Vendor Dashboard for Tesla - the better app for your Tesla

[Xenius]

Don't mean to thread hijack, but yeah, lots of devs around. It's a techie car

Also, kudos on reworking the subscription, I have now bought the founders edition and if I feel I'll want the other paywalled features in the future I'll consider it. I like that you work with your users, now once the logging is there and can replace teslafi.com for me, everything will be gravy

 

[supratachophobia]

Don't mean to thread hijack, but yeah, lots of devs around. It's a techie car

Also, kudos on reworking the subscription, I have now bought the founders edition and if I feel I'll want the other paywalled features in the future I'll consider it. I like that you work with your users, now once the logging is there and can replace teslafi.com for me, everything will be gravy

Which is why we need a TMC sponsored SDK for Infotainment App Development.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I had no idea you had so much going on, managing multiple successful operations of any magnitude is taxing.

Well, "successful" is subjective.

But I do own a Tesla, so there's that.

 

[SG57]

@Xenius , thanks for your support! Data logging is coming soon, I think you and others will like it.

@supratachophobia , I was really disappointed to learn there isn't an SDK, even reverse engineered, for the infotainment system. I'd really like a weather app in the car, and it'd be cool to play Mario Kart on the large screen using the steering wheel and foot pedals as input controls heh.

@HankLloydRight , owning a Tesla is prestigious in its own right I think, there are only 3 I know of in my city (eastern WA), so still props!

 

[notsoice]

@SG57 there's something wrong with your billing system. I was billed CAD$5.64 when I purchased the app at the Founders level on Nov.1. I thought this is suppose to be a one time fee?

I was billed again for the same amount from Tesla Apps today.

Can you advise?

 

[SG57]

@notsoice , that's a very strange occurrence. Google's In-App Billing service does not allow me to deactivate or delete an in-app product to prevent future purchases, all I can do is no longer offer it in the app. On November 8th I released a new payment model replacing the subscription-based model no longer offering subscriptions within the app. On that day, I explicitly refunded and cancelled all subscriptions at the time.

I've looked into this further, and it turns out there were 3 new subscriptions placed a few days after the new payment model released and after I cancelled and refunded all subscriptions. This could only have happened if those 3 people continued to use an older version of the app that still used the subscription-based model. I've cancelled and refunded those 3 subscribers just now.

I did not offer a Founder's special for the subscription-based model, only on the new one-time-payment model.

Please let me know if you weren't refunded or if you have any more questions, and if you haven't already be sure to update to the latest version.

 

[agw]

I'll be most definitely a buyer under Founder pricing but while I think you did an awesome job, I have been looking forward to Smart Charging for the past 4 years...
If it can be of any help here are the ideas I had in mind:
1) Ready by a certain time.
2) Off Peak time range, ideally with a flag for DST (PSEG smart meter is not smart enough to account for DST)
3) Some people may like the comfort of starting the charge as soon as off peak begins, stop it at say 80% and then resume it at the right time to get to 90%. This way if anything goes wrong (amp dropping or power loss) there would be a better chance to have a somewhat charged up car ready to go. Some others would rather take the risk and have the best efficiency possible by only warming up the battery once in a straight charge.

I'm not sure anything else would be needed.
Keep up the good work!

 

[SG57]

@agw , oh you and @supratachophobia both have been waiting then I see. Great ideas you have there, and actually I just finished the 1st on that list last night. It's not as straight forward as it appears though, it's quite tricky given the various charging states of the car affect the accuracy of the charge data returned.

Before I commit to those other ideas, I'd like some more clarity.

For #2 the off-peak time range, the DST flag may be unnecessary because the Smart charging service uses the Alarm Manager for scheduling and goes off the device time which automatically adjusts for DST. If I were to add a DST flag here, shouldn't I add it to every other service that uses time somehow? Plug-in reminder, camper mode, etc

For #3, gosh that's quite the specialized scenario. Is there really a benefit to charging to almost-full, then stopping, then resuming near the desired completion time? I understand respecting the off-peak time range to save money, but I don't understand this one it seems.

 

[MP3Mike]

For #2 the off-peak time range, the DST flag may be unnecessary because the Smart charging service uses the Alarm Manager for scheduling and goes off the device time which automatically adjusts for DST. If I were to add a DST flag here, shouldn't I add it to every other service that uses time somehow? Plug-in reminder, camper mode, etc

For #3, gosh that's quite the specialized scenario. Is there really a benefit to charging to almost-full, then stopping, then resuming near the desired completion time? I understand respecting the off-peak time range to save money, but I don't understand this one it seems.

I assume his thought for #2 is that his TOU meter doesn't adjust for DST, so the off-peak time is different after the DST change.

For #3 I think his idea is to have the battery pre-heated as close to time to leave as possible, but is hedging incase the power is out when it would need to charge. (So get it there most of the way ASAP, and then finish it off right before it is time to leave.)

 

[SG57]

@MP3Mike , ahh I see. So for #2 it'd be nice to 'disable' the automatic handling of DST because his meter doesn't automatically handle it which would cause his scheduled peak times and actual peak times to be de-sync'd. I see the value there, if I don't get around to it on initial release the alternative would be having to manually tweak your peak times when DST changes, yes?

For #3, is there a benefit to having a pre-heated battery? I believe battery regeneration is reduced when the battery is cold, I suppose that makes sense then. As is, #1 the "complete charging by" time starts the charging such that it will finish at most 15 minutes before your desired completion time accomplishing the same battery warming effect, only it doesn't take into account the peak charge hours of course.

One other thing, currently I am never stopping charging, I only ever start it. My philosophy is if it's charging, you explicitly started it or the charge was scheduled to start within the car and I shouldn't mess with your intentions. How should this be adjusted to work with #1, #2 and #3? #1 is affected because charging can be started before the calculated start time for completing by the certain time. #2 is affected because if your scheduled charge time in the car is BEFORE your peak times, I can't stop you. #3 is affected because I can't stop you at near-charged to start again right before your desired completion time. Or should I abandon my philosophy of respecting your charging car and explicitly stop it at my whim with good intentions? My head.....

 

[agw]

@MP3Mike thank you for explaining my thoughts exactly on all points.

So yes, #1 is the must have item and I can see how the coding would be complicated.

#2 is not that important as there are workarounds. Let's say off peak is between 9PM and 7 AM in winter but because of DST it "moves" to 10PM to 8AM in summer, one could simply set the allowed charged times between 10PM and 7AM or as SG57 rightfully said, twice a year one could set the times correctly.

#3 There is a nice benefit to having a preheated battery which is that the full regen is available (that is the main reason for #1) but also it is more efficient to charge the battery in one go and take off when ready. Nonetheless as @MP3Mike well said, some people have issues with power dropping and may want to give up on utmost efficiency for piece of mind.

How do you put it all together?
1) Constrain the charging period during off peak. We need a setting for that. DST flag optional.
2) Evaluate the needed charge time assuming the reported SOC and pilot current.
3) Have another setting for "Get ready by XX Time"
4) One more setting maybe later on would be for "Precharge to XX%"
For example, in my personal case, I would set it this way:
1) Allowed charging period 9PM to 7AM DST
2) Precharge to 70%
3) Ready by 7 AM at 90%

Now for a very important question...how do I buy the app? Go to demo mode and go to Products and buy Standard Access for $14.99?
Then also buy Advanced charging for $2.99? Is that lifetime also?

 

[agw]

Never mind the question on purchase. I just signed in and bought Standard Access and Advanced Charging....now make them coming...no pressure

 

[agw]

Little bug I found, if a default vehicle is selected and there is a server error, one is cut out from the app. Basically you would sign in, an attempt is made to load the default vehicle and as it fails you are back to the sign in screen...
BTW why am I getting Server Connection Expired in the first place?

 

[supratachophobia]

@MP3Mike , ahh I see. So for #2 it'd be nice to 'disable' the automatic handling of DST because his meter doesn't automatically handle it which would cause his scheduled peak times and actual peak times to be de-sync'd. I see the value there, if I don't get around to it on initial release the alternative would be having to manually tweak your peak times when DST changes, yes?

For #3, is there a benefit to having a pre-heated battery? I believe battery regeneration is reduced when the battery is cold, I suppose that makes sense then. As is, #1 the "complete charging by" time starts the charging such that it will finish at most 15 minutes before your desired completion time accomplishing the same battery warming effect, only it doesn't take into account the peak charge hours of course.

One other thing, currently I am never stopping charging, I only ever start it. My philosophy is if it's charging, you explicitly started it or the charge was scheduled to start within the car and I shouldn't mess with your intentions. How should this be adjusted to work with #1, #2 and #3? #1 is affected because charging can be started before the calculated start time for completing by the certain time. #2 is affected because if your scheduled charge time in the car is BEFORE your peak times, I can't stop you. #3 is affected because I can't stop you at near-charged to start again right before your desired completion time. Or should I abandon my philosophy of respecting your charging car and explicitly stop it at my whim with good intentions? My head.....

Hang on, things are starting to get complicated, real fast. Welcome to app development!

For #2, I'm not familiar enough to comment on this. I will mention that when I changed timezones, the app reminder for charging also adjusting accordingly, cool.

For #3, If the car is done by the time close to your leaving the preheating of the battery is already accomplished. I understand that those of us that are paranoid about their batteries, don't ever want them at a high state of charge for any longer than necessary (I get it, I'm one of those people). But for this, we just need to let it go. I would also be hesitant to stop and start a charge cycle.

 

[SG57]

@supratachophobia , complicated indeed. So you think #3 is over kill? Or at least shouldn't hold up release of the others anyway. What are your thoughts about this sample scenario:

- Scheduled charging is set in the car for 2 AM.
- Desired charge completion time is 6 AM.
- Estimated time to full charge is 3 hours.
- Smart charging start time is calculated to be 3 AM (completion time minus time to full charge).
- BUT, your scheduled charging in the car kicks in 1 hour before the Smart charging calculation, and I don't ever stop the car's charging remember. What now? :\


@agw , I like the use case you've put together there! So incredibly helpful, you have no idea after over a week of smart charging on the mind, that takes a load off.

Per your bug, so you had a default vehicle saved already, you signed in, you saw the vehicle list load with your vehicle, it then auto-selected your vehicle for you, then encountered a server error and kicked you out? Or did you sign in, then immediately got kicked out due to a server error while the vehicle list loaded? If you can give me your repro steps I'll see what I can do. It will only ever kick you out to the sign-in screen if its getting a 401 unauthorized response from Tesla's APIs when not expecting it.

My best educated guess indicates your session token was invalidated by Tesla perhaps due to their OAuth server being restarted. I say this because today around 8pm PST I encountered some strange bugginess with Tesla's APIs where my background services encountered a service error as well, and trying to refresh views in the app caused every state loading operation to fail, and when they didn't fail they loaded hours-old data. Signing out and back in again resolved the issue for me and I haven't been able to reproduce it since.

This does bring to light an issue though, that the background services we schedule (plug in reminder, camper mode, etc) are all currently dependent on your session token being valid for the duration of the scheduled service. Session tokens currently expire after 90 days, and I believe you can have multiple valid tokens so signing out and in again doesn't invalidate your old token.

Sorry your initial experience with the app is so.. undesirable haha. I can't help it if Tesla's services behave unexpectedly though, assuming this IS on Tesla's end (I'd rather it be on my end so I can fix it!). Let me know if you run into any other issues of course, and I'll want your feedback on Smart charging here soon once I implement your ideas.

 

[WannabeOwner]

1) Allowed charging period 9PM to 7AM DST
2) Precharge to 70%
3) Ready by 7 AM at 90%

I'm sure its obvious, but the requirement to be "Ready by 7 AM at 90%" may require that charging starts before Off-Peak rate starts.

For example:

In UK the most common off-peak is called Economy-7 - Midnight-to-7AM (adjusted for Winter/Summer). I need about 12 hours charge to get from 10% to 100%. I would very rarely arrive home as low as 10%, and very rarely want to be charging to 100% ... but!!

Daily Commute leave home usually at 6:30 AM, so cannot use all Off-Peak anyway, and if I come home at 10% I need to start charging before Midnight to get to 80% - 90% by the normal depart time. Car is set to schedule-charge at midnight, so I have to (currently) remember to manually start the charge in the evening ... doesn't work well if I fall asleep in front of the TV!

 

[GTIceman]

I really want to see what Elon has in store for the App update to go along with 8.1. At the same time I don't want to miss the Founder Access here. I don't need this app as the official generally works well for me, especially since the removal of the sunroof full control functionality.

I do think @SG57 has done a phenomenal job so far and I look forward to all the future improvements. Looking forward to UI improvements as we go as well. I think Remote S has come a long way and looks fantastic and Dashboard is off to a great start.

 

[SG57]

@GTIceman , thanks for the kind words! I appreciate it. I'll likely bring Founder's Access back as a short-term special around the holidays, hopefully by then we will have seen what Tesla's new mobile update has in store and what that means going forward.

@WannabeOwner , that exact scenario you've described is what the current implementation is meant for honestly (the "complete charging by" feature). As is, I don't stop charging ever, I only ever start it for you, so if you schedule charging at midnight but I've calculated your charge start time to be 11 pm in order to reach full charge by your completion time, then I start charging for you at 11 pm. Should your scheduled charge time be 10 pm instead, then you'd already be charging by the time before my calculated charge start time, and you'd still be completed by your desired time, just sooner. Either way I'm doing my best to get you to full charge by your desired time.

My concern is I'm limited in what I can do if I decide to only ever start charging, but I don't like the idea of stopping a charge when if you're charging, then you've intentionally started it or it was scheduled in the car, you know?

 

[1101011]

Smart charging - would that setting be resident (recurring) ? Or is it a one-shot deal, having to be set for each occurrence?

 

[WannabeOwner]

I don't like the idea of stopping a charge when if you're charging,

Only stop a charge if YOU started it? (I suppose that doesn't cover you starting it and a scheduled charge starting one minute later [which you could not detect] that would have done something different to yours).

Personally I wouldn't worry about it. Put a caveat the first time a user selects that option ... or the first time they use the APP ..."You acknowledge that a stopped charge may override a manual charge Blah Blah Blah" ... or charge a premium subscription for it if you want some active-feedback that the user has agreed to that option