Replacing a smart meter comms hub

Qyburn

From the customer/supplier point of view the supplier is supposed to raise a "no/low WAN" case with the DCC if poor signal is suspected. My experience with Octopus was that although they agreed that should be done, they never actually did so - citing the most far fetched reasons for not doing it yet.

Reed_Richards

My problem was not that poor signal was suspected, it was assumed to be the only possible explanation and therefore a reason for doing nothing further.  But some other system, quite possibly automated, has picked-up on the fact that they are not getting readings and sent me an email asking me to book an installer appointment.  The wording of this email was glibly optimistic that my problem could be fixed.  We will see.

Ildhund

Reed_Richards said:
... the obvious difference was that their comms hub is at head height whilst mine is at knee height.

That sounds like a pretty important difference. I think you said a flying lead was tried once before, but that was presumably before the long ones became readily available again. It would make sense to try and elevate the CH by a metre or so. 

Qyburn

Reed_Richards said:

My problem was not that poor signal was suspected, it was assumed to be the only possible explanation and therefore a reason for doing nothing further.  

That was the same with me, poor signal assumed. They spent months going round in circles telling me the problem was due to poor signal, but giving increasingly bizarre reasons for not raising the  low/no WAN case.

Reed_Richards

I've finally got my smart meter reporting again following another installer visit.  He first tried a comms hub that communicates via the mobile phone network (I am in the north so the default means of communication is Long Range Radio).  But this did not manage to complete the commissioning process, although he said that these had been a successful fix in several other premises.  I was not surprised by this as the mobile phone signal is very patchy where I live and isn't strong enough in most of the house.  After some other failed attempts, we tried the comms hub supplied in August on the end of the longest flying lead he had available, which was about 0.6m in length.  We moved the comms hub up and away from the meter cupboard at about 45 degrees.  I knew the signal from my TV mast improves with height and I also thought it might be being blocked by my nearby hot water cylinder, hence the new position.  This looks to have worked as the comms hub then successfully completed the commissioning process in what I'm told was the usual time (10 to 15 minutes).  And it has been communicating successfully since, although it's hard to be completely confident it won't go wrong again.

Here are some things I've learned:

• If you have a weak WAN signal it may be possible to overload your comms hub with demands for data (this was asserted on a forum post and seemed to be on good authority).  My comms hub stopped reporting two days after I signed-up with Equiwatt in order to restore free access to Hugo.  Of course this could be a complete coincidence.
• The symptom I experienced was that whilst the WAN light flashed every 5 seconds most of the time, I would occasionally catch it doing 3 second flashes (which is supposed to indicate lost communication).  During this time there was no comms at all.
• It's likely that your comms signal comes from your local TV transmitter.
• Passive repeaters have been deployed successfully (by a few people) where the WAN signal is good in the area but bad where the meter is located.  If you live in their catchment area then this company https://handley-aerials.uk.com/ might be able to fit one for you.  Otherwise it's DIY.
• You can contact the DCC directly but they just refer back to your supplier, so it isn't any use.
• If commissioning fails then you are left with a WAN light flashing very 5 seconds and a solid red HAN light.
• It may be possible to try again remotely but this does not seem to happen by any automated process so if commissioning fails you are probably stuck in the failed state even if the WAN signal improves.  I'm not 100% sure this is true.
• In order to commission a replacement comms hub it was necessary to "fool" the system into believing it is a new installation.  So the record from https://homebrew.n3rgy.com/ now shows that my meter was installed on the date of the last visit and not two years previously, as it actually was.
• My supplier has not recovered the missing data stored on my meter but offered me a fair estimate of the split between off-peak and peak use.  Maybe they can't recover the old data because that predates the revised installation date of the meter?