Help ..... charging problem

[janeyb]

this was what I was advised to do by the helpline when mine went down if that's any use : (just in case it's the same problem by some weird synchronicity)

Please follow these steps on the zappi unit:

Menu + other settings + Installer settings or if that's not an option go to advanced please + linked devices + devices + harvi + change CT1 from NONE to GRID and CT2 from NONE to GEN ONLY

 

[Rolfe]

I will go and try now. Because Octopus doesn't think my car is plugged in, and if this goes on my only recourse may be to take the car to the village charger and pay CPS 60p a unit, which would probably choke me. I have to take someone to an eye surgery appointment 55 miles away tomorrow.

Nope, not that. I don't even have a Harvi. The Zappi itself seems perfectly normal, it shows EV unplugged when it's unplugged and waiting for surplus when it's plugged in. But the app is completely non-operational and Octopus doesn't believe the car is plugged in. Also, I keep getting "The remote control instruction failed, please try again later" from the iSmart app. Something very weird going on.

 

[Jomarkh]

Just add a schedule on the Zappi itself until you get the app sorted

 

[Rolfe]

I want an Octopus schedule because the car needs a full charge tonight - it's currently sitting on 8%. But if I can't have that then charging from 11.30 till 5.30 is obviously better than nothing. If I can make it do that.

I have set schedules on the app before, but I don't know how to set one on the Zappi itself. I obviously need to find out.

Well, this is partially reassuring. I have discovered that it's possible to start the charge manually on the Zappi itself, and the car will charge. But Octopus still thinks it's unplugged, which is beyond weird. I think I have set it to charge from 11.30 till 5.30, assuming it has actually accepted that instruction. Alternatively I could go out and start the charge manually at 11.30.

I need to think about this, because I want a full charge, not just six hours worth. Ideally I want to charge the car right to 100% and balance. With an Octopus schedule I could have done this all on cheap rate. However, the Octopus day rate is still cheaper than the CPS DC charger and at least it looks as if I won't have to use that.

It is very peculiar. I think there's something up with my phone, because the MyEnergi app is completely hors de combat, and the Octopus app doesn't believe my car is plugged in. It also doesn't seem to have updated yesterday's usage/generation numbers. The iSmart app is perpetually in "The remote control instruction failed" mode, and while the GivEnergy app appears to be working normally and is connected to the home dashboard, I had some difficulty changing the inverter settings (while I could change them on my computer with no problem).

I tried turning my phone right off and on again, but nothing changed except the GivEnergy app started letting me change the inverter settings. So, three apps on the fritz, and possibly four as the GivEnergy app was being unusually flaky.

I don't have to pick up the patient to be transported until noon, so there's plenty time to get charge into the car if I don't count the cost. However ABRP has the village charger down as undergoing maintenance or repair, which is a bit disconcerting, so I'd better not rely on that. (I saw a car charging on it the other day though.) Maybe I should pop out and check it now just in case, it's only five minutes walk away.

I don't see any prospect of getting a schedule out of Octopus the way this is going.

 

[siteguru]

Does Octopus give you a way to access your account (hence schedule settings) via a website? If yes then you could try accessing via your laptop.

Another option may be to try rebooting your WiFi router.

 

[Bam Bam]

Help again! My MyEnergi app seems not to be working at all. I don't think it thinks it's online, although the phone is definitely online. I need to charge tonight and I'm in deep doo-doo if I can't.

Hell's teeth, I just deleted the app and re-installed it and it hasn't fixed it.

Doesn't zappi have buttons on it?

Perhaps I haven't taken in the issue - is it to do with Octopus IG?

 

[Rolfe]

Sorry for hijacking your thread, @janeyb, but I think you're sorted whereas right now I am not!

Does Octopus give you a way to access your account (hence schedule settings) via a website? If yes then you could try accessing via your laptop.

Another option may be to try rebooting your WiFi router.

I have tried rebooting the wifi (good thought) but no difference. I don't have web access to Octopus at all. The MyEnergi web site is a bit user-hostile and I'm probably as well just sorting things out from the Zappi itself.

Current thinking. Last time I charged the car up fully from 8% it took seven hours to get it to 100%. The only snag at the end of that was that it decided to balance for at least an hour, most unusually, so it wasn't finished its balance charge by the time the Octopus schedule closed, which is why I'd prefer to do it again and let it finish.

Thus I actually only need an extra hour of peak-rate electricity to get the car to 100% (the balancing doesn't count because that is negligible). I can also afford to let it have access to my home battery for that hour, because an hour of maximum discharge only takes about 40% out of the battery and even if the battery is at 60% at 6.30 am that is not a problem because the house isn't going to want that much and tomorrow's solar looks as if it's going to be OK.

However, I might start the car going at eleven so it gets the tail end of this evening's battery export, and then it should only need about 20% of the newly-charged battery between 5.30 and 6 am. That should give plenty battery remaining to keep the house happy until it can grab some solar. On the couple of occasions when the car has charged from a combination of mains and battery the maximum mains draw has been 4.3 kw. So, 4.3 kwh at the peak price is £1.09. If that's the extra this is going to cost me over having an Octopus schedule, it's not the end of the world. (It's not, of course, because I'm also giving the car some power that would otherwise be exported, but let's not be too picky.)

So that's the plan. I go out to the Zappi about eleven, wipe all schedules, and just tell it to charge till the car is full. Fingers crossed.

Doesn't zappi have buttons on it?

Yes, and it looks as if that's the plan, right enough.

 

[janeyb]

Sorry for hijacking your thread, @janeyb, but I think you're sorted whereas right now I am not!

No problem at all and I hope this sorts itself . Is it worth just an hour of bump charging earlier to make sure that it is possible to charge rather than potentially spend valuable time during cheap charging hours sorting out an problems that may be thrown up ?

 

[siteguru]

@Rolfe wants to do a <10% to 100% and balance charge for BMS calibration, so a bump charge just now would screw that up.

 

[Rolfe]

I did do a few seconds of fast charge earlier to check it was going to do it. Also, if I start playing with it at about eleven, that gives half an hour of potential fiddling around in case it isn't that straightforward.

If I end up cycling over to the village charger to see if it's actually working, I'll know I'm in trouble!

So far so good. I wiped all the schedules (because there was just an outside chance the maximum scheduled charge could have stopped the car before it was done balancing, as it did last week) and told the Zappi to charge. It's doing that, taking about a third of the power from the home battery (which would otherwise have been exporting it) and the rest from the grid.

I did cycle up to the village charger, it's barely a five-minute round trip on a bicycle, and it looks perfectly normal as far as I could tell without actually starting a charge. I don't expect to need it, but it is my get-out-of-jail (for 60p/kwh) card in situations like this and I could get enough charge into the car in the morning to get me to Glasgow if need be. The charge was still going when I got back.

Although neither the iSmart nor the MyEnergi apps are working I can check that the charge is still going on the GivEnergy app. I'm going to bed.

 

[Martinonline]

You could try clearing the cache for the troublesome apps. Settings/apps select app and 'storage and cache' followed by clear cache.

Recently my android phone stopped receiving text codes from my bank though I could receive texts from my wife's phone. Clearing the messages app cache freed the blockage and they all came through.

 

[Rolfe]

This morning the GivEnergy app isn't glitching at all and the iSmart app seems to be working again. I'm not quite sure what's happening with the Octopus app, it still doesn't seem to think the car is plugged in, but then the car is actually full to bursting.

The MyEnergi app is still completely on the blink and that seems to be the main issue. I can try the cache thing when I get back from the hospital, or even while I'm waiting there.

The charging all went exactly as planned. Only a small amount of peak rate power was used. The house battery went down to about 73% but it's now recharging pretty fast as there are some blinks of direct sunlight. I saw 7 kw being generated momentarily and the system is exporting as the generation exceeds the battery's maximum charge capacity by quite a bit.

I'll need to charge again tonight so we'll see what happens. Since I won't need more time than the off peak period provides I can just set a schedule using the Zappi's screen and let it get on with it. It may prove that it's only the MyEnergi app that's the problem.

I don't know for sure that the car completed its balance charge because I was asleep and of course I can't see in the Zappi app, but I'm going to assume it did. No reason why it shouldn't have.

 

[janeyb]

I'm glad the urgent issue of getting some charge in has been resolved ! Helpline for the myenergi problem maybe ?

 

[Rolfe]

Yes, definitely, once I've done my charitable duty and driven this guy to his eye surgery appointment. It will be interesting to see whether the Octopus issue resolves itself once the MyEnergi app is sorted.

Just my luck this would happen when I was all set up to do the long charge (about the fifth time, something always seems to go wrong!) and absolutely had to be charged up for the trip to the hospital today. I suspect it cost me about £1.50 doing it that way over and above what it would have cost if I'd been able to get an Octopus schedule, but that's not exactly high finance.

My home battery is back up at 100%, the water tank is hot, the car is full and the system is exporting solar. Situation normal, really. Certainly an improvement on the previous two days when the amount of solar could barely support the house base load all day.

 

[Rolfe]

OK, I still don't understand the Zappi properly.

I got home about 6.45, on 33% charge. I set the Zappi to charge from 11.30 to 5.30. I plugged the car in. Half an hour later I happened to look at the GivEnergy graph and discovered that the car had started to charge almost as soon as I plugged it in.

I was able to stop it from the iSmart app, but it got a fair mouthful of peak rate electrons first. Obviously I did something wrong but I don't know what. I don't think I can blame Octopus because it isn't giving me a schedule as far as I can see, and it wouldn't have given me a schedule starting the moment I plugged in at 6.45 pm anyway.

I suppose I'll have to start the charge from the app at 11.30.

 

[Ian Key]

@Rolfe Try posting your question on the myenergi forum.

myenergi

The place for myenergi customers, supporters and fans to meet, discuss, provide feedback and share ideas

myenergi.info

 

[tsedge]

Have you done any firmware updates on the Zaapi recently? I ask because I have had issues with the Octopus app controlling mine and it turned out there was a new firmware update for the Zappi that has resolved it.

My MyEnergi app has been working just fine, but this could be affected by this too.

OK, I still don't understand the Zappi properly.

I got home about 6.45, on 33% charge. I set the Zappi to charge from 11.30 to 5.30. I plugged the car in. Half an hour later I happened to look at the GivEnergy graph and discovered that the car had started to charge almost as soon as I plugged it in.

I was able to stop it from the iSmart app, but it got a fair mouthful of peak rate electrons first. Obviously I did something wrong but I don't know what. I don't think I can blame Octopus because it isn't giving me a schedule as far as I can see, and it wouldn't have given me a schedule starting the moment I plugged in at 6.45 pm anyway.

I suppose I'll have to start the charge from the app at 11.30.

What mode do you have the Zappi in?

It needs to be in the right mode for the Octopus app to control it, although it should be possible for Octopus to switch the mode.

 

[Rolfe]

@Rolfe Try posting your question on the myenergi forum.

myenergi

The place for myenergi customers, supporters and fans to meet, discuss, provide feedback and share ideas

myenergi.info

That's a good point, I got help there before.

Have you done any firmware updates on the Zaapi recently? I ask because I have had issues with the Octopus app controlling mine and it turned out there was a new firmware update for the Zappi that has resolved it.

My MyEnergi app has been working just fine, but this could be affected by this too.


What mode do you have the Zappi in?

It needs to be in the right mode for the Octopus app to control it, although it should be possible for Octopus to switch the mode.

I have no idea. I noticed that the default was set to eco+ though.

 

[Rolfe]

I tried the forum. There was a thread there where someone seemed to be reporting the same problem in August, but it petered out without any resolution. I added my complaint to the end of it.

Then I phoned the helpline. The operator said it looks as if my Eddi (the master device) has been offline for two days. That's likely to be the issue I think. He's getting me a call-back either today or tomorrow, so here's hoping.

 

[Rolfe]

All sorted. All that was needed was to turn the Eddi off, wait for half a minute, and turn it back on again.