Eon came to install a smart meter in the cellar. But there was not enough signal strength. (Well, I never would have expected that, in a cellar, below ground level, etc.) So, the meter was not installed.
Surely, there must be some simple solution to this? The meter is a couple of metres from an air brick, so why not run an aerial lead through that?
The simple solution is not to have a smart meter.
It wasn't for me, but for a tenant at my old office, who finds it a chore to go into the cellar to read the meter. I can't say I blame her for that, and it's a simple enough solution to that problem.
I had the same problem, except the meter was to be installed in my garage. Must be pretty weak as my phones work fine.
a
Most antennas are on the circuit board in these sort of devices and work at all sorts of funny impedances. The extra circuitry to have a 50 or 75 ohm connector to a length of cable and hence onto a remote antenna is a significant expense and design complication. Long term I don't know what the official solution will be to these difficult locations especially until we have cellular coverage rolled out to every sq metre of the UK. The whole smart metering thing is ill-thought out from start to ..........
You will probably find like most hubs, and phones the aerial is a bit of printed circuit with no way to extend it, I mean if its inside a meter, its probably not even isolated from the mains anyway, so trying to do as you ask would be illegal. Its illegal to open a meter in any case once its been sealed for calibration reasons. Brian
The other simple solution is not to have a half baked smart meter which nobody else can use as a smart meter cos the industry is bloody useless at agreeing on a standard protocol on how they will be used.
I asked EDF for one of the talking remote boxes that I was advised were available they informed me that nobody had made any yet and as I was on Economy 7 the software in current meters stocked was not able to cope with that!
One could not invent such incompetence, but still it exists just like Jellyfish and sleeping policemen. Brian
One of my fellow Parish Councillors, when referring to a particular County Council department, said "They're so incompetant, they must rehearse at it."
Before e.on installed my smart meters they asked me whether I knew there was good O2 signal at the electric meter location - do they no longer ask, or did they ask but you were unable to tell them, so they tried anyway?
They do keep pushing them though. Today I received an email about making an appointment to have one fitted. There was a link in the email for a form to complete if you didn't want one. The link opened a form that had no options for refusing one, only selections for which days and times you would be available ... I phoned them instead.
Why the reliance on radio waves, when we can squirt data down power lines ?
(Ducks)
They couldn't fit one to a mate's house in Tooting where the meter was under the stairs. Like many thousands of other houses.
My understanding is that whilst Gas smart meters are battery powered, the electricity ones are mains-powered.
Is that the case? and if so, who pays for powering them? probably insignificant, but just wondering.
Yes, in my case
I think the power of the meter is drawn from the supplier's side, not the customer's side, but that's the same with a dumb electronic meter as a smart meter.
Pedantically, the current sense coil will transfer a minute amount of paid for power into the measuring circuit even if the rest of the meter is powered from the supply side. But as this is UK d-i-y we are allowed to be pedants sometimes!
The ones I know about are a good match to 50 ohms. However, the comment made elsewhere about mains isolation being expensive is probably valid. Also, an external antenna would be very easy to disable, should the customer wish to do without useful features such as remote disconnection of the supply.
John
If they implement that feature, it'll probably require a periodic connection to *stop* it from disconnecting.
If?
So your local cell site goes off and sometime later so does your power? FTFAGOS!
They, but possibly not the right "they", are already worried about the system being hacked and multiple meters been told to disconnect and/or re-connect in a very short space of time. Great way to destabilse the grid...
I was assured by British gas that the smart meter could not disconnect my leccy remotely.
Bill
Well that just reinforces how far anyone should trust BG about anything.
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