Aclara SMETS2 smart meter communication hub lights - what do the flashing sequences indicate?

Thanks @Transparent 

I will be leaving this topic open as a tab to have a good read of the info provided later today/tonight. 

Keen to get some steer from you as to what this topic could be split out into. As you mention, loads of info above. I would want to keep anything specific to ‘what do comms hub lights mean’ in this topic, and anything broader can be considered for a new tutorial topic. What do you think as well @MikeE ?

@Tim_OVO I'll leave it up to you as you probably know best 😉 

Erm @Tim_OVO - I’ve just noticed that this is the second Topic where @MikeE and I have been discussing details of Comms Hub indicators. There other one is here and you’ve just directed another Member to view it today.

Yet when I check @MikeE’s profile page, that earlier Topic isn’t mentioned in his activity log!

Can you ask Insided to have a look please? This is the second such issue in a week.

@Transparent "Yet when I check @MikeE’s profile page, that earlier Topic isn’t mentioned in his activity log!"

I think it may have something to do with a recent username change as  I originally registered as Mikeovo and afterwards I realised that I may be mistaken for an OVO employee so I requested a change to MikeE !

Going back to an earlier post:

@Transparent "You have a WNC Comms Hub, (and a Honeywell/Elster electricity meter) which I haven’t physically seen in operation before now. Most SMETS2 installations by OVO have used Toshiba Comms Hubs. I wonder if this is significant?"

Significant in what way ?

Communication issues like I am experiencing now i.e. if I had had standard kit fitted (Toshiba Comms Hubs) maybe these problems wouldn't arise ?

A change of User-ID shouldn’t make any difference @MikeE. If you look at the other Topic I referred to, your ID shows “MikeE” even though you wrote it when you were Mikeovo. The data is stored with a token (your Forum number) which is replaced by your UserID before it gets sent to my computer for viewing.

The User Profile page is done the same way. Just because the Member Database holds a different ID for you doesn’t actually change the membership number which that Profile page refers to.

The significance of you having a WNC Hub is only going to make sense to OVO’s engineers.

It’s clearly different hardware and software from the Toshiba variant. If the flash-pattern on the indicators can be identifiably different to my eyes, then so can its response to weak signals, interference, reflections etc. But I can’t physically see that of course.

The engineers may find that one type of Hub is better than the other in certain locations. They will have fitted enough now to see if there’s any pattern emerging.

@Transparent OK thanks for the explanation.

Guess we will have to wait until an OVO engineer can look into the problem.

Well at the moment we’re just waiting until @Alice_OVO finds out I’ve tagged her!

Like most of the Moderator Team, she knows her way around Customer Services. They have two levels of gurus who work on issues that are deeper than can be addressed by the ones who first answer the phones. That’s why I think this issue needs to be addressed by someone in Tier-3.

Ideally they should then have a look at the CCDB too.

I just thought I would show you the location of my electric SMART meter.

You can see where the wooden cabinet was in fact I am going to decorate it this weekend. I have already bought the plaster and have some leftover paint, wallpaper and coving from before !

As you can see there shouldn't really be a problem with the WAN signal to OVO as I would think that double glazing is quite transparent to mobile signals.

Finally as you look at the picture, there is a wall facing the meter on the right hand side which is an internal wall only 4 inches thick and my IHD is located only around 2 metres from that wall and there's no problem with the WiFi signal as on my IHD I always get 3 bars meaning a strong signal.

Thanks @MikeE - photos are always helpful here on the Forum.

Just two observations:

1: Your IHD doesn’t connect using WiFi. That would compromise the security of the SMETS system. It actually uses the same 2.4GHz frequency, but a protocol called ZigBee. Without the correct software key, you can’t connect another device into a ZigBee installation.

2: It would be great if we could dictate the direction in which the Wide Area Network signals left our Smart Meter, but alas it is not so. Unless you knew that the active/nearest Telefonica mast happened to lie in that direction, we can’t tell if the window glass has any bearing on the issue. The GSM signals might just as well be going from the back of your meter and through the wall!

@Transparent Thanks.

I googled ZigBee. It is kind of WiFi but secure as you said.

I don't think the signal from my meter would go through the wall as surely the installer would have had a very low signal when installing my SMART meters or do they not do these checks on installation?

Also that is my boundary wall with my neighbour and that wall is even thicker around 2 foot so I doubt the signal would get through at all !

This is the first time in 14 months that the WAN light sequencing has changed to 7 successive flashes indicating loss of signal.

I have had a few issues with my SMART meters but I think this is down to software issues and OVO migrating their SMART metering system to another system and this is borne out by many other OVO customers on this forum having problems with missing data on their IHD's and other issues.

It may be true that I would have less issues by having a MESH system fitted on installation but it wasn't my decision to make !

I assume that MESH uses an aerial of some kind or a booster of some sort ?