HELP, Water meter connector wire come adrift

[r1flyguy]

Hi All,

Need help please

When I took this water meter plug off, gently might I add, the red lead was already disconnected, or it was loose and it came out easily.





Can someone please tell me where this should actually go!



The other end looks like this...



Where the blue wire was there is an 'L'

The other 2 terminals have a 'N' and the other I assume is an earth symbol

Any pointing in the right direction would be gratefully received

Thank you

 

[bernardgreen]

It would appear only red and blue are used.

In the plug one of the terminals will have some strands of wire in it from where the red wire snapped inthe terminal. The third one is likely to be empty.

The L and N are for when the plug is use on mains ( 230 volt ). Most unlikely it is 230 volts here as the cable appears unsuitable for 230 volts.

It might be that the choice of terminals was decided by "convention" and it is wired blue to N and red to L but that is only a guess.

 

[r1flyguy]

I had a look when I noticed the red wire was loose but there were no wire strands to be seen

 

[JohnW2]

I had a look when I noticed the red wire was loose but there were no wire strands to be seen

No harm is going to come by getting it wrong, so I would suggest you try connecting the red wire to each of the two 'spare' terminals in turn, and find out which one works (might take a bit of time to find out, unless you leave a lot of taps running!)

Kind Regards, John

 

[r1flyguy]

Hi John

The wires are purely for the auto reader system they use.

The meter readers come along and use a device that they touch against the device in the 3rd photo and it somehow gives them the current meter reading.
The meter is actually under the kitchen sink located at the back of the house and the black plastic device is on the front wall of the house.

I can only assume the wires provide a very low power and just enough to provide them with a reading to save having to keep knocking the door to ask to read the meter under the sink

Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs, but wasn't sure if you understood what I'm trying to 'fix'

 

[endecotp]

Find the model number of the meter and see if Google can find instructions for it.

 

[JohnW2]

The wires are purely for the auto reader system they use. The meter readers come along and use a device that they touch against the device in the 3rd photo and it somehow gives them the current meter reading. The meter is actually under the kitchen sink located at the back of the house and the black plastic device is on the front wall of the house.

Oh, I see. I presume it was like the one I had until a few weeks ago, in which the wire went to an external 'repeater' which displayed the same reading as on the (indoor) meter. If there's no display for you to look at, you obviously wouldn't know whether it was working or not - so my suggestion is useless!

I can only assume the wires provide a very low power and just enough to provide them with a reading to save having to keep knocking the door to ask to read the meter under the sink

Yes, that is the idea. A few weeks ago they changed my meter (as described above) for a new one which has a short-range wireless facility. Now they can park their van outside my house and get a reading from there, rather than having to walk up the drive and read the repeater display on the outside wall of the house

A pragmatic approach might be to put everything back together, with that red wire not connected to anything, and leave them to discover that it's not working (and presumably mend it) next time they try to take a reading!

Kind Regards, John