Great find, thanks for sharing. I too wish I had known that before trying to install the siren.

No, you only need one Shelly. Using either switch triggers the input ton the Shelly and turns on/off the lights. I included wiring diagrams of how to integrate a Shelly into two way switching in a recent video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2emeHSIr812maM

Thanks for the comment! Eco+ is designed to charge the car from any excess solar. One option would be to set the Zappi to only charge the car if a certain amount is already being exported to the grid first by using the 'Export Margin' option in advanced settings. Using this feature means that only excess solar over the amount configured to go to the grid is diverted to the car. Hope this helps.

That’s great thanks. I’ll set that to above the inverter output so no excess goes to the car and I export as much as I can.

Sorry for not replying sooner. You should not need to press the + button for the overnight schedule to work. From my experience, all you need to do is plug in the car and confirm that Octopus has set a charge plan in their app. Once the plan is there it should charge without needing to do anything else.

Thanks for the comment! Which screws are you referring to?

I’m guessing you’re referring to the screws that hold the blades to the fan base. To remove them you need to remove the glass that covers the bulb. Inside that section is a gap that allows you to get a screwdriver through to the screws that you need to remove. You need to rotate the fan base so that the screws you want to remove are aligned with that gap.

The cable on the power supply is 6m (just under 20ft).

Thanks for the comment! The spot lights in my hall are all Zigbee smart bulbs, so I'm using Node-RED to control the smart features of those bulbs. I haven't used one of these myself, but I believe the Shelly Dimmer 2 is designed to control dumb dimmable bulbs. Here's a link with more detail - shellystore.co.uk/product/shelly-dimmer-2/

Thanks for the comment! Great to hear the video was useful!

The lamps are Philips Hue Play Light Bars. All of my AV equipment is connected to a Philips Hue Sync box which then integrates with the Philips Hue Hub and controls the lights. It works pretty well. The lights were attached to the back of my previous TV, but with the change to the new LG C2 I thought I’d try putting the lights on the units instead.

Thanks for the comment! I suspect that a diffuser would make a very marginal difference. Luckily, due to the depth of the channel, you can only see the LEDs if you are directly underneath them. This means the light you see from the strip is always indirect.

When I recorded this video, I was using Homebridge running on a Raspberry Pi to integrate Shelly devices with Apple HomeKit. More detail on Homebridge can be found here - homebridge.io. Since recording this video, I have transitioned my smart home devices over to Home Assistant.

For silent close, I combine it with roller latch and single sided deadbolt, like they do for German office buildings.

Thanks for the comment! I chose to install it at the bottom of the door as I wanted to avoid drilling the hole for the cylinder above my head or on a ladder. I don’t believe there is any reason why it couldn’t be installed at the top (or in the middle if the door detailing allows it).

I know it wouldn't be for everyone, but I'd personally prefer a tariff where I get exposed to the wholesale prices plus the energy suppliers margin, at which point they can offer me the cheapest prices by not having to expose themselves to any pricing risk, and I can optimise my home to take advantage of that variable pricing.

Thanks for the comment! It sounds like you're describing Agile Octopus, where prices change every 30 mins based on the whole sales prices (octopus.energy/smart/agile/). I've been tempted to give Agile a go, but so far I haven't had enough time to investigate if it's possible to automate car charging / house battery charging at the cheapest rates.

@@ianburgess525, oooh, I didn't know this existed! Thanks so much for the link 🙏

Thanks for the comment! I use a Tesla Powerwall 2 for battery storage. To avoid it draining to charge the car overnight, I use the utility plan settings within the Powerwall settings so that the battery knows when electricity is cheapest. With that set, I then have the battery in time-based control mode which means that it will power the house when electricity is expensive and charge and/or let the grid power the house when electricity is cheap over night. By doing this, it means the battery won’t discharge when the car charges during off peak time. The only time this logic fails is when Intelligent Octopus starts the charging session before the start of the cheap rate electricity. I have a myenergi harvi which allows me to have CT clamps monitoring the current going into and out of the Tesla Powerwall 2. This allows myenergi to see the battery. The Zappi can then be configured to avoid draining the battery by setting the option within 'Other Settings' -> 'Advanced' -> 'Supply Grid' -> ‘Network’. This helps to avoid the car charging from the battery while it’s trying to charge from diverted solar during the day. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions.

@ianburgess525 Thanks Ian, very helpful.

Nope, you’re absolutely right. I agree that it makes most financial sense to charge the car overnight on the 7.5p tariff and export as much as possible at 15p during the day. It still feels a little strange to me to not be using as much of the energy we produce as possible inside the house, but the way the tariffs are setup, Octopus are encourage export during the day. My situation is a little complex, in that my solar system can produce 6kW while my DNO only allows me to export 3.6kW to the grid. This means that when the system is producing more than 3.6kW I need to use it inside the house or the system will limit production. I have my system setup to export to the grid first, then if there is extra charge the house battery, then heat the hot water and finally charge the car.

It’s a little difficult to measure the LED strip accurately now that it’s attached to the garage, but I think it’s about 12mm wide and 4mm deep (including the 3M tape). The clips are a little bigger in both directions.

Tried and tested last night, works exactly how I though it would, set my car to 90% told IOG to add 100% charge. Car stops at 90% 🙂 No need to try work out what percentage to add just set IOG to 100% and set your desired battery percentage in the car, happy days

Thanks for testing this out! My experience is exactly the same; when the target percentage set within the car is reached charging will stop even if the Octopus target percentage has not been met yet.

I successfully charged my i-Pace this morning by only adding 20% charge 👍

Thanks for the comment! I completely agree, I connector somewhere between the light strip and the switch would have simplified the install significantly. I spaced the clips evenly along each run, on the front of the garage that worked out as spacings of 80cm (~32”) and on the side 60cm (~24”). Good luck with your install!

Thanks for the comment! If the Zappi is set to Eco+ then it should divert excess solar to the car if it's available. The way I understand it from the Octopus documentation, any charge that is diverted from solar will count towards the target charge % set within the Octopus app, so whatever % is added from solar divert will reduce the amount of charge added over night during off peak by the same %. I have an AC battery (Tesla Powerwall) and use a Myenergi Harvi with extra CT clamps to monitor the energy going into and out of the battery along with the energy coming from the solar panels and going to/from the grid. Once you've setup the details of each CT clamp in the Myenergi options, those devices then appear in the Myenergi app. Lego is awesome, the only problem is finding places to keep it all! Your collection sounds great. I'm currently in the process of building the Concorde. :-)

@@ianburgess525 many thanks for the reply. I did notice I had some unused charge in my house battery (Growatt), and it was discharging 3.5kw to the car and the other 4.5 or so was grid, and figured that it would reduce my grid cost (even though grid at 7.5p/kwh is cheap!!) Not got any export tariff yet with Octopus so will need to see if I can have Intelligent Go and Agile (for the export part!). Will get a Harvi and put the CT clamp on the relevant cable in my meter cupboard. Can’t be too hard to do (🥴🥴). Yes, Lego is great fun. But where to display them is another thing altogether. Meant to add in my earlier comment, love the Space Shuttle. It’s on my list to get. I’ve fitted light kit to the Lander, not yet done so on Ecto 1, and Dom’s Charger, or on the Saturn V (so far!!) The Mega Bloks Cybertruck is over 3000 pieces (🥴🥴)

My charger was installed about 3 years ago, so prices may have changed since then. If I remember correctly, it cost about £1000 installed.

I agree completely. When I originally had solar installed the export rates were rubbish, so it made complete sense to try and use everything I generated. As you point out though, recently that has changed and it's now possible to sell for twice as much as you can buy for overnight. Changing my approach to charge everything overnight and then sell as much as I can during the day has taken some getting used to!

An admirable concience. However when you sell solar, the energy company makes money for no investment or purchase of energy.. By selling your energy at 17p /kWh your neighbour will buy it for standard rate (approx 24p /kWh ) and thus the energy company makes 7p/kWh for no investment or energy generation purchase whatever. Don't forget, you also pay the energy company standing charge (50p'ish per day) so the first 3 hours of exporting solar generation has to pay this off before you start getting any financial return on generation. You however have invested at some expense to install solar panels and it will be some time before your 17p /kWh will pay back (if ever) this cost. In the evening the national load is low but wind turbines still run and at periods of low demand the competitive energy market prices drop such that the energy companies can still profit by selling to you at 7p/kWh in the small hours. They make money on every kWh. It is 'free' market capitalism. There should be no guilt here!

Thanks for the comment. I did yes, I now have LED strips above and below both units. In my setup, the LEDs for each unit run off a single Shelly RGBW2, so it's not possible to vary the brightness of the LEDs above and below each unit independently. You'd need to use separate RGBW2s for each strip to control the brightness independently.

Tell that to JLR owners

Correct, the % is the speed. You can only choose between three speeds though, 100% is full speed, 66% is medium and 33% is low.

I got mine from Amazon (UK link here -> amzn.eu/d/bapDrFB), but you can also get it directly from Ring (en-uk.ring.com/products/alarm-security-outdoor-siren).

This should work with multiple cars. Zappi and Octopus don't know what car is plugged in, so it should provide charge at the times defined by Octopus to whatever car is plugged in at the time. The only problem I can think of is that the amount of charge you define within the Octopus app is determined by the battery capacity of the car Octopus believe you have (which is the car you define while setting up the Octopus/Zappi integration). So if your 2nd car has a significantly bigger or smaller battery than your first car you'll need to bear that in mind when setting the percentage charge you want to add during the next charge. By sourcing solar, do you mean finding a good installer? When we had solar installed I used the local Facebook groups for my town to ask for recommendations. From this I ended up with a number of local installers who I then got out to quote.

Thanks! I’ve often wondered if moving to Agile would result in a lower average p/kWh. It will be interesting to see if you can match or better your 11p average now that you’re on the IOG tariff. My understanding is that electricity will always be the cheap rate during the smart charging times. This should mean you can run the house and charge your battery at that rate even if it’s outside of the 11:30-5:30 times.

Thanks for the comment! Couple of thoughts, do you have your Zappi set to eco++? Also, have you set the option with the Zappi menu to avoid battery drain? So far, the Zappi integration has worked perfectly for me. I’ve seen it take excess solar correctly during the day and then complete the charge overnight during the cheap rate. Good luck, I hope you can get everything working reliably.

@@ianburgess525 thanks for your reply Ian. Just want to check if you mean eco+ and not eco++ as I don't think that setting exists. Either way I am set to eco+. I also can't find a setting within the zappi to avoid the battery drain. Further research reveals this is a known issue and the only way round it is to position any house usage ct clamp on the tail supplying the main consumer unit and separate the ct clamp relating to the charger. This way the battery doesn't see the ev charger demand. Downside is the app monitoring any solar, battery system want accurately reflect whole house consumption but myenergi app will be correct. So I've moved the original ct clamp back to the house cu tail to test this.

Apologies, you're absolutely right, it's eco+ not ++. Within my setup, the avoid AC battery drain option is in 'Other Settings' -> 'Advanced' -> 'Supply Grid' -> 'Network'. Not sure what battery you have, but can you see your battery as its own entity within the myenergi app?

@@ianburgess525 Thanks for this Ian, I wasn't aware of this in the menu. I've looked on line and for hybrid solar / battery systems as it may be that a different setting may work as the zappi can't work out if surplus power is coming off the roof or from a battery. That setting is in advanced-supply grid-network- export margin. I need to delve into this further as not sure what value margin to set and I'm a little nervous about messing with it at this point. Would be interesting to see if any of your subscribers can add anything?

Good question. I’m not sure to be honest. I noticed while testing the AP before installing it that it gets warm to the touch, but I’m not sure exactly how hot it gets. Not sure if the UniFi software includes temp details, I’ll try and take a look a little later.

I think it is possible to see the temp via SNMP, however this would be just the internal temperature. Do you have a chance to touch the AP from inside the roof? (I know big ask, but much appreciate :) ) @@ianburgess525

If you setup the Tesla integration, then Octopus should communicate directly with the car to control when charging happens. That should mean that it will work with the granny charger (although I haven’t tested it myself).

@@ianburgess525 It does.. I was on the 9p 4 hour tarrif, I realised yesterday I didn't need a smart charger to switch to IO tarrif. I got about 9 hours charging last via granny handled by the octopus app, about 90 miles range added. There are not many people that need a dedicated charger IMO when average mile is about 20 miles day, a granny is enough for most people. Model 3 LR here.

Not sure why you would want solar divert as IOG export rate is 15p and charging over night is only 7p. So you are losing money by using solar divert.