Alt-han resumed, you can order it.

Morning ​@Biohazardx9,

In light of our chats and hearing about this success story on your previous thread, I’m delighted that everything has been installed successfully.

A massive thanks from my team and I for this informative post that will no doubt be of help to others! It’s great that this new technology is being rolled out now 😁.

All the best!

Intersting to see practical information and setup of Alt-Han and IHD ​@Biohazardx9 

I requested an IHD and Alt-Han equipment at my Smartmeter installation (I have no gas).  However the engineer advised that my apartment and meter were too far apart and the IHD would not work even with Alt-Han. 

I must admit I thought this was the reason why Alt-Han was developed ie., to assist installation in residential apartment blocks where meters are remote to the apartment.

In the light of what I have read here I have taken this up again with OVO ​@Ben_OVO,

Any comments would be welcome.

Hi ​@Robert44

This is indeed false.

For your setup you will need modules B1 and B2. 

B1 captures the zigbee/han from the electric meter comms unit and injects the signal over your power lines as per my photo above. 

Then B2 in your property plugs into any socket you want I.e lounge and this captures the signal over the powerline and then outputs it's own zigbee/han. Then your ihd will connect there. 

Given that the ihd is nothing but an informative device. You might find resistance to install alt han (perhaps deemed not worthy enough/cost effective) however that's the kit you need. Tell the agent to escalate it and demand you need it.

Subcontractors don't know anything about alt han you need a direct employed ovo engineer. 

My first visit failed as subcontractor said no one was rolling it out as no one has been trained. 

Second visit I had a direct ovo engineer and it all went in smoothly. 

You can tell them apart as ovo engineers wear company sweatshirts (all green with white ovo logo) as well as drive the same colour branded vans. Subs don't. 

Stick with it. As far as I know ovo are the only energy firm installing alt han. 

A well known rival in prepayment energy sitting at the bottom of the alphabet sponsoring many stadiums and football clubs etc are still 'trialling it'. I find this bizzare because mines running extremely well. 

Now I have perfect clarity, between myself and ovo. I won't get over charged and I can see my account update and take payment in real-time. 

For me I know where I stand, for ovo they know I'm paying correctly and not entering meter debt or overpaying either. 

I can adjust my energy use to suit. More importantly in winter I can whack the heating on properly now without worrying about my usage. Until now I had to sparingly use it / feed the app manual updates. No longer the case because finally I can start using the heating, work out how much and budget accordingly. (push an additional payment in to cover it) ovo works well. It's a credit account that acts like prepayment. Superb.

Hope you get it sorted. 

There is an issue with using ‘powerline’ units in blocks of flats.

For ‘powerline’ sender-receiver devices to work they have to both be plugged into the same electricity circuit.

The flats and the communal areas in a block will often/usually all be on seperate power circuits, so that each has it's own.

TBH I'm not at all sure where the cutoff happens.

Do they need to be on the same ring main or spur from the consumer unit? anything from the same CU, from the same meter? further than that until the cable resistance gets too much?

You normally think of powerline devices as being on the same circuit in the same property, ie both on the same side of the CU/meter.

Thanks ​@Biohazardx9 for your comprehensive reply and advice. I have escalated this to complaint level ​@Ben_OVO .

Hello ​@Nukecad . Were you asking me or ​@Biohazardx9 . As I am not an electrical engineer I am not sure what you mean.

​@Nukecad

The B1 adapter shown above injects the signal into the circuit at the meter to the property, pre consumer unit. B1 plugs into the bottom of the meter. 

In theory the signal would be on all circuits regardless. 

B2/B3 adapters plug into any 13a socket on the wall but I suppose if you were to run it on lighting circuit for example in theory it would still pick up the signal (in theory because B2/B3 is designed to run on ring main) 

I have Philips hue as well and the zigbee han doesn't interfere at all with it (this also uses zigbee) same goes for my wireless ring alarm which also uses zigbee. 

Since B1 is in the meter it cannot affect any other circuit. It sits after the incoming but just before the metering part. Powerline in this case only in theory goes forward. 

I'll be honest I don't know if it interferes with other powerline adapters (for home networking) 

There is no problem, it's a strong signal and as these electricity cables are quite thick these will be good for long distances. 

My meter is out in the lobby in a meter cupboard and works absolutely fine. 2 weeks now and not missed any gas readings.

Here is B1 into the meter.... 

As you can see I have a newer type of landis and gyr E470. With two buttons and the lcd is green backlit instead of white. 

Also it's sku2 hence the sticking out comms (mesh+cellular) 

Officially alt han isn't advised to connect to this as not tested fully. However it works just fine as alt han ignores the mesh bit. I did need a new gas meter as my non functioning one wasnt compatible. (credit to the engineer who knew his stuff) 

My old gas meter was an itron itellis and new one is a landis+gyr G470. 

I have just seen the ovo thread identifying types of meters. 

If you want to, ovo has my permission to use the photos above to add to that guide showcasing the alt han module / sku2 as well as B3 and B4. It will help someone I'm sure if they move to ovo and stumble on that guide. 

​@Biohazardx9 My meter is the same E470 / 5533 but with EDMI Standard 420 Comms Hub.  What thread do you refer to?