Alternative to the original MG iSmart app

[Totti1001]

I don't know if there is any interest in alternatives to the original MG iSmart app, but I find this topic fascinating, so I did some research and came across a GitHub page. I'm interested in topics like this, but unfortunately I don't understand everything .

I installed this SAIC add-on in Home Assistant and I'm amazed at what this ‘app’ displays and what you can do with it. It's actually written for the ZS, but a lot of it also works with the HS PHEV. In conjunction with Home Assistant, there are almost endless possibilities. I can't say yet how reliable the whole thing is. I only installed it yesterday.

SAIC iSmart API

 

[Eponemuss]

What is Home Assistant? Can you post a link to it, please?

 

[Eponemuss]

What is Home Assistant? Can you post a link to it, please?

It's OK, I found it.

 

[indgy]

that is interesting, thanks for the links. I’m planning on setting up home assistant over the summer and just got my HS this week!

 

[Totti1001]

But please use with caution. I ran it yesterday and, strangely enough, the alarm suddenly went off. I received a message via SMS and the app: abnormal invasion.
I don't know if this causes the vehicle to be constantly awakened and the battery to be discharged.
Some things don't seem to work either. I was able to open and close the vehicle, but I couldn't open and close the windows. But I'm no expert in these things.

 

[indgy]

You’ve raised some good points, I would be a little wary of using the plugin. I’m a software dev myself so I understand the software is a work in progress. I’d be happy reading data from the car, probably just to build an automatic log of time vs fuel consumption. But not sure about sending data to the car.

The developers are trying to reverse engineer the MG iSMART API so they don’t have full clarity on how the car operates so some things are bound not to work 100%

To be honest I think the MG app seems ok, it’s rough round the edges but functional. I could monitor the battery charging at work.

I’m coming from a 2008 Volvo estate though - that didn’t come with an app

 

[Totti1001]

I have also deactivated the add-on for now, as I am not familiar enough with it.
However, I find it very unfortunate that with the original ismart, the car is no longer accessible after a few hours. This is annoying, because I wanted to preheat it before departure, especially in winter.

 

[Herandnu]

GitHub

 

[jamakr4]

I have also deactivated the add-on for now, as I am not familiar enough with it.
However, I find it very unfortunate that with the original ismart, the car is no longer accessible after a few hours. This is annoying, because I wanted to preheat it before departure, especially in winter.

You need to set up a second account for the HA integration and give it the same permissions as your main account on your phone. If you only have one account and use it for both (HA and your phone), you may experience odd behavior, such as data not being retrieved consistently.

 

[davewins]

I’ve been trying to use this to create a dashboard showing the gps locations on a map. Kinda works if you set the map to display the last 48 hours. Was trying to do it based on a date selector but haven’t got that to work yet. That’s more of a home assistant problem than the integration though as all the data is there.

 

[jamakr4]

I’ve been trying to use this to create a dashboard showing the gps locations on a map. Kinda works if you set the map to display the last 48 hours. Was trying to do it based on a date selector but haven’t got that to work yet. That’s more of a home assistant problem than the integration though as all the data is there.

Ultra Vehicle Card – A powerful card to display your vehicles in Home Assistant

Build an impressive website with the best-rated top-seller WordPress theme

ultravehiclecard.com

I found this to be quite a nice way to display the car and everything, as it seems to support CSS you might be even able to implement your map

 

[Totti1001]

@jamakr4 ,Thank you very much for the tip. This means that I can now use Home Assistant and MG to access the vehicle without the MG app constantly displaying a "token expired" message. However, I am still a little concerned that Home Assistant will constantly wake up the car and drain the 12V battery.

 

[davewins]

Ultra Vehicle Card – A powerful card to display your vehicles in Home Assistant

Build an impressive website with the best-rated top-seller WordPress theme

ultravehiclecard.com

I found this to be quite a nice way to display the car and everything, as it seems to support CSS you might be even able to implement your map

Very nice - installing it now!

 

[davewins]

@jamakr4 ,Thank you very much for the tip. This means that I can now use Home Assistant and MG to access the vehicle without the MG app constantly displaying a "token expired" message. However, I am still a little concerned that Home Assistant will constantly wake up the car and drain the 12V battery.

I've had the integration running for a couple of months now, not ever had a problem with it draining the battery yet.

 

[jamakr4]

@jamakr4 ,Thank you very much for the tip. This means that I can now use Home Assistant and MG to access the vehicle without the MG app constantly displaying a "token expired" message. However, I am still a little concerned that Home Assistant will constantly wake up the car and drain the 12V battery.

You can just set the interval in which HA pulls data from the car - maybe you can even build a manual button or a routine that only pulls when you need it to. I haven't noticed a significant difference in range or otherwise (using the integration now for about 5 months)

 

[jamakr4]

Very nice - installing it now!

Mine looks like this - You can go pretty crazy with the card. The developer has a discord where others post their implementations.

 

[Totti1001]

I haven't noticed a significant difference in range or otherwise (using the integration now for about 5 months)

I first had the mqtt version (0.9.8) and now I have the integration you linked to (0.9.6). I have a battery monitor on the 12v battery. And you can see very clearly how it checks every 60 minutes. However, the voltage then drops accordingly. Will this be acceptable in winter? The screenshot clearly shows that the voltage was almost 13v until 2 September (in idle mode, without the SAIC integration). Since I have had the SAIC integration, it sometimes drops to 12.1v.

 

[jamakr4]

I first had the mqtt version (0.9.8) and now I have the integration you linked to (0.9.6). I have a battery monitor on the 12v battery. And you can see very clearly how it checks every 60 minutes. However, the voltage then drops accordingly. Will this be acceptable in winter? The screenshot clearly shows that the voltage was almost 13v until 2 September (in idle mode, without the SAIC integration). Since I have had the SAIC integration, it sometimes drops to 12.1v.

Due to the car having a keyless go system, I believe there is always some kind of base-level voltage on the system (because the computer must be turned on to recognize your presence). However, I think the MG actually has two separate systems: one running the infotainment (Android on the center screen) and another one running some kind of Linux (responsible for the more crucial features). You can see this because the car can drive and display information while the infotainment isn’t booted.

So the question would be whether the MG always starts the infotainment system for data pulling (which I don’t believe, considering the short response time compared to how long it takes for the infotainment to boot).

In total, I think the Linux system is the one responsible for pulling the data, and as it’s always in some kind of listening mode, it will temporarily power up (increase in voltage) and then go back to sleep.

I don’t think this is going to make a big difference, but there’s really only one way to find out — try and see what happens. If your battery is fine, then you should be good to go.

 

[Totti1001]

Without the HA Integration , however, it does not ask constantly (about every 60 minutes). Attached is the history with only the original MG app.
Unfortunately, with the MG app, it goes into deep sleep after a few hours and you no longer have access. This is particularly annoying in winter, because you cannot preheat the vehicle without waking it up first.
Yes, I know that you can extend the interval in the HA integration, but if you set it too long, it goes back into deep sleep and then you have no access again.
I find it annoying that you can't set a schedule for the heating; that was better solved in my Kuga.

 

[jamakr4]

Without the HA Integration , however, it does not ask constantly (about every 60 minutes). Attached is the history with only the original MG app.
Unfortunately, with the MG app, it goes into deep sleep after a few hours and you no longer have access. This is particularly annoying in winter, because you cannot preheat the vehicle without waking it up first.
Yes, I know that you can extend the interval in the HA integration, but if you set it too long, it goes back into deep sleep and then you have no access again.
I find it annoying that you can't set a schedule for the heating; that was better solved in my Kuga.

In theory, you can calculate the exact amount of energy that is used for a single API pull, as you have data for both current and voltage. So you can get an idea of how good or bad a single pull is for the amount of energy stored in your 12v battery.

I asked ChatGPT how that could be done; here is the answer. But be aware that LLMs like ChatGPT are not particularly great at math.

Since I’ve had my MG4 for only five months, I haven’t had to preheat it. But my workaround in the summer, when the car was unavailable in the app, was to go to my kitchen window and just unlock and lock the car with the key (the car parks right in front of my kitchen). This kind of worked for me, as the car became available again in the app and I was able to turn on the AC. Very annoying, but it works.