PHOA Water Meter System.
by Competition Software
eheuristics.com
support@eheuristics.com
Quotes & specs:
eheuristics.com/contact.html
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Built for the Front Range · deploying in Boulder, Colorado & surrounding water districts
Reads your existing utility meter · no plumbing, no meter swap
See your water use in real time, before the bill arrives.
PHOA is a two-tier wireless telemetry system that reads your utility water meter over the air and lands every reading in a database on your own network. A Node locks onto the meter you own and decodes it over 900 MHz; a Gateway aggregates one or many Nodes over a 433 MHz mesh and uploads to a PC on your LAN. Off-the-shelf ESP32 hardware, proprietary firmware, over-the-air updates.
Receiver
Water Meter Node
$120 / ea
Hears the utility meter you own, validates it, and shows that one meter live on a built-in dashboard, then relays it to the Gateway.
- Two FSK radios, one firmware — autodetects SX1276 or SX1262 at boot.
- Three meter protocols — P223 / P282 (50-channel hopping) / P290 (200 kbps).
- Privacy by default — surfaces only your meter; neighbors withheld at the source.
- Daily email reports + JSON API + OTA from any browser, iPhone included.
- Powers off the irrigation 24 VAC — no new outlet, reuses existing wiring.
Mesh hub
Water Meter Gateway
$200 / ea
The seam between the radio mesh and your network. Collects readings from every Node and POSTs them to a PC ingest service on the LAN.
- Up to 32 Nodes over a multi-hop, ACKed 433 MHz mesh.
- Retry buffer — queues locally if the PC is offline, so no reading is lost.
- Fixed / static IP option & optional W5500 wired Ethernet uplink.
- Fallback WiFi AP so distant Nodes can always phone home.
- Daily "By Node" email + remote mesh commands (set meter, reboot, ping).
Why Boulder operators choose PHOA
- Catch leaks between billing cycles. A stuck irrigation valve or slab leak shows up in hours, not on next month's invoice.
- Water-conscious by design. Per-meter consumption patterns make out-of-range use stand out, supporting Front Range conservation and tiered-rate budgets.
- No plumbing, no meter swap. Reads the utility's own meter wirelessly; no per-zone flowmeter retrofit cost.
- Right-sized. One Node runs standalone for a single property; add a Gateway when an HOA, park, or campus needs many meters in one database.
- You own the data. Readings land in MySQL on your LAN, not a third-party cloud.
Example quote · Boulder HOA / small park
| Item | Qty | Unit | Ext. |
|---|
| Water Meter Node | 6 | $120 | $720 |
| Water Meter Gateway | 1 | $200 | $200 |
| System total | | | $920 |
Single-property standalone: one Node, $120, no Gateway required. Scales one Gateway to dozens of Nodes. Volume pricing available, contact us for a site-specific quote.
Privacy & liability, handled
The 900 MHz band is shared, so a receiver can physically hear many meters. PHOA deliberately does not act on that: each Node is bound to the single meter its owner configures, and the dashboard, API, email, and upload all surface only that meter. The full in-range view requires a password-gated, RAM-only debug mode that is off after every reboot, so you collect and store only your own consumption data.
Ready to scope a Boulder deployment?
Request a site-specific quote at eheuristics.com/contact.html or email support@eheuristics.com · replies within one business day.
Get a Quote
Hardware: Heltec / CT62 ESP32 + SX1276 / SX1262 (Node) and CC1101 mesh (Gateway). Firmware proprietary, copyright © 2026 Competition Software, delivered over the air.
Node $120/ea, Gateway $200/ea; pricing excludes tax and shipping and is subject to change. Compatible with ORION GIF2006B / GIF2014W-OSE / GIF2020OCECNA meters.