For those with Ohme charger.

[sidehaas]

That's because it's not really an API it's a fudge. The charger is not comunicating with the car it's communicating with VW's servers and we already know how reliable the We Connect app is. Until SoC is available directly over the Type 2 connector everything is going to be a workaround of some form. Hard to understand why So isn't available via the Type 2 cable.

My understanding is that type 2 connectors are not capable of transferring any such data and all car manufacturer API integration works in the same way.
I agree with you though about the likely reliability of a system working together with WeConnectID and VW software... I haven't updated mine yet as it works fine without API integration now.

[Utumno]

That's because it's not really an API it's a fudge. The charger is not comunicating with the car it's communicating with VW's servers and we already know how reliable the We Connect app is. Until SoC is available directly over the Type 2 connector everything is going to be a workaround of some form. Hard to understand why So isn't available via the Type 2 cable.

It absolutely is an API, and it’s the only one available!

I explained why SoC isn’t available over AC cable a few messages up. Appreciate it isn’t what you wanted to hear but that doesn’t alter the facts!

I get that the communication from the car to VW’s servers can be shaky, but again this really isn’t Ohme’s issue.

Personally I hope that low powered DC V2H/G chargers become more affordable and available, as at least then the data set specified by ISO-15118 would be available for the charger to make better decisions. Until then, API’s will continue.

[Utumno]

That's because it's not really an API it's a fudge. The charger is not comunicating with the car it's communicating with VW's servers and we already know how reliable the We Connect app is. Until SoC is available directly over the Type 2 connector everything is going to be a workaround of some form. Hard to understand why So isn't available via the Type 2 cable.

My understanding is that type 2 connectors are not capable of transferring any such data and all car manufacturer API integration works in the same way.
I agree with you though about the likely reliability of a system working together with WeConnectID and VW software... I haven't updated mine yet as it works fine without API integration now.

To be clear, the VW mobile phone app isn’t needed for this API integration to work. As long as an ID vehicle is paired into the account once and has connectivity

Ohme’s API integration is basically an API client on VW’s backend, just like the VW mobile phone app is.

This may well open the door for other apps to do better things with VW’s API, much as TeslaFi and Nikola do for Tesla vehicles. I expect Tronity to up its game as well.

[G43FAN]

That's because it's not really an API it's a fudge. The charger is not comunicating with the car it's communicating with VW's servers and we already know how reliable the We Connect app is. Until SoC is available directly over the Type 2 connector everything is going to be a workaround of some form. Hard to understand why So isn't available via the Type 2 cable.

My understanding is that type 2 connectors are not capable of transferring any such data and all car manufacturer API integration works in the same way.
I agree with you though about the likely reliability of a system working together with WeConnectID and VW software... I haven't updated mine yet as it works fine without API integration now.

To be clear, the VW mobile phone app isn’t needed for this API integration to work. As long as an ID vehicle is paired into the account once and has connectivity

Ohme’s API integration is basically an API client on VW’s backend, just like the VW mobile phone app is.

This may well open the door for other apps to do better things with VW’s API, much as TeslaFi and Nikola do for Tesla vehicles. I expect Tronity to up its game as well.

You're suggesting a level of mutual exclusivitiy that just doesn't exist in reality. If the Car is not connecting then this 'API' is as useless as is the App when your car is offline. If there weren't the random outages where cars go for days stuck offline it wouldn't be an issue. If your car is at 80% and then goes offline the server back end will report 80% until the car updates again what happens with charging then? I just see this as yet another thread starter.

[Utumno]

You're suggesting a level of mutual exclusivitiy that just doesn't exist in reality.

Wut?

If the Car is not connecting then this 'API' is as useless as is the App when your car is offline. If there weren't the random outages where cars go for days stuck offline it wouldn't be an issue. If your car is at 80% and then goes offline the server back end will report 80% until the car updates again what happens with charging then? I just see this as yet another thread starter.

Agree VW needs to work on their reliability in this area. But also we don’t yet know what offline means to other API clients yet, other than the terrible app.

[monkeyhanger]

Our UD3 Family that didn't charge on Saturday night following the Ohme app update did charge last night, once I reloaded ID3 and refused to log in to VW servers. So I've effectively dropped the API integration to allow my Ohme to work indiscriminately to charge both ID3s without messing around with settings when switching between the 2 ID3s.

[Newfie]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

[monkeyhanger]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

I keep the 5p cap on, with favour green energy and save money, and aim for 50% charge. I always get the full 32A/7.4kW charging. Connecting to the VW server is fine if you only use 1 car. If you use 2 cars and are connected to the server, if the car you have plugged in isn't the one selected on the Ohme app/VW server, it'll not charge, even if the other car is another ID3. Seems it checks against VIN number or some other identifier flag that'll tell 2 ID3s apart.

[sidehaas]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

Mine is so sporadic I don’t know what it’s doing to report the issue. Last night it was at 64% set to charge to 80% with favour green and optimise battery off but the cap on.

Got the notification that it was slower than expected and it only made it to 75%. I think the cap wasn’t on the other night when it did work so will try that and set the target to 04:30am as I don’t trust it to end on time.

I seems to me to be a glitch with the Ohme software rather than the API as it is the charger that keeps deciding not to ramp up to 32A then blames it on the car for not taking the rate it isn’t providing to it.

The only time I can seem to consistently get it to 7.4kW is if the Ohme thinks it impossible and starts out at 32A. So if it was at 20% and I told it I wanted 100% and use the cap.

[monkeyhanger]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

Have you also set 0030 to 0430 charge schedules for Mon to Fri and again for Sat/Sun?

[sidehaas]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

Have you also set 0030 to 0430 charge schedules for Mon to Fri and again for Sat/Sun?

The Go tariff is set up correctly and I have the charge finish times set for 0430 now. All the schedules I have set up are for 7 days a week - I have a 10%, a 20%, a 30%, a 40% and a 50%, and just enable the one I want before plugging in. There is no charge start time apart from the tariff information. Originally I had the charge finish time set for the time I actually wanted to have the car ready for and assumed the price cap functionality would prevent it from charging after 0430, but then the scheduling went all awry.
Anyway for me, at the moment, I'm happy - with the 'save money' option enabled and the finish time set to 0430 in all my schedules, it reliably starts up very briefly (the slightly anomalous behaviour I referred to above, but it's not really a problem) and then stops and only restarts after 0030 at the latest time required to enable it to add what I have requested by 0430. Unless I ask for more than about 50% (of 58kwh) then it's entirely within the cheap Go period. If I need more than 50% one night and create a new schedule then it should start slightly earlier than 0030 without me having to change the settings. I'll probably wait on setting up the API though until others are all reporting it working properly. I'm slightly nervous everything would go awry again if I changed my method!

[Newfie]

I have the Ohme connected to the VW server.
Last night I successfully charged from 54% to 80%.
I had the 5p cap turned off. The "Favour Green Energy" & the "Optimize for Battery Life" were both turned off and the "Save Money" was turned on.
It started to charge at 00.030 at only 3kW but after 30 mins it stopped charging and then at 01.30 it started charging again at 7kW. So even with this successful charge it still had an odd moment.

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

Have you also set 0030 to 0430 charge schedules for Mon to Fri and again for Sat/Sun?

Within my charge schedule it isset for Mon to Sun. Set it to charge to 80%. Cap, green energy and oprimize battery all disabled and left save money enabled.

[monkeyhanger]

Mine often does something similar to that although the initial charge is usually only for a couple of minutes, not for half an hour. Unlike Monkeyhangar, for me the use of the price cap invariably knackers it. I use the settings you describe with the finish time set for 0430 and it ten works reliably. I wonder if Ohme have introduced some bug potential on Home Pros when integrating the charger software with the app, since the Home Pro can do a lot more on its own than other Ohmes.

Have you also set 0030 to 0430 charge schedules for Mon to Fri and again for Sat/Sun?

The Go tariff is set up correctly and I have the charge finish times set for 0430 now. All the schedules I have set up are for 7 days a week - I have a 10%, a 20%, a 30%, a 40% and a 50%, and just enable the one I want before plugging in. There is no charge start time apart from the tariff information. Originally I had the charge finish time set for the time I actually wanted to have the car ready for and assumed the price cap functionality would prevent it from charging after 0430, but then the scheduling went all awry.
Anyway for me, at the moment, I'm happy - with the 'save money' option enabled and the finish time set to 0430 in all my schedules, it reliably starts up very briefly (the slightly anomalous behaviour I referred to above, but it's not really a problem) and then stops and only restarts after 0030 at the latest time required to enable it to add what I have requested by 0430. Unless I ask for more than about 50% (of 58kwh) then it's entirely within the cheap Go period. If I need more than 50% one night and create a new schedule then it should start slightly earlier than 0030 without me having to change the settings. I'll probably wait on setting up the API though until others are all reporting it working properly. I'm slightly nervous everything would go awry again if I changed my method!

My schedule asks for 50%, which is the next deliverable energy within the cheap period. The car is also set to 80% max charge, so if I'm at 60% charge and plug in the ask Ohme for 50% charge, it'll stop at 80% charge (only 20% added).

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Well the API is certainly adding some spice to the issues.

I’ve done my best to put in a support request but I’m not sure what I’ve told them is remotely helpful as I don’t know exactly what to do that will make it work correctly or exactly what to do to make it not work correctly (although it not working correctly seems to be the most likely outcome of any charge session with the API).

I’m hoping they can see my chargers logs and work it out

[Graham Y]

OHME Home Pro charger installed yesterday 14 March 2022. ID3 delivery in one years time...

[TimF]

Let me get this straight. It's not possible to communicate between charger and car over the cable except when using the DC connection. OK, that's what happens when an early standard proves incapable of enhancement (a Wikipedia page suggests an extension for Type 2 AC was proposed a decade back, but nothing seems to have come of this, despite the CCS DC scheme providing for it using the same pins that can't allow such exchanges for AC charging). As well as the cable connection, both charger and car have wireless communication facilities (WiFi and 4G), yet the only way for them to communicate data such as SoC is via the two companies' servers? That's nuts! Clearly, allowing direct wireless communication raises security issues, but there ought to be a way of ensuring a robust and interference-resistant protocol to avoid problems of that nature? Am I missing something?

[sidehaas]

Let me get this straight. It's not possible to communicate between charger and car over the cable except when using the DC connection. OK, that's what happens when an early standard proves incapable of enhancement (a Wikipedia page suggests an extension for Type 2 AC was proposed a decade back, but nothing seems to have come of this, despite the CCS DC scheme providing for it using the same pins that can't allow such exchanges for AC charging). As well as the cable connection, both charger and car have wireless communication facilities (WiFi and 4G), yet the only way for them to communicate data such as SoC is via the two companies' servers? That's nuts! Clearly, allowing direct wireless communication raises security issues, but there ought to be a way of ensuring a robust and interference-resistant protocol to avoid problems of that nature? Am I missing something?

Yes. The Ohme doesn't have wifi, it uses 4g. Personally I would never have bought a solution that relied on a constant wifi connection as mine is too unreliable (both broadband and wifi signal on the driveway)

[Utumno]

Let me get this straight. It's not possible to communicate between charger and car over the cable except when using the DC connection.

That's correct.

OK, that's what happens when an early standard proves incapable of enhancement (a Wikipedia page suggests an extension for Type 2 AC was proposed a decade back, but nothing seems to have come of this, despite the CCS DC scheme providing for it using the same pins that can't allow such exchanges for AC charging).

That's correct.

As well as the cable connection, both charger and car have wireless communication facilities (WiFi and 4G), yet the only way for them to communicate data such as SoC is via the two companies' servers? That's nuts!

Not at all, it's actually considerably more elegant, less prone to failure, more secure and easily debuggable than your "direct" connection. In fact I'd go so far as to say that your "direct" connection is nuts.

Clearly, allowing direct wireless communication raises security issues, but there ought to be a way of ensuring a robust and interference-resistant protocol to avoid problems of that nature? Am I missing something?

You're missing plenty and the protocol isn't the issue. Go read up on how IoT device shadows work (AWS have some good primers) and have a think about how putting any locally externally addressable service on a vehicle is a hopelessly bad idea.

The proper solution for charging at home of course is to install a DC bidirectional CCS charger, rather than a 7kW AC unidirectional charger. Unfortunately no such chargers exist yet, though the Wallbox Quasar 2 has been announced in January this year.

[TimF]

...

As well as the cable connection, both charger and car have wireless communication facilities (WiFi and 4G), yet the only way for them to communicate data such as SoC is via the two companies' servers? That's nuts!

Not at all, it's actually considerably more elegant, less prone to failure, more secure and easily debuggable than your "direct" connection. In fact I'd go so far as to say that your "direct" connection is nuts.

Clearly, allowing direct wireless communication raises security issues, but there ought to be a way of ensuring a robust and interference-resistant protocol to avoid problems of that nature? Am I missing something?

You're missing plenty and the protocol isn't the issue. Go read up on how IoT device shadows work (AWS have some good primers) and have a think about how putting any locally externally addressable service on a vehicle is a hopelessly bad idea.

The proper solution for charging at home of course is to install a DC bidirectional CCS charger, rather than a 7kW AC unidirectional charger. Unfortunately no such chargers exist yet, though the Wallbox Quasar 2 has been announced in January this year.

OK. I've now done some reading - thanks for the keywords enabling me to find relevant stuff!

With the (entirely sensible / viable / robust) IoT shadow model, it does make sense that - once wireless is involved - message passing between servers is required. What I'm now wondering is how some of the (alleged) benefits of 5G will work out, particularly those involving peer-to-peer communication and self-organising meshes! I vaguely remember an article which suggested vehicles on a motorway would be able to pass info such as congestion / lane closure warnings, and even "hazard lights on" status, up and down the road, even if there was no base-station signal.

I like the idea of a home DC bidirectional CCS charger. Probably not cheap to produce, but would make life easier and cheaper for many.