What kind of OVO online community member are you?

Welcome to the forum 🙂

We are a lovely bunch here! I have been here for 2 years now. We are very alike by the looks of it! I am a cybersecurity engineer, Instead of Alexa it's Google homes/hubs/nests through my house, hive thermostats and a few other things without giving you details what else is in my possession 😂 

I am a Nissan leaf driver myself and have signed up to the heat trial too! 🤘 Here's to us hoping we get in. 

Love the post, nice to meet you @Jequinlan and welcome to our little community!

We’re a mixed bag of users. A lot of OVO members and non OVO members visit to find an answer they need. We’re now offering a large and well rounded range of electric vehicle topics so we do attract lots of EV owners from Google. 

Some, like our top volunteer @ITGeek123 have been around for ages, and have even visited our Bristol HQ office, like for our VIP day where we had smart meter presentations, EV charger Q&As and such. Although I wasn’t able to attend the VIP visit last summer and neither were you ITGeek - is that correct? We had planned another this summer, but as you can imagine, this has been postponed. 

You’re both Zero Carbon Heating Trial applicants, and I’m very much rooting for you to take part. I will be bugging you for in depth and informative content if we do visit to fit the latest in electric heating. You have been warned 

Speaking of informative and helpful content, @Jequinlan if you ever wanted to post about your Alexa device deployment (it sounds extensive and therefore probably very insightful to hear about), get something posted. See ITGeek’s Living with Hive smart thermostat tutorial content for an example. Nearly 3500 people have seen this topic, and he doesn’t even remember posting it   Gotta love Google traffic!

Anyway, I’m off to look at your other post on V2G energy saving, see you on the flip side! 

As I write this I notice that @Jequinlan currently tops the points leader-board. That’s pretty impressive for your first week on the Forum!

I’m a self-builder, refurbishing and extending the 1930’s Devon farmhouse in which we live. I have installed a number of energy-saving features, learning the skills as I progress. This means I also have a good overview of the Building Regulations and some of the innovative new materials and construction methods which are available.

My longer-term background has been within electronics and IT. I worked with microcomputers from before the development of the floppy disc drive, and I’ve designed software for direct sale to end-users. I’ve understood the user-interface from long before it became a job-title!

I prefer my home control systems to be free of tax to the likes of Google and Amazon.

Instead of pre-built Hive and Alexa style devices, I’m increasingly using embedded controllers based on various iterations of Arduino and ATtiny chips, designing my own electronics to link sensors and output controls.

As a member of my local Transition Towns group, I’ve been technically involved with the OpenLV Project, which has been monitoring “Smart” substations in the SW Region. That work has opened up excellent relationships with my DNO, Western Power Distribution, and links with their Network Innovations Dept.

Western Power have now extended the OpenLV project for community groups and taken over the funding from Ofgem. They are generally ahead of other DNOs in meeting targets and innovative strategies.

This has given me a valuable glimpse of the UK’s energy delivery systems beyond our Smart Meters. I can see the direction we’re heading in and the opportunities we now have to take part in a renewable-energy revolution over the next decade.

The mix of people and skill-sets on this Forum is interesting. I would like to see OVO/Kaluza choosing more of the technically-astute Members here to be the bedrock of the Trials they are conducting. The quality of the feedback is more important than how optimal is the chosen test-site!

I think we we need to let go of the old concept whereby OVO is just a company from whom we buy gas and electricity. Instead we should see ourselves as partners, pushing forward the development of energy-related technology for the greater benefit of society.

This Forum has to be the GoTo site for other people to understand how to make better use of renewable energy.

We also need more Discussion Topics which OVO Managers might read as they would an “Employee Suggestion Box”.

The reason this Forum can achieve that has little to do with where @Jequinlan sees himself on the geek-scale. Our strength is that we are a wild mix of customers from different backgrounds.

If you’re travelling this far west @Jequinlan, remember to adjust your watch… about 50 years back should do it!

And you’ll find the Points Leader-board on the right of the home-page for the Forum.

Thanks for sharing, @Blastoise186 

Better late then never hey? I feel like this online community is still in the early adopter phase myself. Kind of like what crypto enthusiasts say about Bitcoin. 

The climate crisis is a decade long struggle. A decade long period of technological breakthroughs (or failure, let’s not think about that), of working together and sharing knowledge for the betterment of the planet. 

OVO plans to be on the frontline of this. Our community needs to be at the forefront of OVO. So @Blastoise186, the best is yet to come for sure!

This has gone a little over my head, I must say. Some of our more technically proficient members may find it worth a read though. If not, sorry for the tag! @Jequinlan @Transparent 

@Tim_OVOthe ARM-Cortex processor, which @Blastoise186 refers to, is from the same family as those used in the vast majority of mobile phones throughout the world. They’re known for their high efficiency and low power consumption. You wouldn’t expect an ARM to require any forced-air from a fan to cool it!

ARM was a spin-off from Acorn Computers’ development of a Reduced Instruction Set Computer back in 1985. The company was sold to Softbank in 2016, who over-recruited engineers and ploughed liquid cash into it in the hope of getting a massive return from ARM chips powering the Internet of Things (IoT). The gamble failed and Softbank are now trying to sell it to US-based Nvidia.

ARM processors are possibly within our IHDs, although I haven’t dissected one yet to find out.

They would certainly be a serious contender for an Enhanced IHD which permitted the customer to configure preferences for EV charging and all manner of other domestic Control Devices which are driven from the Flex Platform.

This could effectively combine the functions of the IHD and the OVO App into a single controller with an intuitive interface that could be used by customers who are ‘technology-light’.

It’s a real shame to see ARM Holdings ownership heading beyond these shores. A waste of British ingenuity - just at a time when the UK Government wants to promote a technology-centred post-Brexit economy.

I have no idea why @Blastoise186 wants to pay for electricity to run his growing population of internet-connected devices. He could just hang a solar-panel out of the window and keep a 12v battery topped up!