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More smart meter IHD craziness (Part 3)

  • 27 January 2021
  • 66 replies
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schase
Userlevel 6
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Here’s another example of just how screwed up my Geo IHD has become (the problem manifested itself over a month ago, but I’ve been too busy of late to post). I suspect this latest error may have been caused by a buggy update pushed to my IHD.

Check out the attached photos from 1-Jan of the gas usage. The IHD bar graphs stopped showing accumulated gas usage in mid-December. The hourly (daily) graphs appear OK, so I haven’t posted them, but the weekly, monthly, and annual graphs (the latter not attached) no longer correctly show accumulated usage. The electricity usage appears OK (other than the standing charge issue mentioned in a previous post).

Given the other problems with the IHD not showing correct amounts (see my previous posts below), I’ve pretty much given up on using the IHD for anything other than instaneous and daily hourly data until such time as these errors are rectified.

This might not bode well for the pilot I’ll be participating in with the consumer access device plugged into the IHD: 

 

My previous IHD issues:

Monthly gas usage bar chart (1-Jan-2021), incorrectly showing no sigificant accumulation after 14-Dec
Weekly gas usage bar chart (1-Jan-2021), incorrectly showing no significant accumulation on previous days. The correct total for Friday will disappear on the following day.

 

66 replies

Marc
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Thanks @schase for postng this detail

I’ve passed it on to the smart meters team. No doubt they will have a question or two!

D
Userlevel 7
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@Marc 

I posted a similar issue in the futures thread

In response to a post by @schase 

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C

I notice mine was doing the same too, just for gas. I too have given up on what the IHD says. 

myauntie
Badge +3

I wonder if there’s a wider issue? I reported an error with mine also a few months ago - unfortunately I still need to wait another 3 weeks before I can see if my replacement unit actually resolves the issue

 

Marc
Rank

I think yours is a different issue @myauntie 

What @schase and @Duppy are seeing is that accumulated usage doesn’t tally.

Whereas you’re not seeing any usage at all because it won’t talk to the comms hub due to a commissioning issue.

Neither is a good thing, of course.

Incidentally, my IHD stopped working yesterday. All I could see was ‘waiting for data’.

But, the Geo app on my phone which speaks to the consumer access device which plugs into the IHD (being tested in our half-hourly reads pilot) was still showing me real-time elec usage, even with the IHD display being on the blink. Weird, huh?

Oh, and by the evening the IHD was showing usage again. As far as I know nothing had changed.

myauntie
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Hi @Marc - true, my replacement unit is still not connected, however it’s also worth noting that my original issue was that the usage displayed on my previous IHD didn’t tally.

  

 

myauntie
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Apologies @Marc - I had posted a link to the wrong thread: How accurate are the In-Home Display (IHD) readings? | Community (purepla.net)

 

Marc
Rank

Ah yes indeed @myauntie 

I’m not a big fan of IHDs! :tired_face:

When we began our smart meters pilot planning (we’re talking way back in Spring of 2018) we’d hoped to not give out IHDs to our Members, but instead offer the energy use info in our app. As well as being a better user experience, it would also be more sustainable (less use of plastic, less waste on an item many people turn off and stick in a kitchen cupboard).

But the energy market rules state said we had to include IHDs. We’d be fined big time if we didn’t. I believe that the reasoning does have some merit - namely so people without smart phones aren’t excluded.

I think it led to the real-time energy usage in app project being pushed back, and back. 

We are working that, too, by the way. It just seems crazy that the ‘smart experience’ has to involve IHDs - there are so many different models and bits of firmware out there.

Not making excuses here! Just adding my Friday thoughts.

 

myauntie
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Thanks @Marc - I wasn’t aware. The idea of the energy use being built in to the app (or accessible via the web portal) is great, such a pity it was pushed back.

Any idea of when a pilot version might be available?

Marc
Rank

Any idea of when a pilot version might be available?

It’s about to start @myauntie :slight_smile::wink:

 

Marc
Rank

Hi @schase 

Our smart meter team are still checking this out, and are in discussions with Geo. It’s been suggested by Geo that it could have been caused by a firmware update, but our team can’t see any update at the time it stopped working. (Same with @Duppy who looks to have the same issue).

So, they’d offered to carry out a decommission and recommission of the IHD to see if that works. It’ll take a couple of days and you will lose the historical data. But it might fix the issue going forward.

What do you think?

D
Userlevel 7
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Hi @Marc , certainly worth a try, I'm not bothered about losing the historical data as the gas is wrong anyway.

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schase
Userlevel 6
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@Marc,  I agree with @Duppy; it’s worth a try to recommission the IHD. But I have little doubt that it was caused by a firmware update (although I don’t believe we get any alerts about these).

And I do wish they could fix the problem with the electricity £ amounts not adding the daily standing charge to the IHD totals (despite it showing in the IHD’s Tariff section), but from the previous discussion it sounds like it may be a bug with the meter itself :disappointed_relieved:

 

D
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Hi @Marc  I don't know if this info is any use to you

 

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Marc
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Thanks @schase @Duppy 

Sam from our smart meters team is going to run the decom/recom on Monday. He reckons he can do it in a couple of hours, but he’d rather not do it on a Friday, in case there are any probs.

Marc
Rank

Hi @schase @Duppy I believe Sam from the smart meters team has emailed you both to confirm he’s done the recommissioning, and that if you can give it 24 hours :thumbsup:

D
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That's right @Marc , although initial results are not promising, will continue to monitor

Growing OLD is inevitable, growing UP is optional
schase
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Hi @schase @Duppy I believe Sam from the smart meters team has emailed you both to confirm he’s done the recommissioning, and that if you can give it 24 hours :thumbsup:

Well, something happened yesterday morning when I was out. I came home to see the IHD working but all of my preferences (e.g. display, budget, wifi connection) had been reset. I set them up again. All data still there as before with no change, so I’m unclear whether the IHD was actually recomissioned.

I did not move the IHD closer to the electricity meter as requested, as I was unsure whether the recommissioning had already happened (it currently sits in the location where the Magnum installer put it on the two occasions it was commissioned). I noted this in an email response to Samuel, but have not heard back.

D
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@schase 

Like you I didn't receive an email to say it had been done, only that it would. But it did go off/restart and all settings reset to defaults.

Having checked this just now the IHD informs me I used £0.89 of gas yesterday ( of which 23p is MF ), if only.

Growing OLD is inevitable, growing UP is optional
schase
Userlevel 6
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@schase

Like you I didn't receive an email to say it had been done, only that it would. But it did go off/restart and all settings reset to defaults.

Having checked this just now the IHD informs me I used £0.89 of gas yesterday ( of which 23p is MF ), if only.

Gee, @Duppy, I’m doing even better than you: only 30p of gas charges yesterday--meaning I used only 3.3p of gas :joy::joy:. And with the electricity it’s the reverse: the IHD shows the electricity usage without including the 26.66p daily standing charge.

At least the app is providing more information :grinning:

D
Userlevel 7
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Hi @Marc 

Thanks to the wizardry of the app, I can see that the recommissioning of the IHD didn't have the desired effect.

The first photo shows gas use yesterday, the total usage shows at £0.23, but highlighted 17.00 hrs shows £0.44 spent in the hour, with corresponding usage in the following hours

The second photo shows this week where Monday and Tuesday usage at £0.23.

It appears that while the IHD does show actual usage for the day, the accumulated usage dons Cinderella slippers at midnight and disappears into the night, to only show the daily membership fee of £0.23

 

Growing OLD is inevitable, growing UP is optional
D
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Growing OLD is inevitable, growing UP is optional
Marc
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Hey @Duppy You’re confusing me a bit now! What is the IHD showing?

We expected to lose the historical accumulated usage once the recommissioning took place, but hoped that it would work again going forward.

Shall we wait a couple more days, see if accumulated usage in the IHD begins to work again?

 

D
Userlevel 7
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Hi @Marc , the IHD showing the same but not as detailed as the app. Well give it a while longer to see if it starts behaving, The historical data ( for electric anyway ) has been retained

Growing OLD is inevitable, growing UP is optional
Marc
Rank

Hi @Marc , the IHD showing the same but not as detailed as the app. Well give it a while longer to see if it starts behaving, The historical data ( for electric anyway ) has been retained

Thanks @Duppy OK we’ll give it a little longer. Doesn’t look too promising though. I’ve flagged with Sam from our smart meters team, so he can have a think about what to try next. 

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