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OVO Smart Meter fitted- Off-peak circuit always OFF?

  • 29 November 2023
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Blastoise186
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Hehehe, works everytime that trick!

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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I second this! So glad I now have a warm flat for the first time this winter. Thanks everyone :)

I am very happy to report that the ECAUL did the trick and the off-peak circuit on my smart meter is working now!

Help and advice from the Forum has been crucial in getting my problem resolved and I am most grateful to all who gave assistance,  especially @Emmanuelle_OVO  Thank you.

 

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In November problems arose with my Off Peak which was controlled by an RTS switch device.

Eventually in January this year a new Smart meter was installed but it won’t control the Off- Peak. We have had no Off-Peak supply for 6 weeks now. Our supplier (not OVO) claims that they can’t control our meter remotely but are getting readings. What can be done to get the meter to restore the Off-Peak supply? The meter is EDMI with a standard420 communications module. The meter shows two readings Export and Import but Export stays at 0.

Firedog
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Because there are several different models of EDMI smart meters, it would be easier for someone to advise you if you posted a good clear photo of the meter itself, including all the other stuff on the same backboard.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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New Smart Meter.

 

Blastoise186
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Issue identified - this one’s a piece of cake. Long story short, EDF has failed to install and commission your Site properly. You will NEVER experience any benefits of Smart Meters with it currently in that state - the meter isn’t even paired to the Comms Hub!

Seems like it’s not getting WAN either… Hmm…

Could you run this through https://homebrew.n3rgy.com and tell us if you get any warnings or errors please? Make sure to hide any personal info including the MPAN/MPRN before showing us anything please!

Other than that, your Site needs to be re-commissioned. Only then can the meter configs be actually set up properly.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
Firedog
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Thanks, that’s helpful. 

For a start, there is a dedicated feed for the offpeak equipment: the one closest to the camera, labelled L o/p - which I assume means Line offpeak. There is a software-controlled switch called ALCS inside the meter to energize this feed, and this is clearly not working.

The display panel is interesting: it looks as if the meter is waiting for an instruction, which I guess would happen on pressing and holding the right-hand button. Has the display shown this for long?

There is also a little switch indicator which appears to be open, but worryingly it’s labelled with a little ı , which I would expect to be for the 24-hour feed (marked L 24 HR). Since you clearly have power to everything other than the offpeak stuff, I’d not worry about that just yet. The switch for the currently non-operative offpeak feed would normally be labelled ıı . 

In any case, you should contact EDF tech support and ask them to send the ECAUL request to configure the ALCS. That’s what should cause the offpeak equipment to switch on and off at times to match the tariff you’re on. 

Let us know what they say.

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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Thank you for your help. The meter was actually commissioned after I took the photo so the IHD now shows usage, The only thing that does not work is the Off Peak. I have mentioned ECAUL and ALCS to them already but I don’t think they took me seriously. The guy from EDF tried to send a message to the meter today but failed. The WAN and HAN lights are both flashing green.

Blastoise186
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From what we know, pushing out the ECAUL/ALCS Configs are exactly what’s needed here. We’ve seen this problem before and it gets fixed over 99% of the time by that solution.

Securing energy by zapping security bugs... For that is The Blastoise Way!
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Thank you again, I will pursue that angle. My worry is that the signal beside us is not strong enough for the instruction to be sent to the meter. The HAN and WAN lights flash green, should they be continuously green?

BPLightlog
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Thank you again, I will pursue that angle. My worry is that the signal beside us is not strong enough for the instruction to be sent to the meter. The HAN and WAN lights flash green, should they be continuously green?

No, flashing every 5 secs is normal

Independent volunteer - Sitting in a Faraday cage, waiting for a signal
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They should flash once every 5 seconds for normal operation. See this page https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html.

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Really helpful advice from our Community Members here, keep us posted with how you get on @hayvoe.

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I am still having no joy with the off-peak. EDF were trying to tell me today that looking at meter readings the off peak was working. I think they are interpreting the cheaper E7 tariff as being off peak. Clearly there is still no power going to the off peak consumer unit. They have sent a code to the meter again but if it is not the correct one the off-peak will likely still not work. 

From another thread on this forum I discovered the following quote which describes my situation:

This engineer installed a new smart meter on 27th November. The heaters were all swirched on that night and I can’t believe that I have the same problem again!! The off-peak consumer unit is not receiving power at all. The IHD works fine, shows the two tariffs and changes at midnight and 7 a.m., but the 2nd circuit for the storage heaters is not activating at all. I found this forum and it seems that something is wrong with the configuration that, hopefully, can be corrected remotely. A customer service agent arranged for an engineer from a smart meter company to look at the meter a couple of days ago. He did some tests and found no fault with it. He asked me enquire what SSC code the meter is set up with. He suggested the meter function that opens and closes the fifth port could be on a 24/7 tariff setting, which would explain why it always stays off.

BPLightlog
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That’s why the suggestion is for the ECAULS/ALCS to be sent to the meter as that system controls when the switches open and close. 
The command needs to be for your E7 tariff and should set the meter correctly … unless the meter is actually faulty and can’t physically switch

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Firedog
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EDF were trying to tell me today that looking at meter readings the off peak was working.

 

The way this works is that all usage - not just heating - in the offpeak period is charged at the offpeak rate. So when they see both meter registers - peak and offpeak - incrementing, they can say that ‘offpeak is working’. 

That is a completely separate issue from whether the offpeak CU is getting power or not. That is controlled by the ALCS in the meter, and you’ll stay cold until EDF understand what they’re supposed to do. Don’t let them fob you off with another engineer visit - he can’t change the ALCS calendar.   

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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How many ALCS switches will there be on my meter.  The Economy 7 times have been set on the meter and operate correctly. Will there be a separate ALCS switch for the off peak supply?

Firedog
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Will there be a separate ALCS switch for the off peak supply?

 

Yes. They’re quite separate ‘objects’ in the meter. There’s only one ALCS - for the Auxiliary Load, i.e. the offpeak heating circuits - and it will normally be set to match the tariff, but we’ve seen dozens of cases where it’s not. In many cases, it’s just not set at all - like yours. So although you see the rate changing at the right time, and you see the peak register incrementing only during peak hours, there will still be no power to the heating equipment until you’ve managed to persuade EDF to use ECAUL commands to set the ALCS calendar* to match the plan timings. 
  

*  It’s called a calendar because it might have different timings for different days. That would be unusual in a domestic setting, so it only needs to be set to On overnight and Off during peak periods. 

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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Firedog, thank you for your very clear explanation. I suppose that the meter could actually be faulty. Before looking at the meter EDF want me to arrange an engineer check of our electrics. However, I am not sure if EDF have sent the required codes to the meter or not. If the meter turns out to be faulty, they will pay for the engineer visit. 

Firedog
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Oh dear. Whatever an engineer discovers, I’d be willing to bet that there’s nothing wrong with the meter at all, and it’s doing exactly what it’s been told to do. To check whether there’s power to the heaters, he would have to visit and test during the night.

Unless, of course, you can work out how to activate Boost on your meter if it’s capable of it. If you can, this would switch the heating circuits on for the period you specify by overriding whatever the ALCS is trying to do. You would then know whether there’s any wiring problem downstream of the meter. These instructions are from a different supplier, but it’s allegedly the same type of meter: smart-s2-boost-web2106.pdf 

 

Noel | I have no official status; I'm just a volunteer who comes here to help other customers. My gear: Aclara SGM 1416-B Electricity-only E7 meter; Chameleon IHD3-PPMID-AAA
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Boost did not seem to be available on my meter although it did indeed seem to be the same type. (EDMI ES-12B) Going through the menu I noticed a screen where ALCS was denoted Off. 

Emmanuelle_OVO
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Firedog, thank you for your very clear explanation. I suppose that the meter could actually be faulty. Before looking at the meter EDF want me to arrange an engineer check of our electrics. However, I am not sure if EDF have sent the required codes to the meter or not. If the meter turns out to be faulty, they will pay for the engineer visit. 

 

My advice would be make sure you retain an engineering job report so that EDF can reimburse you if you do get a private engineer @hayvoe 

Renewable Energy? Big Fan.

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