IHD problems

Nebulous2

I had an appointment for smart meters on 20th December and he only fitted electric as the gas meter was too far from the electric one to get a signal. The IHD is a smartview 2, which looks a bit like a 90s mobile phone. I've signed up to the Bright app and that is working. 

The IHD has hung twice already and I've been unable to switch it off. I've had to resort to pulling the battery to reset it. Is that common?  Is my one faulty, or is the software all flaky? 

I'm beginning to doubt if it has any value at all. What do people use it for? 

Maybe I should put it away and just use the bright app. 

ariarnia

our ihd is in a draw somewhere. but the difference is that the bright app updates once a day. the ihd is (if working) more or less instant. that means you can use it to real time check the power being used. some people like that to do a quick mot of there use maybe once or twice a year. other people (like me) are happy looking at yesterdays half hourly data and thinking 'that was when i used the air fryer' or 'that was when son was on xbox'. 

t0rt0ise

I don't use the IHD. I put it in the drawer as soon as the meter fitter had gone. It wouldn't be helpful for me to know that turning on an appliance uses energy. I use what I need and that's it.

CanNeverThinkOfAUsername

I was sorting some boxes from the loft a few weeks ago and found my old IHD from when E.ON installed my smart meter, i think i used it for about a week before it went into the "Junk box that i may need someday so can't chuck away". But i have never needed it, i just use the online account and iphone app to see my usage etc.

Nebulous2

ariarnia said:

our ihd is in a draw somewhere. but the difference is that the bright app updates once a day. the ihd is (if working) more or less instant. that means you can use it to real time check the power being used. some people like that to do a quick mot of there use maybe once or twice a year. other people (like me) are happy looking at yesterdays half hourly data and thinking 'that was when i used the air fryer' or 'that was when son was on xbox'. 

My bright app seems to be better than that. I set the meter up for half-hourly messaging with my provider. It's currently about 4 hours behind, showing 10am this morning. 

_Sam_

I use IHD to track solar generation, e.g. if I run an appliance and IHD shows 0 electricity is being used that tells me the appliance runs from solar energy. (Then, say it gets cloudy and IHD is no longer zero, I would switch off the appliance until sun is back. Use this often with dehumidifier.)

I do want a proper monitor for solar though and once we have it, there will be little use for IHD.

ariarnia

Nebulous2 said:

ariarnia said:

our ihd is in a draw somewhere. but the difference is that the bright app updates once a day. the ihd is (if working) more or less instant. that means you can use it to real time check the power being used. some people like that to do a quick mot of there use maybe once or twice a year. other people (like me) are happy looking at yesterdays half hourly data and thinking 'that was when i used the air fryer' or 'that was when son was on xbox'. 

My bright app seems to be better than that. I set the meter up for half-hourly messaging with my provider. It's currently about 4 hours behind, showing 10am this morning. 

yeah. to be fair ours jumps around a bit. sometimes we get 30 min updates on the app. sometimes its 1am. sometimes theres a delay of a day or 2 (like just recently over christmas). 

but thats the only real difference between the app and in home display. if you want 'instant' numbers then thats what the ihd can give you. if your only look for trends every few months or whatever then the bright app has all the data (i think) better displayed and more useful. 

matelodave

I've had a Smartview IHD since May 2017 and apart from the fact that is has to be within about two metres of the meter it does what it should. We dont have gas so its only reading the electric meter which is outside so it saves going outside to read it, something the Bright app cant do

I 've always been able see my consumption in real time and, since Eon-Next took it over last year ,I've also been able to check how much it costs because they are keeping the tariff data up to date on it. (not even SSE who installed it could manage that).

On top of that I can see my historical data although Bright is better for doing that as it shows it in 30minute chunks right back to the beginning of 2021 when I suspect the meter was enrolled onto the DCC. The IHD can show 30min chunks for a day, daily for a week, weekly for a month and monthly for 13 months, so Bright is much better for historical data if that's what you want.

Nebulous2

matelodave said:

I've had a Smartview IHD since May 2017 and apart from the fact that is has to be within about two metres of the meter it does what it should. We dont have gas so its only reading the electric meter which is outside so it saves going outside to read it, something the Bright app cant do

I 've always been able see my consumption in real time and, since Eon-Next took it over last year ,I've also been able to check how much it costs because they are keeping the tariff data up to date on it. (not even SSE who installed it could manage that).

On top of that I can see my historical data although Bright is better for doing that as it shows it in 30minute chunks right back to the beginning of 2021 when I suspect the meter was enrolled onto the DCC. The IHD can show 30min chunks for a day, daily for a week, weekly for a month and monthly for 13 months, so Bright is much better for historical data if that's what you want.

So it doesn't hang? 

My one has done so again this morning. It's stuck at 2am and £0.43 and none of the buttons will do anything.