Using Aclara SGM1416-B Smart Meter

QrizB

Phones4Chris which model of IHD is that?

The (common) Geo Trio gives a different display:

Also:

Phones4Chris said:

Also on the bottom RHS of the meter display, there are two switch symbols above each other labelled in roman numerals "I" and "II" above the symbols. "I" should be closed, "II" will be open during Day rate. When Night rate is operating the symbol could change to LC1 LC2.

Per the user manual, the numbers on the Aclara SGM1400 meters are 1 and 2, not I and II. Are you describing a different model of meter?

https://assets.ctfassets.net/pwxulcskoycq/1wwcrujxb6xTGfedBZ40kg/c8dcd3dbb1654a23c933d9bcf13fe5e1/Aclara-SMETS2-Single-Phase-Electric.pdf

Phones4Chris

QrizB said:

Phones4Chris which model of IHD is that?

The (common) Geo Trio gives a different display:

Also:

Phones4Chris said:

Also on the bottom RHS of the meter display, there are two switch symbols above each other labelled in roman numerals "I" and "II" above the symbols. "I" should be closed, "II" will be open during Day rate. When Night rate is operating the symbol could change to LC1 LC2.

Per the user manual, the numbers on the Aclara SGM1400 meters are 1 and 2, not I and II. Are you describing a different model of meter?

https://assets.ctfassets.net/pwxulcskoycq/1wwcrujxb6xTGfedBZ40kg/c8dcd3dbb1654a23c933d9bcf13fe5e1/Aclara-SMETS2-Single-Phase-Electric.pdf

The IHD is not a "common" Geo Trio, it's a common "Chameleon IHD3".
And no, I'm describing the model of meter that I have which is an SGM1416-B !!
That document is a 2019 publication and my meter is 21M date, so it's likely that the exact display will depend on the date of manufacture and firmware version. The 2019 document does not mention LC2 either.
I may have a later document somewhere, I'll have to have a hunt later on and post back what I find if different.

Ildhund

QrizB said:

Also on the bottom RHS of the meter display, there are two switch symbols above each other labelled in roman numerals "I" and "II" above the symbols. "I" should be closed, "II" will be open during Day rate. When Night rate is operating the symbol could change to LC1 LC2.

Per the user manual, the numbers on the Aclara SGM1400 meters are 1 and 2, not I and II. Are you describing a different model of meter?

The user manual is from 2019. My own Aclara SGM 1416B anno 2022 shows ı and ıı, as do two others (2022 and 2023) whose owners have recently posted photos of them. The manual is not up to date.

What the load control icon changes to depends on how the ALCS is wired up inside. LC1 and LC2 indicate that both the 100A main contactor and the little 2A one are energized. Other configurations might show just LC1 or LC2, or even just 'closed' (oˉo).

Tenbob0

Thanks for all the helpful replies.
As per my OP the question was about the Aclara meter and how to tell when it changes over from recording at Rate1 to Rate2. The answer seems to be that the meter is annoyingly unhelpful about this. It won't tell you which register it is currently using or when it is programmed to change. However, thanks to Phones4Chris, the information can be found from the IHD. Like him I have a Chameleon. Previously I had tried all the buttons then put it aside as it wasn't very interesting. I now realise I should have stayed up very late to watch it change after midnight. I had never seen the 60 minute countdown and rate change on the screen. Thanks for the pics.
I must say the Geo Trio IHD of QrizB has a much more sensible display. It shows you clearly the current tariff and the exact time the next tariff will begin. And you don't have to stay up late to see it. The crude slider arrangement on the Chameleon seems hopelessly imprecise. Is there a cheap third party IHD that would be better?
I have now made some actual measurements of the times the storage heaters are energised via the ALCS and 5th terminal of the meter. I set up a little experiment with a lamp attached to the off-peak circuit and a timelapse camera snapping it every 5 minutes. This worked really well and gave consistent results over three days. The off-peak circuit comes on at 00:40 and goes off at 07:40. So it is on for a full 7 hours. But it is not the exact same 7 hours that has been suggested by other posters. I'm in Eastern England, region 10. So from the table posted by Ildhund, the times should be 00:00 to 07:00. As others have noted, the time the tariff changes may not be the same as the time the ALCS operates. So my next experiment will be to point the timelapse camera at the IHD and see what that does overnight.
Various people asked questions which I will answer below for completeness. Yes, I have the bills from EDF. Yes, they show I have an Economy 7 tariff. There are separate readings for day and night. The readings come directly from the smart meter. They agree with my own readings.
Thanks for your help.

Phones4Chris

@Tenbob0 Thanks for the update.
Whilst the meter doesn't actually say which register it's currently using, it does tell you the current Active Tariff Price as does the IHD - this should of course tally with which register is incrementing with usage.
We are finding that there's a few differences in the actual off-peak time blocks from those suggested by the tables for the regions and this may well be due to the initial programming of the smart meter at setup, and of course there's the randomised delay which for you is 10 minutes, mine is 8 minutes. I recall another poster some while back where it was 0 minutes!
When you are on a standard E7 tariff such as the one you're on from EDF, the tariff change switching between R1 (rate 1) and R2 (rate 2) should be exactly at the same time as the ALCS switching. If anyone finds it's not, you should hassle the supplier as the meter hasn't been set-up correctly. This glitch is something that should be able to be fixed remotely by the supplier's smart meter team.
The countdown bar on the RHS is the only thing that did not incorporate that "randomised delay" and so indicated the tariff change at the default block times - at the time/date I checked and took the photo - a good while back. Now that "glitch" may have changed as the meter has had a few tariff updates since, I'll have to stay up late or get up early and check sometime!
I also have a vague recollection that the appearance of the bar display may depend on meter/firmware/date of manufacture etc as something at the back of my mind says someone said they didn't have one!
I'm not sure if @QrizB 's Geo display may suffer the same glitch, perhaps he could check and let us know.

With regard to using all the various displays on your IHD you may find the info here useful -
https://chameleontechnology.co.uk/inhomedisplayhelp/
In answer to your query, there isn't a cheap 3rd party IHD that would be better, they are all rather expensive and the connections to the Meter are via WiFi not using Zigbee which the standard IHDs use (the latter being another reason not to buy a cheap replacement on the Internet as all the standard ones have to be connected/activated for the meter by the supplier).
Hildebrand and Chameleon are two possible suppliers of the expensive ones you can set-up yourself via WiFi.

Tenbob0

@Phones4Chris. Thanks for the extra info about the Chameleon IHD and the availability and possible difficulty of connecting some alternatives.

I note with some concern that the IHD may not show the exact time of a tariff change, but rather some estimate or nominal time when it thinks the change might occur. I haven't got the camera set up yet, but I will try to test what happens. But it still won't be conclusive unless I know what the meter itself is doing. Which brings me back to the questions in my OP. 

You say I can get the current Active Tariff Price directly from the meter. That would be good, but I can't see how to do it. All I see when I press button A is a loop around the registers, Total active import kWh, Total active export kWh, and TOU Rates 1 to 4. I can't see anything showing the current active tariff. Does that require some further manipulation of button B?

Swipe

If you have the Chameleon 3 IHD, press the "OK" button and click OK on "Account information", and arrow right 2 times until you get to "current tariff" and then set up your time lapse camera to record the time it changes.

Tenbob0

Thanks @Swipe.The "Current tariff" screen of the Chameleon seems the best one to point the camera at. More precise than the 60 minute countdown on the main screen.
But there remains the problem that it may not match the actual time the meter changes over. The latter is what I'm seeking. @Phones4Chris suggested I could get the current active tariff price directly from the meter and I'm wondering how.

QrizB

Could you have your IHD and your lamp in the same timelapse camera shot? That'll let you check one against the other.

Swipe

Tenbob0 said:

Thanks @Swipe.The "Current tariff" screen of the Chameleon seems the best one to point the camera at. More precise than the 60 minute countdown on the main screen.
But there remains the problem that it may not match the actual time the meter changes over. The latter is what I'm seeking. @Phones4Chris suggested I could get the current active tariff price directly from the meter and I'm wondering how.

The IHD is pulling the current tariff price data from the meter, it's the same value. It would be an extremely rare case that the current tariff values do not match the ALCS switch times, but makes sense to check. You stated earlier that you already know the ALCS switch times so you just need to make sure that the current tariff price tallies with 00:40 and 07:40