Intelligent Octopus
Discussion
Simond S said:
Mved to IO a few days ago.
Charged my etron overnight, all good.
Plugged the wifes i3 in yesterday and nothing happened. The charger didnt even recognise that the cable was plugged in and a car connected.
We have a Rolec EV Smart charger, any thoughts or insights welcome.
i3 is not supported by IO. Leave the E-tron on IO and just set the timer in the i3 on for off peak charging. Works fine for us (iPace on IO and i3 as mentioned).Charged my etron overnight, all good.
Plugged the wifes i3 in yesterday and nothing happened. The charger didnt even recognise that the cable was plugged in and a car connected.
We have a Rolec EV Smart charger, any thoughts or insights welcome.
If the Rolec is the problem, just turn smart charging off on the Octopus app when you plug the i3 in. And back on again for the Etron.
Merry said:
Does anyone know if you can have intelligent Octopus and not use it outside of the nightime hours? I have a podpoint charger and have no intention of changing it.
Reason is I have a Tesla which is supported, but is nearly always charged at work, however the wife is likely to get something unsupported (a Zoe or Corsa or something) which will be charged overnight.
Can I just use the overnight hours or will they get shirty?
I have used it like this for a month or so at a time (due to being without a supported car) and no feedback from Octopus. And most of our charging is done on an unsupported car (i3)Reason is I have a Tesla which is supported, but is nearly always charged at work, however the wife is likely to get something unsupported (a Zoe or Corsa or something) which will be charged overnight.
Can I just use the overnight hours or will they get shirty?
One way round it is to charge the Tesla up for a few hours at home once every few weeks....
Discombobulate said:
i3 is not supported by IO. Leave the E-tron on IO and just set the timer in the i3 on for off peak charging. Works fine for us (iPace on IO and i3 as mentioned).
If the Rolec is the problem, just turn smart charging off on the Octopus app when you plug the i3 in. And back on again for the Etron.
Nope. If the Rolec is the problem, just turn smart charging off on the Octopus app when you plug the i3 in. And back on again for the Etron.
i3 is definitely supported, as mine works well with IO using hypervolt EVSE as dumb 'always-on' charger.
No idea about others, or specific scenario, but on it's own it works okay.
Sorry if this has been asked before. On intelligent octopus will the car keep charging past 5:30am if the charge limit set in the octopus app has not yet been met and you have the ready time set to something after 5:30am?
I assume it does? Or else you’d have to wake up and ask it to bump charge. Feels like there should be a setting to choose between stop charging as soon as the off-peak rate stops, or continue. Or maybe you can do that by setting the ready tike to 5:30am or earlier.
I assume it does? Or else you’d have to wake up and ask it to bump charge. Feels like there should be a setting to choose between stop charging as soon as the off-peak rate stops, or continue. Or maybe you can do that by setting the ready tike to 5:30am or earlier.
Edited by Pedaller on Friday 20th October 20:18
Pedaller said:
Sorry if this has been asked before. On intelligent octopus will the car keep charging past 5:30am if the charge limit set in the octopus app has not yet been met and you have the ready time set to something after 5:30am?
I assume it does? Or else you’d have to wake up and ask it to bump charge. Feels like there should be a setting to choose between stop charging as soon as the off-peak rate stops, or continue. Or maybe you can do that by setting the ready tike to 5:30am or earlier.
If octopus is in charge of the cars charging, it will stop when the cheap hours cease, even if the target charge hasn't been met.I assume it does? Or else you’d have to wake up and ask it to bump charge. Feels like there should be a setting to choose between stop charging as soon as the off-peak rate stops, or continue. Or maybe you can do that by setting the ready tike to 5:30am or earlier.
Edited by Pedaller on Friday 20th October 20:18
But that's irrelevant for two reasons:
1) To get the most from the tariff, plug your car in whenever convenient, even if it doesn't really need more charge than it already has - that way you get the most cheap hours (as opposed to aiming to plug in at night only), and your car is also never that low on range.
2) After over a year I have never once not been given cheap hours until at least 9am if my charge target requires them. Between 6:30pm and 9:30 am there always seems to be plenty of excess cheap power they can offer. That's 15 hours which would take most EV's to 100% from a low SoC easily.
dmsims said:
Not true
Custard:
I'm not sure what your point is - that just shows the cheap hours hadn't ceased.Custard:
TheDeuce said:
If octopus is in charge of the cars charging, it will stop when the cheap hours cease, even if the target charge hasn't been met.
Did you think I was referring only to the guaranteed cheap hours? If so, I was not. Which is why I went on to comment about the almost guaranteed additional cheap hours if they're required.
dmsims said:
Well yes I think it's important to clarify that there are guaranteed cheap hours - 11.30pm - 5.30 pm
and other random cheap hours (when the car is charging)
I thought I did that by giving a detailed example of the sort of total hours you can expect to get if the car needs it - I even gave example start and finish times of what is typically offered.and other random cheap hours (when the car is charging)
I'll try harder next time
Thanks for the replies. First day on the tariff yesterday and managed to complete the test charge on my i-pace (charger is a zappi).
Attempting first intelligent charge tonight. Car is on 74% and I’ve set the limit to 100% and 9am on the octopus app. Octopus has scheduled a charge between 2:30 and 5:30am according to the app. So I assume it will stop charging once the cheap rate ceases.
After plugging in earlier it was slightly annoying that I had to manually stop the charge via the jaguar app, as after 15 mins octopus had not stopped it. I think I am not alone in that experience. Really hope the zappi integration with IO comes soon.
Edit: A second session from 5:30-6am has now been added. Looks like it will also be cheap, according to the FAQs.
Attempting first intelligent charge tonight. Car is on 74% and I’ve set the limit to 100% and 9am on the octopus app. Octopus has scheduled a charge between 2:30 and 5:30am according to the app. So I assume it will stop charging once the cheap rate ceases.
After plugging in earlier it was slightly annoying that I had to manually stop the charge via the jaguar app, as after 15 mins octopus had not stopped it. I think I am not alone in that experience. Really hope the zappi integration with IO comes soon.
Edit: A second session from 5:30-6am has now been added. Looks like it will also be cheap, according to the FAQs.
Edited by Pedaller on Saturday 21st October 19:18
Pedaller said:
Thanks for the replies. First day on the tariff yesterday and managed to complete the test charge on my i-pace (charger is a zappi).
Attempting first intelligent charge tonight. Car is on 74% and I’ve set the limit to 100% and 9am on the octopus app. Octopus has scheduled a charge between 2:30 and 5:30am according to the app. So I assume it will stop charging once the cheap rate ceases.
After plugging in earlier it was slightly annoying that I had to manually stop the charge via the jaguar app, as after 15 mins octopus had not stopped it. I think I am not alone in that experience. Really hope the zappi integration with IO comes soon.
Edit: A second session from 5:30-6am has now been added. Looks like it will also be cheap, according to the FAQs.
If it's on the octopus app charge schedule, it's cheap rate. Attempting first intelligent charge tonight. Car is on 74% and I’ve set the limit to 100% and 9am on the octopus app. Octopus has scheduled a charge between 2:30 and 5:30am according to the app. So I assume it will stop charging once the cheap rate ceases.
After plugging in earlier it was slightly annoying that I had to manually stop the charge via the jaguar app, as after 15 mins octopus had not stopped it. I think I am not alone in that experience. Really hope the zappi integration with IO comes soon.
Edit: A second session from 5:30-6am has now been added. Looks like it will also be cheap, according to the FAQs.
Edited by Pedaller on Saturday 21st October 19:18
If you had plugged in at 10% today it would probably have given you 12+ hours cheap rate in order to hit your 100% requirement.
I've been on the Octopus tracker for about a year and still averaging around 15p for electric.
Recently picked up an EV and the sums suggest my tipping point at which Intelligent becomes the better deal for me is if the tracker hits close to 25p.
That's not taking into account delaying the washing machine and dishwasher until late, but I expect the savings there to be marginal.
Anyone in a similar situation?
I'm still on the tracker for gas too, which is slowly creeping up after a year of very low (in comparison to what everyone else was paying) rates. Maybe time to fix soon.
Recently picked up an EV and the sums suggest my tipping point at which Intelligent becomes the better deal for me is if the tracker hits close to 25p.
That's not taking into account delaying the washing machine and dishwasher until late, but I expect the savings there to be marginal.
Anyone in a similar situation?
I'm still on the tracker for gas too, which is slowly creeping up after a year of very low (in comparison to what everyone else was paying) rates. Maybe time to fix soon.
Finally managed to get the test charge to work.
According to Octopus I’m scheduled for 10hrs at 7.5p/kWh on tonight’s first charge, instead of my usual 4hrs at 9p/kWh.
However, the Audi app now says it’s “waiting for timer” the only one of which is set for 16:30 departure on the 28/10….so I have no idea if it’s going to work tonight or not!
Edit: surprise surprise, it didn’t work. Charging supposed to start at 21:30, notification from Octopus “we were unable to control your vehicle”. Have deleted the timer in the Audi app, charging started immediately but will be interesting to see if this is billed at the cheaper rate.
Edit 2: the charge has stopped and new ‘timers’ have been sent, this time it’s 28/10 at 19:50. Can’t understand this at all, I assume something seriously awry in the date/time settings somewhere in the data chain.
According to Octopus I’m scheduled for 10hrs at 7.5p/kWh on tonight’s first charge, instead of my usual 4hrs at 9p/kWh.
However, the Audi app now says it’s “waiting for timer” the only one of which is set for 16:30 departure on the 28/10….so I have no idea if it’s going to work tonight or not!
Edit: surprise surprise, it didn’t work. Charging supposed to start at 21:30, notification from Octopus “we were unable to control your vehicle”. Have deleted the timer in the Audi app, charging started immediately but will be interesting to see if this is billed at the cheaper rate.
Edit 2: the charge has stopped and new ‘timers’ have been sent, this time it’s 28/10 at 19:50. Can’t understand this at all, I assume something seriously awry in the date/time settings somewhere in the data chain.
Edited by riskyj on Sunday 22 October 21:52
If they’ve said you’re on Intelligent Octopus then it’ll be at the cheap rate.
It was a bit flaky for the first couple of times I used it - even now the My BMW app either says ‘charging break’ or some random start time which doesn’t tie-in with the Octopus app planned charge time. Last few times the Octopus app has said ‘we were unable to connect with your vehicle’ or something ….. but it’s still charged in the window for the cheap rate.
To be honest, I’d rather just set the car to charge during that time and I think you can just do that if you want. But I can see why they want the control of the charging times, so they can give you the juice when it’s cheapest or in abundance.
I’d say, persevere. It’s still a new thing and they are constantly working on it.
P.s. I’ve just signed up for Octoplus, hopefully save a little bit with that.
It was a bit flaky for the first couple of times I used it - even now the My BMW app either says ‘charging break’ or some random start time which doesn’t tie-in with the Octopus app planned charge time. Last few times the Octopus app has said ‘we were unable to connect with your vehicle’ or something ….. but it’s still charged in the window for the cheap rate.
To be honest, I’d rather just set the car to charge during that time and I think you can just do that if you want. But I can see why they want the control of the charging times, so they can give you the juice when it’s cheapest or in abundance.
I’d say, persevere. It’s still a new thing and they are constantly working on it.
P.s. I’ve just signed up for Octoplus, hopefully save a little bit with that.
Sorry to hear you’re having issues with yours riskyj.
Amazingly my charge last night/this morning went off without a hitch on the i-pace and zappi. I woke up to 99% SOC (Octopus was set to 100% and 9am). I checked the history in the Zappi app, and bang on time the charge started at 2:30am and ended at 6am.
So my only issue was I had to manually stop the charge earlier in the day through the jaguar app. Not a big problem in the grand scheme of things. I am chuffed at getting 22kWh (66 miles) for £1.65!
Amazingly my charge last night/this morning went off without a hitch on the i-pace and zappi. I woke up to 99% SOC (Octopus was set to 100% and 9am). I checked the history in the Zappi app, and bang on time the charge started at 2:30am and ended at 6am.
So my only issue was I had to manually stop the charge earlier in the day through the jaguar app. Not a big problem in the grand scheme of things. I am chuffed at getting 22kWh (66 miles) for £1.65!
Edited by Pedaller on Sunday 22 October 23:02
Pedaller said:
Sorry to hear you’re having issues with yours riskyj.
Amazingly my charge last night/this morning went off without a hitch on the i-pace and zappi. I woke up to 99% SOC (Octopus was set to 100% and 9am). I checked the history in the Zappi app, and bang on time the charge started at 2:30am and ended at 6am.
So my only issue was I had to manually stop the charge earlier in the day through the jaguar app. Not a big problem in the grand scheme of things. I am chuffed at getting 22kWh (66 miles) for £1.65!
Yeah you soon get used to a routine of get home, plug in, lock car, get in house, fire up Jag Remote app and stop charging, then say hi to the kids Amazingly my charge last night/this morning went off without a hitch on the i-pace and zappi. I woke up to 99% SOC (Octopus was set to 100% and 9am). I checked the history in the Zappi app, and bang on time the charge started at 2:30am and ended at 6am.
So my only issue was I had to manually stop the charge earlier in the day through the jaguar app. Not a big problem in the grand scheme of things. I am chuffed at getting 22kWh (66 miles) for £1.65!
Edited by Pedaller on Sunday 22 October 23:02
dmsims said:
Not if you have an Ohme charger........
Not sure it matters - once it's plugged in, the Jaguar and Octopus IO APis talk to each other to sort out the charging 'windows'; I've a Hive and a friend has an Ohme and we both have to 'cancel' the initial charge as whilst it does sometimes stop after 5 mins, it doesn't always, and that's when it starts costing £££... Knowing how flaky the Jag APIs are, I personally think it's a Jag issue.(my post above was I-Pace specific fwiw!).
I'be been using an Ohme for over a year takes 7-8 seconds for it to pause (if required)
Having to stop a charge a maunually must be a right PITA
Having to stop a charge a maunually must be a right PITA
MarkM2 said:
Not sure it matters - once it's plugged in, the Jaguar and Octopus IO APis talk to each other to sort out the charging 'windows'; I've a Hive and a friend has an Ohme and we both have to 'cancel' the initial charge as whilst it does sometimes stop after 5 mins, it doesn't always, and that's when it starts costing £££... Knowing how flaky the Jag APIs are, I personally think it's a Jag issue.
(my post above was I-Pace specific fwiw!).
(my post above was I-Pace specific fwiw!).
Does anyone know how to get octopus to install a smart meter? I registered 3 or 4 months ago and have heard nothing back yet. I've just ordered an ev and should get it pretty soon. I can charge at work for free but I only go in 2 days a week and would prefer not to pay the higher rate if I need to top up at home.
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