Having had nothing but trouble for a year with my In House Display, my energy supplier has finally bitten the bullit and agreed to remove all the current SMETS2 2.4G meters and fit the new dual band meters. These run at either 2.4 G or 868 MHz. To you gurus... my current HUB to IHD @2.4G is severely range restricted. <10M in my case It barely works at 3M. What range could one expect from 868MHz HUB to IHD?
What do you use the display for?
Nobody is going to be able to give a definite answer. However, the range is likely to be significantly greater because there will almost certainly be much less interference and the absorption in building structures will be lower. The 2.4GHz band is a total "free for all" whereas anything that transmits in the 868MHz band (in the UK) must comply with very specific requirements including maximum transmission duty cycle. This means that even if there are a lot of devices transmitting there will be gaps when the channel is clear. I designed 868MHz antennas for a smart meter manufacturer and a home automation company a few years ago. Because the band is quite narrow it is possible to optimise the antenna so as to give very good performance. A smart meter generally has enough space to do this properly.
John
3 main components. Smart Electric meter. Smart Gas meter. A comms HUB plugs into the Electric meter. The comms HUB sends electric/gas data to the energy supplier via the mobile network. The Hub is also a 'router' that collects data from the electric meter and the gas meter via 2.4G bluetooth. The HUB sends this data to the energy supplier( via mob network) and to the in house display by bluetoth- basically a dumb terminal which can have various parameters loaded into it- cost per KWh, standing charge per day etc. Thus it can show the user consumtion modes in KWh or £££
Interesting, you say a few years ago...pity no-one saw the cost/benefit of 868MHz and plumped for the 1c cost of 2.4G bluetooth. My IHD works in the garage at a range of 2-3M to the HUB... Move it to the lounge ( where it is optimally useful) and the IHD lasts for about a day or two before it gets 'locked out'. Put it back in the garage (2-3M) and it could take several days before it would show correct data again.That's not the fault of 2.4G, it has to be an obscure system bug.2.4G bluetooth interference? not according to the literature re 2.4G bluetooth for smart meters...
Do you live in a welding shop or under a steel bridge?
Some Victorian era houses (mine included) may have galvanised chicken wire mech embedded in the plaster walls. It makes a wonderful Faraday cage especially combined with slightly damp plaster (no damp course). It was briefly fashionable for a short while as a cunning way to cut corners and avoid having the plaster slump.
Main problem for the meter reader (who still came *after* the thing was installed) is that now he has to levitate to read the thing. It requires button presses to cycle through the display. Default is date/time!
My mains comes in at roof height and the meter is 12' in the air. Easy enough with the antediluvian synchronous motor with counter rotating cogs with pointers - iPhone on a selfie stick will get it.
But the new one requires button presses! (Ha! Ha! - not my problem)
My smart meter IHD to my amazement actually worked despite the fact that there is essentially no mobile phone signal where the sensor is installed. The one in our VH lasted all of a month before failing and no matter how fancy an antenna they added it never really worked at all.
But the In House Display works via 2.4G bluetooth HAN.It's the HUB WAN that sends data to the energy supplier...
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