VisibleTesla

[vcor]

Thanks for the great app!

A few minor spacing and text issues, likely related to my using the Windows text size option of Medium (125%), which is almost required on a high-density display. Using Windows v7.1 64-bit, VisibleTesla v25.00, Java v7 update 7.

1) Overview, the Odometer text is clipped so only the top half appears.

2) Charge - the table is sized just slightly too small so that you get the horizontal and vertical scroll bars, when a small size adjustment would eliminate them.

3) Space for the Days on the scheduler are clipped.

Anyway, you likely have more important features to work on!

 

[vcor]

The last post for issues was using Java 7 update 45, not update 7.

 

[dmayorgajr]

Great work jpasqua. Just downloaded it for mac osx 10.8.4 and works perfectly after you download the latest java. Reputation bump for you!

So I am going to be that clueless guy and ask how to get this working in a Mac. While I don't consider myself technologically challenged, I feel like my skill level might not be up to par here.

Thanks!

 

[Musterion]

So I am going to be that clueless guy and ask how to get this working in a Mac. While I don't consider myself technologically challenged, I feel like my skill level might not be up to par here.

Thanks!

You only need to download it and then double-click on "VisibleTesla.jar" -- everything else it needs is already on the Mac...

 

[jpasqua]

- - - Reply to dlmorgan999 - - -

I am running VisibleTesla 0.25.00 on Windows Server 2012 using Java Version 7 Update 45. I have successfully scheduled events in the UI, but so far only for Sleep and Daydream, and they both occur while I'm sleeping, so I wouldn't know if they actually executed (unless there is a log I can look at).

I plan to schedule a Charge: Start event soon, and that will confirm functionality. I'll post an update once I've done that.

Click the triangle next to "Recent Activity" in the Scheduler tab and it will show you all Scheduler activity since the app was launched. It doesn't keep activity data from previous executions of the app.

- - - Reply to dmayorgajr - - -

So I am going to be that clueless guy and ask how to get this working in a Mac. While I don't consider myself technologically challenged, I feel like my skill level might not be up to par here.

Thanks!

Thanks to Musterion for providing a response. Also, please take a look at the documentation for more information about using the application. You can get to it in the Help menu or you can always get to it online here: http://docs.visibletesla.com

- - - Reply to vcor - - -

Thanks for the great app!

A few minor spacing and text issues, likely related to my using the Windows text size option of Medium (125%), which is almost required on a high-density display. Using Windows v7.1 64-bit, VisibleTesla v25.00, Java v7 update 7.

1) Overview, the Odometer text is clipped so only the top half appears.
...
2) Charge - the table is sized just slightly too small so that you get the horizontal and vertical scroll bars, when a small size adjustment would eliminate them.
...
3) Space for the Days on the scheduler are clipped.
...

Anyway, you likely have more important features to work on!

Thanks for the report @vcor. I added it to the bug list on github. I'd be interested in knowing if any other Windows users have this problem. It's the first I've heard of it so far.

- - - Question for European Users - - -

User @fmda from the Netherlands is having trouble getting notifications to work. So far I've been unable to diagnose or reproduce the problem. Are there any users in Europe that have been successful with Notifications?

 

[Mario Kadastik]

I downloaded 25.0 and am testing it now. The charging still reports weird results, but I've also set up notification when it reaches 85.1% of charge and for any change in charging state. So I should receive a notification at the latest when I stop charging and unplug today.

Here's the charging screen:

What you call Ideal is actually called Typical in EU models. I guess the estimated is based on what ever I had going in the last 10/25/50km window and instant/average. But I think the Ideal should be renamed as it's first of all below rated (so hardly ideal) and secondly it is Typical usage for EU (at 205 Wh/km). Also I had the 0.24.0 open yesterday and did a few drives, but it didn't map them. I'll try again with 0.25.0 now as it has a special tab for gathering location data and everything is checked there.

PS has anyone checked how much of an impact on the car the VisibleTesla app has? For a road trip I'd like to monitor the state of charge etc, but I'd not want to impact the Wh/km if possible. Also I guess while the car is asleep the app won't wake it up to ask for location data (the car really shouldn't be moving while sleeping).

 

[Mario Kadastik]

Nope. No notifications received. Also of the trip mapping the app only caught the first leg of me stopping the charging and driving to place A, where I turned the car off and spent ca 1h. Then the next few legs of driving to various locations have none been recorded by the app while it did record the state of charge and utilization as can be seen below:

 

[dlmorgan999]

Click the triangle next to "Recent Activity" in the Scheduler tab and it will show you all Scheduler activity since the app was launched. It doesn't keep activity data from previous executions of the app.

Thanks for the tip Joe. I took a look, and I am seeing execution of my sleep/daydream events.

 

[jpasqua]

Note to European Users

European users fmda and Mario Kadastik are reporting numerous problems in the Charge tab, Trips tab, and Notify tab. I can only conclude there is some difference between the software in these vehicles that I don't know about. Unfortunately since I don't have a European model to test with or any way of connecting to one, I can't give a timeline for fixing any of this.

If there are European users who have:

• Seen expected results from the Charge tab for the three estimated range values and charge Current
• Been able to see more than 1 trip per day in the Trips tab
• Been able to specify and receive notifications

I would appreciate your report. It might help me determine the difference between why it works for you and does not work for fmda and Mario Kadastik.

Until then I'm sorry to say that I can't offer any advice on how to work around these problems. I would suggest looking at the wonderful teslams package written by hans and dirkhh. It may work well for European vehicles.

Also, if there are any Java programmers out there with a European Model S, this is all open source so someone could build it themselves and debug what's going on with their vehicle.

Finally, I would appreciate it if a European owner would contact Tesla ownership support to get official definitions for the 3 range types (in the US the types are called Ideal, Rated, and Estimated). The definitions used in VT are based on feedback directly from Tesla on the definition of these three values as returned by the REST API. If I can get an official definition from Tesla Europe as to the meaning of the different range values. I can update the labels and documentation appropriately.

Thank you,
Joe

 

[Snosrep]

Joe,

This may be a stupid question, but I am new to your program (and the car) and am trying out the different things. I set a notification to tell me if the the car is unplugged at 10 pm, so that I can be sure to get it plugged in prior to the start of charging which I have scheduled on my Telsa at midnight.

View attachment 38699

I got these two text messages which I think are triggered from that notification but am not sure.

First text, just after 10 pm "(VisibleTesla Notification) 2013-12-19 22:00:56 Input Power is less than 1.0"
and then this text at 4:22 am "(VisibleTesla Notification) 2013-12-20 04:22:28 Input Power is less than 1.0" - which is when I would estimate the car would have completed the charge for the night. My question - is it the "Unplugged at time:" notification that is sending these messages and what do they mean, because the car was plugged in and I got a full charge or is it something else that is triggering these notifications that I don't understand?

 

[Nickjhowe]

• Rated Range: The car's estimate of remaining range based on a fixed energy consumption in Watt-hours/mile (whpm). The fixed whpm is different for different vehicles (85kWh / 60kWh) and in different markets based on the regulatory test for that vehicle in that market. For example, in the US this is based on the EPA estimate.
• Estimated Range: The car's predicted remaining range based on energy consumption during recent driving
• Ideal Range: The car's estimate of remaining range based on a fixed energy consumption in Watt-hours/mile (whpm). The fixed whpm is an optimal figure determined by Tesla.

Estimated Range is usually the lowest because people's actual driving consumes more power than either Tesla's ideal number or the local regulatory agency's number. Again, I'm interested in other feedback from folks outside the US.

Just found out that in Europe things are different. Certainly based on Bjorn Nyland's video in Norway they don't have rated and ideal, but rated and typical. And from the Tesla Website whereas in the US rated is based on the EPA test and comes out at 265 miles, in Europe it is based on the ECE R101 test and comes out at 311 miles. US Ideal = Europe Typical (continuous 55 mph). So in the US, Rated < Ideal, but in Europe Rated > Typical, and US Rated is 85% of Europe rated.

Confusing.

 

[LuckyLuke]

My guess is this:
us ideal (300 miles) is similar to eu rated (480km)
us rated (260 miles) is similar to eu typical (400km)

The app mixes these up in eu cars as you can see: (edit: actually its not a mixup, just a bad word for the "ideal", for eu cars this field should say "typical" instead)

 

[Mario Kadastik]

European users fmda and Mario Kadastik are reporting numerous problems in the Charge tab, Trips tab, and Notify tab. I can only conclude there is some difference between the software in these vehicles that I don't know about. Unfortunately since I don't have a European model to test with or any way of connecting to one, I can't give a timeline for fixing any of this.

Any dump or what not that I can take and send you?

 

[Musterion]

From the data posted below I agree with &jpasqua that it is Tesla's fault if the power is not reading the total power when connected to a 3-phase supply, as VisibleTesla is just reporting the values from the car, including what it calls "charger_power" which is ("charger_actual_current" * "charger_voltage"). However it is also not clear if the results below change, in particular the field "charger_phases", if you connect to single phase vs 3-phase plug (blue vs red IEC 60309 outlet in Europe). If it does then VisibleTesla could give useful data beyond what the car reports by multiplying by number of phases to get total power. However it is strange (if the car below was plugged into 3-phase) that the pilot current reported below is the max single-phase current (32A) giving 7.4kW in Europe, so you would need to check if "charger_phases" actually changes depending on what plug you use, or whether it is just reading the charger type installed in the car. If that doesn't change, but if this car was plugged into single phase then maybe reading the pilot current (16A vs 32A) would tell you the number of phases and you could correct.

This is the response from the /chargestate using the API - querying an EU version car:
{"charging_state":"Charging","charge_limit_soc":90,"charge_limit_soc_std":90,"charge_limit_soc_min":50,"charge_limit_soc_max":100,"charge_to_max_range":false,"battery_heater_on":false,"not_enough_power_to_heat":false,"max_range_charge_counter":0,"fast_charger_present":false,"battery_range":104.86,"est_battery_range":58.8,"ideal_battery_range":83.89,"battery_level":42,"battery_current":38.9,"charge_energy_added":14.4,"charge_miles_added_rated":56.0,"charge_miles_added_ideal":44.5,"charger_voltage":228,"charger_pilot_current":32,"charger_actual_current":22,"charger_power":5,"time_to_full_charge":2.95,"charge_rate":42.1,"charge_port_door_open":true,"scheduled_charging_start_time":null,"scheduled_charging_pending":false,"user_charge_enable_request":null,"charge_enable_request":true,"eu_vehicle":true,"charger_phases":3}

User @kseitzberg has supplied me with data from his/her vehicle (thank you) which shows a field I haven't seen before in the charge state data: "charger_phases":3
I'm open to suggestions as to how to incorporate this information. As I mentioned above, the charge tab does not massage the data it gets back from the API. It simply displays it as is. I'd like to stick with that model. Perhaps the right thing to do is to just display whether "charger_phases":3 is present so users may properly interpret the displayed data. Frankly I'm not sure what the correct interpretation of the data should be in that circumstance.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually here's a thought: what does the iPhone app report for charging power in Europe? It would need to do the same calculation/inference I am trying to describe above.

 

[jpasqua]

Names for Estimated, Rated, and Ideal range

There has been some confusion about what the three Ranges represent in the Charge tab. I'd like to clarify a bit what the app is doing and get input on what people would prefer to see. Since not everyone will agree and I'll have to make a decision, I can guarantee that at least some of you will be disappointed

The Tesla REST API returns three values related to range in the charge_state query. The names in the rest API are not country specific. They are Tesla's names for these fields.

• battery_range: The car's estimate of remaining range based on a fixed energy consumption in Watt-hours/mile (whpm). The fixed whpm is different for different vehicles (85kWh / 60kWh) and in different markets based on the regulatory test for that vehicle in that market.
  • US: The fixed whpm is based on EPA 5-cycle Standard
  • Europe: The fixed whpm is based on NEDC range in accordance with regulation ECE101
  • Canada: Not specified anywhere I could find
• est_battery_range: The car's predicted remaining range based on energy consumption during recent driving. This is based on a dynamic Watt-hours/mile (whpm) value that is based on recent driving habits. This is not country-specific.
• ideal_battery_range: The car's estimate of remaining range based on a fixed energy consumption in Watt-hours/mile (whpm). The fixed whpm is a figure determined by Tesla and is not country specific.

The names used for these in VisibleTesla are:

• battery_range: Rated
• est_battery_range: Estimated
• ideal_battery_range: Ideal

I am told that in Europe “Ideal” is referred to as “Typical”. I have three proposals for how to name these in VisibleTesla:

1. Leave everything as is. Matches the US terminology and closest to what is in the API itself.
2. If I detect a european vehicle, replace “Ideal” with "Typical" and leave the rest alone.
3. Rename all of these as follows:
   • Rated becomes “EPA Rated” in the US and “NEDC Rated” in Europe
   • Ideal becomes “Tesla Rated”
   • Estimated becomes “Projected” or perhaps "Dynamic"

- - - Response to Musterion - - -

Actually here's a thought: what does the iPhone app report for charging power in Europe? It would need to do the same calculation/inference I am trying to describe above.

Great thought Musterion. First, does it indicate three phase in some way? Second, what does report for charging power? The same can be asked about what is displayed in the console when charging? Indication of 3 phase? Charger power?

I've already modified VT to display whether charger_phases==3 for European cars. This info would provide a good model to consider following.

Joe

 

[Mario Kadastik]

If battery_range is rated to NEDC and EPA and ideal is the ideal 20C 88km/h range. Then how come the EU car charges to 490km of Rated and only 370km of ideal (230 miles). In US as I understand the ideal should give you 300 miles and rated 265 miles and the ideal does match the EU rated approximately (490km is 306 miles). So there is more confusion here, not just naming

Now with regard to indications, then the car itself shows a 3 next to the amps. Here's a screenshot from the EU owners manual:

So when I charge with 3x13A for example it shows on the big dial 13A (and I can change it up/down in single amp increments), but it consumes 3x that amperage.

The pilot current cannot be reliably used as this is what the charging unit on the wall or UMC report. For example I have a wallbox where I can determine what amount is allowable and I've got the switch options: 12A, 18A, 25A, 32A. Depending on what I choose there will be shown as pilot. I used to run it at 12A, but as I discovered that Model S can right now anyway only charge at 13A (a known software bug) I set it to 18A to get that extra amp per phase. Also if you use the schuko wall plug I'd expect the pilot current to be 13A and single phase. So the only reliable method would be for someone to plug the car into single phase charging and check if the charger_phases changes to 1.

 

[scaesare]

So I had a chance to play with notifications this evening. I have all of the notifications enabled, but so far the only ones that should have triggered are:

Unplugged at time: I had this set for 11pm (and left the car unplugged for this test). That time came and went with no notification. However, I am allowing both the car to sleep as well as the app to sleep after inactivity. It appears that app will not wake the car up to specifically test for being unplugged?

Charge State Becomes: I plugged the car in and got two notifications- 1) Charge State took on a new value: Disconnected, and shortly thereafter, 2) Charge State took on a new value: Unknown. These appear to coincide with the time that I popped the charge port door and then plugged the cable in.. so perhaps those are the two events represented?

I should be able to trigger the rest of the events tomorrow to test.

So my question: is there a combination of settings that will allow Visible Tesla to run on my machine, and yet allow the car to sleep (for power savings), and be woken ONLY for the specific events that require it, such as checking the plug state at a set time?

For that matter, if the car is sleeping, to I have to explicitly schedule an Awake command prior to an HVAC: On command in the scheduler if the car will likely have fallen asleep prior?

Thanks for the development on this, and any answers to my questions.

 

[araxara]

First, does it indicate three phase in some way? Second, what does report for charging power?

Mario provided a phone app screenshot (in another thread) which shows the 3 phase charging:

 

[Musterion]

So when I charge with 3x13A for example it shows on the big dial 13A (and I can change it up/down in single amp increments), but it consumes 3x that amperage.

So that's the current the car reports (current per phase), but what does your car say on the dash for charge rate in kW? (You have to choose this option to display rather than the default km/h). Does it show total power or only 1/3 of that when you are on 3 phase? (Note this will also be visible in the iPhone app once you set it in the car--just saw the screen shot above).

So the only reliable method would be for someone to plug the car into single phase charging and check if the charger_phases changes to 1.

Agreed.

 

[Mario Kadastik]

So that's the current the car reports (current per phase), but what does your car say on the dash for charge rate in kW? (You have to choose this option to display rather than the default km/h). Does it show total power or only 1/3 of that when you are on 3 phase? (Note this will also be visible in the iPhone app once you set it in the car--just saw the screen shot above).

Ok, will have to change the display then. Will try at some point, but I'd assume it's 9kW, not 3kW