Push3 gateway triggers are in beta, which means bugs and issues should be expected. Please contact EKM Metering with details of any issues you see.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Setting Up a Trigger Condition
- Setting Up a Trigger Action
- Setting Up a Recurrence Rule
- Glossary of Terms
EKM Push3 gateway triggers are one of the most powerful tools that EKM has to offer. You can automate how and when the EKM Push system will react to metered values. You can have the Push gateway send you an email or control a relay to turn on/off a switch or close a valve, or send a webhook to your software/server based on the metered data for example. Push3 gateways have the ability trigger specific actions based on conditions that you set up. Triggers live on the Push3 gateways so they will continue to function even without an internet connection (when controlling relays). Triggers can control the relays on the v.4 Omnimeters as well as control the outputs of the EKM ioStack, in order to turn something on or off (control a relay, contactor, or valve). Triggers can also email you notifications of the trigger event, or they can alert your software/server system with a webhook. Please note: v.3 Omnimeters do not have controllable relays, so the relay triggers will not work, but the email and webhook triggers will.
You can also trigger based on the metered values of a meter or iostack and then control the relays of a different Omnimeter Pulse v.4 or ioStack, as long as they are connected to the same EKM Push3 gateway.
Push3 triggers are set up in your online Account Portal on the the Push3 gateway page.
Trigger Templates: When setting up a new trigger you have the option to use a template as a guide (or inspiration for what is possible) for setting up your own triggers. This is just a place to get started. You can modify the parameters of the template to your desired outcome for your specific situation.
Setting up a trigger consists of 2–3 parts:
- Start at the Account Portal Push3 gateway page
- Define what conditions will cause the trigger to happen
- Define what action will happen when the conditions are met
- There is also an option to set up a recurrence rule for scheduled relay control
Click on any image in this article if you want to zoom in
Setting Up a Trigger Condition
- First make sure you are logged into your Account Portal.
- Select the Push3 gateway that you would like to set up the trigger on in the left column of the EKM Push account portal. Then click on the "Triggers" tab.
- Click the "+ Add trigger" button
- Name your trigger
- Select the Omnimeter or ioStack address (serial number) that you would like the trigger set up for. Only Omnimeters and ioStacks, that are assigned to the Push3 you have selected, will be available in the dropdown list.
- Select the condition type. Here is a description of the various condition types:
Threshold:
Trigger if the metered value is less than, greater than, or equal to the threshold value. In the case of Omnimeters use this to trigger if the kWh or pulse count reaches a specified level, or counts up a certain amount in a day, or if the net watts is too low or goes negative (turn on a load for self consumption of solar), or for frequency/demand response, or if the voltage on any phase drops out, or to get an alert if your Push3 gateway is not able to read its meters (using Good Reads Ratio = 0) for example.
In the case of ioStacks you can trigger based on an analog value, pulse rate, pulse count, etc. Use this to trigger if the temperature or pressure measurement is too low, if the water meter or revolution counter is spinning too fast, or if the count reaches a certain threshold.
You can set the Reset Interval to reset every 15 minutes, hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. You could use this to send you a trigger if the kWh or pulse count increase was over (or under) x within an hour for example. Or you could use "Reset when triggered". You could use this to fire a trigger which would open a valve for 10 seconds for every 1000 gallons of water measured for example (it would repeat every 1000 gallons measured as a kind of dosing pump).
- Threshold range:
Trigger if the metered value is either within the Threshold bounds, or outside of the Threshold bounds. Use this for sounding an alarm if there are voltage issues (Omnimeter), or is the temperature is either too high or too low (ioStack) for example.
Rate:
Trigger if the rate of change is higher or lower than your preference. Use this option to trigger based on leaks, or equipment failures, for example. Please note: rate measurement is constrained by a relatively slow meter read rate, so please do not depend on high accuracy with this trigger. Be sure to test that this trigger will work for your needs.
Rate range:
Trigger if the rate of change if higher than or lower than your preferred bounds. If you have a consistent flow or power use that you are metering this will trigger if there is an anomaly, for example.
Pulse input states:
Trigger if a switch connected to the Omnimeter pulse input or ioStack input is open or closed for a specified period of time. Use this to trigger if a float switch senses low water, or a temperature switch indicates overheating, or a door is left open, for example.
- See the glossary of terms (below) to understand what each condition means.
Setting Up a Trigger Action
- From the dropdown list at the top of the Trigger action settings select Command if you want the trigger to actuate a relay on the v.4 Omnimeter or ioStack.
Select Email notification if you would like to receive an email when the trigger fires.
Select Webhook, if you want your Push3 to alert your server or software when the trigger fires:
Setting Up a Recurrence Rule
- If you would like to control the Omnimeter or ioStack controllable outputs or other settings on a schedule, select "Recurrence rule" from the dropdown list at the top of the Trigger condition settings. You can use Recurrence Rules to either control relays, Reset Max Demand of EKM Omnimeters, or Reset the Resettable kWh of v4 Omnimeters.
Glossary of Terms
| TRIGGER CONDITION | |
|---|---|
| Term | Definition |
| Data source | Choose which Omnimeter data to trigger on |
| Address | The Omnimeter unique address that the Push will monitor for triggering |
| Condition Type | The kind of trigger you want to set up |
| Threshold | Trigger based on if the data is higher or lower than the threshold value |
| Data field | The Omnimeter metered value to trigger on (volts or watts for example) |
| Condition test | Greater than, Less than, or Equals |
| greater than | Trigger if the metered value is more than the threshold value |
| greater than or equals | Trigger if the metered value is more than or the same as the threshold value |
| less than | Trigger if the metered value is less than the threshold value |
| less than or equals | Trigger if the metered value is less than or the same as the threshold value |
| Threshold value | The specified value which the push will monitor for. |
| Minimum duration of condition | The triggered condition must be true for this many seconds for the trigger to fire. Use a higher value if you don't want the trigger to fire based on momentary deviations. |
| Minimum time between triggers | The time in seconds between triggers. Use a higher value if you don't want the trigger to fire back to back in rapid succession. |
| Continuous trigger | If you do not choose this, then after a trigger fires, the condition must go to false before the trigger can fire again. If you do choose it the trigger will continue to fire as long as the condition remains true. You might fire way too often if the trigger is always true (kWh is always more than or equal to zero for example). |
| Threshold value low | In a Range Trigger, this is the value under which the trigger will fire |
| Threshold value high | In a Range Trigger, this is the value above which the trigger will fire |
| Rate | The rate of change in the metered value. If the pulse count is increasing too quickly or increasing too slowly, for example |
| Amount | The number of increments in the metered value per interval |
| Per interval | The time period within which the rate must be less than or greater than the specified amount. |
| Filter type | Advanced Rate Trigger Filtering: Used for filtering out spurious noise |
| Moving average | Advanced Rate Trigger Filtering: Please research and test this independently |
| Moving median | Advanced Rate Trigger Filtering: Please research and test this independently |
| Weighted moving average | Advanced Rate Trigger Filtering: Please research and test this independently |
| Exponential moving average | Advanced Rate Trigger Filtering: Please research and test this independently |
| Rate range | Trigger on conditions that are within or outside of the specified rate of change |
| Pulse inputs | Omnimeter inputs that count pulses as well as report the real-time input state |
| Pulse input 1, 2, and 3 | The Omnimeter has 3 separate pulse inputs |
| ignore | Pulse Input: If you do not want the input to be considered in the trigger |
| closed | Pulse Input: If you want the trigger to fire when the pulse input is closed for the specified period of time |
| open | Pulse Input: If you want the trigger to fire when the pulse input is open for the specified period of time |
| and/or | Choose "and" if you want multiple inputs to be true at the same time in order for the trigger to fire. Choose "or" if you only want one of the inputs to be true in order for the trigger to fire |
| Recurrence rule | Use this to schedule relay control (fire at a certain time) |
| Time of day | For Daily or less frequent: The time of day do you want the relay to be controlled |
| Frequency | How often you want the relay to be controlled |
| Starts on | You can specify the date when the trigger should start. |
| Ends | When the trigger should stop, you can choose never, a date, or after x triggered events |
| TRIGGER ACTION | |
|---|---|
| Term | Definition |
| Command | You can choose if you want to control a relay or send an email based on the triggered event |
| Email notification | Send an email based on the triggered event. We recommend emojis in the subject line ???⚡️ |
| Webhook | Send a Webhook and a json packet to any url (if you are a software developer) |
| Command target | Which meter the relay should be controlled on (this does not have to be the same meter as the data source meter) |
| Address | The Omnimeter number of the command target meter for relay control |
| Relay number | The Omnimeter has 2 controllable outputs, the ioStack has 4, specify which one |
| Relay status | Do you want the relay to Open (Off) or Close (On) when there is a triggered event? |
| Duration | How many seconds do you want the relay to remain Open (Off) or Closed (On) as the result of a triggered event. Use 0 seconds if you want the relay to remain Open or Closed forever or until the next command. |
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