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Net Work Alan Winstanley The welcome return of my occasional column brings news of trends in smart meters, the onslaught of Chinese-made electric vehicles, and tempts readers into trying Temu. A s promised in my April column, I’m delighted to bring readers an occasional Net Work update, keeping them posted with topical trends and innovations in energy, electric vehicles, Internet usage, space programs and more besides. Looking through my magazines archives, the February 1996 issue of Everyday Practical Electronics sparked some distant memories. This seminal issue introduced Derren Crome’s Simple PIC Programmer, a small project built on Veroboard that empowered constructors to build feature-packed microcontroller-based projects like never before. In the same issue was the late John Becker’s PIC Electric Meter project, an advanced attempt at measuring the real-time electricity consumption of a single electrical appliance. Nowadays, cheap plug-in power meters do the same job. Still, with energy costs and financial pressures foremost in our minds, monitoring an entire household’s energy consumption calls for a dedicated smart meter. As Net Work readers know, smart meters have been one of the author’s bugbears for a while now. Energy suppliers won’t admit it, but smart meters are all about changing our behaviour to match an overstretched supply network with consumer demand. The faltering rollout of Britain’s smart meters has seen some four million of them in circulation that do not work as advertised (if at all). Problems with compatibility, network coverage and difficulties when changing suppliers have been widespread, but the country’s £13.5 billion program continues unabated. As I wrote in April, my supplier, EDF (Électricité de France), finally offered a £150 incentive to install a smart meter, but in the event I found that I’d have to upgrade my existing meter anyway. That’s because my old meter had a certified lifespan of 20 years (2024) clearly stamped on it, and was therefore overdue for replacement. In the same way, retail weigh scales, lorry weighbridges, beer and fuel pumps etc are legally ‘stamped’ and calibrated for trade use when selling goods by weight or volume. Otherwise, it’s illegal to use them for trade. My investigations into meter certifications turned up Schedule 7 of the 1989 Electricity Act, which gives suppliers the legal right to shut off the supply when non-approved meters are installed (more details are at https:// pemag.au/link/ac7a). Operating meters past their certified life makes them non-approved, so the supplier is legally obliged to swap them or risk prosecution. It’s the one smart meter ‘gotcha’ that no-one can argue against. Not a bright spark An electrician duly arrived and power was shut off while he rewired the electricity meter box. The matter of the In-Home Display (IHD) eventually cropped up. Strangely, my visiting ‘sparky’ tried to dissuade me from having one, saying, “You don’t want one, do you?”, adding that “most people don’t like them because they don’t like to be reminded of the cost”. More likely, I thought, it was the end of the day and he wanted to clock off and go home. So naturally, I insisted that an IHD was definitely required! The LCD monitor took over 30 minutes to set up, with the disgruntled electrician muttering “this should be working by now” and “there’s no signal” before it reluctantly sprang into life half an hour later. Disappointingly, the IHD frequently loses contact with the smart meter and needs rebooting, sometimes several times a day, even when it’s only 15 feet (about five metres) away from the meter itself. Ironically, the IHD is the most unreliable ‘smart’ network device that I’ve come across. Even so, I admit that it’s interesting to see how the household’s power consumption racks up in real time, and how hidden ‘phantom loads’ silently clock up those kilowatt-hours, especially overnight. I’ve chosen to transmit meter data once a day, although EDF pushes for 30-minute intervals. The ‘Loop’ smart meter app for Android, iOS and Alexa is an alternative to using an In-Home Display. Loop fetches your smart meter data and displays it on a mobile device (also see Net Work, December 2022). I decided to test it, so, after granting permission and verifying emails, Loop tried downloading my smart meter data, so far without success, perhaps due to network problems. I’ll keep reporting back in future columns. Loop is free to use and has no sign-up charge. More details are at https://loop.homes/ and you can download the app from your usual source. Can’t bash Bosch An electricity meter stamped with a 20-year certification mark. The energy supplier must update it by law, inevitably to a smart meter. As mentioned in April’s column, Energy Smart Appliances (ESAs) promise in the future to communicate over 44 Practical Electronics | September | 2025 This USB lead tester from Temu checks the continuity of USB Micro, Type-C & Lightning leads. valve. It’s worth checking yours. It’s much better to find out before a pipe bursts! In the meantime, being paid by an electricity supplier to upgrade something that they had to change anyway was probably the best deal going under the circumstances. EDF duly credited my account with the bonus, so here’s hoping I’ll get a similar deal for the gas meter! Time for Temu the proposed Smart Meter Home Area Network (SMHAN) and choose the most cost-effective times to operate. In the meantime, some white goods, including Bosch dishwashers and washing machines, can also be managed through a useful app, with a ‘Smart Start’ function suggesting the best time to run, based on energy and time preferences. I find the Bosch Home Connect app very useful for programming the dishwasher, checking water and energy consumption, and monitoring its progress. It even counts detergent tablets. I disabled the ‘Allow remote start’ network option though, as I like to physically switch the machine on in person. It’s clear how ‘Demand Side Response’ is gradually influencing us and controlling our energy consumption – it’s supposedly to help us save money, but in reality it is to throttle demand for energy. I’ve written before that we can expect to see messages and promotions appearing on IHD screens as a matter of course, as the squeeze on our energy supplies continues. The scourge of the smart meter has also spread to the author’s water utilities. Unlike most other regions in Britain, my water authority fitted one at very short notice. Although there’s no In-Home Display or app, a website login displays key data, showing a recent spike due to garden watering. A plumbing mishap also revealed a potential problem: the water supply could not be isolated, as the meter had no key and only an enigmatic hex nut on top. It needed a 17mm AF socket – I sourced a spare on Temu (see later) for £2, just in case. As an aside, I found the house’s water stopcock had also seized solid, so I couldn’t isolate the supply there either, until a plumber installed a new Practical Electronics | September | 2025 Most readers will know of Temu, if only because it’s often hard to escape their advertising. Temu’s online catalogue is technically the slickest and most sophisticated that I have come across, but opinions about buying from Temu are very mixed. Concerns are voiced in some quarters about toy safety or the supply of possibly dangerous, non-compliant or fake goods flooding into the country this way. A USB rechargeable lamp I sourced from Temu was bundled with the obligatory cheap little USB-C lead for charging it up. I tried using a power bank without success, but when I unplugged the USB lead, I received a minor skin burn into the bargain! The lead was red hot and the insulation had melted. I guess an internal short was shunting the power bank – another reason not to leave devices charging unattended. I now completely isolate cheap USB leads when not in use. A USB lead tester that I also sourced off Temu might detect such problems in the future. It needs a USB-C supply of its own, and will test Type-C, Micro and Lightning leads for continuity. [Editor’s note – our USB Cable Tester project from the November & December 2022 issues runs from an internal battery. It checks cables and also reports on their DC resistance, to give you an idea of how much current they can handle.] Another lemon was a rechargeable colour-­ changing lamp, complete with remote control. After defying all attempts to charge it up, a twirl of a screwdriver revealed that the battery was missing altogether! Temu refunded the cost of this fake product immediately. Such incidents offer a taste of what can go wrong in a minority of cases. Britain’s consumer body, “Which?”, has little positive to say about Temu, judging by a report last year (see https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/ what-is-temu-and-is-it-safe-to-buyfrom-a7BUb4k5fBFH). Nevertheless, a huge variety of lowcost tools and garden accessories, handy do-dahs, accessories and merchandise for the crafter, home, garden, pets, wardrobe, kitchen and workshop are on show; tempting low-price offers may sway readers into buying. For example, a useful air blower costing £10 has an 18650 battery and two nozzles that are clipped in place magnetically. It has four speeds (including ‘violent wind gear’, thankfully the maximum!) and is an ideal replacement for pricey (and chilly) flammable air duster aerosols. For the engineer’s workshop, there are selection boxes of fasteners, O-rings, Rclips, grommets, self-tappers, circlips, bolts, Nyloc nuts, hex screws of every size, and plenty more, ideal for keeping stocks topped up at very low cost. Reputable branded multimeters are also listed, including advanced large-screen LCD types, test prod sets and even ‘talking’ testers, all at affordable prices. An expanding garden hose and trigger spray cost under £3 (special offer), a trivial consumable item but, more significantly, a trigger sprayer wall holder (£4) was 3D-printed and virtually indestructible. The Bosch Home Connect app can operate compatible appliances such as dishwashers or washing machines, showing elapsed time, energy and water consumption. 45 This handy air blower from Temu starts at £10 and is safer than flammable aerosol dusters. A tool that scores perforations in cardboard, to help when making up packaging materials, was also 3D-printed and cost just £3. A onehanded multimeter test probe clip caught my eye and cost just 61p. It’s 3D-printed as well. Elsewhere, a set of cleaning brushes, spotted on a TV shopping channel for £9.95 for two, cost 88 pence for five (true). A soft detailing/dusting brush, costing £7 elsewhere and ideal for cleaning electronics, ventilation slots, car dashboards or ornaments, costs just 39 pence each from Temu. The list goes on; sachet wipes for removing sticky labels, and isopropanol wipes for cleaning spectacles or phone screens, cost about a penny each. I added a set of craft knives and separate packs of blades, plus a small receptacle with an internal magnet for snapping off and storing blunt blades safely. I found an excellent large-display digital timer with a clock, 24-hour up/ down timer and built-in alarm, for just £3. This multimeter probe grip enables one-handed operation. It’s 3D-printed and very cheap from Temu. 46 Temu’s minimum order is £15, with free delivery. Merchandise arrives stuffed loosely into a polybag; larger, fragile or brittle items might not survive the journey. If so, Temu refunds immediately, and a £4 credit is sent if goods arrive late (which has happened to me twice). I suspect that some Chinese vendors or drop-­ shippers who sell through Amazon Marketplace can’t believe their luck when dealing with the British public. Identical cheapand-cheerful goods that appear on Temu sometimes sell for ten times more on Amazon (eg, air blowers for £50-£80). I often find it’s worth comparing Amazon prices with Temu, while being wary of low-cost fakes and counterfeits that are usually easy to spot. If you haven’t tried Temu, then you might be pleasantly surprised by what you find – the more you look, the deeper it opens up. In my own experience, Temu’s service has been acceptable enough, provided one applies some savvy and common sense. The vast range of affordable merchandise more than compensates for buying the odd dud or two. My advice is to avoid signing up to notifications about deliveries and offers, though, or you will be pestered forever with offers for things you never knew you needed. Visit www.temu.com if you want to have a look, and the Temu app works impressively well, too. eBay Safety Gate Fake or non-compliant products aren’t unique to Temu or Amazon. In the July 2024 issue, I mentioned an adhesive called B-7000, a low-viscosity glue that is suitable for sealing plastic phone cases back together. I reckoned I’d keep a tube or two handy in the workshop. Earlier this year, I received an alert from eBay, screaming that “There are product safety concerns with the item you purchased”. It turned out that batches of Chinese-made B-7000, labelled with the CE mark, contained excessive levels (31%!) of toluene. French analysts had reported the problem to the EU’s ‘Safety Gate’ rapid alert system, so full marks must go to eBay for tracing and alerting buyers of the potentially dangerous batch of adhesive. The notice appeared online at https://ec.europa.eu/ safety-gate-alerts/screen/webReport/ alertDetail/10008250 eBay’s new strategy of allowing private listings for free, while charging buyers a so-called “Buyer Protection Fee” instead, appears to be working smoothly. The options page for listing items is still onerous and time consuming to fill in and, annoyingly, eBay then tries to seize control and arrange shipping as well (I choose Royal Mail Tracked 48 instead). Beware the hidden “Accept offers” option, enabled by default. Private sellers receive full payment a few days after a tracked delivery is confirmed; otherwise, payments are made by eBay a fortnight later. Sellers also now receive positive feedback from eBay automatically if buyers don’t bother doing so. Building Your Dreams Net Work has covered the steady march of electric vehicles ever since Chinese-owned MG cars first appeared on our roads. Many early adopters of expensive EVs love their cars, but some have had their fingers burnt when it comes to insuring, repairing or trading them in. Never mind facing the practicalities of living with them and charging them up. Battery technology itself continues to evolve. BYD launched its “Super ePlatform” in China in March, promising The BYD Shenzhen is the largest car transporter to date, carrying 9000 vehicles. Practical Electronics | September | 2025 to deliver a 400km range with just five minutes of charging at special ‘flash’ charging stations, a similar refuelling turnaround of a petrol car. Whether Britain’s faltering EV charging infrastructure will ever be up to the task of delivering energy that fast (around 1MW per vehicle!) is another story. I’ve previously showcased what Chinese EV makers are now producing to highlight what’s heading our way, though some early efforts like the Ora Funky Cat (Net Work, January 2022) and Fisker Ocean (Net Work, May 2022) failed to catch on. China dubs such cars ‘New Energy Vehicles’ (NEVs) and some exceptionally advanced design concepts are now on offer. Chinese NEV manufacturer Chery’s website is typical of how dazzling electronics, touchscreens and LEDs dominate a sales pitch, as shown at https:// www.cheryinternational.com/pc/ models/tiggo/tiggo8promaxt18fl3/ index.shtml Data from the SMMT, the UK motor trade body, shows how China’s BYD is chipping away steadily at the British market (even my local Honda dealer has signed up to sell BYD), taking 1.74% of the UK market year-to-date, about the same as Tesla (1.76%). More Chinese brands have recently arrived on our shores out of nowhere, as I forecast in previous Net Work columns. Newcomers include Chery’s blunt-looking Jaecoo, which has already grabbed 0.7% of the market, while Chery’s sub-brand Omoda also sold 0.6% according to the SMMT. Between them, these sales figures match the total sales of Honda cars this year. In a tough market, prices are sharpening all the time, and the £26,000 petrol Omoda 5 was recently named Best Value New Car 2025 at the Autotrader Drivers’ Choice Awards. Their Car of the Year is the electric Kia EV3 (see https://www.autotrader.co.uk/cars/ new/awards). More new arrivals include XPeng (Net Work, May 2023), selling just 51 cars, and Skywell (Net Work, March 2024), which registered exactly nine vehicles. Well, you have to start somewhere. It’s a sign of how the Chinese automotive industry is hungry to gain a foothold abroad. In case you wondered, Volkswagen leads the way, with 9% of UK sales this year. Following the political upheaval earlier this year, Tesla has fallen on slightly harder times. In May, it’s reported that BYD outsold Tesla in Europe for the first time. BYD also easily outsold Tesla in China by 4.5 times in one week alone. Practical Electronics | September | 2025 The new Xiaomi YU7 premium EV attracted 200,000 orders in just three minutes in China. This year, BYD is building the world’s largest factory complex in Zhengzhou, covering 130km2 (32,000 acres or 50 square miles), and is limbering up to deliver its cars worldwide. Any port in a storm Adding to its fleet of three ships, the world’s largest car transporter vessel, the BYD Shenzhen, recently embarked on its maiden voyage and delivered 7000 EVs (capacity 9200) to Brazil, “showcasing [BYD’s] dominance in the EV market and its commitment to sustainable transport solutions”, said China Global TV. Both BYD and Tesla face plenty of competition, though. At the time of writing, Xiaomi, better known in Britain for mobile phones and smart products, has just launched the Xiaomi YU7, a premium EV that ‘broke the Internet’ when it was released, says one Chinese news source. The model is gunning for the Tesla Model Y. Reportedly, some 200,000 orders for the new SUV were placed in three minutes. In comparison, UK car sales total about 170,000 vehicles per month. The YU7 will cost $35,00045,000 (£25,500-33,000), and Xiaomi has more at https://www.mi.com/global/ discover/article?id=4925 The domestic Chinese car market has, however, been alarmed to discover a new ploy that distorts sales figures in a way that’s been common in Britain for 30 years. Car dealers may ‘buy’ or register ‘zero kilometre cars’ themselves, just to inflate their sales figures, before reselling them as ‘pre-registered’ but otherwise brand new cars, at significantly lower prices. The SMMT never replied when I asked whether their vehicle registration figures included pre-registered dealer figures. There is much over-capacity in China’s car industry, and the highly volatile EV market will only see more electric vehicles appearing on our roads as brands jostle to grab their share of the overseas market. The thorny issues of tariffs, trade deals and anti-dumping will also doubtless come to a head in the coming months. Frank W. Hyde on film Following on the heels of SpaceX, Japan’s Honda recently launched an experimental research rocket as it seeks to enter the reusable rocket market. Being a Honda, the rocket started first time, set off successfully and returned reliably to Earth without incident. The test flight can be seen on the NHK Japan website at https://www3.nhk.or.jp/ nhkworld/en/news/special/04/4086/ Still on the topic of reaching for the stars, long-time readers of Practical Electronics will remember the popular Spacewatch column written by the late Frank W. Hyde. In Net Work, April 2023, I wrote how Frank Hyde built the world’s largest amateur radio observatory in Britain in the 1960s. He collaborated with the Jodrell Bank observatory, and it’s said his work influenced some experiments onboard NASA’s Pioneer missions. He also appeared on BBC TV’s “Sky At Night” with British astronomer Patrick Moore. I’ve managed to capture contemporary footage of Frank Hyde at work in his observatory, taken from a 1960s ‘short’ that was produced by the Rank Organisation for its very popular “Look at Life” series. I’ve uploaded the two-minute clip onto YouTube, at https://youtu.be/nS8c1Is21vQ and I’m sure regular PE readers will enjoy watching it. That’s all for this month. Readers will find all the above links ready-made on the Net Work blog at electronpublishing.com – join me next time for more topical news of developments in energy, space programs and getting the best out of surfing online. As always, you can email me at PE alan<at>epemag.net The Frank W. Hyde clip now on YouTube. 47