Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

AGT
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#11

Post by AGT »

smegal wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 11:21 pm
Tinbum wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 9:42 pm I used 0.5 KWh last month with the main isolator turned off.
I wonder if that means the meter is using 0.67W to operate which is paid for on your dime?


I’m sure I read a long time ago that the power for the meter was supplied off the supply side so not the metered side.
I would have to weigh through random PDF’s to find the document……
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nowty
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#12

Post by nowty »

AGT wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2023 12:03 pm
smegal wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 11:21 pm
Tinbum wrote: Mon Aug 21, 2023 9:42 pm I used 0.5 KWh last month with the main isolator turned off.
I wonder if that means the meter is using 0.67W to operate which is paid for on your dime?


I’m sure I read a long time ago that the power for the meter was supplied off the supply side so not the metered side.
I would have to weigh through random PDF’s to find the document……
Same here, I'm 99% sure too although I could not find anything concrete yesterday.

This is a tear down video of one and the guy mentions that the internal power is tapped off the grid side of the tails, 15:30 into the video.
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Fintray
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#13

Post by Fintray »

I was looking for other information on smart meters but came across this on the smartme.co.uk website that confirms that the power for the meter is taken from the supply side:
Who pays for the meter electricity?
The customer does not pay for the electricity used to power the meter directly as the meter takes its own power from a point before measurement takes place. The power used by the meter will fall into distribution losses which also includes the energy lost through the distribution cables as well. This was also the case with traditional meters.
Ultimately all customers pay for this as a percentage increase which is applied by area. For a technical explanation see Electricity Distribution System Losses. (Updated: 2020-08-19)

Read more at: https://www.smartme.co.uk/smets-2.html © SmartMe.co.uk
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Tinbum
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#14

Post by Tinbum »

That may be what they are supposed to do but I have 2 that increase with absolutely nothing connected at all. I know its only a very small amount but they shouldn't.
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Pat
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#15

Post by Pat »

So I make the OP's measurement error to be about 4mA. The meter needs to be able to measure at least 100A. So the error in calibration is about 0.004%. To be honest this is a extremely accurate meter which I would be proud to have developed. I assumed that the OP was tongue in cheek.
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#16

Post by robl »

AFAIK Pre - smart electronic meters used to have a 5W deadband. That is, any measured power below 5W produced a solid red led and a digitally zeroed import. This 5W accommodated a little real power, and meter inaccuracies. I doubt that the older electromagnetic meters would false read at zero power.
I’m guessing this is not the case With ‘smart’ meters ?
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Tay
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Re: Do not get a Smart Meter fitted.

#17

Post by Tay »

I have little to no faith in Smart Meters - My biggest issue is that I have an older 'smart meter' that isnt so smart.

My provider (BG) has been unable to get a live GAS meter reading since Feb 23, the only reason they have one reading last month is because I didnt want to get clobbered with a huge Gas bill when they finally sorted it (if they sorted it) although to be fair, their estimates weren't a million miles out.

The electricity meter is not quite as shit but once again it often fails to give detailed readings maybe 20% of the month (or, that BG are too stupid and cant import them into their db's). Being on an EV Tariff (read: economy 7 (but minus 2) eg: 5 cheap hours) make it difficult for me to see usage and stuff.

I spent weeks making a crazy detailed spreadsheet, but since British Gas are terrible, I had to extract usage from the detailed readings from their site hovering over their crappy charts and taking the off peak readings to determine savings/usage/comparisons to other tariffs.

In the last few weeks they have now broken their crappy detailed charts (when they work) and I cant extra any useful info directly or indirectly from them, I cant see kW usage when I charge my batteries, I can get daily kW usage and thats it. Clearly thats not showing peak and off peak usage.

I have been toying with the idea of extrapolating the field I can see which is cost, but not sure I want to put effort into something they might just break again.

I got so angry that I went down the current transformer route and chart my own usage now:

Image

I just have no faith in them whatsoever.
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