Chameleon In Home Display (IHD) lost connection with smart meters - Any tips to get reconnected?

juliamc wrote:

I’ve been congratulating my heat pump on running so well it’s hardly using any electricity when I realised the ihd wasn’t connected 🤦‍♀️. Any suggestions please ? 

A reset (remove power including any batteries for about 2 mins) then try to power on to reconnect - usually works. 
Otherwise it’s a bit more complicated 

Ah… I’ve tried unplugging it but have to admit I don’t know how to get the back off to check for a battery!!! On further investigation I’m sure the back doesn’t come off.. plugging back in gives this:

Can you move the IHD nearer to the electric meter? Otherwise here’s the chameleon page in case that is if any use. 
https://chameleontechnology.co.uk/inhomedisplayhelp/

No difference - I think I’m in the “bit more complicated “ section then ☹️

Should the HAN light come on ? Only have flashing WAN (and the one by the number pad).

The one by the number pad is just showing electricity being used. The others should flash every 5 seconds. If they aren’t, it’s the meter (communication bit) causing the problem not the IHD

Okay thanks BP. So over to Octopus then🐙!!! 

Hey @juliamc 

Sorry to see the trouble you’re having with your IHD.

Looks like BPLightlog has done his best, and I’d definitely agree with what he says.

Let us know what Octopus say, and how they get it fixed.

Online chat not functioning today Saturday.

How to deal with the little hub (IHD)?

Do I have to ask them to activate it?

The hub is currently irresponsive

Hi @PatriciaMarchand , are you talking about the in home display (IHD)?

There are some useful guides here 

• OVO SMETS2 smart meter In Home Displays (IHD) - Guide Tutorial

I did but it says for me to contact ovo to activate

We’ll then need to link the IHD with its smart meter – just get in touch with our Support Team and they’ll arrange that for you. 

Which is what I tried to do without success!

I give up, too many problems with ovo

Well it is the weekend and they’re not ‘fully resourced’ until in the week. 
Usually if you’ve had a smart meter installed, the engineer does the linking. 
If you’ve got a new IHD separately, that’s a different thing. 
They do run on X (Twitter) at the weekend 

I've had smart meter and IHD issues from day one. Gas and Electric SMET2s installed almost two years ago. Gas meter never worked (outside and too far from Electric Hub). Engineer was honest enough to state it would never work but had to fit it anyway or his company wouldn't be paid. No amount of contact with OVO can seem to resolve this problem who pointlessly (in fairness like other suppliers) install these meters simply to meet Government targets! 

I live on the first floor of a four storey block of  eight flats. All gas meters are housed in outside cubby holes on the ground floor. All flats have had gas smart meters fitted but only ONE actually manages to send a signal !

The advertised incentive for having these "not so smart" meters is to allow the consumer to monitor and adjust their usage on order to save money - and the planet!

As far as I can see it is simply making money for the meter manufacturers and installation companies who without doubt are bunging politicians a few quid here and there for their increased business. Allegedly!

You get lots of real time information from an IHD that is connected. However, if it’s not connecting to the ihd you can still tell a lot about what’s going on especially if you have the smart meter itself set to give half hourly readings (to the energy supplier) then check the usage graph on you supplier’s app. 

Hey @PatriciaMarchand 

All contact channels for our Support Team are now open again, and you’ll be able to get the IHD sorted out with the team if you didn’t manage to get it sorted through Social Media over the weekend.

Let us know how you get on.

Did you get sorted @PatriciaMarchand ?

Odd question. Both of my IHDs lost connection to my meter HAN Communication Hub overnight. One is the OVO issued IHD 3 (still miffed I got one so old when they replaced my meter, but anyhoo) and the other is an Ivie Bud. The Ivie lost connection somewhere between 2-3am so I assume the OVO one did too. The Ivie is now stuck in a reboot loop as it keeps trying to connect, the OVO is just sitting there completely blank.

The question? Glad you asked. Last night was probably the coldest night if the year so far, probably down to -6 or so. Is it possible the comm hub has frozen and will resume once it thaws, or is it more likely completely dead?

The OVO IHD is about 6-8ft from the electric meter, and the Ivie is about 13ft. It's not possible to get them any closer due to plug placement, but they've been fine in those positions for over a year. Both have been unplugged and rebooted a few times now without any change.

Howdy ​@GrumpyTrucker , welcome back! :)

Definitely sounds like a frozen Comms Hub to me. It might fix itself, but I’d still suggest flagging it via https://smart-meter-help.ovoenergy.com for now, even if just to see what the tool says about it.

Let me know what it tells you!

Hey ​@Blastoise186 good to hear from you. Yeah, I've been woefully absent. I hang my head in shame. Work hours changed and they just get in the way more now than they did. I did try swearing at the IHDs just in case, but that didn't work either.

The smart meter tool just says my meters are sending readings so go away. Well, not that exactly but it won't let me go further than confirming meter numbers. Really hoping it's just the cold that's done for it and it comes back soon. Kinda pointless having a smart meter without smart information to go with it 😢

Gotcha. In that case, have a word with Chameleon about the ivie as they might be able to diagnose the issue. That’ll prove useful for me to suggest options

It might not help on this but both the ivie and the Chameleon (IHD3) can get stuck when rebooting. 
You might have already tried but it’s worth removing power from both devices for several minutes and then reconnecting. It’s possible that they’ve become disconnected in an unusual state and need internal levels to be allowed to revert to a standard off state

Unplugged them for half hour or so but sadly both are still the same after plugging back in. Hopefully it'll sort itself out. If not, it's onto OVO again. I don't know if the communication hub can be replaced without the whole meter, but it does seem odd that the WAN is working and it's just the HAN that's "dead". 

The Comms Hub is always hot-swappable on SMETS2 without replacing any other component - the designers considered that possibility!

This little tool might reveal something wrong: homebrew.n3rgy.com. Put in your MPAN and tick the tiny confirmation box before clicking Check meter. Don’t worry about any warnings about certificate expiry - they don’t matter. You’re looking particularly for warnings or errors in respect of the In-Home Display.

Just a quick update before work. Looked at the meter this morning and both the WAN and HAN lights are blinking green in unison roughly every 5 seconds which if memory serves is normal? 

That’s correct