[Self-Titled]

I doubt that they do, as there is really no reason for someone with an Ohme charger to want to use the car integration...

If Ohme says a period of charging was at the low rate then that is what it will be...

If you can't set the Ohme into 'dumb' mode and have it stay that way during stop and start of a charge cycle then you couldn't make it work with the car integration anyway, and you certainly can't get through the test either...

You are probably right, just seems a bit poor that Octopus and Ohme have teamed up (for what seems like a couple of years) and the integration still isn't there. Zappi and other chargers seem to have better integration within the Octopus app if the car supports it.

I've gone back to the other way for now and will see what the reply from Octopus is. Thanks for you help though, I'm new to this so learning all the time!

 

[Mark_T]

Zappi and other chargers seem to have better integration within the Octopus app if the car supports it.

Zappi and the others have no integration with the app at all, they just sit there in 'dumb' mode and do what the Octopus tells the car to ask for... you really are better off with the solid and reliable integration that Ohme have delivered together with Octopus.

Right now there will be a lot of people eagerly looking forward to the day when Octopus directly supports their EVSE so they can dump the car integration.

 

[Mark_T]

It comes out of Max Charge mode as soon as the charging stops as far as I'm aware. From what I can tell when doing a test connection is that no charging starts, unless I've started it before with max charge, but either way the test always fails.

Not sure if this might help...

"If all schedules are deleted in the Ohme app the Ohme charger will default to a ‘dumb’ charger when plugged in and set a 'Charge to full ASAP' schedule. This means it will simply charge your car until full. "

 

[williamandangela]

Switched off Smart Charging on the Octopus app ( blue toggle button now greyed out ) then before initiating a charge session at home popped this back on ( blue toggle button now showing ). Car started charging but didn’t stop ( this was about 7pm ) and no sign of this happening after 30-40 mins. Aware I was maybe on full tariff I stopped the charge via the Kia Connect App and unplugged, tried same and numerous options but IO doesn’t want to control the car even after ‘Smart Charging’ is back to being enabled ( blue toggle switch displayed ).
Anyone had similar ? I think I might have to disconnect the device and restart the horrible set up process but wary that possibly Octopus have restricted access to set up for KIA now they are aware of continuing 12v battery issues.
Plan B would be to keep Smart Charging on and set the EVSE or car schedule.
From what I can see and experienced, toggling the Smart Charging option within the device settings menu of the IO app has not worked for me and integration has not been restarted.

 

[Mark_T]

Switched off Smart Charging on the Octopus app ( blue toggle button now greyed out ) then before initiating a charge session at home popped this back on ( blue toggle button now showing ). Car started charging but didn’t stop ( this was about 7pm ) and no sign of this happening after 30-40 mins.

Just hit ’stop charging’ in the Kia Connect app as soon as you plug it in and the charge starts.

it will sit there and wait for the IO schedule.

This has been working perfectly for me every time.

Note that you should not unlock the car again after hitting stop or the charge may restart, just plug in, lock the car and stop the charge.

 

[Self-Titled]

Not sure if this might help...

"If all schedules are deleted in the Ohme app the Ohme charger will default to a ‘dumb’ charger when plugged in and set a 'Charge to full ASAP' schedule. This means it will simply charge your car until full. "

I tried that previously and it didn't work. To be honest the more I think about it the more I agree with your previous comments of sticking with the integration via the charger rather than the car. I can charge successfully that way and if the set up with the car is this painful then the charging and reliability (if I do manage to get it set up) is likely to be just as bad!

In other news I might not need to charge very often because I got 7.8 m/kWh on the journey to work this morning, I'm loving the car so far and it's also make massive financial sense based on what we were spending on fuel each month.

 

[williamandangela]

Ok. I will try that tonight. The toggle switch for smart charging in the IO zap should be blue when on - yes? The only other new variable was that I changed the lock setting for the cable so that the cable is locked in place regardless of charge complete. I was concerned re cable theft so adjusted this setting - can’t see that this would change anything though ?

 

[RogerE]

That's strange, even though I was told not available again I tried it this morning and am now on IO

 

[Mark_T]

The toggle switch for smart charging in the IO zap should be blue when on - yes?

Correct, but you will know well before you get that deep in menus if it is on as the first screen you get to on the devices tab will either show the option to turn it on if it is off, or the schedule screen if it is on.

The only other new variable was that I changed the lock setting for the cable so that the cable is locked in place regardless of charge complete.

Mine has been on that setting since I bought it, so no, that will not impact anything.

As far as the charging schedule goes, mine has been working 100% so far, just by doing as I suggested earlier and stopping the charge from the app when you first plug in.

As I have the Zappi and IO linked to Home Assistant I can see the status of everything more clearly than just using the app, but although I can also control everything from there I have been doing it as though I didn't have HA just to makes sure what I've been saying does work for everyone.

How did you find things behaved while you were parked away from home? ..,. did the 12V drain and frequent recharge cycles continue?

 

[Mark_T]

That's strange, even though I was told not available again I tried it this morning and am now on IO

Great, I was hoping you'd be OK as even if they have paused the sign-ups again you were in the middle of the process already...

Let us know how well it all works for you now you are onboard.

Kia has been pulled from the website again, so I think the CS rep you spoke to was correct.

 

[williamandangela]

Correct, but you will know well before you get that deep in menus if it is on as the first screen you get to on the devices tab will either show the option to turn it on if it is off, or the schedule screen if it is on.



Mine has been on that setting since I bought it, so no, that will not impact anything.

As far as the charging schedule goes, mine has been working 100% so far, just by doing as I suggested earlier and stopping the charge from the app when you first plug in.

As I have the Zappi and IO linked to Home Assistant I can see the status of everything more clearly than just using the app, but although I can also control everything from there I have been doing it as though I didn't have HA just to makes sure what I've been saying does work for everyone.

How did you find things behaved while you were parked away from home? ..,. did the 12V drain and frequent recharge cycles continue?

No drain from 12v away from home. Smart charging turned on.

 

[Mark_T]

No drain from 12v away from home. Smart charging turned on.

Excellent, that is indeed good news.

 

[williamandangela]

I’m not getting on well with IO at all now. Refuses to set a schedule even when smart charging left on for more than 24hours. Car plugs in and starts to charge but then isn’t stopped by IO. I’ll be on the phone to them tomorrow but will have to be during work hours. I’ve tried logging out, restarting, stopping charge through Kia app when initially starts ( IO doesn't restart or set a schedule ). Fed up waking up to a car that’s not had a IO charge for days now.
Any ideas? Tried @Mark_T plug, lock and stop suggestion but it only worked one time.

 

[Mark_T]

Any ideas? Tried @Mark_T plug, lock and stop suggestion but it only worked one time.

Not sure what else to suggest... it has remained working perfectly for me.

I've never let IO stop the initial charge, always stopped it with Kia Connect within a few seconds of it starting.

My sequence is... re-enable Smart Charging in the Octopus App, change Zappi to 'Fast' ' mode, stop charge with Kia Connect, then wait for schedule...

IO schedule then appears within a few mins after that.

Do you ever have problems controlling the car with eh Kia Connect app when you are parked where you need to be to charge?

 

[williamandangela]

Not sure what else to suggest... it has remained working perfectly for me.

I've never let IO stop the initial charge, always stopped it with Kia Connect within a few seconds of it starting.

My sequence is... re-enable Smart Charging in the Octopus App, change Zappi to 'Fast' ' mode, stop charge with Kia Connect, then wait for schedule...

IO schedule then appears within a few mins after that.

Do you ever have problems controlling the car with eh Kia Connect app when you are parked where you need to be to charge?

Nope. No issues with Kia Connect. Very strange.

 

[RogerE]

Most times now, my sequence has been just plug in. Within 5 mins IO have stopped the charge and within half an hour a schedule is sent to my phone.

However on one occasion I had to stop the charge using the Kia connect app, after half an hour, and only then the schedule appeared. And on another session the charge didn't happen and I got a message from IO saying they had lost contact with the car.

Also every schedule has included times outside the advertised IO period, for example my latest schedule included charging from 07:00 - 07:30.

 

[williamandangela]

Totally random this IO !

I was on the ‘phone to Octopus ready for a rant about no smart charge mapping when it worked…..Sod’s Law but this time in my favour.
There seems to be no rhyme nor reason for this but CS at Octopus suggested emailing every time it happens and also fallback of setting car schedule.

Very close to moving to GO tariff but less hours and higher cost. Seems to be a roll of the dice when IO works or not for me.

 

[DougCMGibson]

Just had email from them about it (currently on Octopus GO).
Looks like you need to upgrade to latest firmware (which I haven't done yet)

I have recently switched to IO and I have not updated any software in the car since I purchased it new in Feb 2021. I did have some issues getting the test charge to work - details below. Of course it may just be luck that the fifth try worked but it least it shows a way the can work.

Details of attempts to do test charge

The login to Kia worked as expected and I got to "Test connection". I had the screen "Testing your connection now... not long to go" for some minutes and it reported that it had failed.

I had logged myself out of Kia Connect before I tried this as other people on the forums had suggested this may be helpful.

I then l logged back in and confirmed that I could indeed start and stop charging manually via Kia Connect although the car was scheduled to charge from 00:30 to 4:30. I could see the green light on the charger come on, the charge indicator on the car and the power go up on the home energy display so I know it worked.

This confirms to me that intelligent octopus ought to be able to do the same thing.....

Second test charge also failed

Logged out of Kia Connect and tried again

Third test charge attempt started at 23:19 ended at 23.26 failed again

Removed scheduled charging from the car - now it is charging when IO tries to do test.

Fourth test charge attempt started at 23:30 (Charging on expensive electricity) ended at 23:37 failed again

Logged back into Kia Connect and manually stopped charging - so now schedule is not set on car, car is definitely able to receive external start and stop commands

Fifth test charge attempt started at 23:39

This time finally something happened as I saw the charge start and then stop via my home energy monitor

HOORAY It finally worked

 

[williamandangela]

HOORAY It finally worked

Im getting on fine now and it seems to be working well most of the time. Following advice on this forum and with no scheduled charging on car or on wall charger. The following assumes you have set your required charge percentage and ‘ready by’ time on the IO app:

1. Plug car in (car starts to charge)
2. Lock car and wait for charging to recommence (lights on the charge port flashing again)
3. Stop charging immediately via the Kia Connect App
4. Walk away.

Seems to work well although it sometimes takes a while to ‘Map a smart charge’ - sometimes up to an hour but I’m not fussed as the car is not actually charging during this time.

The 12v battery surges still occur when waiting for charge to commence and while charging so I just suspend smart charging until an hour or so before I plan to charge - I’m sure I don’t have to do this quite so early but anecdotally it seems to ‘map’ quicker once I’ve re-enabled the smart charging via the IO app.

I charge maybe once or twice a week maximum and have found this method to work well so far. I’m not too worried about 12v battery degradation as I’m not planning on keeping this car past 2.5 years but switching off smart charging between charges is easy and seems sensible.

 

[RogerE]

It's only completed once since I changed to IO.

I get the schedule from IO (suprisingly it often includes time periods outside of the advertised IO hours!).

Generally though, the next morning, I have got messages like:

Lost connection to car (this usually happens during first period of the schedule, although on at least two charge cycles it happened during second or third period)

Only charged to x% expected to reach y%

Most times I have ended up having to "bump charge" the car for an hour or so the following morning to ensure I have enough charge for the day.