Z-Wave update speed

[Steve_Elves]

I would like to use a Z-Uno for controlling my garden irrigation system - three 24 VAC solenoid valves. Wiring to interposing relays is not difficult; neither is creating programming so that the control box can have a "Manual/Automatic" switch so we can turn on a valve when working in the garden, and then put it over to automatic control so that my home automation system can run the valves on a program to take into account rainfall, etc.

I would like to incorporate an Arduino-compatible water flowmeter - a YF-S201 Hall-effect turbine flowmeter. This can measure flows of 0-30 l/min, which would be adequate for our system. The issue is that the flow changes relatively quickly, and so I would like the flow value to be updated to my automation system once per second. Is this reporting speed sensible for a Z-Uno and practical under Z-Wave?

[lanbrown]

Z-Wave is chatty to begin with. When something is sent, an ACK needs to be sent back. That is how it is known that what was sent was received. You can certainly have something reporting every second, but it also depends on your network. Z-Wave is half duplex; so only one device can talk at a time. There are cases where this is not the case and that comes if the devices both talking are not able to see each other and the communication is using repeaters.

Having something that is talking every second and if the network is already busy will cause issues though. So it really depends on how many devices you have in your network and what they do. Temperature/multi sensors, power metering, etc will all add to network traffic loads.

[Steve_Elves]

Good information, Ian - thanks! I think my network is pretty busy as it is (almost 50 devices, some of which are programmatically controlled already), so I think I might be better off using a WiFi device (like a WeMos D1 Mini or an Arduino Nano ESP32). I won't be using the flow rate for control - at least, not for now - so I think it will be OK.