Does OVO supply a type of In Home Display unit for smart meters which also shows generation from solar panels? Where can I find user and installation instructions? I want to know if there is a meaningful comparison of electricity usage vs generation (including setting FiT rates), and I want to know how it connects e.g. to inverter’s wifi or current clamp onto solar wire.
Best answer by ArundaleP
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+1
Hi
This is a good one actually. The exact answer depends on your setup. As far as I’m aware, it’s impossible for an IHD to show data from anything that’s not on the Home Area Network like a generation meter. If you had Smart Export Guarantee with your smart meter handling export metering, the IHD may be able to show this data depending on the IHD you’ve got, however this functionality is not supported for the Feed-in Tariff if memory serves.
I’m afraid in your case, there’s nothing out there that I can recommend because FiT cannot integrate with any smart meter that I’m aware of. I think
We have had a number of solar monitoring products, but recently discontinued the devices as they were so old. This includes a pre-smart meter that measured import, export and generation, and we calculated consumption.
Justifying integration of this capability into our smart meter IHDs, we have struggled to do.
Within smart metering there is a twin element meter, which can be wired I believe to support generation. However, they are not very common, and I seem to recall some challenges with data going into the DCC.
The best you will do is buying a solar monitor, and manually working it out.
Our IHDs with the newer firmware support showing import/export live on a dial, and give you the import and export meter reads, but that is about it today.
Sorry I cannot be of more help Kevin @geo
Thanks
Can you supply a link to the new IHD which can show import export live on a dial so I can see what this looks like and what it takes to capture solar data. I’m not so much interested in billing level accuracy rather to decide at a moment in time if there is enough solar to switch on both the washing machine and dishwasher without importing too much from grid.
+1
Photos of that kind of IHD are extremely hard to come by I’m afraid. I can definitely show you photos of what the displays on a regular Geo IHD look like with the dial though. Their website at https://geotogether.com/ has a few photos of them if that helps.
The other snag is that Geo doesn’t currently sell any IHD products directly to consumers that I know of and if their solar monitors are gone, that doesn’t leave many options. Kevin happens to be very clued up as well with these things, so he’d know if there was anything else that he could recommend.
Depending on your solar setup, there might be other options though. Could you tell us what system you’ve got as I might be able to call in some help from a few other members.
Thanks
Can you supply a link to the new IHD which can show import export live on a dial so I can see what this looks like and what it takes to capture solar data. I’m not so much interested in billing level accuracy rather to decide at a moment in time if there is enough solar to switch on both the washing machine and dishwasher without importing too much from grid.
If that is your goal, why don’t you just look at the export? My IHD shows export just as it would show import (and in fact the two are virtually indistinguishable, only separated by a few tiny pixel).
One potential problem is that both the washing machine and the dishwasher will have vastly different power requirements as they go through their cycle. Heating does use a lot of power for both, but it is only active intermittently.
Was your IHD supplied by OVO,
Be really interested to hear how the export reading can be viewed if so. We were under the impression that our IHDs weren’t able to show this info so happy to update this topic if we’re incorrect.
As for other ways to view export data,
Hi, this is an interesting and important topic. If all you want to know is how much you are exporting at that moment (a dial / live reading) then the IHD should show a negative reading for consumption. The problem is there are several types of meter (Smets 1 or Smets 2) and the different data they transmit. As far as I know, both will allow a live reading (which shows energy flow at the meter at that moment) but only Smets 2 has the ability to show export meters (ie a separate meter in kWh for how much you exported).
I don’t use the OVO supplied IHD but use a product called the Glow Stick by Hildebrand which has a great app with lots of data (including live electricity flow through the meter). The app looks like this
You can clearly see my current export is 2700W.
You can purchase the Glow Stick from their website but make sure you purchase the correct one depending on your smart meter type (Smets 1 or Smets 2).
If you have any questions, fire away.
Paul
Normal dial when installed with a system with no export
For a system with export we change the dial by adding an export segment (ignore the prepay tab, only shown if you meter is in prepay mode)
When exporting it looks like this.
We don’t use negative numbers on the UI for energy, so the text helps reinforce what it is showing you.
Why grey out the dial? We did this to make it easier to see from across the room if you were importing or exporting.
Example of the meter reading screen with export readings
As noted by
Hi, this is an interesting and important topic. If all you want to know is how much you are exporting at that moment (a dial / live reading) then the IHD should show a negative reading for consumption. The problem is there are several types of meter (Smets 1 or Smets 2) and the different data they transmit. As far as I know, both will allow a live reading (which shows energy flow at the meter at that moment) but only Smets 2 has the ability to show export meters (ie a separate meter in kWh for how much you exported).
I don’t use the OVO supplied IHD but use a product called the Glow Stick by Hildebrand which has a great app with lots of data (including live electricity flow through the meter). The app looks like this
You can clearly see my current export is 2700W.
You can purchase the Glow Stick from their website but make sure you purchase the correct one depending on your smart meter type (Smets 1 or Smets 2).
Thanks Paul. My export meter isn’t Smart and I don’t think I can have it changed as I’m on a FiT contract. Can it still be connected to Glow Stick using a cable clamp?
Thanks Kevin, does the export part need a SMETs meter which mine isn’t. Or can a cable clamp be used to monitor export current?
+1
Hildebrand has been pretty friendly with me recently, and they’ve been teaching me about their offerings in order to help me to help other forum members out.
I’m afraid from their information, the Hildebrand Glow Stick cannot be connected to cable clamps and incompatible with non-smart meters of any kind.
It’s a bit of a nightmare to “smartify” non-smart stuff of this kind I’m afraid, and I can’t think of any way to make such devices be able to join the HAN for a SMETS1 or SMETS2 site - not least because you’d have to get through ZigBee Certification for starters. And that’s a long process before you even go through literally any other certifications.
Hildebrand has been pretty friendly with me recently, and they’ve been teaching me about their offerings in order to help me to help other forum members out.
I’m afraid from their information, the Hildebrand Glow Stick cannot be connected to cable clamps and incompatible with non-smart meters of any kind.
It’s a bit of a nightmare to “smartify” non-smart stuff of this kind I’m afraid, and I can’t think of any way to make such devices be able to join the HAN for a SMETS1 or SMETS2 site - not least because you’d have to get through ZigBee Certification for starters. And that’s a long process before you even go through literally any other certifications.
Thanks it’s a shame that the display devices don’t support real world use cases. The solar FiT meter isn’t smart as the government required quarterly readings only deem that I export 50% of what I generate. I’m on a 20 year contract for solar and don’t expect a meter change unless OVO who administer the FiT scheme tell me differently . So I need to monitor generation and try to maximise my usage of solar. I have two old monitors side by side for that purpose. Getting an OVO smart display will add yet another display but not help
with optimising solar usage.
We don’t use negative numbers on the UI for energy, so the text helps reinforce what it is showing you.
Why grey out the dial? We did this to make it easier to see from across the room if you were importing or exporting.
Thanks Kevin, does the export part need a SMETs meter which mine isn’t. Or can a cable clamp be used to monitor export current?
Yes all of the Trio devices work with SMETS meters.
Hildebrand has been pretty friendly with me recently, and they’ve been teaching me about their offerings in order to help me to help other forum members out.
I’m afraid from their information, the Hildebrand Glow Stick cannot be connected to cable clamps and incompatible with non-smart meters of any kind.
It’s a bit of a nightmare to “smartify” non-smart stuff of this kind I’m afraid, and I can’t think of any way to make such devices be able to join the HAN for a SMETS1 or SMETS2 site - not least because you’d have to get through ZigBee Certification for starters. And that’s a long process before you even go through literally any other certifications.
Thanks it’s a shame that the display devices don’t support real world use cases. The solar FiT meter isn’t smart as the government required quarterly readings only deem that I export 50% of what I generate. I’m on a 20 year contract for solar and don’t expect a meter change unless OVO who administer the FiT scheme tell me differently . So I need to monitor generation and try to maximise my usage of solar. I have two old monitors side by side for that purpose. Getting an OVO smart display will add yet another display but not help
with optimising solar usage.
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to do this. We used to sell twin-element meters with a display and hub (prior to the bottom falling out of FiTs), this would measure import, export, generation and calculate consumption.
Today in a SMETS world you would need a SMETS IHD monitoring import/export and have the ability to support a meter transmitter either LED or CT for generation. It is technologically possible, however justifying the business case is much harder.
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