This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Tim+ wrote:

it might be worth a shot to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which
has lost its ability to communicate with my power company.

I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim



When a guy from Powergen came to replace the meter, I was impressed with
his preparation. He was standing in rubber boots on a dry floor. He
donned thick elbow length gauntlets and a crash helmet with a
polycarbonate visor. He told me to stand well back. Then he pulled out
the fuse, which was an anticlimax, as you'd expect.

He had, obviously, switched off the main switch in the consumer unit, as
well as (less obviously) getting me to disconnect every appliance in the
house.

Clearly excessive, but you can't die from too much safety.

Apparently, there is a chance that an old fuse holder/socket can shatter
when you pull the fuse. So, there is a chance that you could get some
massive arcing if the incoming conductors touch. I'm not sure where the
next line of overload protection is in the system, but if it's back at
the substation, it's probably capable of providing thousands of amps
before it trips.

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.



Well I would have to break the seal€¦.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 11/05/2021 18:16, Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100
amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.



They are normally sealed with a little bit of wire. Cut that, and you
are in.

On 11/05/2021 18:16, Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100
amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Electric-Me.../bn_7023504284

On 11/05/2021 18:20, GB wrote:
On 11/05/2021 18:16, Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a
100 amp
main fuse before

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Electric-Me.../bn_7023504284

Well, yes. However, the one cut off and lying at the bottom of the box
around my meter and associated gubbins has in imprinted logo from
whoever was the supplier then....

There's currently just a piece of wire passed through the seal lugs. No
seal. The bloke who changed the tails a) didn't put any seal at all on
the fuse cover, and b) put a piece of braided cable through the meter
connection cover, but did not crimp on a seal! Must have been
preoccupied....

Over the last decade or however long it's been, I have been wondering
whether I should notice it, and ask "if it's dangerous", and ask them to
fix it...

I must stress that this is actually the state of the thing now, and that
is exactly what happened, and that I have never stolen any electricity.

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

does the fuse no have a lead seal ? ....

Owain Lastname wrote:

apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people turning up rather promptly.

I think that's one of those things that seems to play largely in Clive's
mind, similar to the supposed change to charging domestic customers for
apparent power instead of real power ... yes technically it could
measure it, but do ofgem even permit it?

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

Switch everything off beforehand and prepare yourself for the carrier
disintegrating as you pull it (it almost certainly won't do that but you
wouldn't want to find yourself hanging-on to a live bit if it did) with
rubber gloves and isolation. As others have said, there's some doubt
about whether pulling the fuse will have the desired effect.

On 11/05/2021 18:18, Tim+ wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.



Well I would have to break the seal€¦.

Tim


My ex-GPO trained telephone engineer cousin removed his company fuse
by waggling the fuse back slightly which allows a long thin screwdriver
to access the screw that hold the entire front of the fuse block in
place, allowing the fuse to be removed without breaking the seal.

Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)



--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?

On 11 May 2021 17:18:10 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but I’ve never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but I’m beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and “ reboot” my smart meter which has lost it’s ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

Well I would have to break the seal….

I thought it was a criminal offence to tamper with the seal. I think
you need to get permission first.

On Tue, 11 May 2021 21:15:33 +0100, Scott
wrote:

On 11 May 2021 17:18:10 GMT, Tim+ wrote:

Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but I’ve never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but I’m beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and “ reboot” my smart meter which has lost it’s ability to
communicate with my power company.

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.

Well I would have to break the seal….

I thought it was a criminal offence to tamper with the seal. I think
you need to get permission first.

PS when we did it, Scottish Power arrived in less than an hour to re
place the seal. They also condemned the work my electrician had done
installing the tails and put it right. An added twist is that the SP
engineer did his apprenticeship with the company that originally
installed the fusebox (whose name was showing). He said it could have
been him.

Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?


Read first post.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 5:28:58 PM UTC+1, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls
When I replaced our consumer unit we had to do it in stages, the first was to get the meter moved out of the way as it partially covered the area in which the CU was going. The engineer from the DNO simply switched everything off MCBs and then main switch. At first he was going to use 16mm2 tails but noticed the cutout had a 100A fuse and used 25mm2 tails. He then simply pulled the main fuse after cutting the seals, the only safety measure he employed was to put a red plastic cover over the live lower spring prongs which seemed to clip in place. Having moved the meter and replaced the tails between cutout and meter he brought out 25mm2 tails from the meter and using a pair of Henly block type connectors joined the new tails from the meter to the 16mm2 tails in the CU.

Having seen that the cutout was sound and not likely to disintegrate when I replaced the CU I therefore had no qualms about pulling the main fuse. First thing I did was fit a stand alone main switch so that I never had to pull the fuse again. When we had the smart meter fitted the engineer did not seem bothered that there was no seal on the main fuse but did fit one when he finished and also fitted one on the lower terminal cover on the separate main switch I had fitted.

Richard

On 11/05/2021 21:20, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?


Read first post.

Yes, but why is it important for your meter to "communicate with my
power company"? It is s genuine question. I don't have one and would
probably pay lip-service to any communications to the power company.

What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.

If you feel you have made a financial loss then write again asking for
compensation. Perhaps you might be able to quote expected savings from
owning one?

On 11/05/2021 18:48, Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people turning up rather promptly.

Owain

If that is true, nothing to be lost to my mind as it would achieve the
result. The main thing would be to switch off at the consumer unit
before pulling the fuse so that you are not breaking any significant
current at the fuse.

Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 21:20, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?


Read first post.

Yes, but why is it important for your meter to "communicate with my
power company"? It is s genuine question. I don't have one and would
probably pay lip-service to any communications to the power company.

Because its a smart meter and Im on a €œsmart€�, ie variable tariff. Im
supposed to get billed different rates at different times of day. No data
transfer, no accurate billing.


What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

I am pursuing various routes including an official complaint. After 5
months of being given no clues as to when my issue might be resolved, Im
getting a tad fed up.


Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.


They ought to care as Im on a variable tariff and Im almost certainly
under-paying them at the moment. They need the data to calculate my bill.
You cant just €œread€� a smart meter manually and get months of half-hourly
consumption data.

Tim


--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 11/05/2021 21:53, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 21:20, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?


Read first post.

Yes, but why is it important for your meter to "communicate with my
power company"? It is s genuine question. I don't have one and would
probably pay lip-service to any communications to the power company.

Because its a smart meter and Im on a €œsmart€�, ie variable tariff. Im
supposed to get billed different rates at different times of day. No data
transfer, no accurate billing.


What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

I am pursuing various routes including an official complaint. After 5
months of being given no clues as to when my issue might be resolved, Im
getting a tad fed up.

I can well imagine.

Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.


They ought to care as Im on a variable tariff and Im almost certainly
under-paying them at the moment. They need the data to calculate my bill.
You cant just €œread€� a smart meter manually and get months of half-hourly
consumption data.

If it's to your advantage they will be able to do very little about it.
If it's to their advantage then it's going to be an uphill struggle to
get any compensation.

Can you get a third party logging device to work out consumption and times?

On 11/05/2021 17:57, GB wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100
amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it
easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim



When a guy from Powergen came to replace the meter, I was impressed with
his preparation. He was standing in rubber boots on a dry floor. He
donned thick elbow length gauntlets and a crash helmet with a
polycarbonate visor. He told me to stand well back. Then he pulled out
the fuse, which was an anticlimax, as you'd expect.

When they changed my fuse from a 60A to a 100A after the meter reader
noticed a new consumer unit (back in the '90s), the guy put on big
rubber gloves, removed the fuse, then used a big hammer to smash the
cast-iron enclosure, before fitting a new enclosure (rather like
Bakelite). Then he used a putty to seal the cable entry and fitted the
bigger fuse.

On 11/05/2021 18:36, Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 18:20, GB wrote:
On 11/05/2021 18:16, Chris Bacon wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a
100 amp
main fuse before

How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a
box, AFAIK.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Electric-Me.../bn_7023504284

Well, yes. However, the one cut off and lying at the bottom of the box
around my meter and associated gubbins has in imprinted logo from
whoever was the supplier then....

There's currently just a piece of wire passed through the seal lugs. No
seal. The bloke who changed the tails a) didn't put any seal at all on
the fuse cover, and b) put a piece of braided cable through the meter
connection cover, but did not crimp on a seal! Must have been
preoccupied....

Over the last decade or however long it's been, I have been wondering
whether I should notice it, and ask "if it's dangerous", and ask them to
fix it...

I must stress that this is actually the state of the thing now, and that
is exactly what happened, and that I have never stolen any electricity.

When I needed access to the meter tails at the meter, the crimp was
loose enough to pull one side of the seal wire out and push it back in
again later.

On 11/05/2021 17:57, GB wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100
amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it
easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim



When a guy from Powergen came to replace the meter, I was impressed with
his preparation. He was standing in rubber boots on a dry floor. He
donned thick elbow length gauntlets and a crash helmet with a
polycarbonate visor. He told me to stand well back. Then he pulled out
the fuse, which was an anticlimax, as you'd expect.

He had, obviously, switched off the main switch in the consumer unit, as
well as (less obviously) getting me to disconnect every appliance in the
house.

Clearly excessive, but you can't die from too much safety.

Apparently, there is a chance that an old fuse holder/socket can shatter
when you pull the fuse.

Yup metalclad pre-war ones like:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php/...CladCutout.jpg

They have ceramic fuse carrier inside that can shatter, and you could
end up pulling the life incoming into contact with the earthed enclosure.

So, there is a chance that you could get some
massive arcing if the incoming conductors touch.

Which depending on the prospective short circuit current at the
installation, could result in an arc explosion (think big fireball, and
lots of very hot vaporised metal laden plasma)

I'm not sure where the
next line of overload protection is in the system, but if it's back at
the substation, it's probably capable of providing thousands of amps
before it trips.

Each phase might be be fused at say 600A - however as with all fusing,
the fuse does not actually limit the short circuit current - only the
duration of the over current.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Mine did that in January. My power company OVO were utterly useless,
kept sending meÂ* emails with questions about LED lamp flashing, but
never actually sent anyone to sort.
Then suddenly last month it burst into life again, all by itself.

On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

It almost certainly won't. But you shouldn't have to wait long for a
power cut induced by a thunderstorm given the current weather. We had a
strike 100m from the house. My modem had a fat spark out of its cable
and my neighbours was completely fried as were various bedside clocks.

I was very impressed that mine survived and equally unimpressed with the
surge arrester that was supposed to be protecting it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

It is a waste of time and would involve tampering with the electricity
board seal and risking some exciting electrical behaviour. The next fuse
or cutout up the system will source a fairly high multiple of 100A.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Owain Lastname presented the following explanation :
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power to
run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and apparently
pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people turning up
rather promptly.

Owain

That part, at least, might be worth testing :-)

I doubt puling the cutout fuse will reset the meter.

Chris Bacon was thinking very hard :
How is it that you can access the fuse? They are normally sealed in a box,
AFAIK.

No, they are usually easily accessible, but sealed by a wire/lead seal
against being tampered with.

On 11/05/2021 20:53, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:

What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

I am pursuing various routes including an official complaint. After 5
months of being given no clues as to when my issue might be resolved, Im
getting a tad fed up.

Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.

They ought to care as Im on a variable tariff and Im almost certainly
under-paying them at the moment. They need the data to calculate my bill.
You cant just €œread€� a smart meter manually and get months of half-hourly
consumption data.

Thanks for the warning about linking smart meters and variable tariffs.
It sounds overly complex an issue.

The other thought that springs to mind is that pulling the main fuse
could by some route or other land you with more trouble than you already
have. Leave well alone, go the complaint route. It looks like you might
anyway have to negotiate for the cost of your electricity over the comms
blackout period, and any compensation that might be due.

The solution to your problem is probably less technical than bureaucratic.

--
Spike

On 11/05/2021 21:53, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 21:20, Tim+ wrote:
Fredxx wrote:
On 11/05/2021 20:48, Tim+ wrote:
Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power
to run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and
apparently pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people
turning up rather promptly.

Really? That would be a result! Been waiting for months for someone to
come and sort it. ;-)

Why, what's the issue you have that needs sorting?


Read first post.

Yes, but why is it important for your meter to "communicate with my
power company"? It is s genuine question. I don't have one and would
probably pay lip-service to any communications to the power company.

Because its a smart meter and Im on a €œsmart€�, ie variable tariff. Im
supposed to get billed different rates at different times of day. No data
transfer, no accurate billing.


What is the issue that is causing you strife? If it's real then write a
formal complaint, if necessary wait the 6 weeks for no reply and
complain to OFGEM.

I am pursuing various routes including an official complaint. After 5
months of being given no clues as to when my issue might be resolved, Im
getting a tad fed up.


Your power company doesn't care. It has fitted your smart meter and it
serves no further useful purpose other than to fulfil their quotas of
fitting them.


They ought to care as Im on a variable tariff and Im almost certainly
under-paying them at the moment. They need the data to calculate my bill.
You cant just €œread€� a smart meter manually and get months of half-hourly
consumption data.


We have never had a variable tariff but the few I looked into /all/ had
provision in the contract for what happens if /for any reason/ they
can't get half hourly smart meter data. Does yours?


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

Robin wrote:

We have never had a variable tariff but the few I looked into /all/ had
provision in the contract for what happens if /for any reason/ they
can't get half hourly smart meter data.

"Agile Octopus is a beta product [...] some things may not work first
time, installations and processes may take longer than we'd like, and on
occasion data issues with smart meters can take significant time to fix
or prevent things working at all"

On 12/05/2021 09:59, Andy Burns wrote:
Robin wrote:

We have never had a variable tariff but the few I looked into /all/
had provision in the contract for what happens if /for any reason/
they can't get half hourly smart meter data.

"Agile Octopus is a beta product [...] some things may not work first
time, installations and processes may take longer than we'd like, and on
occasion data issues with smart meters can take significant time to fix
or prevent things working at all"

you don't have the following (which is still online)?

"In the absence of half hourly smart meter data, we will charge you as
we would a customer on our Flexible Octopus variable tariff, based on
typical consumption patterns (known as €œProfile 1€�)."

https://octopus.energy/blog/terms-conditions-agile-go/





--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

Are you not in deep doggy doo if you brak a seal and do this?
I'm sure there has to be a cheap insulated tool to do this in any case.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Tim+" wrote in message
...
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but I've never pulled a 100 amp
main fuse before but I'm beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and " reboot" my smart meter which has lost it's ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineer's visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

Obviously there's a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it
easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Yes, besides it could actually have a faulty modem and that will not respond
to anything orther than a change out. I guess you could get legal on them.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
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Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Andy Burns" wrote in message
...

Tim+ wrote:

it might be worth a shot to try and " reboot" my smart meter which
has lost it's ability to communicate with my power company.

I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

Yes this is how many of the folk who are unaware of things get caught when
setting up their pot gardening projects in the loft.
Brian

--

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The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
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"Owain Lastname" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power to
run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and apparently
pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people turning up
rather promptly.

Owain

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
Robin wrote:

We have never had a variable tariff but the few I looked into /all/ had
provision in the contract for what happens if /for any reason/ they
can't get half hourly smart meter data.

"Agile Octopus is a beta product [...] some things may not work first
time, installations and processes may take longer than we'd like, and on
occasion data issues with smart meters can take significant time to fix
or prevent things working at all"

I see in today's Times that Octopus had a £61 million loss last year.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

Owain Lastname wrote:
On Tuesday, 11 May 2021 at 17:35:54 UTC+1, Andy Burns wrote:
I would expect the smart meter to have a supercapacitor inside to let it
"ride-out" a power cut, obviously not enough power to run the 3G radio,
and flash any LEDs

I think, if I understood Big Clive correctly, it does have enough power to
run the radio, enough to phone home and give a fraud alert, and apparently
pulling the fuse on a smart meter (can) result in power people turning up
rather promptly.

It will try to phone home, but we've established that it isn't communicating
so I'm not sure that will work.

Pulling the cutout is something electricians do when doing a consumer unit
change when there's no isolator. It doesn't result in a SWAT team
descending from the DNO. In theory you are supposed to get the DNO to do
it, but life is too short to hang around on site for that.

The meter will phone home to the supplier not the DNO anyway - depending on
how dozy the supplier is to respond to that. It seems like they're
sufficiently dozy to not respond to you, and so perhaps too dozy to respond
to a cut? I don't know what level of data sharing there is between supplier
and DNO.

From the meter's point of view it can't tell the difference between a cutout
pull and a power cut - it's only the network that knows whether the cut is
just you or a whole phase/substation/etc. So it's not a trivial task to
tell the difference between tampering and a power cut. (since the cut could
be just on your overhead cable drop).

I doubt they are smart enough to action anything based on the cut messages,
although maybe the local DNO person might pop round to check everything is
OK if they have nothing better to do?

Theo

Brian Gaff (Sofa) submitted this idea :
Are you not in deep doggy doo if you brak a seal and do this?
I'm sure there has to be a cheap insulated tool to do this in any case.

The correct equipment is thick rubber insulated gloves, a face sheild
and maybe body protection, but I cannot say I have ever seen them
wearing this much stuff, ever. I used to work with much higher voltages
and currents, the only PPE usually a pair of 'gardening gloves'.

On 12/05/2021 09:16, Martin Brown wrote:
On 11/05/2021 17:28, Tim+ wrote:
This is possibly gonna sound a bit wimpish but Ive never pulled a 100
amp
main fuse before but Im beginning to think that it might be worth a shot
to try and €œ reboot€� my smart meter which has lost its ability to
communicate with my power company.

Literally been waiting months for an engineers visit and thinking that a
power cycle *might* sort it.

It almost certainly won't. But you shouldn't have to wait long for a
power cut induced by a thunderstorm given the current weather. We had a
strike 100m from the house. My modem had a fat spark out of its cable
and my neighbours was completely fried as were various bedside clocks.

I was very impressed that mine survived and equally unimpressed with the
surge arrester that was supposed to be protecting it.

Obviously theres a fair chance that it might not but if I can do it
easily
and safely it seems worth a shot.

It is a waste of time and would involve tampering with the electricity
board seal and risking some exciting electrical behaviour. The next fuse
or cutout up the system will source a fairly high multiple of 100A.

The fuse has no bearing on the amount of current that is available -
that is a function of the supply loop impedance. All a fuse can do is
interrupt the flow of current some time after the fault becomes
apparent. So if you have a loop impedance ~ 0.04 ohms[1], then you will
get close to 6000A fault current. That will be likely enough to take out
the substation fuse for that phase - but it might take it a tenth of a
second. (in which time it could deliver 3.6MJ of energy!)

[1] That would be pretty low unless very close to a sub station or in an
area with a very high capacity supply. 0.1 to 0.3 ohms would be more
typical.

--
Cheers,

John.

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