Octopus Energy, including Intelligent and go

[Skie]

Looks like I'm losing about £30 month to "plug in" charges where IO doesn't stop the charge for some time, or set that 30min slot to the off peak rate.

Any thoughts?

In the schedule menu in the app set off peak charge on and off peak end time to 5:30

It’ll never start charging when you plug it in outside of off-peak hours and IO will still be able to do what IO is supposed to do at any time. Since setting this months ago I’ve never had a rogue charge start once but plenty of IO triggered charges outside of off peak.

 

[JIBYC]

In the schedule menu in the app set off peak charge on and off peak end time to 5:30

It’ll never start charging when you plug it in outside of off-peak hours and IO will still be able to do what IO is supposed to do at any time. Since setting this months ago I’ve never had a rogue charge start once but plenty of IO triggered charges outside of off peak.

I get that, it's how I ran GO for 3 years. Seems to miss the point of IO?

 

[browellm]

I get that, it's how I ran GO for 3 years. Seems to miss the point of IO?

IO still controls the charge. If a 23:30 slot isn't scheduled, it will switch off the charger. Similarly if out of schedule charging is scheduled it switches it on. It's like you sending a control signal with the app.

 

[SteveJol]

In the schedule menu in the app set off peak charge on and off peak end time to 5:30

It’ll never start charging when you plug it in outside of off-peak hours and IO will still be able to do what IO is supposed to do at any time. Since setting this months ago I’ve never had a rogue charge start once but plenty of IO triggered charges outside of off peak.

This needs to be pinned or added to the wiki, single best piece of advice on IO I've seen. Like others since I first saw this never had any issues and car will still charge when IO promoted regardless of the hour, it just stopped the initial charge on plug in.

 

[browellm]

This needs to be pinned or added to the wiki, single best piece of advice on IO I've seen. Like others since I first saw this never had any issues and car will still charge when IO promoted regardless of the hour, it just stopped the initial charge on plug in.

The only downside I can see currently is that the car will start to charge at 23:30. While this is off-peak for rates, the slow signalling updates from Octopus that we are currently experiencing mean that IO might not shut off the out of schedule charge for a good while, causing the same 23:30 hump that Go/Go Faster has.

It's not the end of the world but I wish Octopus could tweak their API signalling to some Goldilocks zone that doesn't cause the phantom drain we used to have, but also promptly switches off unscheduled charging.

 

[Drew57]

It's not the end of the world but I wish Octopus could tweak their API signalling to some Goldilocks zone that doesn't cause the phantom drain we used to have, but also promptly switches off unscheduled charging.

I agree but for me it's no big deal to stop the initial plug-in charge within seconds whilst standing at the charger

• Set required SOC for the car in the Tesla app (never more than 90% with my car)
• Enable IO in the Octopus app (& adjust depart time as necessary, I leave desired SOC as 100%)
• Make sure the charge point (Zappi for me) is set to dumb mode (Fast)
• Plug in & then use the pin on the charger (Zappi) to unlock it
• Charging starts and rapidly builds to 8kWh on the Tesla app, checked against the display on the Zappi
• As soon as it hits 8kWh (usually 5-10 seconds) I stop the charge in the Tesla app so it knows the max rate the car will charge at and can calculate correctly (probably unnecessary but I do it anyway)
• A schedule appears sometime later on the Octopus app & this can take up to an hour.
  
  
• (....nothing is set in the Tesla app or in the car apart from target SOC)

This may sound like a faff but in practice takes me a minute or so standing next to the Zappi & so far has worked every time. No waiting for the initial charge at peak rate to stop.

 

[WllXM]

The only downside I can see currently is that the car will start to charge at 23:30. While this is off-peak for rates, the slow signalling updates from Octopus that we are currently experiencing mean that IO might not shut off the out of schedule charge for a good while, causing the same 23:30 hump that Go/Go Faster has.

It's not the end of the world but I wish Octopus could tweak their API signalling to some Goldilocks zone that doesn't cause the phantom drain we used to have, but also promptly switches off unscheduled charging.

Actually with this method you are only indicating the end of off-peak to the Tesla app, to 5.30, instead of using the other method of 'Scheduled Charge' from 23.30. So you won't have this issue. The car will work out at what time it needs to start the charge to reach your desired level by 5.30. But IO will trigger the charge before that most of the time so you're good.

 

[Js1977]

This may sound like a faff but in practice takes me a minute or so standing next to the Zappi & so far has worked every time. No waiting for the initial charge at peak rate to stop.

Mate, that is allot of faf indeed… and only about one minute is far to long to be standing next to the charger when it’s pouring down

 

[browellm]

Actually with this method you are only indicating the end of off-peak to the Tesla app, to 5.30, instead of using the other method of 'Scheduled Charge' from 23.30. So you won't have this issue. The car will work out at what time it needs to start the charge to reach your desired level by 5.30. But IO will trigger the charge before that most of the time so you're good.

How/where is the start of the off-peak window defined in the Tesla app?

 

[Drew57]

Mate, that is allot of faf indeed… and only about one minute is far to long to be standing next to the charger when it’s pouring down

That's OK, where the Tesla is involved my wife already thinks I'm a drip.

 

[WllXM]

How/where is the start of the off-peak window defined in the Tesla app?

It's not. The car does the reverse calculation for you to determine start time.
Say you're currently at 50%, have set the battery level to 80% and end of off-peak at 5.30am, and you're plugged into a 32amp socket. The car knows it will take roughly 3hours 1/2, so it will start the charge on its own at around 2am.
But as you have IO, it will override that and start it manually when it fits the IO schedule, so earlier if you have off-peak times, or 23.30 at the latest but with IO random delay built-in.

The only case I see where it might not work is if you have a slow 3 pin charger / 10amp at home and your current battery level is so low that it could not reach your defined target in the Tesla app by 5.30, but I've never experienced this situation so far...

 

[yessuz]

I agree but for me it's no big deal to stop the initial plug-in charge within seconds whilst standing at the charger

• Set required SOC for the car in the Tesla app (never more than 90% with my car)
• Enable IO in the Octopus app (& adjust depart time as necessary, I leave desired SOC as 100%)
• Make sure the charge point (Zappi for me) is set to dumb mode (Fast)
• Plug in & then use the pin on the charger (Zappi) to unlock it
• Charging starts and rapidly builds to 8kWh on the Tesla app, checked against the display on the Zappi
• As soon as it hits 8kWh (usually 5-10 seconds) I stop the charge in the Tesla app so it knows the max rate the car will charge at and can calculate correctly (probably unnecessary but I do it anyway)
• A schedule appears sometime later on the Octopus app & this can take up to an hour.
  
  
• (....nothing is set in the Tesla app or in the car apart from target SOC)

This may sound like a faff but in practice takes me a minute or so standing next to the Zappi & so far has worked every time. No waiting for the initial charge at peak rate to stop.

in reality:
items 1 and 2 the same. and then just plug in, car starts charge, it stops itself couple minutes later.

 

[Drew57]

in reality:
items 1 and 2 the same. and then just plug in, car starts charge, it stops itself couple minutes later.

I do this because mine never did - it charged for more than 30 minutes at peak rate in a couple of instances and no matter how long I waited it just kept going. Octopus checked the car logs on several occasions and couldn't explain why so they agreed that manually stopping was the best approach in this case.

 

[SteveJol]

I do this because mine never did - it charged for more than 30 minutes at peak rate in a couple of instances and no matter how long I waited it just kept going. Octopus checked the car logs on several occasions and couldn't explain why so they agreed that manually stopping was the best approach in this case.

Have you followed the advice to set Tesla to off peak ending 5:30am? Seriously do this once and forget all about it, no need to make this more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[Drew57]

Have you followed the advice to set Tesla to off peak ending 5:30am? Seriously do this once and forget all about it, no need to make this more complicated than it needs to be.

I was instructed by Octopus not to set or use any Tesla charging commands & this has worked well.

I prefer the advice of the developers, especially as they have studied my cars' logs during the times it misbehaved.

 

[SteveJol]

I was instructed by Octopus not to set or use any Tesla charging commands & this has worked well.

I prefer the advice of the developers, especially as they have studied my cars' logs during the times it misbehaved.

It's not your car misbehaving, it's Octopus. You plug your car in and your car starts the charge, doing exactly what it should do.

Personally I don't understand this mentality. Pay more for random bursts of peak energy when a clear and proven to work option exists. Your money your choice, but I can't envisage any scenario where I could ever understand your thinking.

 

[Js1977]

In the schedule menu in the app set off peak charge on and off peak end time to 5:30

It’ll never start charging when you plug it in outside of off-peak hours and IO will still be able to do what IO is supposed to do at any time. Since setting this months ago I’ve never had a rogue charge start once but plenty of IO triggered charges outside of off peak.

This needs to be pinned or added to the wiki, single best piece of advice on IO I've seen. Like others since I first saw this never had any issues and car will still charge when IO promoted regardless of the hour, it just stopped the initial charge on plug in.

Maybe... Albeit it sounds very counterintuitive and logically it goes against what IO is all about... logically it should not work plain and simple. A reason as to why I dont use IO and I fear that those that have woken up in the morning only to find that the car has not charged due to some trial and error will understandingly just revert to using it just as octopus go. This on top of the premeditated offenders.

I know IO is a beta product but I fear that the implementation method being also a beta as it stands, it defeats the object since allot of beta testers will not actually participate in a proper manner thus making the data to be extrapolated corrupt/null and void imho.

 

[SteveJol]

Maybe... Albeit it sounds very counterintuitive and logically it goes against what IO is all about... logically it should not work plain and simple. A reason as to why I dont use IO and I fear that those that have woken up in the morning only to find that the car has not charged due to some trial and error will understandingly just revert to using it just as octopus go. This on top of the premeditated offenders.

I know IO is a beta product but I fear that the implementation method being also a beta as it stands, it defeats the object since allot of beta testers will not actually participate in a proper manner thus making the data to be extrapolated corrupt/null and void imho.

I believe there is a misunderstanding of what IO wants to do. All IO wants is to control when the car starts and stops charging. None of what Skie says prevents this and is absolutely not against IO's intentions at all.

The only thing this suggestion does is stop the immediate charge the Tesla starts. Many users, myself included, started manually stopping the immediate charge, the solution offered prevents the need for this. By IO's own stated ambition they want that charge stopped so they can take it from there. Which they do.

Last night is a prime example, parked up, plugged in. Car did not start charging. Miraculously before I even got to the front door (the speed of this part is rare) Octopus had told me the scheduled charge pattern. So this method hasn't detrimentally impacted IOs ability at all, and I know regardless of what I tell the car, when IO tells it to charge it will charge, whether that time is peak or off peak.

 

[Drew57]

Pay more for random bursts of peak energy when a clear and proven to work option exists.

You don't seem to understand my replies - the car charges for a few seconds at most when I plug in & stop it.

I'm certainly not going to worry about less than a penny a month for this.

 

[SteveJol]

You don't seem to understand my replies - the car charges for a few seconds at most when I plug in & stop it.

I'm certainly not going to worry about less than a penny a month for this.

Fair play to you. I just don't understand why you'd persist with the 15/20 second per time activity of activily stopping it rather than a one time set and forget method.

Different minds wired different ways I guess, for me the ridiculously minor efficiency gain is a "win", one less thing to have to remember to do and therefore more likely I'll persist with something like IO.