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

Thanks Tim

That might be the time at which your Communications Hub was polled to pick up the data for the previous day.

The Retrieve Data command used to be sent shortly after midnight. Now that the installed base of Smart Meters is much larger, I guess the data is collected over a longer period of time.

Currently OVO’s Billing System only initiates one connection per day. I don’t know whether there’s a “network charge” for each occasion a SMETS Command gets sent across the National Smart Meter Network. But in any case, that’s why we can never see “live” usage data on the App.

This is one of the questions I put the Kaluza representatives here last month.

The Kaluza Platform (distributed storage network control) is making decisions on which loads and sources to switch on/off based on the wholesale price of electricity per minute.

For the V2G Trial they are sending charger commands via the internet. But this is nowhere near as secure as the National Smart Meter Network operated by the Data Communications Company (DCC).

The cost of using DCC’s channel must be low enough to handle all future transactions to in-home smart devices, otherwise we leave the UK’s domestic energy supply open to attack from hostile (foreign) agents. That’s why GCHQ were involved in the development of the encryption used for our SMETS2 meter commands.

I’ve read specs where a Smart Meter manufacturer has claimed their product can store 50 days or 90 days of usage data. This is usually quoted on the assumption that these will be half-hourly (HH) readings.

I presume that figure is “per tariff” because the specification requirement for these meters is that they must be able to directly handle at least 4 different tariffs across the day (not just two tariffs, as would be required for Economy-7).

The “feature” you’re seeing where data gets spread evenly across the number of days for which your Smart Meter wasn’t being polled, is an anomaly of OVO’s new Billing System. If you notice, it applies this only to gas readings. Electricity usage is allocated correctly to the relevant day once communication is re-established.

Not quite… OVO collects all the available HH Usage Data when connection to your Comms Hub is re-established. You can view this for both electricity and gas if you use the Day-View on your Online Account.

But if you look at my Monthly histogram, you’ll see that OVO didn’t collect gas data for 25th. So the combined total for 25-26th has been apportioned across both days of the weekend.

This anomaly in the Billing Software will need fixing at some point because the Calorific Value (CV) of gas varies slightly each day. It’s not serious because the possible error is still less than 0.005%, but this will change as our Gas Distribution Network (GDN) is permitted to take more bio-gas into the mix.

Yes, I “know my stuff”… principally because I’m a member of my local Transition Towns group where we get to discuss all sorts of energy-related matters. It’s through TT that I’ve collected the contact details for a few useful engineers in the UK Energy Industry. I use those selectively to explain how something works or where I can find sources of information

We’ve been discussing CV data elsewhere on the Forum.

Six months back we were looking at how this affects the accuracy of Bills.

And before that I showed how CV gets calculated within the kWh readings used on our bills.

Bio-gas is a good way of using energy from our food waste. But it still produces CO2 when burned in our homes. A bio-digester must add Propane to the mix, to ensure the CV is above 37MJ/Kg before it can be introduced to the main.

There are proposals to use Hydrogen. But on its own that has a CV of just 12MJ/Kg.

Worcester-Bosch are manufacturing “Hydrogen-ready” boilers in anticipation of this event occurring.

"Thanks for taking the time to contact us, and for completing the smart meter health check. I have raised this with the smart team to investigate, and they will be in touch with in the next 10 working days so on or before the 11th September with the next steps."

I am hoping that OVO reset my WAN connection when 11th September arrives !

I have almost given up with smart meters (it's a pity they weren't as reliable as smartphones) and if nothing is done, I have decided to just give monthly meter readings like I used to do before.

It's just that I had problems when I was with ScottishPower on a SMETS1 meter.

I thought that with a SMETS2 meter, my problems would be sorted but the problem is just as bad !

@Tim_OVO I just let off a bit of steam lol

I don't mind giving monthly meter readings if my smart meters just won't work as it's no problem now as I got rid of the box that my gas meter was in to try and help with my HAN signal.

Before I had to take the lid off and move my router when I wanted to take a meter reading.

I have moved my router a few feet so I don't have that problem anymore.

Fingers crossed that it will work again if not no worries it is what it is !

It's not the end of the World :)

@Tim_OVO Your comment is still in this thread at the top of this page in fact !

"Thanks both, @MikeE I’ve passed these two questions onto our smart ‘subject matter expert’. I’ll post back here when I get a reply. "

Ah… that was tricky for me to understand. My intuition took me along the path of assuming we were discussing some radio-wave interference between the router and the Comms Hub.

It didn’t occur to me that the router was sat on top of the old meter cupboard!

There’s a Westcountry tale with a similar twist:

A hiker was walking down a country road when he looked over a 5-bar gate. He was pleasantly surprised to see a farmer sitting on a 3-legged stool, milking a cow by hand.

“Good afternoon,” hailed the hiker.

“A’ernoon!” grunted the farmer.

“I wonder,” continued the hiker, “if you happened to know what time it is?”

“Aye,” said the farmer, placing his hand beneath the cow’s udder and raising it. “It be a quarter t’ four.”

“That’s amazing,” the hiker exclaimed. “You can tell the time by weighing up how much milk is still in the udder!”

“If ee say zo,” remarked the farmer. “But I fin’ it better t’ see yon church clock if I lifts t’udder out t’ way firz!”

I wasn’t expecting anything to change until we had a response via @Tim_OVO for the questions he forwarded to the (very) technical team.

And I don’t think Tim is around today because there’s other stuff been posted which he would normally have responded to.

The fact that the WAN indicator isn’t changing from its error state is actually good news. We’d be in a more tricky situation if the symptoms were erratic. It’s much easier to diagnose faults when they’re stable.

@MikeE this is probably not helpful for you, as you’ve done these meter health checks already. But I’ve just posted a full tutorial guide on these SMETS2 smart meter health checks. Check it out here 

I wonder if you could just have a read, make sure there’s nothing new there for you to check and do, and then let us know. 

There’s also a new SMETS2 IHD tutorial guide for you to look at.

Probably not the solution in your case, but worth a look I’d say. 

:) 

Also wasn’t today the day you were hearing from our S2 team….?

@Tim_OVO I have read your articles and I did follow your instructions, in fact I saw a lot of meter data that I mostly didn't understand mainly on the electric meter !

I did come across "Tariff 000000" on the electric meter and I am wondering if this is right as surely they shouldn't be all zeros ?

Today should have been the day I heard from the team that I sent my answers to regarding the smart meter health check.

I know you asked a few questions to your expert team on my behalf but I am not sure when you will hear from them.