Zappi + Intelligent Octopus in beta

[Gomev]

Just seen this. I don't have a Zappi so can't tell how valid or relevant this is.

https://support.myenergi.com/hc/en-gb/articles/18470101583377-Zappi-Intelligent-Octopus

 

[KH11]

Just seen this. I don't have a Zappi so can't tell how valid or relevant this is.

https://support.myenergi.com/hc/en-gb/articles/18470101583377-Zappi-Intelligent-Octopus

Had an email yesterday to say that Zappi now compatible with Octopus Intelligent Go, tried to transfer over on the app through the charger route and it was there was the Zappi you had to select between the 7kw or the 22kw one then scroll down the next tab to select the car then click the next tab but it just came up that didn’t work. I have contacted them and they are looking into a fix so hopefully it won’t be too much longer now before we can get to the 6 hours at 7.5 pence off peak for charging

 

[Shanecb]

Had an email yesterday to say that Zappi now compatible with Octopus Intelligent Go, tried to transfer over on the app through the charger route and it was there was the Zappi you had to select between the 7kw or the 22kw one then scroll down the next tab to select the car then click the next tab but it just came up that didn’t work. I have contacted them and they are looking into a fix so hopefully it won’t be too much longer now before we can get to the 6 hours at 7.5 pence off peak for charging

I had the same issue 'oops something went wrong'. Interestingly the T&C we're entitled null, so perhaps just released slightly too early? Here's hoping to a quick fix too

 

[tsedge]

IO Zappi support is still in closed beta test as far as I know, not yet publicly released. This information may be for beta test participants.

 

[Shanecb]

I received the following from Octopus which is what prompted me to do it. Still in beta, but they are telling customers they can use it now...


We’re super excited to invite you to the early access for Intelligent Octopus Go with myenergi zappi so you can enjoy cheaper, smarter charging!

HOW TO SIGN UP:
In order to sign up, you’ll need to have the Octopus app downloaded on a mobile device.

Download the Octopus Energy app for iOS or Android.
Once you have the app downloaded:

1. Click on “Get started” on the Intelligent Octopus Go card on the home page.
2. Remove any schedules from your Zappi, smart schedules from myaccount (myenergi) and any schedules from your EV.
3. Follow the setup instructions in the app to set up your charger, add your car details and run a 'Test Charge'.
4. Once you've completed these steps, you'll automatically switch onto the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff (prices).

PLEASE NOTE:

• Registration is currently limited to myenergi accounts with just one registered zappi. We’re working hard to expand eligibility to customers with multiple zappis.
• If you start a ‘bump charge’ in the Octopus app, you won’t be able to stop it in the app. You can simply end the bump charge by disconnecting your zappi from your vehicle. An improvement on this in the works.
• If you’ve previously registered to Intelligent Octopus Go under a different integration (e.g. via your EV), you may need to unplug and plug back in after you’ve completed onboarding in order to trigger a smart charging schedule.
• If you run into any further problems you can check myenergi’s support page

 

[sparkygoat]

For my MG5 LR ( 21 plate ) I set Zappi to "Eco+", with all Myenergi schedules having been deleted and boost/schedule set to "manual". Car plugged in. Octopus created a charging schedule so it all seemed like it was going to be okay but no charge was sent to car overnight. At 9am this morning it was still showing "waiting for surplus". Anyone else having this issue?. I wonder if it's to do with the myenergi settings for manual/boost ??

 

[Shanecb]

I have an MG4 and Zappi on IO all working well. I'm not sure if it helps at all, but here's my settings in the app.

nb. No schedules in Zappi are set as I deleted them before enrolling (previously was set to 0030-0430hrs on Go tariff).

I'm on the latest firmware and the only settings I have changed is a charge delay setting when plugging in, to not stop straight away otherwise my other car (Renault Zoe) goes to sleep and doesn't wake for the charge when scheduled.

IO working across both cars, but registered on the beta with the Zappi and use for both cars.

 

[sparkygoat]

For my MG5 LR ( 21 plate ) I set Zappi to "Eco+", with all Myenergi schedules having been deleted and boost/schedule set to "manual". Car plugged in. Octopus created a charging schedule so it all seemed like it was going to be okay but no charge was sent to car overnight. At 9am this morning it was still showing "waiting for surplus". Anyone else having this issue?. I wonder if it's to do with the myenergi settings for manual/boost ??

Aha ! got it sussed. After a long call to Octopus yesterday, it turns out that the zappi should be set to "Fast", which is counter-intuitive. What happens then, is that IO connects to the Zappi, starts charging for a few seconds then switches the zappi to "ECO+". IO then lowers and raises the charge output during the allotted off peak time. Works a treat. Will update if I get any problems. ( note, this is for the MG5 LR ( 21 plate prior to facelift with IO connecting to the zappi rather than the car )

 

[tsedge]

I'm debating whether to try this when it comes out of Beta.

I like my current setup though, with Octopus Go on my Zappi where I just plug in at it charges in the scheduled hours as much as the car will take.

Is there an equivalent with IO, or do I have to specify a charge percentage or kWh value to tell it how much I want? Seems to me that would be a pain, with me having to work out what the car needs every night, rather than just plug in and forget.

Or have I misunderstood the process?

 

[johnb80]

I'm debating whether to try this when it comes out of Beta.

I like my current setup though, with Octopus Go on my Zappi where I just plug in at it charges in the scheduled hours as much as the car will take.

Is there an equivalent with IO, or do I have to specify a charge percentage or kWh value to tell it how much I want? Seems to me that would be a pain, with me having to work out what the car needs every night, rather than just plug in and forget.

Or have I misunderstood the process?

Treat it exactly as you do with GO. The times are 23:30 to 05:30 for the 7.5p per kWh.

Thats it.

The intelligent bit is when it gives you additional hours during the day and it can change your scheduled times off peak but it will allow sufficient time get the level of charge you want, just set it to 100% and let the car limit it to 80% if need be.

 

[tsedge]

Brilliant, thanks John, that's very clear.

 

[sparkygoat]

I'm debating whether to try this when it comes out of Beta.

I like my current setup though, with Octopus Go on my Zappi where I just plug in at it charges in the scheduled hours as much as the car will take.

Is there an equivalent with IO, or do I have to specify a charge percentage or kWh value to tell it how much I want? Seems to me that would be a pain, with me having to work out what the car needs every night, rather than just plug in and forget.

Or have I misunderstood the process?

tsedge, I agree that the Octopus Go is easier and more straighforward. But the lure of having an extended duration from 11.30pm to 5.30am and a lower rate too is just so appealing for a miser like me. ( OMG that 7.5p gets be so excited !! ) Means that I flip on appliances just before bedtime rather than staying up till 12.30 (yawn). There is an equivalent in IO ( compared with GO ) in that you could temporarily switch off smart charging in the Octopus app and just use the Myenergi app to schedule in charges. BUT.....the T&C's for IO oblige you to use at least several IO controlled charges a month. Or they'll see it as "gaming the system". They want to allow charging when wholesale is cheaper, so as to maximise margins and minimise grid loading. I suspect, with this being a beta product ( including the info on how it works and the T&C's ) they'll eventually tighten up on people overriding their IO control. Re Kwh v % : I've only done a couple of charges so far. ( to 100% ) You can specify in the Octopus app what percentage charge to want to do. I'm not entirely sure if 80% means "take it up to 80%" or if it means "add 80%x61kw" i.e. 49kwk. I'll find out soon no doubt. Also, the way this works will probably depend on which car you have. I have the MG5 LR which has no app or in car charge scheduling. So in my case Octopus connects to my Zappi charger in which case IO probably doesn't know the %level of charge in the MG5. I expect thaat with more recent cars, which include apps & app accounts, then OI can connect to the car app to control charging in a more precise way. Anyway, I'll post some more info on IO during my learning experiences. One thing that I'm not at all sure about is how solar surplus goes into the car alongside IO controlled charging. Given that solar is very poor for the next few months, not too much of a concern.

 

[mg4mc]

For MGs the percentage is amount to add rather than the target to reach. This is because MG are not allowing third party access to the API to read the cars SoC.

With many other cars that allow API access you specify the target percentage.

And yes the T&C's mean you need to do IO controlled charges at least some of the time. I think it is only fair to use IO controlled charges as often as possible.

 

[johnb80]

And yes the T&C's mean you need to do IO controlled charges at least some of the time. I think it is only fair to use IO controlled charges as often as possible.

The T&C's state they want at least 1 charge per month under their control. I just leave my i3 totally under their control and they schedule every time during the off peak hours, sometimes as many as 3 separate charging sessions in the 6 hours but it all works fine. Here's tonight's schedule:-

So they are stopping my charge between 00:00 - 00:30, 01:00 - 02:30, 03:00 to 03:30 and 04:00 to 04:30. It does seem a bit odd but it all works really well. My house batteries still charge for the full 6 hr period at the off peak rate.

 

[KH11]

I received the following from Octopus which is what prompted me to do it. Still in beta, but they are telling customers they can use it now...


We’re super excited to invite you to the early access for Intelligent Octopus Go with myenergi zappi so you can enjoy cheaper, smarter charging!

HOW TO SIGN UP:
In order to sign up, you’ll need to have the Octopus app downloaded on a mobile device.

Download the Octopus Energy app for iOS or Android.
Once you have the app downloaded:

1. Click on “Get started” on the Intelligent Octopus Go card on the home page.
2. Remove any schedules from your Zappi, smart schedules from myaccount (myenergi) and any schedules from your EV.
3. Follow the setup instructions in the app to set up your charger, add your car details and run a 'Test Charge'.
4. Once you've completed these steps, you'll automatically switch onto the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff (prices).

PLEASE NOTE:

• Registration is currently limited to myenergi accounts with just one registered zappi. We’re working hard to expand eligibility to customers with multiple zappis.
• If you start a ‘bump charge’ in the Octopus app, you won’t be able to stop it in the app. You can simply end the bump charge by disconnecting your zappi from your vehicle. An improvement on this in the works.
• If you’ve previously registered to Intelligent Octopus Go under a different integration (e.g. via your EV), you may need to unplug and plug back in after you’ve completed onboarding in order to trigger a smart charging schedule.
• If you run into any further problems you can check myenergi’s support page

Managed to get signed up today after the initial oops something went wrong. I did raise it with them at the time and they said they were getting someone to look into it but I had heard nothing since. So looked on here this afternoon and it looked like it had been rectified whatever the problem was. So just had another go and it looks like success.

We will see what happens as I have plugged the car in and the Octopus app has set a smart charge schedule. Car currently sat at 25% so asked the app to add 55% and to be ready by 7am.

So if that works out then happy days are here lol.

 

[KH11]

Well I doesn’t look like it’s working for me. It looks like according to the myenergi app that it initially put 1.02 kw in then stopped and it’s just now saying charging delayed? Nothing more happened/happening.

Looking at the MG app the percentage hasn’t changed from when I plugged it in still at 25%?

I have looked at the Octopus app and that is still showing the schedule times and at the bottom it shows 1.02% added in the 12 hours bit. I have tried the bump charge bit and that comes up with failed to trigger the bump charge.

Went back to the myenergi app and can’t trigger a fast charge on there either so unless I can sort it out then I’ll have to be going and finding a charger somewhere

 

[johnb80]

Well I doesn’t look like it’s working for me. It looks like according to the myenergi app that it initially put 1.02 kw in then stopped and it’s just now saying charging delayed? Nothing more happened/happening.

Looking at the MG app the percentage hasn’t changed from when I plugged it in still at 25%?

I have looked at the Octopus app and that is still showing the schedule times and at the bottom it shows 1.02% added in the 12 hours bit. I have tried the bump charge bit and that comes up with failed to trigger the bump charge.

Went back to the myenergi app and can’t trigger a fast charge on there either so unless I can sort it out then I’ll have to be going and finding a charger somewhere

Set Zappi to fast, unplug you car and plug in again.

 

[KH11]

Set Zappi to fast, unplug you car and plug in again.

I unplugged the car and I have checked the delay features on the charger and reduced them to the minimum and whilst I was there I checked the firmware and noticed it wasn’t on the latest firmware so I have updated that and then I have plugged back in again and it’s started now.

Looking at the Octopus app it is now showing a charging schedule for 5.33 till 7.00am the latter being when I had set it to be ready by.

So I don’t know if it was the firmware or the delay features that caused the problem or not but I am hoping that it’s sorted now. I’ll have another go tonight as it won’t have charged up to 80% by the time it has finished at 7am.

I have usually received a notification from myenergi when there’s a firmware update but haven’t received one so I suppose when I managed to get signed up Yesterday with the intelligent go that I was still on the latest firmware.

Every day is a school day lol

 

[Gomev]

Probably nothing to do with it at all but I never plug in more than 6 hours before wanting a smart charge to begin. A habit developed from a while ago whereby my Gen1 ZS EV used to fall asleep before it started if I did that.
I'm sure this isn't the case now and only mention it as your say in you post above that you had plugged in and your post was timed at 3:57pm (post #15) with charge due to start at 12:30am.

 

[KH11]

Probably nothing to do with it at all but I never plug in more than 6 hours before wanting a smart charge to begin. A habit developed from a while ago whereby my Gen1 ZS EV used to fall asleep before it started if I did that.
I'm sure this isn't the case now and only mention it as your say in you post above that you had plugged in and your post was timed at 3:57pm (post #15) with charge due to start at 12:30am.

The procedure for converting over says you have to plug the car in. Once you have agreed the terms and conditions it needs to do a test charge before it will confirm that you are good to go on Octopus Intelligent Go.

We will see what happens tonight as I have set it to put some more charge in but if it works okay then I am suspecting that it might have been because I hadn’t got the latest Firmware update for the Zappi installed as I didn’t know about it.