API integration

[danielgozzani]

Completely incorrect. You can fully charge an electric car using plug-in chargers. We have been doing it for the last 2 months while we have been sorting a charger.

Yes you need to be carefully about what you're plugging it into as it will pull a constant high current draw but provided you have good wiring it will be fine i.e. ours is plugged into a socket which is 1 cable from the main consumer unit.

As for insurance bailing, on what grounds? I plugged something into a plug to the BS standards and there was a fire? Insurance would have no grounds not to pay out but I think the bigger issue is more your house has burnt down.

I guess in what grounds depends on local legislation. Here in Sweden I've been advised to not even try or insurance will not cover... hence, installed a wall charger.

But good to know it works just slow... it could be a life saver

 

[danielgozzani]

Incorrect. You absolutely can charge a BEV with a granny cable, it will just take ages.
ev-database.org quote the MG4 SE LR & Trophy as taking 31h45m to fully charge on a granny cable.

Any liability issues in UK? In Sweden they made me install a wallcharger!

 

[mg4mc]

As it doesn't draw any more current than an electric fire/kettle and is within the rated limits of a socket I don't see why it would be a problem.

The issue is with dodgy wiring or connections loosening over time. But to me that is a maintenance issue with the infrastructure not the appliance.

 

[siteguru]

An electric fire doesn't have a continuous draw ... once at temperature it cycles on/off to maintain that temperature.

A kettle is a closer analogy - but that isn't running continuously for hours on end.

 

[mg4mc]

Well, the electric fires in my mother's house just have bars that glow red hot until you switch them off again, or the room heats up which could take hours in the winter in an old stone cottage.

My point is people have been using that sort of load for donkeys years without any scaremongering that you need a dedicated hardwired circuit, or insurance companies cancelling policies.

 

[siteguru]

But they get to that "glow red hot" state very quickly, and then cycle on/off (not that you'll see hit due to thermal lag) thereafter until you turn it off. So it might be 3kW for 5-10 minutes, but more like 0.5kW thereafter. A granny lead could be 2kW+ (continuously) for 20 hours or more!

 

[tsedge]

But they get to that "glow red hot" state very quickly, and then cycle on/off (not that you'll see hit due to thermal lag) thereafter until you turn it off. So it might be 3kW for 5-10 minutes, but more like 0.5kW thereafter. A granny lead could be 2kW+ (continuously) for 20 hours or more!

Correct: granny chargers at high amperages put far more strain on the household electrical system than any other appliances due to their continuous high load.

Electrical connections slowly degrade over time if pushed to their limits due to thermal expansion and contraction. As resistance rises in the circuit so does heat generation. Over time (maybe hundreds of cycles) a circuit can then overheat, melt and fail.

Limit current to 6A I would recommend for any extended use. Use a dedicated circuit with its own breaker. Have your electrics checked by a sparky for their suitability.

 

[TheHypnoToad]

Correct: granny chargers at high amperages put far more strain on the household electrical system than any other appliances due to their continuous high load.

Electrical connections slowly degrade over time if pushed to their limits due to thermal expansion and contraction. As resistance rises in the circuit so does heat generation. Over time (maybe hundreds of cycles) a circuit can then overheat, melt and fail.

Limit current to 6A I would recommend for any extended use. Use a dedicated circuit with its own breaker. Have your electrics checked by a sparky for their suitability.

Some granny chargers come with thermal fuses in the plug so it automatically cuts out if it goes over a certain temperature.

While this can help, I also have first hand experience of 13A sockets getting hot when using a 13A extension that was in less than ideal condition with a granny charger

I would recommend going back to check how hot the 13A plug gets especially when using an extension.

 

[Leaf]

Has their been any update on this? I miss my Leaf's API too! My Ohme Charger is dumb without it!

 

[Rolfe]

Incorrect. You absolutely can charge a BEV with a granny cable, it will just take ages.
ev-database.org quote the MG4 SE LR & Trophy as taking 31h45m to fully charge on a granny cable.

I'm just about to do what the manual says and recharge the car all the way from <10% to 100% on "a slow charger" like it tells you in the manual you should do every three to six months. I'll be using the granny charger. I expect, by the time I get started, it will finish some time in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It's fine, I don't need the car tomorrow.

The socket is on a breeze block wall inside my garage. It's on a dedicated garage circuit with a circuit breaker. It has a metal casing. I've never felt the plug warm. My electrician says it's fine, it's a robust setup, there are multiple layers on safety built in, and the garage is a cool place that will aid heat dissipation if any heating does happen.

The house was actually built like this, back in 1996. I didn't have to install anything.

I don't have a wall box and at the moment I don't see any need for one. I have neighbours who would let me use theirs but I don't see any need to trouble them.

 

[Leaf]

I would never charge for that long with a granny lead. It would mean charging at peak rates

 

[Rolfe]

I have a single rate so its the same price whenever I charge.

I can see the logic of getting a wall box and a variable rate, but then you're boxed into only about four hours charging per night, and running your washing machine and dishwasher at that time too, and the cost of your daytime usage is going to be higher. I haven't done the sums but I'm not sure it's worth it for my mileage.

There's a great convenience to being able to charge your car and run other appliances any time you want to.

 

[AidanTM]

I'm just about to do what the manual says and recharge the car all the way from <10% to 100% on "a slow charger" like it tells you in the manual you should do every three to six months. I'll be using the granny charger. I expect, by the time I get started, it will finish some time in the early hours of Tuesday morning. It's fine, I don't need the car tomorrow.

The socket is on a breeze block wall inside my garage. It's on a dedicated garage circuit with a circuit breaker. It has a metal casing. I've never felt the plug warm. My electrician says it's fine, it's a robust setup, there are multiple layers on safety built in, and the garage is a cool place that will aid heat dissipation if any heating does happen.

The house was actually built like this, back in 1996. I didn't have to install anything.

I don't have a wall box and at the moment I don't see any need for one. I have neighbours who would let me use theirs but I don't see any need to trouble them.

If you can afford the time, changing the charge rate to 6amps works well for me. ~0.86kWh/h but never got a hot plug/socket doing this

 

[Rolfe]

If you can afford the time, changing the charge rate to 6amps works well for me. ~0.86kw/h but never got a hot plug/socket doing this

I don't want it to take that long and so far I haven't had even a warm plug or socket even at 1.87 kW which is its usual rate.

I plan on monitoring the plug for heat tomorrow and using that to inform future decisions on charging power or time.

 

[FrankHedrix]

Okay, I try to clarify some things:

The main difference is that the old add-on was based on http requests. No manual request, no data! There is no internal logic to prevent battery drain.

The idea behind the mqtt gateway is to provide the data to every system you want over mqtt. Additionaly the python gateway has a internal logic to prevent battery drain. While in periodic mode the gateway watches for engine on messages from ismart to start pulling your data.
As long as the engine is off it doesn't pull any data from the car.

If you set the mode to off it stops any automatic pulling.

If you charge your car, ismart cannot wake the gateway to pull data. So you have to do it with the force command.

Hope this helps

Hi tonno87,
I am trying to do a simple query via http using GitHub - SAIC-iSmart-API/saic-python-client, I don't have HA, or anything else. Is there an entry point for that ? Where would I put the user(email) / password ?

 

[wattmatters]

I'm just bookmarking this tab as integrating with Home Assistant is of interest to me. But I might wait until this is out of Alpha.

I've already integrated the EV charging data into my power flow card but being able to see the car's other data (e.g. SOC/range) would be helpful as well as to log trip data.

 

[tonno87]

Hi tonno87,
I am trying to do a simple query via http using GitHub - SAIC-iSmart-API/saic-python-client, I don't have HA, or anything else. Is there an entry point for that ? Where would I put the user(email) / password ?

This client is the base of the mqtt gateway. It's not useful for a simple query of data!

You should try this one: saic-java-api-gateway

 

[FrankHedrix]

This client is the base of the mqtt gateway. It's not useful for a simple query of data!

You should try this one: saic-java-api-gateway

Man greetings to Friesenhagen from Cannes !
We will integrate with that.

 

[FrankHedrix]

This client is the base of the mqtt gateway. It's not useful for a simple query of data!

You should try this one: saic-java-api-gateway

Hi Tonno,

I validated PRECISE State Of Charge on MG4 Standard. Precise to the point that you can provide two digits behind the komma. It is (if present, and that's not always): The value from the BMS: pack_soc_dsp

In my case it shows most of the time 1023. When pack_soc_dsp != 1023 then the SOC = pack_soc_dsp / 1023 in %.

For example I had the SOC at 54.54% - DIsplay in the car showed 55%. I drove 10m uphill and the display value was 54% (the SOC < 54.50 ). So that is the most precise thing I found.

Attached a screenshot of various values at various times. Evaluating continuous SOC is really a crap exercise.
Value are not consistently present, get reset,etc. Screenshot attached. The BOLD BMS % SOC value is the truth from time to time and (power since last charge) and (day power use) need to be used to correct it.

I now have read that extendeddata1 has SOC, too. Maybe that's the solution for getting it continuously.

Best Regards from France.

 

[olliewebb]

Hi Tonno,

I validated PRECISE State Of Charge on MG4 Standard. Precise to the point that you can provide two digits behind the komma. It is (if present, and that's not always): The value from the BMS: pack_soc_dsp

In my case it shows most of the time 1023. When pack_soc_dsp != 1023 then the SOC = pack_soc_dsp / 1023 in %.

For example I had the SOC at 54.54% - DIsplay in the car showed 55%. I drove 10m uphill and the display value was 54% (the SOC < 54.50 ). So that is the most precise thing I found.

Attached a screenshot of various values at various times. Evaluating continuous SOC is really a crap exercise.
Value are not consistently present, get reset,etc. Screenshot attached. The BOLD BMS % SOC value is the truth from time to time and (power since last charge) and (day power use) need to be used to correct it.

I now have read that extendeddata1 has SOC, too. Maybe that's the solution for getting it continuously.

Best Regards from France.

This gives me hope around some of the ideas I want to play with when my car arrives.

Even if I can just ask a home assistant what the state of charge is before I get into the car, it would be helpful, or look at my calendar and see what trip is planned and worn if the charge status isn't good enough.