Warning to anyone using 2.4ghz WiFi gear with HA - I was duped into having smart meters fitted by EDF energy. I have a ‘Chameleon 3’ IHD and SMETS2 meters.
Turns out the gas meter (due to having no power supply of its own) uses Zigbee to send readings to the electric meter and the electric meter uses GPRS to send readings to the central database.
The IHD also uses Zigbee. You’d think it’s great as we’ll soon be able to hack and get the data but that’s a long way off and unlikely it’ll ever be possible.
From what I’ve read so far the Zigbee setup on the meters roams all channels to ensure reliability (and by the souds of it they’re amplified) and the consequence for me is a broken 2.4ghz wifi network with ESPs playing up left, right and centre.
I’ve tried to get some support from EDF and they just don’t call back. I’ve also had a play with the meter itself and broken the Zigbee connection to the IHD but it’s not solved the problem with my wifi.
You read online that the meters roam channels to avoid wifi but from the research I’ve done that sounds highly unlikely as they’re not wifi devices so will be able to avoid other Zigbee networks (which is probably why I haven’t had an issue with that) but can’t distinguish a wifi network from other noise.
I find it amazing that they chose Zigbee for something like that.
Reviving this topic because it is importance to clear up BS.
Zigbee coexists with wifi on frequencies close but does not really conflict because… science.
Who told you it did?
for example
wifi channel 1 is 2412mhz
zigbee channel13 is 2415mhz
wifi channel 2 is 2417mhz
zigbee channel 14 is 2420mhz
wifi channel 3 is 2420mhz
zigbee channel 15 is 2425mhz
and so on…each wifi channel has 22mhz bandwidth and zigbee has 2mhz bandwidth… someone is just pushing FUD on you in order to discredit smart meters. Probably the tinfoil hat brigade.
In my experience the worst disruptor to wifi is a neighbour with a slightly leaky microwave oven
My 2.4ghz was dead the day they fitted the meters.
I lost nearly all my esp sensors.
Over subsequent days/weeks I tried to make them work together by installing additional APs, away from the meters. ESPs located close to the meters still didn’t work and my wifi was flakey at best.
I did a full survey of my property at multiple times of day using Ekehau… No concerns.
After forcefully removing most of my hair I went into the meter cupboard, started pressing buttons and found the option ‘leave network’ or similar. Can’t remember exactly what it said. Pressed it and like magic my wifi was back. IHD dead.
I ‘BS’ you not. Real world experience. Certainly not ‘tin hat brigade’ in my house… I actually wanted the meters fitted, which funnily enough never worked anyway - they remain ‘dumb’ to this day despite numerous engineer’s visits. I now have suppliers with wrong records of the meters as well so every time I switch supplier I get ridiculous bills and have to argue the toss to get legitimate ones.
For me, a free home improvement proved to be nothing but a pain.
I do think the problem for me was the proximity of my sensors/AP to the meter boxes though. My AP is on the inside of the wall directly behind the external boxes.
EDIT: In fairness I’m also running my own ZigBee network and that has never given me any trouble. I think the implementation that the meters use is somehow different.