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May 25, 2025
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My smart meters won't communicate as they're too far apart, what can I do?

  • May 25, 2025
  • 11 replies
  • 1252 views

No communication because the meter is too far away(1st floor up to 7th floor) The engineer said fit a battery in the back of the home unit so it resets itself then take it back up to 7th floor still no communication why the engineer could not complete the installation and do this himself i dont know he has walked away from it. I assume this is a job for OVO engineer.No comunnication

Best answer by Nukecad

Updated on 29/12/25 by Abby_OVO

 

I think that you may have missunderstood what the engineer was saying.

 

Your flat is out of range for the Home Area Network (HAN) signal being broadcast by the meter communications hub. It isn’t a very strong signal and without some extra equipment* the In Home Display (IHD) will not be able to see the HAN signal from the coms hub. The IHD (running on battery) will connect to the HAN if you take it nearer to the meter, so you can read the IHD there.


However once you carry it out of range again it will lose that connection. (I suppose that there is a 1% or 2% it would keep the signal if you your flat is borderline on signal range, but it wouldn’t be reliable and would keep dropping out).

 

The engineer would have know that. (So might have offered it as a very slim hope?)

*As Blastoise186 says it sound like a job for Alt HAN equipment, if you can get it fitted where you are, all blocks of flats are different and so each case is different.


Alt Han are always coming up with new kit and new ways to extend the HAN connections, that’s their job - to find solutions to the HAN range problem.


So even if no HAN ‘extender’ can be fitted now they may develop something suitable down the line.

What is Alt HAN?

How does Alt HAN work?

 

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11 replies

Nukecad
Super User
Super User
July 19, 2025

A slight correction to the above from Emanuelle:

Sometimes though, smart meters can’t send information about energy use to the IHD, which means OVO doesn’t get the meter readings

 

Should say:
Sometimes though, gas smart meters can’t send information about energy use to the Communications Hub sat on top of the elctricity meter, which means OVO doesn’t get the gas meter readings

I said, Hey - Watts going on.