Intelligent Octopus

Author
Discussion

Road2Ruin

5,284 posts

218 months

Monday 29th April
quotequote all
number2 said:
The app said that tonight's schedule would be available when I plugged in to charge... car was still plugged in though from last night.

I unplugged the car l, and plugged it in again, then the schedule appeared in the app.

The car doesn't need charge tonight and neither are we going to use much electricity but I thought it was odd not to see a schedule.
It only comes up with a schedule when you first plug it in. After that schedule has expired, you will have to unplug it and plug it in again.

number2

4,354 posts

189 months

Monday 29th April
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
It only comes up with a schedule when you first plug it in. After that schedule has expired, you will have to unplug it and plug it in again.
Aha, and that's what happened beer.

hepy

1,282 posts

142 months

Tuesday 28th May
quotequote all
It all seems very complicated compared to my current tracker tariff?

Can you simply set things up to charge between 11:30 and 5:30?

Is it possible to set it to charge to 100% each time? I often have days when I need the full battery due to 200+ mile days.

TheDeuce

22,280 posts

68 months

Tuesday 28th May
quotequote all
hepy said:
It all seems very complicated compared to my current tracker tariff?

Can you simply set things up to charge between 11:30 and 5:30?

Is it possible to set it to charge to 100% each time? I often have days when I need the full battery due to 200+ mile days.
Yes you can set to charge whenever you wish - but why only between the guaranteed cheap hours?

If there car is plugged in and needs charge, it'll charge at cheap rate any time there is cheap rate available - I'm addition to the fixed cheap rate hours.

Once its setup, you don't have to do anything - other than remember to plug your car in...

hepy

1,282 posts

142 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
hepy said:
It all seems very complicated compared to my current tracker tariff?

Can you simply set things up to charge between 11:30 and 5:30?

Is it possible to set it to charge to 100% each time? I often have days when I need the full battery due to 200+ mile days.
Yes you can set to charge whenever you wish - but why only between the guaranteed cheap hours?

If there car is plugged in and needs charge, it'll charge at cheap rate any time there is cheap rate available - I'm addition to the fixed cheap rate hours.

Once its setup, you don't have to do anything - other than remember to plug your car in...
Thank you.

So to get the most out of it, it’s worth plugging in as often as possible?

In addition to the 11:30 to 5:30 slot, typically how many additional cheap rate hours are there during the day?

number2

4,354 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
hepy said:
Thank you.

So to get the most out of it, it’s worth plugging in as often as possible?

In addition to the 11:30 to 5:30 slot, typically how many additional cheap rate hours are there during the day?
I've been on it for over a month and have been getting around 12 hours a day for most days, although the car doesn't use most of it.

To be honest, the whole setup seemed complicated before I got the car, but it couldn't be further from the truth - once registered for the tarrif, just plug it in!

If you need to charge outside of the scheduled hours, just press Bump charge.

I just took this screenshot. It had already passed through a 2030 to 2100 slot, as well as slots in the AM.



riskyj

347 posts

82 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
number2 said:
I've been on it for over a month and have been getting around 12 hours a day for most days, although the car doesn't use most of it.

To be honest, the whole setup seemed complicated before I got the car, but it couldn't be further from the truth - once registered for the tarrif, just plug it in!

If you need to charge outside of the scheduled hours, just press Bump charge.

I just took this screenshot. It had already passed through a 2030 to 2100 slot, as well as slots in the AM.


Your interface is subtly different from mine. I don’t have a +80% option. Does this mean ‘at least 80% but continue to charge if cheap hours are available?’

I’m also confused at your comment “12 hours a day but the around 12 hours a day for most days, although the car doesn't use most of it.” I only seem to get cheap hours in accordance with what the car needs to reach the target charge? I.e it must somehow read the current SoC, determine my car only needs 10% to hit target and therefore only schedules a small charging slot.

The only time I’ve seen large 12 hour type slots is when my SoC has been <50 miles.

number2

4,354 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
riskyj said:
Your interface is subtly different from mine. I don’t have a +80% option. Does this mean ‘at least 80% but continue to charge if cheap hours are available?’

I’m also confused at your comment “12 hours a day but the around 12 hours a day for most days, although the car doesn't use most of it.” I only seem to get cheap hours in accordance with what the car needs to reach the target charge? I.e it must somehow read the current SoC, determine my car only needs 10% to hit target and therefore only schedules a small charging slot.

The only time I’ve seen large 12 hour type slots is when my SoC has been <50 miles.
The 80pc (and 8AM) is set by me - it means Octopus will only charge to 80pc and will schedule it as far as possible to be ready for 8AM. Octopus controls the Zappi rather than the car.

When plugged in, Octopus sets a schedule for the day which is usually about 12 hours over a few slots. The car has never needed that length of charge so doesn't charge across all the slots allocated.

For example, yesterday morning I popped out and used <10pc charge. I came home, plugged in and Octopus set up 3 x cheap charge slots. The car was fully charged using only a fraction of the time allocated - it didn't utilise all the cheap energy as it didn't need to. The slots still showed in the app.

I don't know if the house received cheap energy when the car was plugged in and not charging, outside of the core 1130-0500.

carl_w

9,239 posts

260 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
riskyj said:
Your interface is subtly different from mine. I don’t have a +80% option. Does this mean ‘at least 80% but continue to charge if cheap hours are available?’
You must have IOG linked to the car whereas the other poster has it linked to the charger. If it is linked to the car you set a target %age, but if it is linked to the charger you set a %age to add as it doesn't know the car's charge state.

Takemeaway

605 posts

213 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
This has probably been discussed but I couldn’t find it.

Is it possible to combine intelligent octopus with a fixed price tariff?

Doesn’t look like it but thought I’d ask

Discombobulate

4,884 posts

188 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
Takemeaway said:
This has probably been discussed but I couldn’t find it.

Is it possible to combine intelligent octopus with a fixed price tariff?

Doesn’t look like it but thought I’d ask
No. It is a tariff, albeit not fixed.

Takemeaway

605 posts

213 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
Discombobulate said:
No. It is a tariff, albeit not fixed.
Sure. Didn’t think so

Pedaller

164 posts

15 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
number2 said:
The 80pc (and 8AM) is set by me - it means Octopus will only charge to 80pc and will schedule it as far as possible to be ready for 8AM. Octopus controls the Zappi rather than the car.

When plugged in, Octopus sets a schedule for the day which is usually about 12 hours over a few slots. The car has never needed that length of charge so doesn't charge across all the slots allocated.

For example, yesterday morning I popped out and used <10pc charge. I came home, plugged in and Octopus set up 3 x cheap charge slots. The car was fully charged using only a fraction of the time allocated - it didn't utilise all the cheap energy as it didn't need to. The slots still showed in the app.

I don't know if the house received cheap energy when the car was plugged in and not charging, outside of the core 1130-0500.
This means you are telling it to add 80%, instead of telling it to charge to 80%. Hence it says “Charge to add”. Octopus is not able to read the SoC of the car when IO is controlling the charger instead of the car. This is a limitation of Type 2 cables - they can’t send the SoC of the car to the charger. So your car will charge over 80% unless you start charging from 0% SoC or you have a limit set on the car.

Really you should be varying the percentage you are requesting based on the car’s current charge level at the time you plug it in. If you always leave it on +80% it’s likely that you’re sometimes requesting more charge slots than you need e.g. if the car’s battery is at 50% when you plug in - you’re asking for 130% total. Therefore it’s giving you slots at peak evening hours where the electricity is dirtier, and your car stops charging during off peak hours when it could have been charging with greener electricity.

The “charge to” option in IO is only available when IO controls the car. You truly can set and forget with that.

number2

4,354 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
Pedaller said:
number2 said:
The 80pc (and 8AM) is set by me - it means Octopus will only charge to 80pc and will schedule it as far as possible to be ready for 8AM. Octopus controls the Zappi rather than the car.

When plugged in, Octopus sets a schedule for the day which is usually about 12 hours over a few slots. The car has never needed that length of charge so doesn't charge across all the slots allocated.

For example, yesterday morning I popped out and used <10pc charge. I came home, plugged in and Octopus set up 3 x cheap charge slots. The car was fully charged using only a fraction of the time allocated - it didn't utilise all the cheap energy as it didn't need to. The slots still showed in the app.

I don't know if the house received cheap energy when the car was plugged in and not charging, outside of the core 1130-0500.
This means you are telling it to add 80%, instead of telling it to charge to 80%. Hence it says “Charge to add”. Octopus is not able to read the SoC of the car when IO is controlling the charger instead of the car. This is a limitation of Type 2 cables - they can’t send the SoC of the car to the charger. So your car will charge over 80% unless you start charging from 0% SoC or you have a limit set on the car.

Really you should be varying the percentage you are requesting based on the car’s current charge level at the time you plug it in. If you always leave it on +80% it’s likely that you’re sometimes requesting more charge slots than you need e.g. if the car’s battery is at 50% when you plug in - you’re asking for 130% total. Therefore it’s giving you slots at peak evening hours where the electricity is dirtier, and your car stops charging during off peak hours when it could have been charging with greener electricity.

The “charge to” option in IO is only available when IO controls the car. You truly can set and forget with that.
Yeah smile.

The car is set to stop at 80pc smile.


Edited by number2 on Wednesday 29th May 13:31

number2

4,354 posts

189 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
number2 said:
The app said that tonight's schedule would be available when I plugged in to charge... car was still plugged in though from last night.

I unplugged the car l, and plugged it in again, then the schedule appeared in the app.

The car doesn't need charge tonight and neither are we going to use much electricity but I thought it was odd not to see a schedule.
It only comes up with a schedule when you first plug it in. After that schedule has expired, you will have to unplug it and plug it in again.
That is correct smile. You and I had the same exchange earlier in the thread and I did learn from it, thank you smile.

riskyj

347 posts

82 months

Wednesday 29th May
quotequote all
Pedaller said:
This means you are telling it to add 80%, instead of telling it to charge to 80%. Hence it says “Charge to add”. Octopus is not able to read the SoC of the car when IO is controlling the charger instead of the car. This is a limitation of Type 2 cables - they can’t send the SoC of the car to the charger. So your car will charge over 80% unless you start charging from 0% SoC or you have a limit set on the car.

Really you should be varying the percentage you are requesting based on the car’s current charge level at the time you plug it in. If you always leave it on +80% it’s likely that you’re sometimes requesting more charge slots than you need e.g. if the car’s battery is at 50% when you plug in - you’re asking for 130% total. Therefore it’s giving you slots at peak evening hours where the electricity is dirtier, and your car stops charging during off peak hours when it could have been charging with greener electricity.

The “charge to” option in IO is only available when IO controls the car. You truly can set and forget with that.
Interesting - seems like a loophole!

Mine is currently set up to control the car - although I’ve now got two EVs so I probably need to figure out how to change this so it’s set up to control the charger.

Edited to add, screenshot from the myenergi website:

Edited by riskyj on Wednesday 29th May 21:41