Compound meters combine two or more metering technologies in a single physical unit. Each technology is described as a side. One side measures low flow and the other measures high flow. So-called super or hybrid/homemade compounds have additional sides dedicated to measuring, for example, fire and other secondary services.
A typical two-sided compound has a low flow side that measures smaller volumes of water with a greater degree of accuracy than the high flow side. In addition, each side has its own register and endpoint. As a result, each side needs to be given its own resolution and other meter spec values when provisioned in BEACON.
This document aims to demystify the process of provisioning compound meters in BEACON.
Data Exchange file Considerations
When provisioning and performing other tasks via Data Exchange, each meter should have its own row in the file. This is also true for each side of a compound meter.
To display a dual-sided compound on a single Monitor page card:
- The Location_ID, Service_Point_ID, and Meter_ID should be the same for each of its registers.
- Use the Register_Number field to identify each side by putting a 0 or L as the Register_Number of the low side, and use a 2 or H for the high side.
When provisioning compounds with more than two sides:
- Each side of the compound can have the same Location_ID, but only the first two sides should have the same Service_Point ID.
- The first two sides of the compound should share a Meter_ID, whereas additional sides should have unique Meter_IDs. This can be accomplished by simply adding an identifying abbreviation to the original Meter_ID. For example, Meter_ID 1234 could be 1234-FS for the Fire Service side of the compound. Additional sides could use 1234-XY, where XY is any abbreviation. (See Table 1 below.)
| Location_ID | Meter_ID | Register_Number | Service_Point_ID |
| 456 | 123 | 0 or L | 1 |
| 456 | 123 | 2 or H | 1 |
| 456 | 123-FS | 0 | 2 |
| 456 | 123-XY | 0 | 3 |
Table 1.
TIP: Use this schema in which each side of a compound meter is treated as a separate meter in BEACON when your billing vendor cannot accommodate compound meters.
Follow these simple rules of thumb when using Data Exchange files to provision compound meters:
- If the compound has two sides, use one Meter_ID and Register_Number values (0 or L for the low flow side and 2 or H for the high flow side) to identify which side is which.
- If the compound has more than two sides or if your billing vendor cannot handle processing compound meters that share a Meter ID, provision each side as a standalone meter by giving it its own row in the Data Exchange file. To distinguish which side is which, add an L or H to the Meter ID. Alternately, use the Meter Note or Meter Name fields to tell which side is which.
Technical Documentation Specialist, Badger Meter
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