Smart meter guide for Aclara, Honeywell, Flonidan second generation smart meters

Erm, @Tim_OVO - You’ve pasted in that last section without removing the internal reference to Orion.

And are you going tell us what Gentrack is?

Topic now updated to outline regional differences  in S2 smart meter comms hub options!

Hi there @RobertKza !

The first thing I should probably mention is that this isn’t actually OVO’s fault - you’d have had the same snags regardless of which supplier you were with when you booked the upgrade. Please could you fill out your profile for us, as this helps a lot of other volunteers out if you stop by in future.

The problem you’ve probably run into is that S2 Smart Meters that use Cellular run on the Telefonica WAN that’s powered by the O2 network. If you don’t have a very good O2 signal where you are, then you’ll probably struggle with getting Smart Meters to work properly. It’s also beyond OVO’s reasonable control to fix this as only Telefonica/O2 can install new infrastructure to boost general coverage, but there are still potential solutions. More powerful aerials are one option and there’s also things like Mesh connections. It’s possible that the engineer would have tried all these as they’re part of the standard install process - but you can ask the Support Team to investigate further if you feel the engineer didn’t attempt any of these.

As for using Wi-Fi or Broadband… Unfortunately that’s impossible because it’s been banned by the NCSC for this use case (the SMETS1 and SMETS2 specs also disallow it). Smart Meters form part of critical national infrastructure and it’s unsafe to allow any of this to communicate over the public Internet. There’s also the risk of the cheap ISP Routers used by most customers being all too easily hacked or compromised in some way, which makes it just too risky (and tbh that’s also why I use my own kit which is a lot more secure). It was considered, but ultimately the decision was made to disallow this option and I don’t think it’ll ever be used.

In addition, Smart Meters don’t have any Wi-Fi support either - they communicate using a ZigBee HAN (Home Area Network) for local comms between the meters, comms hub and your IHD, and the WAN (Wide Area Network) goes directly over Cellular, Cellular + Mesh or Long-Range Radio depending on where you are. None of these are compatible with Wi-Fi I’m afraid.

There’s actually also a few more practical non-security related issues as well with trying to use Wi-Fi or Broadband with Smart Meters - range. Most “Free” ISP Routers are extremely cheaply designed and have very little horsepower - it’s actually well known for them to struggle with even the average two storey house, let alone a huge block of flats. I live in a flat myself and even though my own kit is so powerful that at 26dBm TX Power and 4.5dBi RX Power - which is extremely close to the Ofcom enforced legal limit of 30dBm TX Power - I still don’t have enough range to cover the distance between my flat and Raichu (my S2 Aclara) because of all the fire-rated walls in the building which severely reduce the range of my Wi-Fi. If it wasn’t for the really long distances, the fire-rated walls and the building having a lift between me and Raichu’s meter cupboard, I could probably have gotten enough range (plus I also have to try and play nice with my neighbours!). And unfortunately, if my super overpowered kit can’t do it, then pretty much nothing can I’m afraid - and there’d definitely be no chance of a cheap ISP Router getting even close. While my kit is definitely powerful enough to easily listen out for and pick up signals coming from Raichu (assuming it was allowed to do so) because it can hear basically everything within half a mile of my flat, I doubt Raichu’s Comms Hub would be powerful enough to pick up the transmissions coming from my kit so it’d be almost impossible to pull off anyway.

Plus, not everyone has broadband either so the solutions used for Smart Meters need to be something that will work in as many cases as possible, regardless of what technologies the customer has available to them (or is actually using).

I hope this helps, feel free to let me know if you’re still unsure about anything.

Thanks for this very comprehensive reply.
As so much background checking is done prior to the engineer arriving and this being a ‘very rare occurrence’ of smart installation failure what can be done to get a second chance at the installation?
Regards Robert

I’ve just checked the Telefonica coverage in your area, @RobertKza 

Your nearest mast is close to the M42 where the Measham Road passes underneath. Google Map code 52.70823435772413, -1.5240982683917463

There is a ‘dull spot’ in the coverage on the north side of Measham from the junction of New Street and Ashby Road and proceeding northwards. Connection to the Wide Area Network should still be possible, but the location of the Communications Hub within the house will be more critical if you live around there.

These are complex issues… which is why the properly trained installation engineers are the best people for the job!

Our place is around 350m from the New Street/Ashby road intersection closer to the A42.
What I did enquire about on whether there wouldn’t be more success if the Communications Hub 12” antenna couldn’t be placed outside, it’s inside at the back of the house.
Just before switching to ovo we had a smart meter installed by SSE which worked (I could see readings on the SSE website). Model type:
Landis +Gyr Type 5424 - Communication hub WNC UBC-TN6 SKU1 Cellular

So does that mean I should contact the ovo support team and take it from there?

Will do, many thanks Regards Robert

Thanks :-)
I’ve been in touch with the Support Team.
They have sent me a form asking where the smart meter is, what is its serial number, which lights are flashing and at what frequency. This must be accompanied with a photo showing where the smart meter and hub  are installed. They will get back to me within 45 days!!
The Smart gas meter cannot be booked for installation until 8 Oct because the installation engineer’s report is awaited, similarly the IHD.
Perseverance seems to be the name of the game!!
Many thanks for all the advice and help
Regards Robert

Many thanks , the form has been completed and submitted. Now to wait & see

No worries, we’re glad to have been of assistance! 

Feel free to keep us posted with how you get on too. And if you ever need a hand again, feel free to stop by anytime. We’ll help you out as best we can!

Ahh yes, looks like I ninja’d you just there. Sorry about that!

As far as I can tell, it’s possible that your Comms Hub was just doing a firmware update and was probably then rebooting itself to finish installing that update. It’s normal for it to go temporarily offline during this process - not least because it's impossible to just drop the new code in while it’s running. Some stuff can do “graceful updates and/or graceful restarts” where new processes will get spawned with the updated code, take on the workload and then terminate the old processes safely, in such a way that you’d never notice. But that requires a lot more resources than what a Comms Hub is equipped with, whereas restarting or rebooting the entire device to finish an update is much, much easier to do.

It’s normal behaviour for newly installed Smart Meters, Communications Hubs and In-Home Displays to trigger a firmware update shortly after they’re first installed - especially if the initial firmware is a little behind - since this helps to get them onto the latest versions as soon as possible during the commissioning process. Once the update and reboot is complete, the device should resume normal operations within a few minutes. So yeah, that’s what I would imagine was happening this morning while you were looking at it - and it’s actually really hard to observe because you never know exactly when it’s going to happen! 

Hi, after 3 weeks I have to accept that the cellular networks cannot communicate to the Smart Meter Communication Hub. The flashing lights became very temperamental with regard to quantity and frequency. My neighbour’s experience is very similar. He had a Smart Meter installed and after a short while he was asked to submit ‘manual’ monthly readings. On observation it looks like the A42 bridge shields the cellular tower from my Smart Meter! Ovo were also hesitant to install a smart gas meter because this is separated from the electricity meter by the terrace.
Thanks for your help and inspiration. In the meantime I will record the meters manually and submit regularly. Keep Safe Regards Robert