This was transcribed from an email, and translated

> Can you provide me with information about what types of water meters you can read and the hardware we might need to look for?

Yes, the Elster V100 'bomb' has a hole for a pulse probe. There are several ways to count pulses, in PNPSCADA, used by different clients. Truteq SmartOne modem (nice with half hour profiles, but not ideal, because you need power), Wavenis (from Elster - nice with batteries but not ideal because you can only read the total 1 or 2 times a month) . Some people also count pulses through the Elster A1700 pulse module, which has a nice profile, but of course your water meter must be near the elster meter.

The Vixnet Manzi (was QuikTrac), is also a water pulsing module, on batteries, with a valve, which can provide daily hourly profile. They have coverage in Gauteng and Cape Town, over miles - you do not need a concentrator or modem. They do, for example, Alarm systems and vehicle tracking as well. You must pay them a nominal monthly fee for the communication. It's a good solution.

Sensus with their 'scout' system also has battery Pulse Counters, which can also provide hourly profile every 4 hours. You should also basically buy a concentrator that is on power and over Ethernet or GPRS upload a file to PNPSCADA. It's quite a good solution.

It needs to be said that the problem of counting pulses is that you have to set the start reading right as well as the pulse ratio. And you must remember which module is connected to which meter. Sometimes you lose pulses, or maybe fool mess with your pulse cables. In practice, people usually have to do a manual reconciliation of pulse systems every 6 months, to make sure the physical meter reading is in track with your electronic 'reading'.

The amazing thing about the Kamstrup Multical 21 and other flowIQ meters is that it's all integrated. It sends the reading AND meter serial number every 16 seconds over RF, for more than 10 years. This means that it is synced in the factory, and there can never be any confusion about which reading goes with which meter. It can not get out of track, and you can not get its pulse ratio wrong. It does not work with pulses, you can not lose pulses. 

This means that in practice, it is also much easier to 'commission' the meters. You can basically install all the meters, and with the read sort out what packets belongs to who. And you do not have to read the entire site manually every 6 months to reconcile it.

Sensus has a similar meter, the iPerl, which also integrates everything. It works in the same way as the Sensus Scout, in that you also buy the concentrators at Sensus, and then you set up to FTP files to PNPSCADA.

It's still a story to make sure you have RF reception to all the meters / modules, of course. You can get training on it. And with Kamstrup there is also the issue of Encryption Keys, which makes it a little bit more difficult, but also more secure. You can also order the Kamstrup meters without encryption.

If you choose to go with Kamstrup water meters, then there is the option between 2 concentrators, namely the Kamstrup Water concentrator, and the SDG PNPC01 W-Mbus concentrator, which we provide.

Our water concentrator is cheaper, it's also more real-time (you can browse the web, and see real-time packages as they arrive). The Kamstrup concentrator is more expensive, and it's not so real-time, so it takes typically longer to commission.

With Kamstrup concentrator, you must also read it through a Kamstrup server, which has an additional annual cost per meter, as well as an additional point of failure where things can go wrong if everything is not set up correctly, Or if the Kamstrup server may go offline A software update or doing other things.

The system we currently prefer is Kamstrup water meters with our own PNPC01 Concentrator, and maybe a few Kamstrup repeaters if necessary. We think this is the best solution. But eventually it is your choice which technology you want to use. The field is also expanding, and more options are open all the time.