My consumer unit keeps tripping, is this connected to the smart meter?

I have a couple of comments:

1: I don’t think we have enough evidence to suggest that all RCBOs with an earth connection can be affected by Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) from a Smart Meter. For the sake of non-technical readers, let’s establish that we’re discussing trips which have a test button on them:

It might be valid to suggest a hypothesis to the effect of:

There is a possibility that a Smart Meter in close proximity to a Consumer Unit with RCBOs or RCDs could decrease the threshold at which the unit will trip. This issue might be more likely to affect trips with a separate earth connection wire.

That’s still quite a long way from the statement from @JohnatPreston but allows others to find this Topic if they’re struggling with a similar problem.

Even so, I still have a number of misgivings:

a: The total radio-frequency transmission power from a Smart Meter Communications Hub is less than 0.5W. Since this radiates omni-directionally, the proportion of this available to reach an earth wire 600mm away is less than 1-millionth. That doesn’t seem to me enough energy to adversely affect a trip.

b: An earth wire is, by definition, connected to earth! So any radiation received will be clamped by the enormously larger body of matter at the same potential-difference… the planet! So if I wanted to make the earth wire from an RCBO act as an aerial, I’d first have to disconnect it from the earth-block in the consumer unit, and leave it “floating”.

So the incident which @JohnatPreston refers to might be due to an incorrectly-installed earth cable rather than the Smart Meter per se.

c: It’s important to identify the manufacturer of the RCBO which was involved. There is actually quite a bit of difference in the way that these units are constructed internally.

2: Covering a Smart Meter in aluminium foil is to be strongly discouraged. Firstly it can block out the radio transmissions required for both the Wide Area Network and the Home Area Network.

Secondly, foil is conductive and no one should be placing metal surfaces around equipment that handles 230v AC!

If the above hypothesis were to be tested, then the correct/safe way to do so would be with an earthed sheet of mesh between the Smart Meter and the Consumer Unit. This acts as a Faraday cage. And if you don’t understand what this is or how to select the correct dimensions for the mesh wires, then you shouldn’t be doing this experiment anyway!

Yep the other RCBOs look just like the Lewden you posted.  I think it’s very probable that the other one is also a Lewden given they were all fitted by the same contractor.

I have just moved an MCG C10 RCBO out of an external meter enclosure to make way for a new SMART meter. The existing RCBO was re sited directly below the meter enclosure.

The RCBO controls external lighting and has worked with no issues for years, now all of a sudden following the installation of the SMART meter the customer is complaining about the RCBO tripping during the night. (time unknown).

The installation for the lighting has no faults and checks out correctly.

It is too coincidental that since the installation of the SMART meter that the customer is experiencing problems. 

I have had similar instances where SMART meters have been installed and have conducted a full mA survey of appliances and found nothing un towards and we could only put it down to the SMART meter and the type of RCD. I think on this occasion it was an old style MEM where you push it down to reset it before pushing it back up. 

My question is are there any RCBOs out there that are known NOT to be affected by SMART meters? 

In the end I replaced my consumer unit with a new fusebox brand one and matching rcbos.

Not had any tripping since so I'm 100% sure the smart meter was causing my older ones to trip. 

Agreed. The best way to avoid this problem is to replace older units. Those that are extremely old are more likely to be vulnerable to this problem than newer ones.

All cases will be different considering individual situations, extraneous signals and enclosures. My DB uses Danson devices all through - the smart meter is 6 inches away and I’ve never had a problem with false switching. On the few that I’ve seen, it has been down to an early trigger (mA) on a trip.

Just FYI

I am a bit wary, as @BPLightlog says situations vary, plus it is not always easy to identify accurate info on forum.

Anyway in case it helps, I have seen the over night tripping reported before, with energy supplier engineers saying the tripping is happening when the smart meter transmits data over night. They said they tested it by requesting data from the smart meter during the day. 

So the example you posted isn't unique. 

When plugging in any socket, the RCBO is tripping and I can't switch on the fridge as it doesn't happen over night. It happens everytime when I plug in wover, fridge and TV.

It’s possible that the RCBO is too sensitive. They are designed to trip on mA leakage currents but sometimes can trip at a lower level than they should. An electrician can test it for that

Since getting a smart meter installed (OVO recommended as we have storage heaters and are on an economy tarriff, which will be affected next year when the RTS signal ceases)  one of the switches on our CU keeps tripping intermittently.  It seems to be the circuit for our kitchen as when it trips all the appliances don’t work.  We had an OVO engineer out yesterday and he moved part of the meter further away from the CU but that hasn’t made any difference.  I apologise for not using correct terminology, I know nothing at all about electricity supply.   

Hi ​@Sine ,

Usually when this happens it’s a fault with the Consumer Unit and nothing to do with the Meter itself. Given that it’s constantly transmitting, I’d expect to see your circuits being constantly killed 10 seconds after you reset them if the Meter was the actual cause.

I’d recommend getting a private electrician to check your circuits and consumer unit over - something might need to be replaced but I’m 99.9% confident it’s not the meter that needs swapping out!

Hey ​@Sine 

Sorry to hear of the issues you’re having

Smart meters should not interfere with the consumer unit causing your power to trip however there is speculation that certain RCD or RCBO units (particularly if not adequately earthed) may trip if too close to the meter . 

If you are experiencing any issues with a circuit tripping after a smart meter installation we would advise you to contact an electrician to check your consumer unit .

Thanks for the advice.  Another OVO engineer came yesterday and said the RCD needs replacing and suggested we get an electrician.  Spoke to a sparkie on phone and they said we should turn off and unplug all our kitchen appliances except for the freezer (we weren’t keen to lose all our frozen food) as it was likely a faulty appliance causing the trip.  However I have just checked the CU again this morning and the rcd has tripped.  I think I will take your advice about getting an electrician to check the CU, am a bit worried about possibility that the storage heating coming on has caused the trip if its not caused by a faulty appliance or RCD.  We have lived here for 40 years and never had a problem until the smart meter was installed last month.  

Sometimes changing one thing exposes a pre-existing fault that you never knew about. That’s what this feels like to me. We’ve seen it before a couple of times, but it’s rare.

Any RCD/RCBO will become less accurate over time and often needs testing for trip levels. It is possible that the change of appliances over time can increase the level of leakage and therefore make the RCD more sensitive. 
From your circuit tests, this sounds most likely and an updated RCD (or even better a cascading scheme) should help

I hope the engineer manages to get your issue sorted ​@Sine. Please keep us posted with how you get on 

​@Emmanuelle_OVO s first post has made me curious.
My smart meter was fitted about 2 years ago. There was no tripping. 8 months later I had an automatic garage door fitted. Almost immediately the kitchen circuit started tripping only when the oven was on.

I was on the point of changing the oven, but having become fed up of breaking into the garage(where the consumer unit was) I had the garage motor moved to its own circuit. Since then I have had no trips at all, anywhere!

I don’t have the electrical knowledge, garage power could have been the feather that broke the camels back, but it is an unearthed switch mode supply so presumably no earth leakage.

That was a good move on the engineer’s part, judging by this story: RCD tripping straight after smart meter install | on ElectriciansForums 

I wouldn’t rule that out as the possible cause yet unless something else proves to be faulty, like the RCD itself or the wiring.

A smart meter in some circumstances can influence an RCD/RCBO but when the RCD devices are installed, they only have to pass timing tests (disconnect within a certain number of milliseconds) alongside a sensitivity test (not trip at 50% rating and fast trip at high current - 5x rating). They do not have to be measured to determine their exact trip current.

With any situation like above, I would always recommend a repeat of the install test plus a ‘creep’ test where the leakage current is slowly increased to its trip level.

The RCD measures the difference between current flowing in the live conductor and current flowing in the neutral conductor. There doesn’t need to be an earth as current can leak to surroundings to cause a difference.

It is usually found that any meter influence is seen on a highly susceptible or inaccurate RCD

Had two electricians tell me they think its the way smart meter was installed or a problem with the smart meter.  Neither of them would touch my CU or smart meter as they said its a problem for OVO.  Went back on to OVO and the advisor spoke to the support team.  They have said they will call me back within 48hrs to arrange to have a Heritage meter replace the smart meter.  I have no idea what a Heritage meter is but apparently they will discuss all that in my phone call.   I have no faith that this will address the problem or even if the Heritage meter will ensure we have to no problems with our heating/water heating next year when the RTS signal stops in 2025.   As a couple in their sixties and my husband suffers with bad health I have had to constantly remind OVO we are on the Priority Service register and cant wait weeks for appointments.   Very frustrating but I am hoping the situation can be resolved.

Going to a Heritage Meter will just make your problems worse I’m afraid. At best, it merely hides what the real issue is and doesn’t fix anything. At worst, you’ll land back on RTS again…

Either way, it also merely delays the inevitable when that Meter also needs replacing  again anyway due to the limited Service Life of all Energy Meters. You might only push it back by a few years (as in 2-5 years) if you get especially unlucky.

You should cancel that job and try one more electrician from somewhere else - and get them to actually do the tests. I’m not convinced the Meter is the issue.

Thanks for the advice.  I have now contacted a third electrician who can’t come till middle of next week, but he is going to check all the circuitry in kitchen and the rcd switch for us before we agree to changing to a Heritage meter.  Hopefully he will be able to pinpoint a fault and solve the problem and its not the smart meter that’s the culprit. Keeping my fingers crossed

Hi ​@Sine,

Glad to hear the advice was useful. Please let us know how you get on.

My electric has tripped three times now. First time in October in early hours. Electrician checked sockets etc, all okay.

Past 2 nights it has tripped again between hours 02.30 and 05.30.

Could it be the smart meter causing this, when it's updating or whatever. Only the sockets go, not overhead lights

Hi ​@Jan71 ,

This isn’t strictly the Meter per-se - it’s more likely an RCD or RCBO in the consumer unit being excessively sensitive and tripping in response to nearby RFI/EMI activity. You might want to check all of those checked and replace whichever one(s) keeps tripping.

Smart Meters aren’t the only thing that can cause this - other stuff can too!