Voltage optimiser for home use

cfw1994

[Deleted User] said:

If your voltage is 262volts then you need to contact your DNO. The maximum limit for the Grid is 253volts. If you have a smart meter then you can use it to check your Grid voltage. It is worth checking the voltage at night when there is no solar output before contacting your DNO just to make sure that the high voltage is not coming from your inverter. 

https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/voltage_changes.aspx

We do have a SMETS 2 meter, but the buttons on it don't appear to give any useful info regarding voltage...guess I could ask our supplier (Octopus) to check?

Thanks all for answers, confirms we should broadly ignore their clear sales pitch....I do wonder how accurate his testing plug really is, although I imagine it would be harder to get a deliberately over-reading gizmo than a normal one.   If we really aver over the Grid limit, that sounds like something perhaps is awry...

[Deleted User]

cfw1994 said:

[Deleted User] said:

If your voltage is 262volts then you need to contact your DNO. The maximum limit for the Grid is 253volts. If you have a smart meter then you can use it to check your Grid voltage. It is worth checking the voltage at night when there is no solar output before contacting your DNO just to make sure that the high voltage is not coming from your inverter. 

https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/voltage_changes.aspx

We do have a SMETS 2 meter, but the buttons on it don't appear to give any useful info regarding voltage...guess I could ask our supplier (Octopus) to check?

Thanks all for answers, confirms we should broadly ignore their clear sales pitch....I do wonder how accurate his testing plug really is, although I imagine it would be harder to get a deliberately over-reading gizmo than a normal one.   If we really aver over the Grid limit, that sounds like something perhaps is awry...

Which meter model do you have? 

wittynamegoeshere

Big Clive has the answers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKasA4HxaGY

wittynamegoeshere

My conclusions from the Big Clive video...

It sort of does do what it claims to do.  But all it does is decrease the voltage by a fixed proportion.  If the mains was 220V one day then yours would probably be below 200V, i.e. out of spec.

It will increase your electricity bill.

It can only carry a small amount of current.  Beyond this it automatically bypasses itself (i.e. ceases to have any effect) or just blows up and permanently dies.

It's definitely not worth £2400, I'm guessing it costs around £100 to produce.

I would bet that the meter shown in the photo has been tampered with to give high readings.  Most meters have adjustment, specifically to allow them to be calibrated accurately.  You can probably just turn whatever adjuster there is to give a nice high reading quite easily.  At most, they'd just need to change a resistor to give a false reading.  I can't imagine that they waste their time on the sales pitch only to plug in an accurate meter and prove that the potential mug doesn't need one 99% of the time.  If this has worried you, buy a cheap meter to check for yourself.

Merlin139

This was the thread I started in April 2016 about Voltage Optimiser and they were £895 then and still did nothing.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/70573413#Comment_70573413 

cfw1994

Dolor said:

cfw1994 said:

Dolor said:

If your voltage is 262volts then you need to contact your DNO. The maximum limit for the Grid is 253volts. If you have a smart meter then you can use it to check your Grid voltage. It is worth checking the voltage at night when there is no solar output before contacting your DNO just to make sure that the high voltage is not coming from your inverter. 

https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/voltage_changes.aspx

We do have a SMETS 2 meter, but the buttons on it don't appear to give any useful info regarding voltage...guess I could ask our supplier (Octopus) to check?

Thanks all for answers, confirms we should broadly ignore their clear sales pitch....I do wonder how accurate his testing plug really is, although I imagine it would be harder to get a deliberately over-reading gizmo than a normal one.   If we really aver over the Grid limit, that sounds like something perhaps is awry...

Which meter model do you have? 

Hi there,
It is this Toshiba:


& pretty well the only displays I get (without guessing at some arcane button clicking pattern!) are these:



Octopus haven't replied to my tweet (busy dealing with onboarding LOTS of new customers, I suspect!)

Any thoughts?

Verdigris

The meter is actually Landis & Gyr, model 5424, the comms unit is Toshiba. I just had a look at the L&G site and they are still showing the older style meter in the E470 range. I'm afraid these new ones do have a non-intuitive button pressing sequence to find anything but a Rate 1 reading. I seem to remember a ten-second press and hold will reveal further options. You won't break it bu experimenting.

[Deleted User]

Sadly, L & G chooses to designate most of its electric meters E470. Voltage information is available under Instaneous Values.

https://assets.ctfassets.net/z0vjjzshbxiz/4aPLdcffUunWGa74A0RPKX/f35957ff7dcd7e0824c21486ffe5afc2/Landis_Gyr_E470_Series_3_Manual.pdf

cfw1994

Hmmm....well, that manual certainly shows I should be able to get the detail....but no detail on actually HOW to get those displays.
Pressing & holding either button for 10s (15s) made zero difference.
Weird!

wittynamegoeshere

If the voltage in your neighbourhood really was 262V then I think you'd know about it.  You'd regularly see random neighbours' houses bursting into flames.

Cold caller selling scammy overvoltage protection system plugs his special meter in and sees... overvoltage.

That Habotest HT107E is from £4.09 from Alibaba in China...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001387982364.html

I've seen a teardown photo of a similar model, it's uses two resistors as a potential divider to scale down the voltage it reads.  Give me 20 minutes with a soldering iron and a budget of 5p for a resistor and I could make it read anything you liked.