Ivie Bud anyone?
Hi All,
We had solar panels installed last March and had to have Smart meters installed to export. The IHD widget that Octopus gave us was never very good even when it was sat right under the meters. It just never seemed to be able to connect and read the data on a reliable basis. Eventually, I got sick of it sitting around telling me nothing and gathering dust and wasting (a tiny amount) energy in its PSU. I contacted Octopus to attempt to make it better, but they didn’t seem to be too bothered and said something along the lines IIRC of it being a “third party device”. Any it was binned, but I was wondering if there’s a decent replacement and came across the Ivie Bud. Has anyone got one or used one. If so what do you think.
I do have the data on the Octopus app and the data on the Fox app for the panels but it would be nice to see it on one of these. Or is it just the very definition of a first world problem? 🫣
Cheers,
Michael.
ASHP. It’s all to do with Specific Enthalpy.
I suspect your IHD is not the same thing as the Octopus Mini is it? The mini is produced by OE themselves and would be well worth your while applying for as this will provide almost topical data. I wanted a Mini but my SMETS 1 meter is unfortunately not compatible😉 The Mini is free but you may have to wait on delivery. Regards, Toodles.
Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.
Hi,
No I don’t think it was the Mini. Doesn’t ring any bells. I’ll enquire.
Thanks. 👍🏻
ASHP. It’s all to do with Specific Enthalpy.
Regards, Toodles.
Toodles, he heats his home with cold draughts and cooks his food with magnets.
Posted by: @maxthedogHi All,
We had solar panels installed last March and had to have Smart meters installed to export. The IHD widget that Octopus gave us was never very good even when it was sat right under the meters. It just never seemed to be able to connect and read the data on a reliable basis. Eventually, I got sick of it sitting around telling me nothing and gathering dust and wasting (a tiny amount) energy in its PSU. I contacted Octopus to attempt to make it better, but they didn’t seem to be too bothered and said something along the lines IIRC of it being a “third party device”. Any it was binned, but I was wondering if there’s a decent replacement and came across the Ivie Bud. Has anyone got one or used one. If so what do you think.
I do have the data on the Octopus app and the data on the Fox app for the panels but it would be nice to see it on one of these. Or is it just the very definition of a first world problem? 🫣
Cheers,
Michael.
There are several options open to you and I suppose the "right" one depends on what you're trying to achieve.
Eventually, the IHD is only giving you a very basic summary of what's going through the meter one way or t'other and combining it with the prices from your tariff. If all you want to know is how much in terms of kWh or £/p you've consumed then it looks like the Ivie Bud might well be the way to go; it seems to just be a like for like replacement. You could also get something very similar from Hildebrand.
Moving on from that, it seems Fox have recently released Octopus Agile integration so you may well be able to get the IHD information in some way within the Fox app, although it may need you contacting Fox and them doing a firmware update of your inverter for this to happen. Bear in mind I don't have Fox kit so I'm only working on what's publicly available on t'interweb without any form of sanity check on my assumptions.
The most complete solution is to go down the home automation route and that will give you everything you want but is certainly overkill if it's just a replacement IHD. However, this kind of solution becomes far more relevant if you want to get your various bits of kit working together in a more cohesive way, and since you've already got solar PV and are looking at getting a heat pump I'm wondering if that might be something interesting to you. Having said that, setting up a home automation system does involve a bit of learning and a bit of rolling up of sleeves since there is currently no entirely plug-and-play solution on the market.
Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here are a few screenshots of two of my most used tabs in my Home Assistant setup.
You'll see from the second screenshot that the box marked "DCC Sourced smart electricity meter" shows precisely the same as your IHD, albeit with a half-hour lag. In fact, it's using exactly the same data since the smart meter network has to provide the DCC with that data as well as giving it to your leccy provider.
In addition, though, my home automation system is set up so that, for instance, if Octopus' import prices go negative then my battery will automatically charge from grid. That's just one example of integrating disparate bits of your kit in a more intelligent and cohesive way, and I have a number of other rules that help increase the effectiveness of what I've invested in.
Just a thought.
105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs
"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"
- 26 Forums
- 2,151 Topics
- 47.2 K Posts
- 34 Online
- 5,666 Members
Podcast Picks
Latest Posts
-
RE: Midea ASHP – how to set weather compensation
@pash44pump - good, we're on the same page (screen) on ...
By cathodeRay , 3 minutes ago
-
RE: Ecodan & MelCloud scheduling
@westkent Feel free to take a look atif you feel limite...
By HCas , 1 hour ago
-
RE: Electricity price predictions
One thing we can be sure of is that whatever contracts ...
By Tim441 , 2 hours ago
-
RE: What crazy nonsense are inverter limits and why are they imposed?
@transparent The only reason my DNO knows of these is b...
By Lucia , 3 hours ago
-
RE: Rodents! A word of warning for heat pump owners
@tim441 I will need to give some thought to protect the...
By Lucia , 3 hours ago
-
RE: A Customer's Lessons Learnt from a Heat Pump Installation in a Large House
🙁🙁🙁🙁🙁
By Lucia , 3 hours ago
-
What is the Heat Geek Guarantee?
We regularly hear from homeowners who are researching i...
By Mars , 22 hours ago
-
RE: Help me keep the faith with my air source heat pump installation
@adamk, interesting point. I’ve not focused much on Hea...
By Mars , 5 hours ago
-
RE: is a home battery without an EV worth it?
@jamespa having just had a heat pump installed I do won...
By AdamK , 14 hours ago
-
Intelligent Octopus Flux (IOF) Review
I promised @toodles that I would provide an update and ...
By Old_Scientist , 17 hours ago
-
RE: Octopus tariffs - a quick comparison
Interesting comparison! Another good angle is the dif...
By HCas , 19 hours ago
-
RE: Solar Power Output – Let’s Compare Generation Figures
@julianc Our solar PV has produced more this August tha...
By Toodles , 1 day ago
-
RE: Who's your electricity provider and what's your tariff?
I am pleased to see the change. We definitely need t...
By Jeff , 2 days ago
-
RE: How Do I Know When the Hot Water Has Run Out?
@transparent that is a very interesting suggestion, tha...
By GrahamF , 3 days ago
-
RE: The good, the bad and the not that great – my heat pump installation
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but it is sort of relev...
By cathodeRay , 3 days ago
-
RE: Getting the best out of a heat pump - is Homely a possible answer?
I missed your 22nd June post on this. I am sure it can ...
By cathodeRay , 3 days ago
-
Now posting on the right topic.... With general build...
By benson , 3 days ago
-
RE: How to waste energy (and time) playing with AI.
I’m sure like many software toys that it is addictive! ...
By Judith , 3 days ago
-
RE: Does anyone have experience of a smart water meter?
@judith With Anglia Water it was a compulsory upgr...
By TechnoGeek , 4 days ago
-
RE: Balancing financial efficiency and comfort using the Octopus Cosy tariff
We’re high energy users other than the ashp so the OVO ...
By Judith , 4 days ago