VisibleTesla

[jpasqua]

What's going on

Hi All,

I realize it's been a long time since a release so I thought I'd give an update on what I've been working on.

There's been a lot of activity restructuring code. There will be no user-visible differences from this restructuring other than squashing some bugs. I'm doing this primarily to make the code more maintainable. Because of the scope of the changes, the next version 0.29.00 will be labeled experimental.

I've added some features that have been requested such as the ability to permanently override certain car characteristics. For example, if you switch your tires (and wheels) in the winter, you can tell VT to display the actual tire on your car as opposed to what's programmed into the system. There are a couple of changes to the Overview Tab. You are now shown the shift state (park, drive, neutral, reverse) and the range of your choice (estimated, ideal, or rated). There's also a new feature that will send notifications if a charge anomaly is detected. This is extremely hard to test, so it will also be considered experimental.

There's more and it will all be in the release notes as usual. Hopefully I'll have a chance to release the new version sometime this weekend.

Joe

 

[napabill]

Any chance we'll be able to turn off timed charging remotely? I use timed charging from 12am to 7am, but occasionally would like to turn it off to allow for range charging prior to a trip.

Thanks for all your good work. And apologize if this has been previously discussed.

 

[jpasqua]

Any chance we'll be able to turn off timed charging remotely? I use timed charging from 12am to 7am, but occasionally would like to turn it off to allow for range charging prior to a trip.

Thanks for all your good work. And apologize if this has been previously discussed.

Hi napabill,

I hope you came through the recent earthquake unscathed.

Unfortunately, there is no known mechanism to disable a timed charge that is set up in the car.

Joe

 

[bollar]

This probably doesn't happen often, but could you have a notification option to let you know when the Tesla Server connection is lost? With yesterday's forced password confirmation, it didn't occur to me that VT would also need to be reconfirmed and restarted.

 

[scaesare]

I quick note: I'm now using the bundled JVM, and the memory usage on my machine has dropped from ~330MB to about 190.

I don't know if this change is attributable to a different JVM version, or the options the batch file takes when launching, but it is welcome...

 

[R²B]

Nm, got it.

 

[Nickjhowe]

Hey all. I'm trying to develop a calculator that shows the amount of time you'll need to spend at a Supercharger based on your starting and target SoC based on different charging kW supplied to the car.

Does anyone have VisibleTesla Supercharger charging data that they'd be willing to share with me so that I can reverse engineer the charge curves? I rarely Supercharge so don't have any data myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

[znino]

I just used one for the first time this morning and will again a few times over the next few days. I'll be in touch when I get back. All this data will be interesting to see. I guess you will also have to keep in mind what type or battery pack everyone has. I have a pack A type.

 

[jpasqua]

Sharing Charge Info

So how would people feel about the ability to anonymously share charging info? I think it could be valuable for lots of different types of analysis.

What data would be valuable?

• Vehicle type (60, 85, p85, p85+)
• The voltage, current, and SOC profile during the charge
• What time the charge started/ended
• Range at start/end
• The location of the charge (down to zip code level perhaps)
• Whether it was a supercharger
• Pack type (A, B, C). This can't be determined programmatically (as far as I know)
• It would be nice to link all charges for a given vehicle together using an anonymous ID that is not linked to the owner or the VIN. This would be used for analytical purposes only. The vehicle owner would know the ID, but no one else would.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Joe

 

[bollar]

Would it be difficult to enable VT to send a cURL command instead of an http PUT? My HA system requires a digest encrypted password. That can either be accomplished through cURL, or sending an http header. CURL seems easier, but I don't know your architecture.

I want to have my HA system shed other loads while the car is charging.

 

[jpasqua]

VisibleTesla 0.29.00 - Labor Day Weekend Edition

For those of you in the US, Happy Labor Day Weekend!

There are a few new features (mostly based on user suggestions), some bug fixes, and tons of changes under the covers. Because of the number of changes, this release is labeled experimental. Please use it with care or wait for the "all clear".

If you are updating from a version before 0.27.03, please be sure to read the notes below. It's possible (but unlikely) you'll need to take an extra step.

Changes will be on github momentarily.

VisibleTesla 0.29.00 [08-30-2014] - EXPERIMENTAL

• User-Visible Changes
  • General
    • Note: If you're using an old version of VisibleTesla (older than 0.27.03) AND you have overriden the advanced option describing where to store application files, you'll need to be careful about upgrading. Upgrade to verion 0.27.03 manually and then you can upgrade to the latst version.
    • Addition: The Options→Simulate menu has been replaced by a new and more general Overrides mechanism.
      • The simulate menu gave you the ability to see variations of your car during a specific run of VisibleTesla. The new Overrides capability gives you to simulate an option and remember that state across sessions. There are cases where the information reported by Tesla's servers to VisibleTesla does not reflect the actual state of the car. This is usually the result of a change to the car after it was initially delivered.
      • For example, you may have ordered your car with 21" wheels but later decided to switch to 19's. In fact, some people keep both types and switch during the year based on weather. Today, VisibleTesla has no way to track those changes.
      • With this new feature, you can manually override the wheel setting when you change the actual wheels. For details of the UI, please refer to the documentation of the Overrides section of the Prefs Tab.
    • Refinement: Added the variable {{HT_CARVIEW}} for for use in message templates. For details, please refer to the documention on the Notify Tab. This variable generates an HTML canvas representing the current state of the doors, trunks, and roof. It's similar to the car view that is displayed by the Overview Tab. This variable is for use in HTML pages only, not in notification messages.
    • Refinement: Improvements to the way various wheel types are detected to handle some unusual cases.
  • Login
    • Refinement: In principle there should be no user visible changes to the Login Tab. In practice, there were quite a few code changes. Hopefully I did not introduce any bugs into this area, but please let me know if I did.
  • Overview
    • Addition: The range is now displayed on the Overview Tab. You can select which type of range is displayed using the preferences. it can be either Rated, Ideal, or Estimated.
    • Addition: The shift state is now displayed. It is either P (park), N (neutral), D (drive), or R (reverse). There are times when the car may not respond with an accurate drive state. In this case a "P" will be displayed.
    • Refinement: The Honk, Flash, and Wakeup buttons have been moved to the Options→Activity menu.
  • HVAC
  • Location
  • Charge
  • Graphs
  • Trips
    • Fix: When a trip is selected, an estimate of the kWh consumed is displayed. It was previously mislabeled as Power. It has been changed to Energy.
  • Scheduler
  • Notify
    • Addition: You may now request to be notified a charge anomaly occurs. At the moment, the only anomaly that is detected is if your charging current or pilot current drops by 20% or more during a charging cycle. This feature is highly experimental since I have no way to safelt recreate such a charge anomaly.
    • Refinement: Sometimes certain readings can fluctuate enough that a notification like SOC Hits or Exceeds may be triggered multiple times in a short period. VisibleTesla now avoids sending you multiple notifications in these circumstances.
  • Prefs
    • Addition: There is a new option in the General/Basic preferences. It controls which type of range is displayed on the Overview Tab. It can be either Rated, Estimated, or Ideal.
    • Refinement: Removed the option to store application data files with the app. I've been phasing this out for a few releases and the option is now completely removed. There were a number of logistical problems maintaining this option. If you used this option in past and are upgrading from a version before 0.27.03, please follow the process listed at the very top of the release notes.
• Under-the-covers
  • Moved to a fully observer-based model for state updates.
  • Changed the way commands are issued to Tesla's servers. There is now one background thread to issue commands rather than threads spawning and completing per command. Removed some dead code.
  • Fairly massive code refactoring to make the code more manageable. Lots more could be done, but that will happen over time. The extent of these changes is in large part the reason that this release is experimental.
• Known problems

 

[Denarius]

Hey all. I'm trying to develop a calculator that shows the amount of time you'll need to spend at a Supercharger based on your starting and target SoC based on different charging kW supplied to the car.

Does anyone have VisibleTesla Supercharger charging data that they'd be willing to share with me so that I can reverse engineer the charge curves? I rarely Supercharge so don't have any data myself.

Thanks in advance.

I've got data from my trip to TMC Connect. I hit several superchargers. I'm out of town right one but can share it when I get home next week.

 

[wcalvin]

In 28.00 (ff ?), exporting data in xls format yields binary garbage that Excel cannot read.

 

[jpasqua]

In 28.00 (ff ?), exporting data in xls format yields binary garbage that Excel cannot read.

Hi wcalvin,

I just tried it on Mac and Windows and it worked on both, but I tested on version 0.29, not 0.28. Did you use a file name that ends in .xls? That's a limitation in the current app - you have to add the extension yourself:

... you'll be prompted to choose a location and name for the exported file. Be sure to use the extension ".xls"; for example, MyStats.xls.​

Joe

 

[Kalud]

Hey all. I'm trying to develop a calculator that shows the amount of time you'll need to spend at a Supercharger based on your starting and target SoC based on different charging kW supplied to the car.

Does anyone have VisibleTesla Supercharger charging data that they'd be willing to share with me so that I can reverse engineer the charge curves? I rarely Supercharge so don't have any data myself.

Thanks in advance.

Hello! I just completed a 3400mi / 1 month road trip using 24 supercharger sessions. I had a detailed excel spreadsheet to calculate my energy usage, travel time, charging time. It was fairly accurate but I stopped using after the first supercharger. You don't need that (although fun to build, it gives some feel of control). In the end you only need the travel distance to next waypoint (supercharger) and use a factor between 1.0 to 1.5 to get how many rated miles of charge you need to give a go to leave and drive.

The actual time to get the charge will almost always be smaller than your own time spent getting a coffee / restroom...

Google Sheets - create and edit spreadsheets online, for free.

If you still want get a good idea of charge time here's what you need:

For a 85kW rev. D pack on a 120kW supercharger (no stall sharing) the equation obtained from curve-fitting is minutes = 31*tan(RATED_MILES*1.24/270)

For example you arrive with 100 rated_miles and need to leave at 175 rated miles: 31*tan(175*1.24/270) - 31*tan(100*1.24/270) = 17 min

But once you really charge and realize its really fast and that you car is almost always waiting for you to return then you stop playing with your spreadsheet and get that coffee.

I was using a fully loaded car with 3 adults and 3 children, one month worth of luggage, 1 single stroller and a double stroller and a thule box on the roof. I was using DISTANCE_TO_DO*1.4 = target. I was actually trying to get everyone seated and getting ready 10 rated miles before the target otherwise we would always charge more than needed.

Once you drive you just adjust speed to maintain a buffer you feel comfortable until next stop.

I did leave VisibleTesla run during my supercharging sessions so I also have all that cool data so share in the next couple days.

 

[Kalud]

First few supercharging curves I got:

Albany, NY range charge:

Here's the raw data: Dropbox - supercharges_clean.xls

 

[jpasqua]

Would it be difficult to enable VT to send a cURL command instead of an http PUT? My HA system requires a digest encrypted password. That can either be accomplished through cURL, or sending an http header. CURL seems easier, but I don't know your architecture.

I want to have my HA system shed other loads while the car is charging.

What I could do is allow an arbitrary command to be executed in the event of a notification. It could be cURL or anything else. This has the advantage that the next thing that comes along can be done without someone having to wait for me to modify the app. This could actually solve another request which is to have notifications be logged to a local file rather than sent as an email. I could pipe the message into the command. The command could ignore it or do anything it wants with that input - like log it. Combining that with variables could be pretty flexible.

The downside is that you can shoot yourself in the foot pretty badly. But in the words of Peter Parker's Uncle Ben "With great power comes great responsibility."

I'll add an enhancement request to github.

Joe

 

[wcalvin]

Hi wcalvin,

I just tried it on Mac and Windows and it worked on both, but I tested on version 0.29, not 0.28. Did you use a file name that ends in .xls? That's a limitation in the current app - you have to add the extension yourself:

... you'll be prompted to choose a location and name for the exported file. Be sure to use the extension ".xls"; for example, MyStats.xls.​

Joe

Seems it is .kmz instead. When I read the docs, it talked about Excel.

 

[Bugeater]

Joe, I think anon data is very reasonable! I would add in data on wheel size too since that seems to affect KWh usage.

 

[redevries]

Hey all. I'm trying to develop a calculator that shows the amount of time you'll need to spend at a Supercharger based on your starting and target SoC based on different charging kW supplied to the car.

Does anyone have VisibleTesla Supercharger charging data that they'd be willing to share with me so that I can reverse engineer the charge curves? I rarely Supercharge so don't have any data myself.

Thanks in advance.

That has been done, by Dutch TMC Forum user Merijn. Check it here: Tesla | Supercharger Click the tab 'laadtijd' (chargetime) on top. It is in Dutch, but you will get the picture.