Intelligent Octopus Go works like a dream.

[DaevM]

I've got it running parallel to the house supply but seem to remember having a discussion with the engineer that upgraded from Pulsar Plus to Max and agreeing to place it so it could see the combined picture. We ( I) was wrong, move it back to where it probably was already.
Thanks, appreciated ?

 

[benfello]

Do any of you guys who are on the Octopus / Zappi combo have passcodes set on your Zappi? I am switching to Octopus soon, and wonder if I will be able to keep use of the passcode on the charger and Octopus' start charge signal will still work without me manually entering the code?

 

[tsedge]

Do any of you guys who are on the Octopus / Zappi combo have passcodes set on your Zappi? I am switching to Octopus soon, and wonder if I will be able to keep use of the passcode on the charger and Octopus' start charge signal will still work without me manually entering the code?

Yes I have a passcode set. Passcodes only affect the physical unit access.

The Octopus integration makes no difference to that: it logs in with your credentials to the Zappi over the internet, just like you do with your app.

You don't need to do anything; just plug the car in and the schedule is created automatically and it will get charged.

 

[Riggers]

So far it's working as expected on my Trophy via a Zappi set to eco++ and no schedules.
I set it up on charger integration

 

[rigby44]

Not sure if mentioned elsewhere, but as of 1st July my Octopus Go charging window has been extended by an hour - now 12:30-5:30

 

[jenco]

Just beware if you have a house battery. I found this the other day; my Tesla power wall was dumping 5KW in the evening into the car because intelligent Octopus Go had told the car to charge. Which it then did in peak time (not a problem normally as they note the charge and charge you at the cheap rate). But if you have a battery the car may take charge from your house battery, completely draining it and then your house will be drawing from the grid at peak rate until it charges later that night or from solar depending on the season ….. I’m still on intelligent but have told the car only to charge as scheduled. Will see if that prevents further problems. Intelligent octopus go can and will charge at any time when grid demand is low….

I have solar and a Tesla powerwall since April. I manage this problem by setting the power cut protection level to 70%. The battery then only dumps it to 70% then the car charges off the grid after this. Sometimes I set it to 80% depending on where the state of charge is at 9 pm, then it dumps less. It does mean a quick charge to 20% in the morning though so I can use my stored charge as normal.

 

[Rolfe]

The problem with Octopus is that the app defaults to smart charging on, and the least you can set the charge for is 10%. You can't set it to zero, and the command to turn off smart charging is buried four screens deep in a completely different menu. I woke up to an empty home battery a couple of weeks ago because of that. Fortunately there was enough solar to recover the situation by lunchtime.

 

[johnb80]

The problem with Octopus is that the app defaults to smart charging on,

Would you really expect it any different?

and the least you can set the charge for is 10%. You can't set it to zero, and the command to turn off smart charging is buried four screens deep in a completely different menu.

It is within settings, I agree it would be better if you could switch it off on the % screen as weve discussed before.

I woke up to an empty home battery a couple of weeks ago because of that.

Sorry, that wasnt the reason, your battery was flat because your system isnt wired correctly.

Fortunately there was enough solar to recover the situation by lunchtime.

 

[Rolfe]

Mmm, or the battery went flat because my system was set up with the expectation that I'd be charging from the solar, not the grid. Then Octopus bloody well went and charged the car from the grid anyway.

I looked quite hard for a way to disable smart charging, didn't find it, and forgot about it. Possibly I thought no, they wouldn't do that without me positively confirming it, would they? And went on holiday for a fortnight without giving the matter another thought. Then I came home on a low battery, jetlagged to hell and gone and expecting to sleep in something shocking the following afternoon, and plugged the car in on eco+, with every expectation that it would just sit there quietly till sunrise.

They need to reconfigure that app. (Yes, I would expect different. I would expect that they would require the customer to confirm that they want to charge the car.)

 

[johnb80]

Mmm, or the battery went flat because my system was set up with the expectation that I'd be charging from the solar, not the grid. Then Octopus bloody well went and charged the car from the grid anyway.

So Octopus did exactly what they say they will do with IOG?

I looked quite hard for a way to disable smart charging, didn't find it, and forgot about it. Possibly I thought no, they wouldn't do that without me positively confirming it, would they? And went on holiday for a fortnight without giving the matter another thought. Then I came home on a low battery, jetlagged to hell and gone and expecting to sleep in something shocking the following afternoon, and plugged the car in on eco+, with every expectation that it would just sit there quietly till sunrise.

They need to reconfigure that app. (Yes, I would expect different. I would expect that they would require the customer to confirm that they want to charge the car.)

From a programmers perspective, I would have thought a customer plugging a car in is confirmation they would want to charge the car.

Remember, the problem you are experiencing is not due to any failings of the individual parts i.e. Solar PV / Inverter / Battery / Zappi it's due to a lack of communication jointly between them. All of the individual items are functioning 100% correct. You just need the feed to the Zappi moving to avoid all of the heartache, treat the cause not the symptoms.

 

[Fokmg]

Simple solution on the powerwall to this problem ;-
If you want to charge the car to take advantage of Octopus go intelligent at night just make sure that you switch the settings to "Time based control". provided that you have also correctly set up the utility plan the powerwall battery will charge up on cheap electricity and will not allow power to be sucked out untill the cheap rate ends.
Also the car charger will only use the cheap power along with any other household appliance.
When you dont need to charge the car flip the power wall setting to self powered mode. then the battery will power the house all through the night and create a good space for all the power generated by the sun during the day.

Has anyone seen the sun this year ???

 

[Rolfe]

So Octopus did exactly what they say they will do with IOG?

From a programmers perspective, I would have thought a customer plugging a car in is confirmation they would want to charge the car.

Remember, the problem you are experiencing is not due to any failings of the individual parts i.e. Solar PV / Inverter / Battery / Zappi it's due to a lack of communication jointly between them. All of the individual items are functioning 100% correct. You just need the feed to the Zappi moving to avoid all of the heartache, treat the cause not the symptoms.

Octopus are assuming facts not in evidence. From a driver's perspective it's perfectly reasonable to plug the car in in the evening so that it can start charging on the solar in the morning. The problem is the extremely non-intuitive location of the command to turn off smart charging. If that was where it ought to be, no problem. The principle issue is not that it drained the home battery, but that the car charged from the mains when I didn't want it to do that at all, because I had been unable to find the command to stop it doing that.

I don't need to move the feed to the Zappi as far as I can see. All I need to do is to set the home battery to charge during the time when the car will be charging from the mains. I haven't tried it yet because there's plenty solar, and if it doesn't work I will reconsider. But it seems to me to be a perfectly logical way of going about it. If you're using your solar yourself, you run the house from the battery overnight and charge both battery and car during the day. (And if you want to catch these first rays, then of course it's convenient to plug in when you return in the evening.) If you're NOT using your solar - either because there isn't any or because you're exporting all you generate - then you charge both the battery and the car during the night. The battery isn't going to drain into the car if it's charging from the mains at the time.

The problem is simply that it's difficult for the new user to find the switch-off for smart charging. Once found, and thanks for showing me how to find it, there isn't an issue. I plugged my car in when I got home yesterday evening, and it was already charging when I checked up on the system at 8.30 am. Perfect.

There is absolutely no need to rewire the system to compensate for the Octopus app being non-intuitive in this particular respect!

 

[johnb80]

Octopus are assuming facts not in evidence. From a driver's perspective it's perfectly reasonable to plug the car in in the evening so that it can start charging on the solar in the morning.

Most users would be charging house batteries first.

The problem is the extremely non-intuitive location of the command to turn off smart charging. If that was where it ought to be, no problem. The principle issue is not that it drained the home battery, but that the car charged from the mains when I didn't want it to do that at all, because I had been unable to find the command to stop it doing that.

It could be better I agree but it isnt the principle issue here.

I don't need to move the feed to the Zappi as far as I can see. All I need to do is to set the home battery to charge during the time when the car will be charging from the mains.

I can see youre going to enjoy regularly changing your battery charging times as and when schedules are given.

I haven't tried it yet because there's plenty solar, and if it doesn't work I will reconsider.

Entirely your choice of course.

But it seems to me to be a perfectly logical way of going about it. If you're using your solar yourself, you run the house from the battery overnight and charge both battery and car during the day.

Thats all good until your house battery that you needed for the evening has been used to prop up your car charging.

(And if you want to catch these first rays, then of course it's convenient to plug in when you return in the evening.) If you're NOT using your solar - either because there isn't any or because you're exporting all you generate - then you charge both the battery and the car during the night. The battery isn't going to drain into the car if it's charging from the mains at the time.

Absolutely

The problem is simply that it's difficult for the new user to find the switch-off for smart charging. Once found, and thanks for showing me how to find it, there isn't an issue. I plugged my car in when I got home yesterday evening, and it was already charging when I checked up on the system at 8.30 am. Perfect.

BUT you do need to do at least one smart charge per month to comply with Octopus T&C's

There is absolutely no need to rewire the system to compensate for the Octopus app being non-intuitive in this particular respect!

The wiring of the Zappi was nothing to do with Octopus smart charging at all, it was to prevent your inverter seeing the Zappi load thats all. In doing this it would then not try to support the Zappi from the house battery.

Anyway, as you seem happy with work around and continual adjustments, thats great. I'll exit this thread now, theres nothing more I can add having given you the guidance, the solution to the problem I forewarned you about and the reasoning behind it. To lay the blame at Octopus's door is frankly, ridiculous.

 

[Rolfe]

Well, we'll see how it goes. There are arguments both ways. The option of changing the wiring is still there if it doesn't work out.

I didn't know that about the terms and conditions. Thanks for pointing it out. It's likely to happen next week anyway, because of long trips on both Tuesday and Thursday.

You are conflating two issues. I lay the blame for the car charging from the mains when I didn't want it to at Octopus's door, for not making the app more intuitive. The fact that it drained the house battery is secondary, and actually it wasn't a practical problem at the time.

I don't think you're quite understanding the protocol I intend to use. Once this bloody G99 has come through, hopefully this week, I switch to exporting as much solar as I possibly can, and charging the house battery overnight. The house battery will be set to charge 11.31 to 5.29. Thus, with that setting, I should be quite safe to charge the car overnight without worrying about the battery being drained. I don't anticipate continually changing the times. (What happens if Octopus gives me a schedule outwith these times is something I'll find out when and if it happens.)

The fact is that my installer has wired up identical systems for a lot of customers, including as it happens my next door neighbours, and he doesn't have a bunch of people hammering on his door complaining about this issue. This encourages me to believe that there is a sensible work-round that doesn't involve giving up the advantages of giving the Zappi some access to the home battery. I may be wrong, time will tell, I'm still experimenting. Unlike some people around here I have an open mind on the issue. I'm not going to demand that my installer do something non-standard just on trust.

 

[johnb80]

Well, we'll see how it goes. There are arguments both ways. The option of changing the wiring is still there if it doesn't work out.

It all depends if youre happy with the work around.

I didn't know that about the terms and conditions. Thanks for pointing it out. It's likely to happen next week anyway, because of long trips on both Tuesday and Thursday.

They probably wouldnt do anything against you anyway but worth bearing in mind.

You are conflating two issues. I lay the blame for the car charging from the mains when I didn't want it to at Octopus's door, for not making the app more intuitive. The fact that it drained the house battery is secondary, and actually it wasn't a practical problem at the time.

Your choice

I don't think you're quite understanding the protocol I intend to use.

If you check back through posts on this subject you will find it was me that suggested you operate in the way your describe, export everything.

Once this bloody G99 has come through, hopefully this week, I switch to exporting as much solar as I possibly can, and charging the house battery overnight. The house battery will be set to charge 11.31 to 5.29. Thus, with that setting, I should be quite safe to charge the car overnight without worrying about the battery being drained.

OK, good luck with that, you may like to consider what happens if Octopus give you a schedule that starts at 19:30, ends at 23:00, starts again at 04:30 and ends at 09:30, yes it does happen and I have exactly this schedule now on my system.

I don't anticipate continually changing the times. (What happens if Octopus gives me a schedule outwith these times is something I'll find out when and if it happens.)

You certainly will

The fact is that my installer has wired up identical systems for a lot of customers, including as it happens my next door neighbours, and he doesn't have a bunch of people hammering on his door complaining about this issue.

As opposed to the fact there are thousands of people on social media and forums experiencing this exacft problem and asking for help. Why would that be?

This encourages me to believe that there is a sensible work-round that doesn't involve giving up the advantages of giving the Zappi some access to the home battery. I may be wrong, time will tell, I'm still experimenting.

Unlike some people around here I have an open mind on the issue.

Wow,

I'm not going to demand that my installer do something non-standard just on trust.

Nope, nor should you BUT when the issue is explained and the solution presented which is not 'Non Standard' as you put it, I would have thought it warranted some credibility. To be honest, I'm not worried either way, what you choose. I do feel however that the true picture should be presented on the forum to help others that may be starting out on a similar path, hence why I picked up on references to Zappi problem and Octopus being at fault, neither being the case.

 

[Rolfe]

John, I am giving your suggestion some credibility. I am not however going to flat-out demand that my supplier do something that is contrary to his usual practice before working through his suggested solutions.

I think the place to continue this conversation is in the thread dealing with my own system, not here. I will post my more detailed reply in that thread.

The ONLY fault I have to find with Octopus is that the feature to switch off smart charging is hidden four screens down in an unintuitive menu in the app. That left this new customer finding that her car had charged from the grid when she neither wanted nor expected it to do that. You are reading far too much into this minor grumble. Indeed, when you were so kind as to show me where the feature I needed was to be found, you yourself indicated that you thought it wasn't as well laid out as it might be. But, once the feature is located, end of problem.

 

[Tig170]

Must admit only a few days into switching to OEIG, very clever system, but had the same issue, I sorted it by telling OE, that my car was a Ecc Fiat 500 (1949), so it only charged at 10amps, the night before that i changed the CT clamp so my home battery system didnt see the EV charger, and tonight I'm going to try enabling a Price Cap on the Ohme App., all resolvable just trying to work out which involves the least effort, but importantly works 11:30-05:30 every day on the car (if needed) - so far very happy (albeit it now costs 7p rather than 4.5p I was paying on EDF)

 

[Rolfe]

Most of that is completely incomprehensible to me! "Changed the CT clamp"? What strange alchemy do you speak of?

 

[Tig170]

Most of that is completely incomprehensible to me! "Changed the CT clamp"? What strange alchemy do you speak of?

apologies @Rolfe - its all clear in our household (just staying up late to make sure that its working as we need)- I'd go for - works well (this was all generated by OE)

 

[Rolfe]

Aaaaghhhh! It's nearly one in the morning, I need to try and get my head round that in the morning. I'm really very new to all this, and I don't know the full range of possibilities offered by Octopus.

I'm hoping to hear about the G99 tomorrow or the next day at the worst. Fingers crossed!