Ohme Home Pro v ISmart charging confusion

[Pebble]

Have only done one home charge with our 5 Trophy and seems we may have got a bit confused initially but somehow managed to get from 30% to 80%, so a result at least. On reflection, we think we started the charge via the Ohme screen on the charger (EVSE) but didn't think anything was happening, so went into ISmart and started it from there, hence the confusion.

Having read on how to start the Ohme, it would appear that current charge left in the vehicle won't show on the Ohme display due to the lack of MG API.

Question is, should we initiate the charge via the Ohme or ISmart? Is one better than the other, easier to use/understand, more usable, etc.?

TIA guys

 

[Jomarkh]

I would use the Ohme to start the charge and make sure you don't have any timers set in the car and check on the car app if it is set to stop at 80%

 

[BugEyed]

You can do it either way.

1. change the settings in the Ohme to add a certain % of the battery. Turn all of the settings in the car off.
2. set the timer and charge target in the car and put the Ohme into dumb mode.

1. allows you to use tariffs like Intelligent Octopus or to use the lowest carbon electricity. 2. is simplest if you are on an off-peak tariff such as E7 or Go.

What are your objectives?

 

[Pebble]

BugEyed - we're on a fixed EDF tarriff (until March 2024) of £0.24/kwh including standing charge, 24/7, so no cheap off peak rates. From Ohme FAQs, if we have say a schedule to add 80% by 7,00pm, then from the answer below, I'd have to manually set a schedule every time we need to charge based on what we have in the battery. A faff or am I missing something?

"If you have a car without an API (or an API with which we're not yet integrated) you'll need to create a schedule that specifies the percentage you would like to add to the current amount of charge displayed in your car.

For example, if you regularly return home with ~30% charge and want your vehicle to have ~80% charge ready for the morning, you'll need to create a schedule asking Ohme to add 50% charge.

If you create a schedule asking Ohme to add charge in excess of 100%, you might receive an alert to tell you that your car isn't charging as expected. This isn't anything to worry about, but it's our way of letting you know that we were expecting to deliver more charge."

Just wanted the easiest and simplest way to initiate a charge if say my wife has to charge the car at home when I'm away.

 

[BugEyed]

In that case just turn off any schedules set on the Ohme to turn it into a plug and play charge point, turn off the charge timer on the car, set whatever charge limit (say 80%) on the car and leave iSmart alone. The car will charge as soon as plugged in and either locked or left for a minute. So very simple once set up.

 

[remarkable1967]

Hi all. This comes back to my question about the possibility of a basic charger rather than one with an LCD screen. Is it more common for people to use the car app to charge or the screen on the charger itself? I originally thought about a Wallbox charger that has no readout and then use Ismart. Would seem like a waste of money to buy a charger with a screen/app and then decide to use the Ismart app on my phone'.

 

[Gomev]

Hi all. This comes back to my question about the possibility of a basic charger rather than one with an LCD screen. Is it more common for people to use the car app to charge or the screen on the charger itself? I originally thought about a Wallbox charger that has no readout and then use Ismart. Would seem like a waste of money to buy a charger with a screen/app and then decide to use the Ismart app on my phone'.

All wallbox type home EVSEs have to be smart by law now, so just turn off the smart bit to make it dumb if you want. Or turn off the smart car bit to make that dumb if you want.
Either way one needs to be dumb and the other smart, doesn't matter which.

 

[remarkable1967]

It makes a change for me to not be the dumb part of the equation. This journey into the world of EVs has been a minefield for me at times. I think I've reached that point in life where perhaps you can't teach an old dog new tricks.