🚧 Crank in the Field: Preparing for Real-World Testing at the M80 Construction Site
After months of design, prototyping, and lab testing, FlareHalo’s Crank pulse logger is getting ready to enter the real world. We’re proud to announce a live field pilot is beginning at the M80 Ring Road upgrade, part of Melbourne’s transformative North East Link project — a prime proving ground for next-generation site technology.
🔧 What Is Crank?
Crank is a tamper-proof, solar-powered pulse logger designed for harsh environments, remote sites, and temporary infrastructure. Built from the ground up for simplicity, durability, and actionable insight, Crank connects to mechanical water meters and streams real-time usage data — giving project managers and sustainability teams clear visibility into every litre of water used.
Key features:
- Rugged, IP-rated enclosure with tamper-resistant end-facing design
- LTE-M cellular telemetry for live data anywhere
- Solar-powered with LiPo battery backup
- Designed and assembled in Australia
- Fully hands-off operation — no buttons, screens, or setup complexity
🤝 Partnering with Wallop Water
This pilot is made possible through our partnership with Wallop Water, leaders in sustainable, off-grid hydration for job sites.
Wallop’s Trailer Bar 2.0 and Monster Bar units deliver fresh, chilled, filtered water to sites without external plumbing or power — eliminating the need for single-use plastic bottles, reducing waste, and simplifying logistics.
At M80, Wallop provides the hydration. FlareHalo provides the data.
By combining forces, we’re helping construction teams:
- Track actual water consumption in real time
- Reduce waste, guesswork, and manual reads
- Meet ESG and sustainability benchmarks
- Plan better hydration logistics based on usage data
🛣️ About the North East Link & M80 Site
The North East Link is the largest infrastructure project in Melbourne’s north-east and a core part of Victoria’s Big Build.
- 6.5km of tunnels connecting Watsonia to Bulleen
- Major upgrades to the M80 Ring Road and Eastern Freeway
- Aimed at removing 15,000 trucks a day from local roads
- Expected to cut travel times by up to 35 minutes
- Set to open in 2028
The M80 upgrade site is fast-paced, dynamic, and ideal for real-world testing of resilient monitoring technology like Crank.
“This is where it counts — on a live site, with real crews, solving a real problem. That’s what we built Crank for.”
— Bruce Allen, Co-founder, FlareHalo
💧 Why Water Monitoring Matters
Most construction projects still rely on manual water meter reads — or none at all. This leads to:
- Undetected leaks and overuse
- Poor data for sustainability reporting
- Difficulty reconciling hydration logistics
- Limited insight into actual worker consumption
Crank changes that. Water usage is automatically logged, timestamped, and transmitted — with no technician interaction required.
📊 Bottled Water vs Smart Hydration
Wallop Water has already shown that smart, refillable hydration can slash costs by over 70%. When paired with Crank, teams also gain data clarity — tracking how much water is used, when, and where.
| Category | Bottled Water Model | Wallop + Crank |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic Bottles Used | ~1.68M/year (250 workers) | 0 |
| Annual Hydration Cost | ~$840,000 | Included |
| Waste Disposal & Loss | ~$55,000 | $0 |
| Total Cost | ~$1,015,000 | ~$285,000 |
| Annual Savings | – | $730,000 (72%) |
| Sustainability Rating | Poor | Excellent |
🔬 What We’re Testing
During the pilot at M80, we’ll be validating:
- Crank’s performance in a rugged construction setting
- Telemetry reliability in low-power, cellular conditions
- Ease of installation and zero-maintenance operation
- Data accuracy across different meter types and usage patterns
📬 Want Early Access?
We’re already lining up future deployments across construction, civil infrastructure, and agriculture.
If you’re managing hydration infrastructure or responsible for water compliance, we’d love to talk.
👉 Contact us about pilot access
👉 Learn more about Crank
It just works.
At FlareHalo, our mission is simple: build tools that do their job without getting in the way. No fuss, no configuration, no reboots — just actionable data, in real time.