Radio teleswitch info?

barcaloco · Sep 29, 2012

hello just wondered how radio teleswitches worked? is the signal supposed to come out at exactly the same time every night?

the reason i ask is because last night i never heard the usual clunk, so i tested the storage heaters and there was nothing and the night meter wasn't on but the daytime meter was turning at 1.30-2:00am :S

when i got up today the heater i left on was hot so it must've came on at some point. Just wondered if the signal is sent out at different times each night or if it's meant to be programmed? cheers

sorry put this thread in the wrong section (amateur)

Richard Burns · Sep 29, 2012

Radio teleswitches are meant to be controlled by the radio four singal however the specific time that they may switch is dependent on the power requirements at the time. Unfortunately the Dnos and the suppliers do not give specific times because if there is high demand they may not want to switch over!

generally you can say that from 02:00 to 06:00 you will be on E7, however the times do vary by supplier and really there is no specific timing set in stone.
particularly for the start times, There tends to be a period around 11:00 to 2:00 when it may be on and then a period if about five hours when it will be on, overall there are about seven hours in a nine hour time frame when you will get cheaper electricity, however what those exact times are is a bit undefined.

This was the last time information I had

Region	Economy 7 times
Eastern	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm to 8.30am
East Midlands	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm to 8.30am
London	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am
Manweb	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.00pm and 8.00am
Midlands	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am
Northern	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 12.00am and 8.00am
Norweb	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am. Some Meters are set up for split E7, 2 hours at 10.30pm to 12.30am and then 5hours2.30am to 7.30am
Scottish Hydro	Please contact Distributor as times may vary dependant upon location
Scottish Power	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 8.30am
Seeboard	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate between 11.30pm and 1.30am then3.30am to 8.30am BST, 10.30pm -12.30am then 2.30am to 7.30am GMT
Southern Electricity	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 11.30pm and 7.30am
SWALEC	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 12.00am and 8.00am
SWEB	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 12.00am and 8.00am
Yorkshire	Electricity is supplied at a cheaper rate for 7 hours between 12.30am and 8.30am.

Oh yes and the thread could better be placed in the general electrical forum rather than news a bot the forum.

barcaloco · Sep 30, 2012

Thanks for clearing that up, it's a crazy setup, I checked again last night at 3:00am i was still on the 'higher rate' meter when I'm supposed to be on e7. Maybe they don't like to supply cheap electricity at the weekend.

drew35 · Sep 30, 2012

I don't know?

(I wouldn't usually have informed you of that but I have to get my post count up to 3000.)

Richard Burns · Sep 30, 2012

I have heard but not witnessed that sometimes the switch gets out of synch and some people find they are getting low cost power during the day, if you have timer items that use E7 power then I would ask your supplier to check the switch is functioning properly, not that I think you will get very far with them!
If you have a power monitor then you could connect it to an appliance only on E7 and then see the history of when it was using power.

barcaloco · Sep 30, 2012

I've read about that aswell I'll keep an eye on it, I just don't like the fact that the suppliers say you get x amount of power for cheaper at night and charge you a slightly higher peak rate, then they don't switch the meters and you're actually paying a high rate. That's just me, but how many other meters aren't getting switched over and people don't even know.