Smart meter?

On Thursday 04 July 2013 16:51 Road_Hog wrote in uk.d-i-y:

How would that work? Unless your house is wired for split load back to the meter like Economy 7 wiring is (usually) done...

If you just bang a smart meter into someone's existing single main circuit wiring, there's nothing you can do in between giving them power and not giving them power.

I will certainly not be accepting a smart meter voluntarily:

Or "Industrial control system discovered to have s***ty security" - a pretty consistent theme.

And even if it started out well programmed, are they going to maintain the firmware in a timely manner against discovered exploits?

In my experience with "real" computers, anything that is on some publically accessible network[1] needs near constant patching.

For more reading about industrial control systems with crappy security, just google:

scada hacked

Cheers,

Tim

On Thursday 04 July 2013 16:55 Andy Burns wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Pointless with the large number of of switchmode PSUs in houses these days - they will just ramp up the current draw to compensate.

That will not do people's PCs any good - cannot think of a faster way to get sued for causing equipment damage.

No indeed, for good reasons :)

On Thursday 04 July 2013 15:37 Dave Liquorice wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Point of note - live working is not necessary as the meter is after the main cutout fuse.

However, they would have to be trained to know when and when not to touch the fuse on an old crumbly installation.

On Thursday 04 July 2013 16:14 Graham. wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Yes - you're right.

I suspect it's what Phil the Greek had in mind when he made his infamous comment about some wiring :)

Wonder if it's the same as a pal has - selected for a trial. Make one feel sooooo special. ;-) It tells you how much electricity you are using in cash terms at any point

- so he gets up at 6 o'clock to do the washing...

Is a smart meter one that wears a shirt and a nice tie?

Brian

I asked edf about a talking smart meter so I could monitor my use but I've heard no more since.

Brian

Well spotted, I was thinking on a wider scale. You don't want to take an whole area off supply, probably several hundred homes in an urban area, for several days, even if spread out.

And bear in mind would a meter changer be allowed to touch the cutout, as in break the fuse seal and pull the fuse? The supply cable and cutout belong to, and are the responsibility of, the DNO. Tails from cutout terminals to meter and the meter are the supply companies...

Mentioning old crumbly head ends, strikes me that it would be a good opportunity to makes sure that all head ends/cutouts were up to scratch but see above on which bit is owned by which company... The DNO isn't going to get any money back from making good headends/cutouts like the supply company will by fitting a smart meter.

You might get one that records exported PV power separately. Then there would be no (50%) guesswork.

All power generated is paid for whether exported or not. They assume you export 50% at themoment so thereis a small additional payment for the 50%.

But it would enable things to be different in the future.

The fitter here didn't need to break the fuse seals, they'd mysteriously broken around the time I replaced the CU, and fitted an isolator!

He did replace the 60A fuse with a 100A, and re-seal everything though, so as he was equipped to re-seal, I'd say he was allowed to break seals.

Same chap did gas meter during same visit, also fitted a tamper evident seal where the anaconda/regulator slots into the meter mounting plate.

I suspect that it will require all electric/electronic equipment to be chipped, so that it can be controlled. And you'll say, I won't replace my stuff, just like you say that you won't voluntary have a smart meter. They'll think up some 'green' iniative where equipment over a certain is banned or use the carrot with an incentive to upgrade with a free trade in - just like all thos people got condensor boilers and then found that they froze during the winter and don't even last 10 years.

There are two possibilities.

1. You have a separate "non essential" (or low cost) circuit wired. For say fridges and waterheater. This can be cut off at certain times.
2. You have wireless controlled plugs on certain items of equipment.

That's just special needs.

They asked me the same. It appears to use SMS to send the meter readings not data from what they told me when the had to fix my display.

The readings are stored on the meter but the historical data doesn't appear to be.

And you have to take greater care when bypassing these meters for "cheaper" electricity. They use "sophisiticated" technology to know when that happens.

And "they" will.

Aside from there being other possibilities, I suggest they are unlikely to make the low cost circuit low enough cost to make it worth opting for it.

WTF is a wireless plug? And as we have had pre-fitted/moulded plugs for a long time now, it is simply not feasible in the short to medium term.

I think it *must* be stored in the meter. If I unplug my in-house display, it initially doesn't have any historical data, but over time it gets it all back again ...