Shortly before Christmas, as is often the way at this time of the year with technology, a gadget dad uses to monitor the electricity used in the house failed and stopped giving updates.
Further investigations including a trip to the electricity meter cupboard outside, revealed that the EnergySmart sensor needed a new battery.
If you are unfamilier with these units they are a two part kit, easily installed by the homeowner to constantly monitor electricity usage in a building.
One part consists of a small transmitter unit which clamps around an electricity cable in your meter cupboard.
The second unit displays usage and past usage (30 days) inside the house.
You can find out more on the British Gas website.
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Battery replacement
The battery used in the sensor turns out to be a lithium CR2 3V battery and a spare was easily obtained via Amazon.co.uk.
When inserted however, the two units failed to communicate and appeared to have lost sync with each other.
Thanks to the British Gas help desk we soon were up and running again after we followed their advice to reset the EnergySmart monitor:
- Please remove the power supply from your display and hold the top ‘menu’ button down for 10 seconds and the screen on your display go blank to show it’s been turned off.
- While your monitor is turned off, carefully disconnect the sensor from your electricity meter and remove the battery and reinsert after 10 seconds.
- Now using something like a paper clip, press the reset button which can be found about halfway down the side of the sensor. You’ll need to press the reset button around 4-6 times until the LED inside the sensor lights up solidly and then start to double flash.
- Please now reconnect sensor to the same wire on your electricity meter
- Now insert the power supply back into your display and while holding the bottom ‘adjust’ button down, press the top ‘menu’ button four times. The display will then flash white and clear, before returning to displaying the pulsating blue antennae.
- Your display will now reconnect to your sensor and begin displaying your electricity consumption within 30 seconds.
Reset the EnergySmart unit
We have to admit that dad did try the above instructions two or three times before both units started talking.
All seems to be working once more and, as we type up this blog post, he is busy re-entering all of the settings such as the time and cost per unit. It would really be an improvement if gadgets like this could remember settings when batteries fail.
Until next time
Buster and Charlie
The battery in our sensor had run out too. No instructions on the BritishGas website, so I was really pleased to find your detailed notes. I’d never have guessed holding down one button and dabbing the other one four times! We’re all working now. Many thanks!
Just replaced the battery in our sensor and relieved to find Google pointed me here to reconnect – thanks
A very helpful blog post. Many thanks.
Would never have been able to get my monitor and sensor to start talking again if it weren’t for this guide. I’d even got to the point of taking the back off the display to see if there were a reset button inside! British Gas should really include these instructions on their website.
Thanks for the help with that!
Excellent. Thanks for this post. Been struggling for days to work out how to resync with the sensor since the battery died. Couldn’t find it anywhere official.
Thank you so much. I had changed the sensor battery but the home screen still didn’t work. I was about to return the unit as faulty but checked on goggle and found your instructions. I followed them and hey presto, my monitor now works. Nothing in the British Gas user instructions refers to “how to reset the unit”. Shame on them as this must be a common problem.
Brilliant got it working with these instructions – as Pat says why is this not in the instructions
This is excellent. Exactly the same problem and I got it sorted first time with this handy little instruction. Well done guys 10/10!!
Brilliant, was trawling the B.G. website to no avail before finding this, a great help indeed! Up and running again in no time. Now to get the costs down..
Thanks for posting this, worked first time! Why BG can’t be bothered to include these instructions on their own website I don’t know, but I’m glad you did – Cheers!
Very helpful, thanks for posting this! As others have said, why don’t they put this in the instructions? Would save themselves a few phone calls I bet!
Great how to! I was trying all kinds of random button tweeks. Your way worked 1st time. Thanks.
Thanks for the help! Worked like a charm 😀
Thanks for this! We had exactly the same problem – battery in the sensor died and we couldn’t figure out how to re-pair the two devices. Your instructions worked like a charm.
instructions very useful, thank you.
Thanks for putting this together! Really useful stuff.
Hi, thanks of the instructions. I fitted a new battery, and the sensor was flashing. Couldn’t get them to talk to each other, so reset both, but now I can get the sensor to flash at all. Any help please? It’s a new battery. It did flash ok when I put it in for a start, but since I reset both units, nothing.
Thanks
Martin
Just tried it. It works. Thanks.
Hi- I was initially excited to find your instructions for re-synching the British Gas energy monitor… BUT despite following your instructions, it’ still not working. You say to press the reset button in the sender with a paperclip 4-6 times til the LED double flashes. I’ve done this again and again but the LED still just flashes long on with a short off then long on.. The pattern of the flash won’t change. And the receiver won;t detect it. Any thoughts?? Have you have other feedback? cheers Phil
Nice one! Hope this works – the manufacturers of this unit (AlertMe) were useless and pointed me back to BG (I’m no longer a customer) but this is exactly what I was after. Cheers!
Also worked for me having finally got a response from AlertMe confirming this. What no-one has mentioned is that at re-power-up holding the lower key and pressing the upper key 4 times, the display shows ‘disc’ which would imply it is in pairing mode – it then picked up the clamp instantly! Thanks!
Many thanks for this. My unit responded slightly differently. Hold down down button while plugging in external power. 4 taps of up button which makes the display flash white. Then displays Find. Connected in about 15 seconds
Excellent, thank you very much.
As has been said before, why BG do not include this information is not included in their instructions is plain daft.
Thanks, this helped ease my frustration. My unit remembered my cost per unit for some reason but not the time…. : )
I have tried the instructions probably a hundred times, and I notice others have had bad luck too. Has anyone resolved their problems? I am faced with a screen that says “Join” instead of “Disc” or “Find”, the sensor double flashes as it should although interestingly the reset button does not need to be pressed for this to happen, just the CR2 battery inserted. I have tried the reset button also.
Does anyone know how to re-connect once you have a “Join” screen?
Thanks
Any Luck getting past Join Screen… Mine is locked on that screen also. Completely unresponsive!
We have had a quick note from British Gas help desk via Twitter to say “There’s no way around that fault, it means it’s broken I’m afraid. If it’s less than a year old we will replace it.” http://bit.ly/1iSPUMs.
So can I suggest that you get in touch with them and let us know how you get on.
Thanks for the response, I though I was going mad. Mine is older than a year – the problem only started after the CR2 battery went flat. Thanks again!
Yes unplug the monitor internal battery. Wait 24 hours. Plug the power in. You’ll be faced with join. Now hold the adjust button for may be 30 seconds and it will change to the blue flashing etc.
I should have witten. Once you see the ‘join’ try holding the adjust button for up to 30 seconds. If that does not work unplug the internal battery, wait 24 hours. Plug the internal battery back in. Now plug the power in and you’ll still be faced with the ‘join’. Now hold the ‘adjust’ button until the blue flashing aerial icon appears. This may take 30 seconds. I hope this helps people.
Regards,
D
Have you solved this issue yet Brian, as I have the same problem, being stuck on the Join screen. Unplugging the unit from the mains turns the monitor off immediately. When turned back on the word join just flashes away. Both buttons do nothing.
I should have witten. Once you see the ‘join’ try holding the adjust
button for up to 30 seconds. If that does not work unplug the internal
battery, wait 24 hours. Plug the internal battery back in. Now plug the
power in and you’ll still be faced with the ‘join’. Now hold the
‘adjust’ button until the blue flashing aerial icon appears. This may
take 30 seconds. I hope this helps people.
Regards,
Thank you, worked like a dream
Just wanted to say thanks our battery ran out at home and without this guide would be completely lost.
Thanks again!!
Owen
Mine was stuck on JOIN and when I contacted BG for a replacement they sent these slightly different instructions. Specifically, different when plugging the monitor back in. This worked for me…
“Now insert the power supply into your display and at the same time holding the bottom ‘adjust’ button down, keep this pressed until it changes from JOIN to FIND symbol. The display return to displaying the pulsating blue antennae.”
Hopefully this will help future googlers of this same issue 😉
thanks for the details on the new unit. much appreciated and no doubt will help others
Thank you for your helpful blog.
The problem I have with my energy monitor is that the readings went bananas and said that I was using far more electricity than I actually was.
I turned it all off, disconnected the transmitter clamp, took out the battery (which is a new one) put it back in an went into the house to check.
Now the display on monitor in the house says “Find” and the aerial is sending out the radii to connect but nothing happens.
Please can you help? Many thanks
Many thanks for this, the battery died in the sensor a few days ago, was replaced but wouldn’t connect to the base unit.
Using the method above everthing is now talking to each other again.
Thank you for this, up and running again after battery died and installed a new one.
Followed the instructions but the sensor does not flash at all? Even a long hold on the reset has no effect?
Worked for me. Got one of these BG monitors at a car boot today. Dead battery. Put a new one in and just got the dashed line going back and forth on the display. The sensor did its two blinks thing and I powered up the display, held down the bottom button and pressed the top one 4 times and it said ‘find’. Then about 15 seconds later it sprang to life and now reads energy fine. The internal battery on the display says it’s charging but after a couple of hours of charging I pulled out the charger lead and the display died instantly. Maybe it takes 24 hours to charge or something… Will find out after 24 hours, I guess.
Thanks! Instructions were just what I needed.
Thanks for the instructions worked a treat
glad it worked – and thanks for letting us know
Thank you very much for writing this! I’ve been trying to connect my old energy monitor and couldn’t get the monitor to pair with the transmitter. None of the help guides on British Gas’s website helped, but your blog did. Thank you again!
Followed the instructions and everything worked first time! Thanks a lot!