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

  • 14 September 2020
  • 35 replies
  • 26817 views
Smart meter guide for Aclara, Honeywell, Flonidan second generation smart meters
Userlevel 7

Updated on 14/12/22 by Emmanuelle_OVO

 

Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specification (SMETS) 2 - Your Guide

  

Thanks to @Transparent for this image

 

What's so great about SMETS2 meters and why should you get one? 

 

  • This new smart technology is supported by all energy suppliers and allows you to switch without losing your smart functionality.
  • These smart meters have highest standard of security for your data. The encryption technology was developed with help from GCHQ and follows strict new regulations and codes of practice, regulated by Ofgem.
  • Much like SMETS1 meters, these SMETS2 meters will automatically submit your meter readings to us. This means you energy bills will always be based on your actual usage rather estimates. If you opt for a daily or half-hourly meter reading schedule, you’ll also see your energy balance updated daily by logging in to your online account or OVO app (download for Android or iOS).
  • You’ll be able to see how much energy different appliances use by using the smart meter usage data shown on your accompanying In-Home Display and OVO Greenlight, our online tool, which can help you manage and reduce your energy use.
  • Installation is always free and easy to arrange online.

 

 

SMETS 2 meter types offered by OVO

 

(Please note that other suppliers may install other types of SMETS 2 meters.)

 

  Aclara (Elec) & Flonidan (Gas) Elster / Honeywell (Elec & Gas)
Installs Installed on all jobs Not currently installed. Installed on some jobs in 2019.
How to identify Meter Serial Number (MSN) begins:
  • Elec: 18M/19M/20M/21M..ect
  • Gas: G4F
Meter Serial Number (MSN) begins:
  • Elec: 188K/19K
  • Gas: G4K
Appearance
  • Elec has blue A button & orange B button
  • Gas has 3 red buttons (A, B & C)
  • Elec has 2 vertical grey buttons (buttons are not labelled)
  • Gas has 3 round buttons: left arrow, circle and right arrow
Dimensions
  • Elec: 160mm H x 127 mm W x 65 mm D
  • Gas: 262mm H x 235mm W x 167mm D
Nearly identical size as Aclara & Flonidan.
 
Reading the meter
  • Elec: Press A three times until TOU Rate 1 appears.
  • Gas: Press C to wake up, then C to access the menu. Use B to scroll and C to select the reading option.
  • Elec: Press the top button once or twice
  • Gas: Press the circle button once or twice

 

 

Size of our SMETS2 meters

 

Aclara V2.5/ Elster Electricity Meter

 

 

Height = 16 cm

Width = 13 cm

Depth = 6.5 cm
 

 

Flonidan/Honeywell Gas Meter
 


Height = 26 cm

Width = 23.5 cm

Depth = 17 cm

 

 

What do the meter buttons do? 

 

Elster/Honeywell meters (Elec MSN has a 'K')
 

Electricity - Press the top button once or twice to access the reading

Gas - Press the middle button once or twice to access the reading. 

 

Aclara/Flonidan meters (Elec MSN has an 'M')
 

Electricity - There’s 2 buttons on an electricity meter. Pressing ‘B’ will cycle through all the menus on the meter screen and pressing  ‘A’ will cycle through all the sub menus. To take an electricity reading, press ‘A’ three times - ‘TOU rate 1’ will be the electricity reading. For Economy 7 members, pressing ‘A’ a fourth time will show the second reading labelled ‘TOU rate 2’.

 

To get your export, that’s on the first submenu. So press A repeatedly to toggle through till you see ‘Total active export’. 
 

Gas - Gas meters have ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Pressing ‘C’ will give you the menu, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons allow you to scroll through the options. When you wake up the meter it should automatically default to the reading screen. The only other screens which will display useful info are:
Screen 1 - readings, active tariff price, standing charge, export reads, meter mode
Screen 2 - date, time, MPAN, 
Screen 6 - Meter Signal strength 

If the meter is connected to the communications hub, it’ll have the word 'HAN' (Home-Area Network) on it and signal bar to show the signal strength. 
If there’s Wide-Area Network (WAN) and HAN coverage the WAN and HAN lights will flash every 5 seconds. If they’re searching for signal then they will flash every 3 seconds and if there’s a connectivity issue then they will flash every 1 second or not flash at all.

 

 

How does a S2 meter communicate? 

 

Unlike S1, S2 electricity meters have a communications (comms) hub attached to them. The electricity meter, gas meter and IHD all communicate with the comms hub via HAN. Only the comms hub uses WAN and it communicates with the DCC (Data Communications Company).  The DCC then communicates with our billing platform.
 

Third parties and systems that use the S2 network. Gentrack, Salesforce, ABE, MIS etc are all internal systems OVO uses. 

 

 

North/South differences

 

 
North
(MPANs 15, 16, 17, 18, 23)
South
(MPANs 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22)
Comms hub appearance
Two lights (WAN and HAN)
Five lights (2nd is WAN and 4th is HAN)
Signal
Uses radio signal - doesn’t depend on mobile signal strength
Uses mobile signal
Aerials
Aerials cannot be installed on North comms hubs which are neither SKU1 or SKU2
SKU1 hubs are fitted if an engineer thinks an aerial is not required
T1 and T2 aerials can be fitted onto SKU2 hubs. Members will see "SKU2 Cellular + Mesh" on the top-right of SKU2 hubs

 

 

FAQS

 

Will SMETS2 meters work with solar panels? 


OVO S2 meters are compatible with solar panels. S2 meters offered by other suppliers should all eventually work with solar panels but it completely depends on where they are in their manufacturing journey as to when this will be.

Are S2 meters compatible with storage heaters?


Yes - 5 port/terminal SMETS2 meters are now available when booking online.

Is there going to be an S3 meter? 


Not that we are aware of. Any upgrades are being done on S2 as you can upgrade all the firmware over the air.

Can S2 handle 3 phase?


Not yet (as of Feb 20221) - but they will be able to in future (exact date tbc)

Will S1 communicate with S2 gas and vice versa or do both need to be the same? For example, if a meter exchange has to happen.

​​​​
As it stands they both need to be the same.

Do we offer Economy 10 for S2? 


Not currently (as of Feb 2022) but this may be possible in future (exact date tbc)

Are we fitting semi-concealed SMETS2 gas meters? 


Yes, the meters are the same but the engineer needs a semi-concealed kit with them to complete the installation, so this needs to be flagged during the booking.

 

 

Hope you’ve found this SMETS 2 guide helpful, there’s more great advice for those considering the smart upgrade in the guides below:

 

 

OVO member but not got a smart meter yet? - Book today!

Smart meter stopped communicating with OVO? Our Online Form will get this raised to the right team.

Interested but not yet an OVO member? - Check out our plans!

 


35 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

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?

Userlevel 7

A lot of the information above is very technical, which we wouldn’t expect our customers to have to know, or be interested in knowing. However, I know of some (one of them above 😉 who value getting access to this information, so we wanted to post it here for your viewing pleasure. I don’t think you’ll find any online OVO content as detailed and technical as this: hope you find it useful! 

 

And are you going tell us what Gentrack is?

 

I’ve updated this now to outline these are internal system names. Thanks for spotting! :spy:

 

Gentrack (for those that are interested) is the name of our old billing platform, used by members who are on the old My OVO online portal. We’ve built our own billing platform over these last few years. Quiet an impressive feat, which we hope other suppliers worldwide may want to purchase and use. 

 

:earth_asia:

Userlevel 7

 

North/South differences

 

 
North
(MPANs 15, 16, 17, 18, 23)
South
(MPANs 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22)
Comms hub appearance
Two lights (WAN and HAN)
Five lights (2nd is WAN and 4th is HAN)
Signal
Uses radio signal - does not depend on mobile signal strength
Uses mobile signal
Aerials
Aerials cannot be installed on North comms hubs which are neither SKU1 or SKU2
SKU1 hubs are fitted if an engineer thinks an aerial is not required
T1 and T2 aerials can be fitted onto SKU2 hubs. Members will see "SKU2 Cellular + Mesh" on the top-right of SKU2 hubs

 

 

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

Userlevel 2

I am very disappointed that I have switched to ovo energy.

The technician came to install both smart meters today. The job could not be done because data has to be transferred through the smart meters sim card which couldn’t pick up the network.

Why can’t the smart meter communicate via the my home wifi/broadband?

RobertKza

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

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.

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

@RobertKza - I understand your ‘disappointment’ with the failure to get your Smart Meters installed.

This is a very rare occurrence. When you booked the appointment a check is made with a national mapping system. This shows the installation engineers the network coverage and which version of the Communications Hub you require.

Energy Suppliers don’t just arrive with a van-full of hardware. The Comms Hub is the property of the Data Communications Company (DCC) and will have been booked out through their systems for your particular site. They too will check the signal coverage.

It’s possible that there was a temporary fault on the section of the National Smart Meter Network on that particular day. The engineer may not have been aware of that when setting off to reach you.

And, by the way, there is no ‘SIM card’ in a Smart Meter. In the Central and Southern parts of the network, the meters do indeed use the existing Telefonica masts. But they don’t use the same GSM signalling as our phones have.

Userlevel 2

@RobertKza- I understand your ‘disappointment’ with the failure to get your Smart Meters installed.

It’s possible that there was a temporary fault on the section of the National Smart Meter Network on that particular day. The engineer may not have been aware of that when setting off to reach you.

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

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

No worries, getting this sorted out should actually be fairly simple for the most part.

The new Smart Meters that have been installed will not need to be replaced - at most it simply needs an engineer visit to retry the commissioning process (if a Smart Gas Meter wasn’t fitted yet, it can be done at the same time). Doesn’t usually take very long and shouldn’t disrupt your supply if memory serves.

The Support Team can arrange this for you, along with running some diagnostics in case this can be fixed remotely -  you can sometimes get lucky! If you check the Comms Hub above the electric meter, you’ll see five green lights. Please could you tell us which ones flash and how often they do so - it helps to give us a quick indication of what’s going on.

I noticed you said in your profile that you didn’t get an IHD either, that’s also an easy fix - please feel free to let the Support Team know about that and they’ll arrange for one to be sent out to you in the post free of charge. Once it arrives, you’ll find instructions in the box that will advise you on what to do next.

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

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! :slight_smile:

Userlevel 2

No worries, getting this sorted out should actually be fairly simple for the most part.

The new Smart Meters that have been installed will not need to be replaced - at most it simply needs an engineer visit to retry the commissioning process (if a Smart Gas Meter wasn’t fitted yet, it can be done at the same time). Doesn’t usually take very long and shouldn’t disrupt your supply if memory serves.

The Support Team can arrange this for you, along with running some diagnostics in case this can be fixed remotely -  you can sometimes get lucky! If you check the Comms Hub above the electric meter, you’ll see five green lights. Please could you tell us which ones flash and how often they do so - it helps to give us a quick indication of what’s going on.

I noticed you said in your profile that you didn’t get an IHD either, that’s also an easy fix - please feel free to let the Support Team know about that and they’ll arrange for one to be sent out to you in the post free of charge. Once it arrives, you’ll find instructions in the box that will advise you on what to do next.

Thanks for this.

On checking the Communications Hub:
all three ‘SW’ ‘WAN’ ‘MESH’ lights flash once every 5 seconds

Userlevel 2

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! :slight_smile:

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

  

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

That’s good news @RobertKza :slight_smile:

So the Comms Hub has successfully linked to the Telefonica Smart Meter Network. That means commands can be sent to your meter without an engineer being on site.

Mesh networks aren’t common. They get implemented where a neighbourhood might suffer from poor reception. All Smart Meters on the Mesh communicate locally with each other. If a house can’t obtain a direct link to the Telefonica mast, then the communications get bounced to another house which can!

The fact that your Mesh indicator is on the slow-flash pattern tells us that you are attached to an active local network with at least three other houses.

Userlevel 2

That’s good news @RobertKza :slight_smile:

So the Comms Hub has successfully linked to the Telefonica Smart Meter Network. That means commands can be sent to your meter without an engineer being on site.

Mesh networks aren’t common. They get implemented where a neighbourhood might suffer from poor reception. All Smart Meters on the Mesh communicate locally with each other. If a house can’t obtain a direct link to the Telefonica mast, then the communications get bounced to another house which can!

The fact that your Mesh indicator is on the slow-flash pattern tells us that you are attached to an active local network with at least three other houses.

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

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +2

If your site has an operational Mesh network, then it’s less of an issue as to whether the communications are directly through your antenna or via your neighbours.

Your location is right on the edge of the ‘dull spot’.

Even if your antenna is providing a direct path to the Telefonica mast, you’re actually in an ideal position to help with relaying Smart Meter traffic from houses to the north and east of you. That underscores the selection of an SKU2 Communications Hub for your house.

I have exactly the same hardware as you. In this case my house acts as the relay for a couple of valleys to the north and west of my hilltop location.

 

Yes - contact the Support Team and let them know your have those three indicators on the slow-flash pattern. Remember to ask for the IHD at the same time.

Userlevel 2

If your site has an operational Mesh network, then it’s less of an issue as to whether the communications are directly through your antenna or via your neighbours.

Your location is right on the edge of the ‘dull spot’.

Even if your antenna is providing a direct path to the Telefonica mast, you’re actually in an ideal position to help with relaying Smart Meter traffic from houses to the north and east of you. That underscores the selection of an SKU2 Communications Hub for your house.

I have exactly the same hardware as you. In my case my house acts as the relay for a couple of valleys to the north and west of my hilltop location.

 

Yes - contact the Support Team and let them know your have those three indicators on the slow-flash pattern. Remember to ask for the IHD at the same time.

Will do, many thanks Regards Robert

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Mesh Network setups are also pretty clever as well for these exact reasons. You also don’t need to do anything yourself to allow other Smart Meters to join the Mesh Network that your site is part of, or to enable the relay functionality - it’s pretty much all done automatically.

You won’t need to worry about this causing issues with getting your meters working, since it’s all very well tested - but what it will do is enable a whole bunch of other houses nearby to get their meters to work. I kinda wish I could have had Raichu configured to allow it to act as a relay point for Mesh stuff, since that would have been pretty useful for the 150+ potential Smart Meters that might get installed at the nearby properties in the next couple of years...

Userlevel 2

Mesh Network setups are also pretty clever as well for these exact reasons. You also don’t need to do anything yourself to allow other Smart Meters to join the Mesh Network that your site is part of, or to enable the relay functionality - it’s pretty much all done automatically.

You won’t need to worry about this causing issues with getting your meters working, since it’s all very well tested - but what it will do is enable a whole bunch of other houses nearby to get their meters to work. I kinda wish I could have had Raichu configured to allow it to act as a relay point for Mesh stuff, since that would have been pretty useful for the 150+ potential Smart Meters that might get installed at the nearby properties in the next couple of years...

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

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

Ahh yes, that sounds like the S2 Smart Meter Health Check then. We’ve got a guide on that!

If you have any trouble with any of the questions, feel free to give us a shout and let us know which ones you're stuck on - we’ll be happy to guide you through.

The engineers report is crucial for OVO to know what happened during the install and what the outcome was - this helps a lot when combined with other information like the Smart Meter Health Checks because it provides the Support Team with a really good picture about what’s going on. They’ll need to review the report before anything else can happen, but it shouldn’t take too long and the 8th October makes sense. I think the next engineer might be able to bring an IHD with them, but you can always have one sent out in the post as an alternative - OVO will even cover the postage costs too! :)

45 days is also the target resolution time for when cases are escalated for further investigation, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to wait that long as it’s just the maximum target with which OVO tries to resolve cases - but obviously getting them resolved faster is definitely much better!

Trust me though, that Aclara SGM1411-B you have now is a million times better than the Landis+Gyr E470 you had before. And I’ve got proof of that!

One of my biggest pet hates with L+G is that they have a nasty habit of re-using model names/numbers repeatedly across completely different products - so it’s almost impossible to tell an S1 L+G E470 apart from an S2 L+G E470 unless you know what to look for. Combine that with terrible buttons and somewhat unreliable firmware… And yeah… I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that stuff!

Userlevel 2

Ahh yes, that sounds like the S2 Smart Meter Health Check then. We’ve got a guide on that!

If you have any trouble with any of the questions, feel free to give us a shout and let us know which ones you're stuck on - we’ll be happy to guide you through.

The engineers report is crucial for OVO to know what happened during the install and what the outcome was - this helps a lot when combined with other information like the Smart Meter Health Checks because it provides the Support Team with a really good picture about what’s going on. They’ll need to review the report before anything else can happen, but it shouldn’t take too long and the 8th October makes sense. I think the next engineer might be able to bring an IHD with them, but you can always have one sent out in the post as an alternative - OVO will even cover the postage costs too! :)

45 days is also the target resolution time for when cases are escalated for further investigation, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to wait that long as it’s just the maximum target with which OVO tries to resolve cases - but obviously getting them resolved faster is definitely much better!

Trust me though, that Aclara SGM1411-B you have now is a million times better than the Landis+Gyr E470 you had before. And I’ve got proof of that!

One of my biggest pet hates with L+G is that they have a nasty habit of re-using model names/numbers repeatedly across completely different products - so it’s almost impossible to tell an S1 L+G E470 apart from an S2 L+G E470 unless you know what to look for. Combine that with terrible buttons and somewhat unreliable firmware… And yeah… I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that stuff!

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

Userlevel 2

Ahh yes, that sounds like the S2 Smart Meter Health Check then. We’ve got a guide on that!

If you have any trouble with any of the questions, feel free to give us a shout and let us know which ones you're stuck on - we’ll be happy to guide you through.

The engineers report is crucial for OVO to know what happened during the install and what the outcome was - this helps a lot when combined with other information like the Smart Meter Health Checks because it provides the Support Team with a really good picture about what’s going on. They’ll need to review the report before anything else can happen, but it shouldn’t take too long and the 8th October makes sense. I think the next engineer might be able to bring an IHD with them, but you can always have one sent out in the post as an alternative - OVO will even cover the postage costs too! :)

45 days is also the target resolution time for when cases are escalated for further investigation, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to wait that long as it’s just the maximum target with which OVO tries to resolve cases - but obviously getting them resolved faster is definitely much better!

Trust me though, that Aclara SGM1411-B you have now is a million times better than the Landis+Gyr E470 you had before. And I’ve got proof of that!

One of my biggest pet hates with L+G is that they have a nasty habit of re-using model names/numbers repeatedly across completely different products - so it’s almost impossible to tell an S1 L+G E470 apart from an S2 L+G E470 unless you know what to look for. Combine that with terrible buttons and somewhat unreliable firmware… And yeah… I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that stuff!

Disappointed when I got up this morning on checking the Communications Hub lights.

Firstly only the ‘SW’ and ‘MESH’ lights were flashing every 5 seconds.
After breakfast all lights except ‘SW’ were flashing, then all lights were on steady then off. Your original comment re ‘in the shadow’ is manifesting itself. Ah well it was worth a try and also dependent on weather and temperatures. It was 5 deg C outside this morning.
Have a great day Regards Robert

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

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

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!

Userlevel 2

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

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!

:wink::blush::blush:

Userlevel 7
Badge +1

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! :joy:

Userlevel 2

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! :joy:

Software based configurable devices make complicated devices look simple and I know they are not. What goes on in the background is amazing. Will continue to monitor and I’ll let you know. Have a great day. Regards Robert

Userlevel 2

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! :joy:

Software based configurable devices make complicated devices look simple and I know they are not. What goes on in the background is amazing. Will continue to monitor and I’ll let you know. Have a great day. Regards Robert

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

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