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Can OVO connect a Secure pipet 500 IHD I bought online?

  • 25 September 2023
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Hello ,

I have purchased a new Secure pipit 500 IHD and would like to know how to pair it with my meters .I am on Payg gas and electric and have been waiting about 6 months for Ovo to deliver a new display but they keep saying they dont have any stock so i bought one myself it took three days to get a brand new one .i have contacted 3 different advisers who keep asking for various numbers off the device… mac number ,install number etc but after about 40mins of either live chat or phone calls they just disconnect the call so obviously they dont know how to pair the meters with the devices .doe anyone  have any ideas because the app is next to useless for keeping track of the amount of credit i have and the displays on the meters are really hard to read when i eventually squeeze into the tiny cupboard where the meters are 

thanks in advance for any help

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Best answer by Blastoise186 29 September 2023, 09:58

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Blastoise186
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Long story short, you are NOT entitled to pair that particular IHD. Please return it for a refund. 

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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Why not it's a direct replacement for the one that stopped working same make and model 

Blastoise186
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And possibly stolen. Do you really want to be handling stolen goods? I suspect you got it from eBay didn't you?

How do you know it hasn't also been tampered with?

Either way, Amazon and eBay are NOT authorised sources for replacement IHDs and energy suppliers like OVO are under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to pair IHDs purchased from those places.

The only authorised sources for the Secure Pipit 500 (and ALL IHDs for that matter) are from energy suppliers directly. Otherwise, your only options are the ivie Bud from https://ivie.co.uk or the Hildebrand Glow IHD from https://shop.glowmarkt.com . Be advised that these two don’t come with PPMID functionality, so you can’t enter top-up codes through them.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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I dont know where you lot are getting your info from but the Boost adviser i just spoke to had no problem  at all with me buying it  used a photo of the numbers on the back of ihd to install it on the  system she will call back tomorrow evening to finish the pairing (presumably after the system has refreshed after midnight).Ovo do not have any IHD’s in stock and this has been the case for well over 6 months ,i dont know why they cant get them but they are readily available most anywhere no reason at all to think it is stolen .They even gave me £10 credit for the delay in sorting it out .Seems a bit ridiculous only being able to get IHD’s from the company when that company can’t supply them .that’s a bit like sky saying you can only use their remote for their sat boxes 

Blastoise186
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Those are the rules. I’m just a messenger that happens to be very well informed.

By purchasing those units from eBay, you are potentially supporting theft and other bad stuff. That’s one of the reasons why I warned you to return it. The ones sold on eBay are usually either stolen, tampered with or have something else dodgy about it.

They are NOT secure, hence why suppliers are not under any obligation to pair them. The only places that the Secure Pipit 500 is now “readily available” is from unauthorised sources that have absolutely no right whatsoever to be selling them. I can tell you now that energy suppliers like OVO will never buy them from such sources. The Secure Pipit 500 has reached End of Sale upstream with the manufacturer Secure who are the ONLY authorised source, so there’ll be no more of them produced.

The remotes for Sky boxes are (for the most part) basically just simple circuit boards with an IR transmitter that sends simple codes to a receiver. The newer ones are Bluetooth iirc, but it’s basically the same concept. The worst you can do is basically use a universal remote (or in recent times HDMI-CEC) to troll/prank family members by changing the channel to some random show or whacking up the volume - and it only works locally i.e. in the same room unless you hook up an IR Sender/Blaster to let you use the remote from another room.

However, Smart Meters are considered to be part of critical national infrastructure with MASSIVELY different rules over their security. All it takes is for someone like you to abuse the security rules and the whole thing can potentially be compromised. That’s exactly why you’re not allowed to just pair any old random eBay IHD.

Secure no longer manufactures the Pipit 500. This is not an OVO issue - take it up with Secure if you’re really that desperate. OVO is able to source an alternative these days, such as the Chameleon IHD6-CAD-PPMID-S1. However, those things are literal gold dust as demand constantly outstrips supply because literally every energy supplier under the sun is also trying to get hold of them. you just have to be patient.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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Update ,

having spent the best part of a week trying to sort out this ihd issue i finally have a resolution .Apparently the reason why the ihd stopped working is because a while back ovo did a software update on the meters which effectively turned them all into 2nd generation meters and thus preventing the old secure ihd from talking to the meters .Ovo have booked an appointment to change both of my meters to new 2nd generation meters which will come with a different type of ihd .I have raised a complaint with ovo because i don’t understand why i was repeatedly told over the last few months that the ihd where out of stock i was never told that they don’t work with the meters any more .Ovo don’t seem to realise the importance of the ihd for PAYG customers because in many cases it is the only way to see how much credit is on the meters .Ovo need to sort this out it is disgraceful how they are treating people 

Blastoise186
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Strictly speaking, OVO never wrote nor deployed that software/firmware update - Secure did. And it’s been a known issue for a while that the Secure Pipit 500 hates the new firmware on the rest of the system and chokes itself. I should remind you that you’re saying this to one of the most experienced volunteers on this very forum - and Smart Meter/IHD stuff is one of my specialities.

This is a matter beyond OVO’s reasonable control - it’s been knocking out Secure Pipit 500 IHDs regardless of who installed the meters.

The replacement IHD is the Chameleon IHD6-CAD-PPMID-S1 or in some cases either the Chameleon IHD3-CAD-PPMID-S1 or Chameleon IHD7-CAD-PPMID-S1. Both are literal gold dust due to high demand. I can tell you that OVO is trying to get hold of more, but there’s only so many to go around at any given time and Chameleon can’t just magic up more with a wave of a magic wand either. What you were told is correct however - these Chameleon IHDs ARE compatible with S1/S1+ Secure meters.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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I couldn't care less who wrote the software or who deployed it my energy is supplier is ovo and they're the ones I'll go to when it all goes wrong. It would have been helpful if ovo had explained the true reason for the issue instead of coming out with excuses and basically lying to customers.The vast majority of customers only want a system that works and when it stops working we want it fixed in a timely fashion preferably without being lied to and having to spend hours on the phone listening to god awful music on hold while the agent tries to think up a few more reasons not to do the job they are payed for 

Blastoise186
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And yet I’ve given you solutions that you didn’t seem to accept? I work hard to research stuff all the time and put an extreme amount of my spare time into many volunteer roles. Seriously. I don’t get paid to do this - all my forum activity is on a volunteer basis and I give my time for free.

I also make full use of my ability to get advice from internal teams and resources via the forum moderators. Unlike most of the Support Team, I get given the real nitty gritty technical details that make no sense to a lot of people. For the most part, the issues with the Secure Pipit 500 are of little interest to anyone other than me, so I rarely talk about them - that’s why I didn’t mention it sooner.

Not everything is what you think it is. Sometimes, it’s genuinely a case that knowing something of the “full story” wouldn’t help you anyway.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!

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