Comms Hub Fault?

Phones4Chris

@Reed_Richards What make/model is your Smart Meter?

Reed_Richards

I don't want to hijack this thread but my smart meter is a Kaifa MA120B.  It just has two wires in and two wires out.  On top of that sits an Edmi "standard 420".

EssexHebridean

Oddly enough the app now shows 2 days of electric and a day of gas readings where it appears that use must have been communicated properly. My last meter reading on the app still shows as the manual one I gave on Friday though. Perhaps an intermittent fault then... 

Reed_Richards

Is that odd?  Your meter should log its half-hourly data and transmit it if communication is restored.  Even a brief period of communication might enable a catch-up so it could be that your comms are intermittently up, even if mostly down.  

EssexHebridean

It could be, and if so, I suspect that could turn out to be a PITA!  The last meter readings on the app have now updated to 1/7/24 - but whether those are estimates or actuals, I have no idea... . It will be interesting to see how things pan out going forwards, anyway.

Reed_Richards

I have no idea what the Octopus app tells you but third party apps like Loop, n3rgy etc will give you actual readings, never estimates.  I know this with certainty because I have a 12 day blank period in my own readings.

EssexHebridean

Yes - that would obviously be the case with the 3rd party apps as they can only get the data if the hub is sending the readings. Octopus of course do have the ability to estimate...however...

...My hub does seem to be working again now, which is good. Whether Octopus did indeed try a remote reset of the comms hub when it was sent to the smart meter team (I have no idea if they can do this without informing the customer?) of whether it was just some form of glitch which applied for a week or so and then sorted itself, I have no idea. There are still some gaps showing in last week's use, but most have been filled in over the past few days. 

Fingers crossed that the problem is resolved. 

PHoppers

Hi
I moved to Agile on 9 March (from years on the original Tracker v1). Firstly, I agree with what at least one person said above, best to use your API in a third party app to clearly see what data is missing. I use Octopus Watch on Android device to clearly see what's missing, for some reason the data loss usually includes one hour into the next day, so you'll lose that day as well because it's incomplete. Secondly, and this is why to use a third party app, the Home Mini is just a glorified IHD and looks like it's what gives you the 'day' info in your octopus account/app. However, the 'day' info supplied by the home mini to your octopus app cannot be used by Octopus for billing you. For billing they must use the data supplied officially from Aquiva (North) and Telefonica (south). So, if you use your API in a third party app you are just seeing the official Aquiva/Telefonica data, not Home Mini.  
I've gone for months without data loss, but had quite a number of lost data days just recently, in one case 5 days 21-25 June. I still have no idea how the data is lost, however I've a bit of input that might help. I had a blank day in April, which was filled in about 10 days later, so there is a possibility that blanks will be filled in days later. Sources suggest waiting 2 weeks for blanks to possibly be filled before contacting Octopus. Advised email to use for lost smart meter data is smart@octopus.energy 
After waiting 2 weeks in the hope that the data appears, all you can then do is email octopus asking for them to attempt to pull the data (include a photo of your meter for the various serial numbers). 

EssexHebridean

Thanks PHoppers, but as stated earlier in the thread, this has already been reported to Octopus, and they are on the case. This is why I wonder whether they have in fact done something remotely to regain the connection.

As for the Home Mini - I think there is some misunderstanding there - I haven't suggested (and neither has anyone else, to my knowledge) that the information it provides is used for billing. The conversation about it in the thread from my side at least was specifically about the fact that it did at least confirm that there was still some communication from the comms hub - albeit just internally. 

Reed_Richards

I have a 12 day hole in my data without my comms hub ever indicating that it was offline.  I don't think my own missing data was down to a comms failure but the support contact at my supplier just couldn't get their head around the idea that it could be due to anything different.  So I am very interested to find out if all your missing data is eventually "found" because if it is, this would help to prove me right.