Has anyone had their electric power meter changed to a smart meter and found a detrimental effect on their audio system sound quality? I declined the change primarily due to concerns over radiated RF power, however, I was also wondering about other effects it may have on appliances due to noise from it’s switch mode power supply right at the power panel in addition to radiated RF.
This is part of what I do for a living. The meters internal current carrying device is essentially a copper or low resistance bimetallic. The internal wiring is copper mostly and cad welded. The resistance is so low it cannot be measured unless with special equipment. The old meters are the same Inside but the new ones have digital read outs as opposed to the old ones with magnetic coils to turn the dials based on current flow.
It is the same now but with digital board to monitor the current flow. I cannot imagine it making any difference I have both in different homes and offices. Do you use a ps power product…??
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I do not use a PS power product but I do use a Monster HTPS-7000 MKii power conditioner for all components except amplifiers. My biggest concern is the RF output of the smart meter and to a lesser extent the SMPS used to power the digital electronics.
If you are concerned about RFI and SMPS noise from the smart meter causing audio quality issues then you had better unplug almost everything in your house. You might need for your neighbor to do the same too. I would say that any electrical noise from the smart meter would be no worse than a digital clock, if even that much. Almost certainly much less than that of a WiFi router or any similar equipment.
J.P.
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This is part of what I do for a living.
How do these meters communicate with home base? Is it an RF transmitter? What frequency? What is the transmit power?
The short answer is rf, but this is not transmitted on the power lines. It transmits to receiver on the pole . They have a petty good range about 300 yards. It is not always on either it is done daily , it allows you to see your consumption at anytime by a logging network. So if the kids leave the lights on and you know the best you have done in the past days . Your gas meter does this and so does your water meter . They all have different topology in use . Gas must be read locally but access is not needed and the electric meters have had this for a long time , but only local. Now they have a state of the art system . As for rf your home is loaded . Need I mention your cell phones laptops anything with wifi or cell service. Also many items in your home using electric to contribute to the noise on your line. Any switching PSU does this…
Hope this helps.
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Received an email from Xcel Energy today saying they were going to install a smart meter for my property, so I called them and said no thanks. I’ll have to pay an additional $11 a month for an analog meter, but that’s fine by me. Plenty of reasons to not have one installed.
Best to not have WiFi in your house too then. Far more and constant RF exposure than a ‘smart’ meter. Oh and your mobile phone too, put it in airplane mode. You cannot do much about your neighbors or the cell tower blanking you’re area.
We are all participating in the great rf exposure experiment.
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One needs to move to a semi-remote area, turn of every electrical device, as well as not drive a car, to escape exposure. As a already noted, any electrical noise from a smart meter would be no worse than a digital clock, if even that much. Sitting in front of a laptop or desk computer, or using a phone, to post on the forum exposes one to a great deal more RF.
I would not worry about it.
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Amateur radio is still a thing and that RF can travel half way around the world.
Wifi is significantly higher power than anything these meters are outputting.
The IoT space is rapidly expanding to includes all kinds of new technology. Got an Amazon device in your house? They just enabled a new RF network (it uses Zigbee) which piggyback’s on your Internet connection called Sidewalk. Your wireless alarm system? It’s Zigbee or zWave. Hue lights use Zigbee. LoRa is also a very popular low bandwidth, low power, high distance technology that you’re probably close to (some smart meters use this).
Anyway… as others said… Just move to nowhere, generate your own power, and you’re still not completely away from RF. Smart meters have their issues but I don’t think the actual data push (RF) is one of them considering all the other, much more powerful, RF already in and around my house.
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There are also natural sources of RF, such as that released by astronomical bodies, the sun, lightening strikes, the earth itself, etc.
It is amazing how much EM energy is floating around at ll ends of the spectrum.
I recommend disabling sidewalk. I won’t allow it until they pay me to do so and even then I won’t do it.
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Agreed.
I was unaware of Sidewalk until it was mentioned here (I have no Amazon devices). Quite fascinating and a bit eerie. It appears easy to opt out within Amazon apps.
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It is easy to disable but one has to be aware of it and most won’t be of course.
I’m a big fan of PiHole for both caching DNS services for my network and blocking of domains I don’t want to resolve and track, etc.
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Yes, most will not know of it and I am certain it is on by default.
I disabled it back in 2020 as soon as I read about it.
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I know, I was creeping past your house and was bummed to find my network connection disrupted 
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We live on a corner lot, with sidewalk along the front, but not on the side. I guess that cancels out the bad stuff, eh! 
One, the effects of electromagnetic radiation are cumulative, so anything you can do to reduce your exposure is a good thing. Two, there are studying showing that the EMF radiation from smart meters are up to 160 times higher than a cell phone.