Ohme Charger and Octopus Go

[tsedge]

Hi folks,

My mother-in-law has had her Easee charger removed by motability and an Ohme one installed in its place - we don't know why.

I have the Ohme App working on her phone but the scheduling is confusing - she is on plain Octopus Go and doesn't want to change tariffs.

How can I set up a charge that will start at 00.30 and finish at 04.30?

I can only see options to set the charge percentage and the time she wants to drive away, which are not relevant.

She doesn't use an app for her car, she's just used to plugging it in when she wants an overnight charge.

I must say it is pretty rubbish that they've swapped the charger, told her nothing (the installer didn't know how to work it) and left her with only a text to some YouTube videos. She is not tech savvy in any way.

Thanks for any help, I got the emergency call and doing my best to support her!

 

[johnb80]

Hi folks,

My mother-in-law has had her Easee charger removed by motability and an Ohme one installed in its place - we don't know why.

Maybe to give you access to better tariffs?

I have the Ohme App working on her phone but the scheduling is confusing - she is on plain Octopus Go and doesn't want to change tariffs.

With the Ohme charger she should really go onto Octopus Go Intelligent, it's cheaper and has more off peak hours available.

How can I set up a charge that will start at 00.30 and finish at 04.30?

Sorry cant help you there.

I can only see options to set the charge percentage and the time she wants to drive away, which are not relevant.

That sounds very much like it is on Octopus Go Intelligent.

She doesn't use an app for her car, she's just used to plugging it in when she wants an overnight charge.

Either GO or Intelligent will do this.

I must say it is pretty rubbish that they've swapped the charger, told her nothing (the installer didn't know how to work it) and left her with only a text to some YouTube videos. She is not tech savvy in any way.

That doesnt sound so good.

Thanks for any help, I got the emergency call and doing my best to support her!

Keep us updated how it gets resolved.

Good luck.

 

[tsedge]

Maybe to give you access to better tariffs?

Yeah, that's my guess too. But you try convincing someone who dislikes change to make a change! My guess is I will get her to switch.

With the Ohme charger she should really go onto Octopus Go Intelligent, it's cheaper and has more off peak hours available.

Yes, I'll try to persuade her. At the moment she just wants it to work like the old one did.

That sounds very much like it is on Octopus Go Intelligent.

She is definitely on plain Go and we told the App that but the UI does not let you specify a start time - I am supposing this is deliberate to take it out of user hands and decide centrally?

Either GO or Intelligent will do this.

I've got a workaround now by setting it to finish at 04.30 and limiting the charge percentage added so it starts after 12.30. But it is a horrible hack for a simple ask.

Keep us updated how it gets resolved.

Good luck.

Will do, thank you John.

 

[tsedge]

The UI is pretty horrible on the Ohme App and very confusing with tons of information about the charge even when it hasn't started yet.

Why can't companies design these apps to be really easy to use? You know, like most people who are not enthusiasts would want? (I am as equally critical of my Zappi app).

It is as if good UI/UX principles didn't exist!

 

[Anon70]

Agree the Ohme is the most confusing interface in the World must have been designed by someone with an ICE brain not an EV brain, as in I want to add x Litres to the tank, I want to add x % to the charge.

To force a specific time band for charging you can tell the app that you have a cheaper rate tariff between 00:30 and 04:30 and turn on "avoid peak charging" (I know it's convoluted). That also removes the need for a schedule as any charging only takes place in the cheap rate time band.

Still learning it myself but I think the above should work, and from everything else I have read don't set anything up in the car as a schedule (not sure if the car % limit makes any difference)

 

[mg4mc]

To force a specific time band for charging you can tell the app that you have a cheaper rate tariff between 00:30 and 04:30 and turn on "avoid peak charging" (I know it's convoluted). That also removes the need for a schedule as any charging only takes place in the cheap rate time band.

Correct, but it's called "Price cap" in the app. Enable that and set the off peak hours. With no schedules set, you can then plug in whenever you like, and it will not start until the off peak rate starts.

 

[deviousrich]

What i used to do ( before moving to intelligent tariff) to do a flat charge on cheap was setup a schedule as follows

Charge set on everyday to 100% target
Set to price cap
Make sure ohme has the right tarrif selected.

Then you can plug in any day and it will only charge at the reduced cost timeframe.

Only downside is it will just chuck in as much charge as it can, so if for example you wanted to max charge to 80% then the above wouldn't work(but I never cared that much!)

Hope it helps!

 

[mg4mc]

Only downside is it will just chuck in as much charge as it can, so if for example you wanted to max charge to 80% then the above wouldn't work(but I never cared that much!)

Only in the SE, with the Trophy you can set the 80% limit on the car.

 

[tsedge]

Thanks everyone. She has a Leaf. I've managed to persuade her to shift to Intelligent Octopus.

 

[SH58]

I was emailed by Ohme earlier this week. They have a new version of the app due for release early ‘24. Let’s hope it’s a massive improvement
(I was being asked to take part of the beta version, but by the time I responded, I couldn’t sign up )

 

[jackois]

I have my Octopus Intelligent set to add 45% by 05.30 and a price cap of 7.5p/kWh. The slider for percentage can be altered should you want more or less charge.

I know this isn't how OI is supposed to work but it suits my routine and needs.

 

[Radders]

I have my Octopus Intelligent set to add 45% by 05.30 and a price cap of 7.5p/kWh. The slider for percentage can be altered should you want more or less charge.

I know this isn't how OI is supposed to work but it suits my routine and needs.

Ohme rang me to talk me through the settings when I changed from Go to Intellegent Go.
1.Ensure correct tariff is recognised
2.Set your % charge requirement,( mine 80-90%), your car will sort out balancing etc.
3. Switch OFF tariff cap- this allows occasional dynamic charging ie CAR charging outside off peak rates (at off peak tariff) when Octopus deem appropriate
4. Charge finish 8am ( same reason as 3.)
NB
1. Ohme unit will (whilst charging) show a spurious full peak cost forecast. This is corrected on the stats page next day.
2. Off peak rates 11.30- 5.30 and dynamic are recognised and charged by Octopus, neither you nor Ohme can influence ANY times other than the 'complete by' mentioned above.
3. Dynamic charging is car only, 11.30 -5.30 covers the whole house appliances.
4. Finally, agree with others the crapiest system ever and takes a leap of faith to trust Octopus who are equal in crap to the Ohme unit.... But it appears to work

 

[jackois]

It's interesting to see how many apps are quite naff... especially charging company apps.

I often wonder if the designers have any contact with the consumer before the design them. It's often a pain reporting a duff charger as you can't do it in a simple manner.

I alwaysend up reporting duffer chargers hours later as their app doesn't have the facility and it requires a phone call, and often nothing can be done at the time.

 

[mg4mc]

Ohme rang me to talk me through the settings when I changed from Go to Intellegent Go.
1.Ensure correct tariff is recognised
2.Set your % charge requirement,( mine 80-90%), your car will sort out balancing etc.
3. Switch OFF tariff cap- this allows occasional dynamic charging ie CAR charging outside off peak rates (at off peak tariff) when Octopus deem appropriate
4. Charge finish 8am ( same reason as 3.)

2. The charge requirement is not the percentage you want to end up with, it is the percentage you want to add to the car.

3. Dynamic charging is car only, 11.30 -5.30 covers the whole house appliances.

Whenever the car is charging, the whole house gets the cheap rate - so get your cooker/washing machine/immersion heater etc on!

If you look at the weather, you can get cheap rate during the day/evening fairly frequently. My last 6 charges have all been during the early late evening, pick a day/time when is windy out over the west coast or North Sea. It helps if you can delay your charge a day or two of course.

The Loop app shows the proportion of green energy on the grid live and a future prediction. Octopus also send me an email forecast of the next five days of good/bad days to charge.

 

[tsedge]

It's interesting to see how many apps are quite naff... especially charging company apps.

I often wonder if the designers have any contact with the consumer before the design them. It's often a pain reporting a duff charger as you can't do it in a simple manner.

I alwaysend up reporting duffer chargers hours later as their app doesn't have the facility and it requires a phone call, and often nothing can be done at the time.

I think most of the apps look like an engineer designed them for an enthusiast. To be fair, this is how EV charging got started, through those nerdy innovators and early adopters. But for majority adoption (where we are now), we need simply solutions designed for people without a specific interest or passion in EVs.