Octopus Intelligent - can't get full charge

[philipstaniford]

I am newbee here and to the EV and Solar world!

I have set up Octopus Inteligent successfully. I have my Zappi scheduled to charge between 23:30 and 05:30. I have max charge set to 80% on the car, the Zappi and Octopus. I have't yet acheived a good result. Last night It charged from around 40% to 50% then went no further. Looking at the event log on the Zappi It did some charging from 23:45 to 23:40 and 00:05 to 02:04 and that's it except a short attempt at 07:36 for 1 minute for some reason!

I have tried with no schedule set on the Zappi hoping that the Octopus Intelligent signals would do the charge. Achieved nothing!

This is the second Zappi supplied and fitted btw under warranty as myenergie felt there may have been a fault associated with Solar excess charging that I had. The Enyaq has been at a Lister Skoda service centre for 3 days and they could find nothing wrong with it.

I am tearing my hair out. Anyone else had this problem or could shed some light on the problem? My fear is that there are 3 different companies and their apps involved (myenergie, Octopus and Skoda) and I don't know how I am going to get one of them to take responsibility to solve the problem.

[BioHzrd]

There are to many variables to pin point and point the finger at.

My impression was the Octopus "take control" of the charging so could it be a conflict with the fact you have a schedule set on the Zappi ?

Potentially could be an unreliable WiFi connection ?

[Ken3966]

Don’t forget Octopus often assign extra slots beyond 5:30 and you get off peak then.
I suggest you remove any schedules fro charger and leave it on charge immediately. If you want to ensure you charge off peak set a schedule in the car. I do this to stop about a kWh of charging at full rate until Octopus notices car is plugged in, sets a schedule and stops the charging until periods it sets. Works fine for me and Octopus knows car is plugged in and sets a schedule even though car has stopped the charging until 23:30. Charging schedule is from charging screen in options for location which also has to be set. Don’t set a to be ready by time though.
Only issue is car reverts to charge immediately every time it’s used so you have to go to charging screen and select charge in scheduled time only before plugging car in.

[philipstaniford]

Hi. Thanks BioHzrd for your input. Don't I know it. My point about 3 companies all with their own apps!

Wifi is great with Sky Q. Absoluletly no problem.

The conflict of Octopus with the Zappi was my first considertion and I did mention above that I have tried with no schedule on the Zappi and it charged over 3 periods 01:02 to 01:16, 02:33 to 03:08 and 04:34 to 04:38. Obviously didn't put a lot in the car. When the charge stops the Zappi event log shows "Charge Delayed" a minute or so before it shows "Charge Complete". I have a suspicion there's something wrong with the Enyaq charge controller and it is stopping the charge.

[philipstaniford]

Thanks Ken3966. I can' see how to reply to specific comments!

Problem is I have Solar and want to benefit from totally free energy when there is excess. So the Zappi has to be in ECO+ mode and will then charge from Solar when there is export to the grid. The Eco+ is overriden by any charge immediately or boost commands. I was hoping I don't have to use a 'work around'. I am hoping that all this very expensive kit can work correctly

[ComicGeek]

One way of testing it is to manually put the Enyaq on charge at 11.30pm - at least you can check that the Zappi is providing the full charge and that the Enyaq is charging as it should be. The only variables left then are the IO control and the schedule. If you don't want to wait up for that, stick it on as close as you can to 11.30pm to reduce peak usage.

With my Ohme charger with IO I have to have a schedule that sets the battery charge target and time, ie to 80% by 7am - if I don't, the IO doesn't know how to calculate the amount of charge needed and can't set the time slots.

Would be worth checking with Octopus, as I thought any non Ohme charger had to be set without schedules and the schedule set in the car only.

You should also be able to use the charger without IO controls - ie not set the schedule on the car, but on the charger instead. You won't get any additional off peak time slots, but you can still use the standard 6 hr IO period as normal. I think the terms of the IO states that you have to let them control 1 charge session per month.

[philipstaniford]

Thanks ComicGeek.

I know the only charger compatible with IO is the Ohme. Without an Ohme IO only works with a handful of cars of which the Enyaq is one. Now you mention it it does make sense that I should set a schedule in the car itself. I will try that. The downside is that it's a pain to have to go to the car everytime I want an overnight charge.

Does anyone have a contact number for Octopus and specifically where I might get well informed advice on Intelligent Octopus?

[IanJ]

Thanks ComicGeek.

I know the only charger compatible with IO is the Ohme. Without an Ohme IO only works with a handful of cars of which the Enyaq is one. Now you mention it it does make sense that I should set a schedule in the car itself. I will try that. The downside is that it's a pain to have to go to the car everytime I want an overnight charge.

Does anyone have a contact number for Octopus and specifically where I might get well informed advice on Intelligent Octopus?

Have a look at the Intelligent Octopus FAQ here https://octopus.energy/intelligent-faqs ... lquestions My understanding is that IO controls all of the charging process and that smart charging/timers should be disabled on the car and charger.

You should be able to find a contact number for Octopus on the same site.

[philipstaniford]

Thanks IanJ.

Pretty sure I tried Letting IO control the charge but I will have another go.

I will definitely look at these FAQs.

Many thanks

[IanJ]

Thanks IanJ.

Pretty sure I tried Letting IO control the charge but I will have another go.

I will definitely look at these FAQs.

Many thanks

I suggest that you also place the Zappi in “dumb” mode and temporarily forget about the solar integration. Once you have IO controlling the timing of charge through the IO app against a state of charge you have selected, you could then move to trying to integrate solar.

Good luck!