Lost Connection - Smart Meters not sending meter readings and no data on In-Home Display (IHD) - Why?

Depending on where your IHD is positioned, it might have temporarily lost connection. 
You could try removing power (for at least 30 secs) and then powering back up. It should go through the connection sequence again.

As you mention, it isn’t actually needed to get readings back to the supplier. The meter itself does that. 
There are also authorised third party apps which can be useful in tracking your usage via a phone 

The only marketing practice in selling a smart meter to the reluctant public is to enable them to have usage data via the display so that they can decide on whether to try to save money.  The display is absolutely critical to that so to not have it working after only three months is completely unacceptable.  I believe that there’s millions not working which is scandalous but such a short life is especially so.  I’m hoping it’s just something minor in my case.

I have the IHD3-PPMID-AAA 2022 display, located about 3 metres from the electricity meter, itself adjacent to the gas meter, in a cupboard in my kitchen.   I’ve tried turning the display off for 30 seconds and back on again but it still shows that it’s waiting for current data.  Any further ideas please.

it’s currently Tuesday morning and the Ovo app has consumption data up to about 1am Monday.  I’m not sure if that’s normal.

Walls, other objects and distance have an effect on connection as well. You could try reducing one of those (ie move it closer) to check. 
 

I assume you’ve been through the troubleshooting steps in the guides you’ve seen, so you know that the HAN light on the meter itself is flashing at 5-second intervals to show that it’s transmitting to the IHD. You’ve also checked whether the correct time is shown on the IHD.

One thing not mentioned in the guides referred to is the question of interference. The IHD3 uses Zigbee in the 2.4 GHz band, a band where a lot of other stuff will be jostling for space - Bluetooth devices, Wi-fi routers, baby monitors and garage door openers to give a few examples. Apart from that, many electronic devices - particularly cheap ones - will be emitting radiation indiscriminately, also in this band - microwave ovens and phone chargers come to mind. Zigbee has a number of channels within the band that it can choose between, so it will do its best by channel-hopping to avoid interference, but it may not always be successful.

Try unplugging anything that might be causing interference, then restart the IHD to see whether communication is restored. If it isn’t, this may not be the cause of the problem. If it is, plug devices in again one at a time, checking communication to the IHD after each one until the problem resurfaces. This is unfortunately a tedious and time-consuming process, because it can take some time for the IHD to react. It’s worthwhile, though, if it either finds a culprit or rules out this cause.

My IHD shows maximum connectivity in the gauge on the top level of the screen.  I’ve temporarily moved it from the back to the front of the kitchen worktop where it has direct unobstructed line of sight to the meters only three or four metres away.  The signal was still quite good at the back.  The time on it is correct.

My electricity meter is a Kaifa MA120 and the communications hub on top is a EDMI CS010A-08-B2.  It only has two LEDs on it, the WAN and the Han.  Both are flashing together about every five seconds.  The electricity meter has an up and down buttons and is showing a menu.  I don’t know how to select an option in that menu if wanted as I’d expect a third ok button to select one.

My broadband router is in the same cupboard as the meters, as that’s where the master phone outlet is located but Everything has worked fine up to a few days ago.  I have also tried with the router turned off at the plug with no change.  We have no Bluetooth devices on in the house, no chile monitor and no electric garage door.  I do have some interior security cameras.  All I can think of is that perhaps when moving something else in the cupboard, which is used for storing a few things, I pressed a button on the meter by mistake but I can’t see how that would have caused this.

Its about 7:30 am on Wednesday and I’ve just checked on the Ovo app on my iPad which shows half hour data up to Monday but for yesterday only has two data columns covering to just after midnight.  It doesn’t allow you to select today.

Hey @Paul4AA 

It might be worth just submitting the smart meter health check for a full view of the connectivity in general. If this comes back okay, which it might do if you’re still seeing data on the app, I’d then reach out to the Support Team for a few further checks then they may need to look at getting a new display unit for you if nothing else works on their end.

The sequence of button presses varies from meter to meter. Normally, it will in time revert to showing basic data like the readings, the tariff and the date and time, cycling through the various items by itself at a few seconds’ intervals. If this isn’t happening, press the top button once to see if that brings you back to the normal display.

It’s not only the router that emits radiation in the 2.4GHz band - anything connected to it by wi-fi will do so, too, whether the router is on or off. Computers, smart phones, smart thermometers, Kindle e-readers and of course your security cameras, to name just a few. 

Another point: resetting the IHD isn’t just a question of switching it off and then on again. Depending on the particular model you’ve got, it will either have a rechargeable battery or a single AAA battery. This being the case, it will continue to function even though it’s not connected to a power source.

• If it has an on/off button on the back, press it for five seconds after unplugging the device, then wait a minute or two before plugging it back in and switching it on again.  
• If it has an AAA battery, unplug the device, remove the battery, wait a minute or two and then replace the battery and plug in again.

In either case, you may see a message on the display to the effect that its memory has been purged and it is trying to reconnect to the meter. With a good signal, this shouldn’t take too long.

I did say it was tedious 😐
  

PS I forgot to mention: even if you did accidentally touch one of the buttons on the meter, it won’t have done any harm. There are hoops an engineer has to jump through to change anything in the meter itself.

I filled in the smart meter health check online form and it said there was no problem as they were getting readings.

Upon opening ( a bit tricky as a sharp edge for a finger nail but feels fragile plastic to use a tool), I found that my IHD doesn’t have a AAA battery in the space inside.  It is getting the correct time after a power shut off from somewhere however so it’s maybe getting some sort of signal.

Oh, and I’ve sent an email to Ovo, referencing this forum thread asking for help.

Hey @JenM 

I’m really sorry to hear this you’ve not had a response to your email. Did you sent the photos over webchat with an agent, or did you email them in? 

Would you be able to pop those same photos on here so we can take a look?