, ITRON & SCOTT SMITH, UNITED SYSTEMS

Agenda

• AMR / AMI – QUICK OVERVIEW

• TYPICAL METER INSTALLS,

REMOTE AND PIT SETS

• AMR / AMI MODULE

INSTALLATION

• AMI INFRASTRUCTURE

INSTALLATION

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Overview – The trend is to move from

remotes & touch read to AMR and AMI

Touch Read Generator/ Remote AMR / AMI MXU

Utilities are trending towards AMR & AMI

AMR AMI

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Reasons a meter cannot be

installed?

1. Bad valve or curb stop is inoperable or

cannot be found

2. Meter is obstructed

3. Bad plumbing

4. Poor premise access

BAD VALVES

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BAD VALVES

METER IS OBSTRUCTED

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METER IS OBSTRUCTED

BAD PLUMBING

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BAD PIPING

POOR PREMISE ACCESS

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Indoor meter locations – Typical

installation

Is the meter accessible?

Does the valve or associated

plumbing appear suspect?

B-box shut off – Replace valve?

Remove old meter; inspect

couplings

Install new meter; turn water on

Mount MXU to floor joist

immediately above meter

location

New meter installations

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Outdoor meter locations – Typical

installations

Does the lid have hole for MXU? If not, underlid mount MXU per spec

Is the pit flooded / buried?

Is the vault classified as a confined space?

Does valve appear faulty?

Remove old meter; inspect couplings.

Install new meter using new gaskets; turn water on.

Mount MXU thru hole in lid or under lid per mfg suggested method

Typical meter pits

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PITS WITH PROBLEMS

PIT IS TOO DEEP PIT IS FLOODED

New meter installations

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A WORD ON MAG METERS

MAG METERS

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End Point installation – issues to

consider before starting

Utilities are “Future Proofing” their installs today for migration to AMI tomorrow!

End point compatibility

ROM wire; 2-wire or 3-wire

Integral mount; basement rafter mount; exterior premise mount

Under cast iron pit lid; thru the lid antenna mount; under plastic lid mount.

Does MXU require activation, programming?

Does MXU orientation matter?

End point Compatibility - Example

Register Manufacturer

100W-R/100W-R+ wire color

Brown

(data)

Gray

(power/clock)

Yellow

(ground)

Register screw color designator

Elster AMCO Invision Red Green Black

Elster AMCO Scancoder Red Green Black

Elster AMCO evoQ4 (Q4000)Red White Black

Hersey Translator Green Red Black

Badger ADE Green Red Black

Sensus ECR (all variants) Green Red Black

Sensus ICE Green Red Black

Sensus iPERL Green Red Black

Metron Famier Green Red Black

Itron (Actaris) Coder Green Red Black

Neptune ProRead

E-Coder

ARB-V

Red Black Green

Performance ETR Green Red Black

SevernTrent SM700 SmartMeter(Sensus Protocol) Green Red Black

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Typical 3-wire connection

WIRE CONNECTIONS

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Mounting configuration - Integral

Mounting Configuration –

Basement wall

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BASEMENT RAFTER MOUNT

BASEMENT RAFTER MOUNT

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Mounting Configuration - Exterior

MXU Orientation matters!

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AMR / AMI Ready Pit installs

Through-the-lid antenna Under RF-friendly lid

Moving to AMI – Now what?

Prime considerations – Recap

End point mounting location – remote & pit

Encoder compatibility – meter change out required or retrofit?

End point programming required?

Does the encoder need to be reprogrammed?

Software upgrades in place? Hand held computer and head end!

New meter resolution compared to old meter resolution. Truncation

must be correct for accurate billing.

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Meter Resolution? Why go with higher resolution?

Better Leak Detection.

Better Interval data- data logging.

When retrofitting registers, insure correct size register is installed.

How can different meter resolutions affect billing?

How does resolution affect billing?

Example: Manual Reading and Billing in 1000’s of gallons:

Reading = 1 Billing adds 000 so units billed will be 1,000 gallons.

Higher resolution w AMR: 10 gal =199 or 1 gal =1990 or 1/10th gal = 19900.

Unless truncation codes are used correctly in billing software customer usage

would be: 10 gal =199,000 or 1 gal= 1,990,000 or 1/10th gal = 19,900,000

Customer potentially billed 100x, 1,000x or even 10,000x too much.

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What reading is sent to AMR?

AMI Deployment – Step one

Propagation Analysis

Utility identifies all meter locations,

by GPS coordinates or addresses.

Utility identifies all City owned

structures available for antenna

mounting.

Utility provides CIS company so

proper interfaces can be

considered.

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AMI Deployment – Tank InstallsTank Equipment Location:

At base of tower?

Outside or inside tank base?

At top of tower?

On railing?

Use Magnetic mount?

Weld new mount during tank resurfacing?

Antenna Cabling?

Cable Size required per mfg? 7/8 Coax?

Cable Routing with secure mounts?

Antenna Separation and Tank Shadowing?

Vertical distance between other existing antenna’s?

Mast required at top of tank to prevent tank shadowing?

AMI Deployment – Tank Installs

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AMI Deployment – Tank Shadowing

AMI Deployment – Cable & Mounts

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AMI Deployment – Pole InstallsPole Availability and Location:

Available Pole Locations?

Existing City/District owned poles?

Existing access to communication pole/tower ?

Fire, Police, School, SCADA, Traffic, Weather siren, etc

Existing JUA light poles?

New JUA required for Poles?

Set new pole or build new tower station?

Power Availability?

Pole equipped with a live Photo Cell?

Short electric run from existing power near by?

No power in area, use Solar?

AMI Deployment –Light Installs -JUA

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Install Site Hazards: Hornet nest

Thank-you for your attention!

Any Questions?