Hildebrand ihd/cad

Cirrus1

Hi,
I was wondering whether anyone has purchased one of these. If so, how is it doing?
(I know there are apps to show data for free).

Lorian

I don't have one but they have a good reputation.

taw50

I have the Glow IHD from them - I’m happy with that purchase. Their support were fantastic when I had postal issues (not their fault), and I haven’t had any technical issues.

I mostly use the data from the IHD via an integration with HomeAssistant rather than the Bright app, but the Bright app seems to work well. 

In fact having relatively recent/“live” (I think every 30 mins for gas, every 30 seconds for electricity) data has been very useful - my boiler thermostat recently stayed on and left the boiler running overnight. When I woke up I could see the gas usage and was able to identify the problem and get the thermostat sorted.

For me the main advantage is that I can put the IHD in my electronics cabinet and not see it. I know I’m probably in a lucky situation, but don’t really want to see my energy costs every time I go into a particular room - I’d rather check what I’m spending deliberately by opening the app on my phone when I want to.

I feel that the only downsides are that the Bright app is not the fanciest looking, and also that I haven’t figured out how to take a proper meter reading from the Bright app.

[Deleted User]

taw50 said:

I feel that the only downsides are that the Bright app is not the fanciest looking, and also that I haven’t figured out how to take a proper meter reading from the Bright app.

In my opinion, IHD designers really missed a trick with meter readings.  Sadly, the devices that do show readings fail to recognise that smart meters have 4 registers. The standard IHD just shows a total of all the registers that have been used since the meter was installed.

FreeBear

[Deleted User] said:

taw50 said:

I feel that the only downsides are that the Bright app is not the fanciest looking, and also that I haven’t figured out how to take a proper meter reading from the Bright app.

In my opinion, IHD designers really missed a trick with meter readings.  Sadly, the devices that do show readings fail to recognise that smart meters have 4 registers. The standard IHD just shows a total of all the registers that have been used since the meter was installed.

What the government should have done, is to specify a P1 port on all SMETS meters like they have on the continent. This would allow a consumer to plug a simple cable in and access the realtime data directly from the meter without having to futz around with 3rd party apps or buy a Hildebrand Glow (or similar).

[Deleted User]

FreeBear said:

[Deleted User] said:

taw50 said:

I feel that the only downsides are that the Bright app is not the fanciest looking, and also that I haven’t figured out how to take a proper meter reading from the Bright app.

In my opinion, IHD designers really missed a trick with meter readings.  Sadly, the devices that do show readings fail to recognise that smart meters have 4 registers. The standard IHD just shows a total of all the registers that have been used since the meter was installed.

What the government should have done, is to specify a P1 port on all SMETS meters like they have on the continent. This would allow a consumer to plug a simple cable in and access the realtime data directly from the meter without having to futz around with 3rd party apps or buy a Hildebrand Glow (or similar).

You raise a very fair point. I would go even further and suggest that we should have gone for the French Linky system in full.

Astria

FreeBear said:

Dolor said:

taw50 said:

I feel that the only downsides are that the Bright app is not the fanciest looking, and also that I haven’t figured out how to take a proper meter reading from the Bright app.

In my opinion, IHD designers really missed a trick with meter readings.  Sadly, the devices that do show readings fail to recognise that smart meters have 4 registers. The standard IHD just shows a total of all the registers that have been used since the meter was installed.

What the government should have done, is to specify a P1 port on all SMETS meters like they have on the continent. This would allow a consumer to plug a simple cable in and access the realtime data directly from the meter without having to futz around with 3rd party apps or buy a Hildebrand Glow (or similar).

They probably thought that the few percentage of people who would actually use it wouldn't outweigh the cost implications of adding it. Even if it cost the equivalent of £1 per meter, that is £30 million extra funding required, and that's just the meters that are installed currently so actual cost would be higher.

Cirrus1

Thanks for all your responses.

I heard from Hildebrand yesterday and unfortunately their product is not compatible with my new Octopus tariffs (IO and gas tracker). I would have bought it as I would like to have seen near real time electricity data (every 10 secs). The gas would have been at best 30 mins old and probably older. Such a shame not being able to integrate with these tariffs.

I agree that the Bright app is not the most polished of things. There is really no comparison with Octo-Aid in terms of sophistication in my opinion. 

[Deleted User]

Cirrus1 said:

Thanks for all your responses.

I heard from Hildebrand yesterday and unfortunately their product is not compatible with my new Octopus tariffs (IO and gas tracker). I would have bought it as I would like to have seen near real time electricity data (every 10 secs). The gas would have been at best 30 mins old and probably older. Such a shame not being able to integrate with these tariffs.

I agree that the Bright app is not the most polished of things. There is really no comparison with Octo-Aid in terms of sophistication in my opinion. 

I don’t believe you have understood what Hildebrand is saying. All IHDs show gas and electricity usage in kWh and electricity power in kW. The reason that IO and Tracker costs are not accurate is because Octopus has taken the decision not to update the ESME and GSME (the meters) on a daily basis: they set an equivalent or capped unit price. 

The Hildebrand IHD will show near real time electricity data in a similar way to a Chameleon IHD. Gas usage data is 30 minutes old because the GSME only communicates with the gas proxy meter (the mirror) in the comms hub  once every 30 minutes to protect GSME battery life.

Cirrus1

Dolor said:

I don’t believe you have understood what Hildebrand is saying.

There is always that possibility.

From Hildebrand
Octopus Gas Tracker relies on API access, and we cannot support it. 

At the moment, we are unable to fully support Intelligent Octopus, as to our knowledge it relies on integrating with an App you use to manage your EV charging. This means that we don't have a source of truth for this tariff as it isn't put on the meter, which is where we retrieve the cost of consumption from. We are working towards adding the functionality to manually set your own tariff rates in Bright, but do not yet have a timeline for when this will be available. What is set on your meters is what appears in Bright.

If you know otherwise, I would be happy to hear.

Alnat1

Simply put, Bright can't show the correct charges for your tariffs but they will be able to show kWh usage.