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Optiwatt
- Thread starter BPJP
- Start date
Shelburne
Member
MaskedRacerX
Member
There's a couple of services like this, and from what I understand, they sit "in between" your car/charger and your power/electric company - kind of a like managed TOU. You give them control of your charging, allow them to schedule based on the power company's high/low consumption times, and you get a kickback / discount.
One of these services actually requires hardware that has to be installed in the car, this seems to do it purely through software (if I'm reading it correctly). Also I __believe__ your specific power company has to be a partner with the service.
PianoAl
Active Member
I'm interested in it because occasionally, with scheduled departure, the car ends up charging before the off-peak period begins. That is, if I have a very low state of charge and I forget to adjust the charging parameters, or I calculate incorrectly, it will start charging a little before midnight. I'm assuming that Optiwatt would allow me to specify both the start and end of the off-peak time and ensure that I would never charge outside of that window, or it would give me a warning if that was about to occur.
On the other hand, I would like to avoid having another app that could possibly have glitches or cause some problems related to its interaction with the Tesla app, so I'm on the fence.
One alternative is to switch to scheduled charging whenever I come home with a low state of charge, but I need to remember to do that in that situation.
So I'm interested to hear what Optiwatt users think.
On the other hand, I would like to avoid having another app that could possibly have glitches or cause some problems related to its interaction with the Tesla app, so I'm on the fence.
One alternative is to switch to scheduled charging whenever I come home with a low state of charge, but I need to remember to do that in that situation.
So I'm interested to hear what Optiwatt users think.
I have Optiwatt, but I don't use any of the scheduled charging aspects of it. I mainly use it to track my spending on car charging. However, I am not entirely confident in the accuracy of the app. I believe the kWh pricing is lower in the app than what my electric company says even though I signed in through them.
You could fix your issue with using scheduled charging time, instead of scheduled departure. Scheduled departure is not going to start at the same time by design. Scheduled charging will, also by design.
CheezyNachos
Member
LBM4
Tesla Fealty
Optiwatt kept screwing up my charging. I would plug my charger in and start charging, only to have it randomly stop. Optiwatt ended up being the culprit because it was a go between my charger and my electric company. It wanted to only allow me to charge at night, during off peak hours. I deleted the app, and no more issues.
CheezyNachos
Member
LBM4
Tesla Fealty
I'm aware. This was for informational purposes only. If other people were having issues, this is one place to look as to the reason for charging issues.
That's a good idea. Thanks. I just manually uploaded a bill to see if it would see my rates accurately. If not, I will try to set my rate manually.
PianoAl
Active Member
Yes, but I like the charging to finish just before departure time. I know it's overkill, but often it only has to charge 20 miles worth, so I don't like it sitting at 80 or 90 percent from 1 AM on.
I do switch to scheduled charging time temporarily when I have a lot of miles to "replace."
I came across this website too that allows scheduling and is free
getoptiwatt.com
Save on your electric bill
Optiwatt integrates your exact electricity rates so you can save on EV charging and HVAC. Automatically use electricity off-peak and earn rebates in utility programs.
getoptiwatt.com
PianoAl
Active Member
I totally agree with ice-nine ! optiwatt is not accurate at all when it comes to report charging cost... it is not a question of entering the right rate, but the way they make the whole calculation.
Since February 2022 the tesla app offers the possibility to track charging costs as well... and i could compare with what Optiwatt reports... an example :
- February 12 2022 (Optiwatt)
Charging at off-peak (0.11/Kwh) Optiwatt reported a cost of 0.87CHF
- February 12 2022 (Tesla APP)
Charging at off-peak (0.11/Kwh) Tesla reported a cost of 3CHF
That day the battery consumed 26kwh during the chariging session.... so 26kwh X 0.11 CHF = 2.86CHF
Tesla reports 3CHF which is more or less OK (rounded)... but Optiwatt for the same charging session is reporting 0.87CHF ! Big difference... not sure how they got that number... but seems definetly wrong.
Am i the only one noticing this strange and cheap costs reported by Optiwatt ? seems pretty obvious.
PianoAl
Active Member
johnnymacNcal
Member
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