[MINi4]

So, I gave this another go. Octopus app set to smart charge and saying it will set a schedule when the car is plugged in. Car was plugged in last night, set to charge immediate. PodPoint put to manual. Car starts charging and I stop it. Octopus app gives me two charging slots overnight. PodPoint says that the battery is full or car has a schedule set. MyBMW tells me charging was interrupted (because I stopped it) and gives me an option to restart it which I ignore obviously; it also tells me that charging is (still) set to immediate. I presume Octopus app will load the schedule when it needs to.

The steps you described about the BMW side of things, is completely aligned to what I do, including stopping and ignoring restarting the charge.

‘I presume Octopus app will load the schedule when it needs to’ - Octopus doesn’t load their schedule into the BMW, it just unpauses/pauses as per the Octopus mapped charging slots. I do note that it does occasionally put a random future departure time, days away in the future. This could override the PodPoint charging?

I don’t have a PodPoint, but if ‘PodPoint says that the battery is full or car has a schedule set (if it isn’t showing in the BMW)’ would seem strange as neither are true and could stop the car from charging?

just looked at a PodPoint manual, by the process of elimination, would it be that a solid blue light is necessary for a successful Intelligent Octopus charge? I could well be wrong. If there are any PodPoint users here as I’m afraid I can’t really assist further on the PodPoint.

 

[AndyJ]

I suspect that PodPoint message is just generic because whilst it thinks it should be charging, the car isn't drawing anything because I stopped it. The diagnostics probably isn't very detailed or comprehensive.

I also tried calling Octopus this morning. After waiting about half an hour, got through to someone who did some checking and said there was a problem with the lambda sensor. I died a little inside at this point. Then I got cut off and had to wait another half hour to talk to someone and explain the problem again. Was promised a call back by 3pm. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

Smart Charging is now turned off, the PodPoint is back to a scheduled operation and all will be good by the morning I expect. The problem is I have to trust this stuff to work as it should and so far I've not been able to use it because I just don't. I don't trust that it's going to stop the charge when I plug in and no schedule is set yet, and I don't trust that it will charge when the schedule says it will.

Not just Octopus actually. @£$£% Hive heating is a major PITA as well because it does screwy things: after about 3 weeks I think I've finally got it sussed. The last bit of useful information being that it won't do anything if the room temperature is within 1c of the scheduled target temperature (this is for a Smart TRV) so it's necessary to set it to a temperature higher than you want!! Sorry, drifting off topic....

 

[Iridium]

Welcome to Hive! It was great when they had a UK contact centre, but now……! All my TRVs are in manual. Still off topic, sorry but been there, suffered that too.

I’m wary of IO as I’ve seen too many issues reported and not enough answers. Lambda sensor huh, that’s a new one and not exactly inspiring of them. As you say, this has to be trustworthy and must work. I’ve seen the ‘well if you only had an Ohme’ as well. I don’t and am not charging what I have. I suppose their message about it being a ‘Beta Service’ is just a get out of jail free card for them.

 

[PRGG]

My I4 arrived on Monday, and I am still waiting for Octopus to install my WallBox Pulsar Max so I can get on Intelligent Octopus tariff, went with that charger as it integrates with HomeAssistant which I use all the time for home automation.

Interesting reading all the above comments on how it works, and will post my experience when my WallBox finally arrives

 

[StuMac]

I can’t remember which Octopus webpage I got that from, but I copied the text for myself at the time. Yes, any Octopus mapped charging times outside the normal window cost 7.5p/kWh (so get the washing machine, tumble dryer! etc, on! 😃). The normal 11:30pm to 5:30am period always applies regardless if not charging that day or there are additional mapped charging times. I don’t need my car either for 04:00, but that doesn’t stop the request for that time. Putting an earlier ‘ready by’, shifts any mapped off peak charging earlier into the evening. An example of a mapped charging time:
View attachment 35655

Any reason you picked 4 am, instead of an earlier time?

 

[MINi4]

Any reason you picked 4 am, instead of an earlier time?

4am is the earliest time that can be selected.

 

[StuMac]

4am is the earliest time that can be selected.

Doh! should have checked the app before asking. I'm going to give that a try tomorrow.

 

[StuMac]

Thanks MINi4!
That worked a treat with the schedule. Car was at 20% SOC, target of 90% SOC by 4 am. Plugged it in and within a few minutes went onto the smart schedule pretty much for the rest of the day (apart from 16:30 - 19:30, but that's to be expected).

Will see how it gets on. In the MyBMW app the car is charging and it has set a random departure in the BMW app for next Thursday @ 23:26. So all charging from in the IO charge schedule should be at the 7.5p/kw.

PodPoint = manual.
MyBMW charge mode = Charge immediately.

 

[MINi4]

Thanks MINi4!
That worked a treat with the schedule. Car was at 20% SOC, target of 90% SOC by 4 am. Plugged it in and within a few minutes went onto the smart schedule pretty much for the rest of the day (apart from 16:30 - 19:30, but that's to be expected). Will see how it gets on.

If it all works for you, you’ll have to share the set up details with AndyJ in this thread and the same set up as you (i4, PodPoint, Intelligent Octopus).

 

[MINi4]

View attachment 35937 View attachment 35938 View attachment 35939 View attachment 35940

May I ask, from above, your i4 was connected at 13:54 and did it automatically stop charging (as Octopus charging plan was made) or you forced it to stop the charging immediately (via the MyBMW app)? Thereafter, as Octopus mapped 13:55, so did the i4 recommence charging following the instruction from Octopus?
or
did the i4 never stopped charging from the 13:54 plug-in?

Only asking as I’ve not had a charging plan schedule start immediately after plug-in.

 

[StuMac]

May I ask, from above, your i4 was connected at 13:54 and did it automatically stop charging (as Octopus charging plan was made) or you forced it to stop the charging immediately (via the MyBMW app)? Thereafter, as Octopus mapped 13:55, so did the i4 recommence charging following the instruction from Octopus?
or
did the i4 never stopped charging from the 13:54 plug-in?

Only asking as I’ve not had a charging plan schedule start immediately after plug-in.

Yes, I wasn't expecting it to start as quickly. I suspect that as the car was @ 20% SOC with the ready for set @ 4 am, IO just decided to set the Schedule to start as soon as it could.

Basically - plugged the car in, grabbed a bag from the boot, and went inside. I went to disable the charge in the BMW app, but spotted I had an IO notification that a schedule had been set so clicked on that and realised it was already within the smart schedule.

I did not get a chance to stop charging in the BMW app - so never stopped charging from the 13:54 plug-in.

 

[StuMac]

Keeping an eye on the IO charge schedule - the BMW app @ 16:42 does report that the car charging is currently 'Planned' (so not charging, as per the IO schedule). I will keep an eye out to see if it starts again at 19:30 for 30 minutes, stops, and then starts again at 20:30 as per the IO schedule. - I am not committed enough to watch it stop charging at 4 a.m.!

The Pod Point app also shows 'Charged' instead of charging as in my earlier update.

 

[StuMac]

So this is only the second time I have charged the car since delivery, Using Intelligent Octopus Go and a PodPoint Solo. The first time I used a smart charge schedule but aimed for 11:30 - 05:30 window and it worked as expected. For today's charge, I tried MIni4's hack of trying to force extra daytime smart charging to get extra hours at 7.5p/kw & it is working exactly as it should. In my last post, it started in its mid-afternoon timeslot. Then stopped for the 16:30 - 19:30 peak window. Below you can see it started again for 30 minutes from 19:30, then stopped for 30 mins & finally started again at 20:30 for its final charge through to 4 a.m., so all good for me and working 'so far' as expected.

 

[MINi4]

Basically - plugged the car in, grabbed a bag from the boot, and went inside. I went to disable the charge in the BMW app, but spotted I had an IO notification that a schedule had been set so clicked on that and realised it was already within the smart schedule..

I normally plug in the car, wait for the car’s charging indicator light is flashing blue and then immediately the stop charge using MyBMW app.

 

[StuMac]

Appreciate the Op has had issues with IO, but have to say I have not had any.

Have to admit moving from British Gas to Octopus, I am massively impressed, their system just seems so much better. the detail in their monthly email is great, I literally just received my 1st Octo intelligent Go update and it includes a per 30-minute financials. Can see all 30-minute slots where I pay full price and where I pay the EV tariff, in the snip below there is a 30-minute slot outside their auto 23:30 - 05:30 window where I have been given the 7.5p/kw price due to their smart schedule, must be from when I last charged the car as my normal (non-ev) usage is much less. There are other options so shop around, if you want £50 credit there is a referral link below, Which I also get, please ignore if you're not interested, just sharing the option.

Friend referral | Octopus Energy

The UK's most awarded energy supplier. We're doing energy better - for you and the environment.

share.octopus.energy

 

[StuMac]

I normally plug in the car, wait for the car’s charging indicator light is flashing blue and then immediately the stop charge using MyBMW app.

Cheers MIni4, I'll do that next time.

 

[AndyJ]

I still can’t get it to work at all. Originally I tried the approach a few posts back and a charging plan was scheduled, it just didn’t actually charge anything. Talking to Octopus is hard work because they always need to talk to the Smart Charging team and then that’s the last you hear. Or you tell them everything they ask, then they come back and ask the same question again, and then go quiet (and as for blaming a lambda sensor…).

I removed the car from the app and set it back up again. Everything went ok until the Test Charge, and trying that it pops up “uh oh, something went wrong” and doesn’t work. The car will charge: it is set to charge immediately and the PodPoint is on manual so when I plug in, the car starts charging immediately. Car is reachable over the air: I can send messages from MyBMW and it installs software updates with no problem. Of course, Octopus just asked me a question I’d already answered and then went quiet.

At this stage I have no idea what could be happening but I think there’s something that needs resetting in a database somewhere which I’m probably reliant on Octopus to do. My best guess is that Octopus aren’t being allowed to talk to the car rather than there being an actual hardware/network problem.

 

[StuMac]

AndyJ, sorry it's not working for you. It is odd as we both have exactly the same setup. i4, PodPoint Solo & IO - you have your car and PodPoint charge settings the same as I do. It just seems to be working for me.

Maybe worth checking if all your apps are updated in the car, i remember doing that the day I got it, in settings somewhere.

Your PodPoint should auto-update. Mine is Firmware A30P-5.0.9-00033.

But as the IO integration doesn't really talk to the PodPoint it must be an issue talking to your car.

My Octopus Energy App is version 4.2.0 on my Samsung Andriod.

MyBMW app version is 3.9.3.

Not sure if the app versions would impact this or not, just worth sharing in case anything is different.

There was other stuff in the car like permissions on location when I set this up, but can't remember right now what was involved with that. Just seemed to make sense at the time.

 

[AndyJ]

AndyJ, sorry it's not working for you. It is odd as we both have exactly the same setup. i4, PodPoint Solo & IO - you have your car and PodPoint charge settings the same as I do. It just seems to be working for me.

Maybe worth checking if all your apps are updated in the car, i remember doing that the day I got it, in settings somewhere.

Your PodPoint should auto-update. Mine is Firmware A30P-5.0.9-00033.

But as the IO integration doesn't really talk to the PodPoint it must be an issue talking to your car.

My Octopus Energy App is version 4.2.0 on my Samsung Andriod.

MyBMW app version is 3.9.3.

Not sure if the app versions would impact this or not, just worth sharing in case anything is different.

There was other stuff in the car like permissions on location when I set this up, but can't remember right now what was involved with that. Just seemed to make sense at the time.

I have MyBMW app v3.9.3, PodPoint is A30P-5.0.9-00033. Octopus App I think is v4.2.0, but I can't tell in the app: the app store has that as the latest version with no option to update so presumably that is what is currently installed.
I have Home configured in the Sat Nav in the car and as far as I am aware, no restrictions due to Privacy Settings. MyBMW certainly knows where the car is. It's difficult to track all possible settings down as there are so many apps in the car, with settings scattered in various places, but I think that is all ok. If anyone can say what settings need to be set and how to find them, that might be useful.

I'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday now to talk to Octopus again.

 

[MINi4]

I removed the car from the app and set it back up again. Everything went ok until the Test Charge, and trying that it pops up “uh oh, something went wrong” and doesn’t work.

Have you successfully completed a Test Charge? Without this, Octopus can’t control the charging times. Passing the Test Charge can be a pain though, my previous i3 took two tries but my i4 took 4 attempts before a successful test charge.