Octopus Smart Meter Fault - pre-testing with wattmeter, or straight to Meter Accuracy Test

Grizzlebeard

Zero cost no purchase test.

Isolate everything else in house at fusebox.

Check LED (anti-creep)^^ comes on solid within 3 minutes.

Switch on kettle.

Use mobile phone camera to video the flashing LED (spinning disk) on main meter.

It's much easier to count the individual watts being used on the vid for exactly one minute and multiply 60/1000 to calculate kWh accurate to (nearly) 3 decimal places.

Expect a 3kWh rated kettle to actually use ~2.7kWh to 2.9kWh (3kWh max is when element first cold reducing a bit as it warms up.)

Mathematicians/engineers feel free to correct anything I got wrong.

(^^How my dumb meter works, not sure about all meters)

Gerry1

Grizzlebeard said:

Mathematicians/engineers feel free to correct anything I got wrong.

(^^How my dumb meter works, not sure about all meters)

Not all metrology lights are permanently illuminated if no current is being drawn; if so, just watch for a few minutes and make sure no flash is seen.

The calculation assumes that there are 1000 impulses per kWh.  If not, adjust pro rata, e.g. multiply the result by 1000/800 if the light is marked '800 Imp/kWh'.

Grizzlebeard

Gerry1 said:

Grizzlebeard said:

Mathematicians/engineers feel free to correct anything I got wrong.

(^^How my dumb meter works, not sure about all meters)

Not all metrology lights are permanently illuminated if no current is being drawn; if so, just watch for a few minutes and make sure no flash is seen.

The calculation assumes that there are 1000 impulses per kWh.  If not, adjust pro rata, e.g. multiply the result by 1000/800 if the light is marked '800 Imp/kWh'.

Thanks Gerry

Really glad I asked for some extra expertise.

Phones4Chris

Gerry1 said:

Phones4Chris said:

@RogueRecruit As I mentioned in my first reply "A simple check would be to switch everything off and check the power usage of say your kettle and compare it to the power usage on your IHD."
That's an easy first check that won't cost you anything. It'll at least shows that the meter is correctly recognising the load but doesn't of course prove that the kWh usage is incrementing correctly, but that would be an unusual fault.
Once that's done then do the check suggested using an electric fan heater.

Not everyone has an IHD, but the red metrology light on the meter on the wall is your friend.  (Or even the spinning disc !)
Just do the Meter Sanity Test.

He said in his OP that he had the smart meter two years ago, so he should have an IHD! If he hasn't, under OFGEM's new rules he should be able to get one from his supplier.
In any case I did said it was a simple first check which anyone should be able to do. You should be able to rely of the load reading on the IHD. Then proceed with the meter sanity test BUT in addition you need to check that the READING on the meter is incrementing correctly. IF the meter is faulty, it may not increment correctly in relation to the number of flashes.

bob2302

Phones4Chris said:

If all the meter readings tally etc. and it's not estimated billing, then you might want to consider buying a plug-in Energy Consumption Meter. Lidl were selling a Mebus one not too long ago, you may still find one or two in your local store, they were about £6.99 iirc. measuring range 0.3W to 3.120kW. (I certainly wouldn't waste money buying a more expensive one £10-20 or more).

I wouldn't buy a cheap power meter when you can get a tapo p110 for £9.99. They are much more convenient and powerful, and they don't  eat button cells.

TheElectricCow

Gerry1 said:

Phones4Chris said:

@RogueRecruit As I mentioned in my first reply "A simple check would be to switch everything off and check the power usage of say your kettle and compare it to the power usage on your IHD."
That's an easy first check that won't cost you anything. It'll at least shows that the meter is correctly recognising the load but doesn't of course prove that the kWh usage is incrementing correctly, but that would be an unusual fault.
Once that's done then do the check suggested using an electric fan heater.

Not everyone has an IHD, but the red metrology light on the meter on the wall is your friend.  (Or even the spinning disc !)
Just do the Meter Sanity Test.

Even without an IHD the same instantaneous use information that it would display may also be visible on the meter itself, provided that the user can navigate through the menus to find it (might need the help of an instruction manual for this).

Phones4Chris

bob2302 said:

Phones4Chris said:

If all the meter readings tally etc. and it's not estimated billing, then you might want to consider buying a plug-in Energy Consumption Meter. Lidl were selling a Mebus one not too long ago, you may still find one or two in your local store, they were about £6.99 iirc. measuring range 0.3W to 3.120kW. (I certainly wouldn't waste money buying a more expensive one £10-20 or more).

I wouldn't buy a cheap power meter when you can get a tapo p110 for £9.99. They are much more convenient and powerful, and they don't  eat button cells.

I did NOT refer to any cheap power meter, I specifically referred to the Mebus one. It does not use button cells to be eaten up, it uses no cells/batteries at all.
Now AFAIK the P110 does NOT provide the ability to give instantaneous power readings which was the whole point of the suggestion. If you believe it does, please provide a link to the exact manufacturer's spec. where it says that, and whilst you are about it you could research the Mebus spec. which is a reputable German brand.

Bendo

Phones4Chris said:

bob2302 said:

Phones4Chris said:

If all the meter readings tally etc. and it's not estimated billing, then you might want to consider buying a plug-in Energy Consumption Meter. Lidl were selling a Mebus one not too long ago, you may still find one or two in your local store, they were about £6.99 iirc. measuring range 0.3W to 3.120kW. (I certainly wouldn't waste money buying a more expensive one £10-20 or more).

I wouldn't buy a cheap power meter when you can get a tapo p110 for £9.99. They are much more convenient and powerful, and they don't  eat button cells.

I did NOT refer to any cheap power meter, I specifically referred to the Mebus one. It does not use button cells to be eaten up, it uses no cells/batteries at all.
Now AFAIK the P110 does NOT provide the ability to give instantaneous power readings which was the whole point of the suggestion. If you believe it does, please provide a link to the exact manufacturer's spec. where it says that, and whilst you are about it you could research the Mebus spec. which is a reputable German brand.

The p110 does display instantaneous power.

Phones4Chris

Thanks for that, but TP-Link do not mention it in their spec. Perhaps you could contact them and tell them they are missing a trick!
But apart from which, whilst it may give instantaneous power usage, it's a remote switch and it consumes power according to its spec. 0.64W when off, 1.64W when on. It's also requires WiFi and an App on a smart phone. It doesn't have the ability to set your unit cost and tell you how much the energy usage cost you, unless this is another feature not specified! It also has a slightly lower max. load 2990W vs 3120W for the Mebus.
Whilst Mebus don't specify how much power the unit consumes, it will be a miniscule amount when the display is active and for the electronics.

It's very much a case of horses for courses, if you are only interested in the power consumption, voltage and what it's costing you, why pay £3 more for a remote switch you don't need!

Bendo

Not checked the features list but it does support setting a unit cost (alas no Agile integration sadly just fixed or E7 style tariffs).