Charge GivEnergy Batteries During Intelligent Octopus Go Cheap Slots

Do your home batteries discharge whenever Intelligent Octopus Go charges your EV with a bonus off-peak session? Well I've got a very simple Home Assistant automation to help you out! Full article here: www.speaktothe...
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[@TheTechOnline]

I have my Powerwall 3 setup in Home Assistant so that when it sees a Octopus Intelligent Dispatching slot it sets the Backup Reserve to 100%, thereby making the battery charge. So far averaging 7.1p/kWh, with the extra being because the PW3 has a bug at the moment where it draws 40W from the grid even when its discharging.

[@ColinButler-x3b]

I also have a Powerwall 3 and very interested in adding Home Assistant but I have no idea what is needed, could either of you help?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yup that's essentially the same way my blueprint works (although I don't have to fudge Givenergy by setting reserves).

[@TheTechOnline]

@ Yeh the Powerwall API is fairly sparse so setting reserves is the only way, but to be honest its good as my battery is 50% for saving on p/kWh and 50% for backup in the event of blackouts.

[@prebdor]

There's another Octopus integration by MegaKid which also has an intelligent dispatching entity. I've configured my automation so that either of the intelligent dispatching entities will start and stop it. That way, if one is delayed, or unavailable for whatever reason, the other will kick things off.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yup, the Megakid integration will also work with my blueprint. You can set up an 'OR' based binary helper that uses the two integrations' dispatching entities as sources, and then the helper can be set up as the trigger for my blueprint. Achieves the same as you have said.

[@catalinomocea6986]

Anyone know how difficult it is to do a similar set up on a sigenergy battery?

[@MrWobling]

Are we any closer to getting IOG working with the GivEnergy EV charger, please? Did GivEnergy fix the local networking issues yet? Or to put it another way - Could this blueprint be the start of a DIY solution to Octopus sitting on their hands on this?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

All I know about IOG/GivEVC is it's still with Octopus to release. And no, this blueprint can't replace IOG because IOG is an actual energy tariff giving you off-peak rates at various points ad-hoc throughout the day. No amount of home automation can get Octopus to charge you less for your energy during selected slots... they have to assign them

[@AyJaX]

I am trying to do the exact same thing with our IOG and FoxESS battery/Solar system. It annoys me when the Tesla starts to charge mid day end flattens our home battery first before pulling off the grid.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

That's definitely possible, the Fox batteries have a Home Assistant integration. Predbat can talk to Fox batteries for certain.

[@AyJaX]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech This is what I am trying to do but HA is a pain to get it working for me, I will keep trying. I am not using the MODBUS integration which I think would make it easier. This would involve connecting my Inverter via an ethernet cable to get working using a serial adapter

[@tiredofeverythingnew]

I did the same but for my Ohme charger and Victron ESS setup. I have a 2 min delay when the slot is charging and ending to catch most connection issues. I also send a message via signal to my phone to easily track if the battery charger over runs.

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Our experimenting has found that 1 minute catches everything (so far), well, 59 seconds anyway due to HA automation limitations :)

[@tiredofeverythingnew]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech as you said in the video, losing and paying for 2 mins extra is nothing compared to the potential savings.

[@darrenstagno8082]

Hi this is exactly what I need. I have a solar edge inverter and an Lg battery will this set up work for me Thanks

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

My automation is designed for GivEnergy batteries/inverters. If you can control your battery inverter from Home Assistant then you could edit my code to change the GivEnergy specific actions to whatever brand you require, but you can't use my automation as-is.

[@jenksfzr600r]

I appreciate you are covering giv energy producds here but i have the exact same issue running sunsynk inverter and batteries. Im sure they all do the same . I also have home HA green set up at home but am struggling with using it . Any guidance with setting up sunsynk products would be great and much appreciated. Great content though guys 👍

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I don't have any experience of Sunsynk products unfortunately, but if you can control them from Home Assistant (I believe you can) then my automation can be adjusted to swap out the GivEnergy actions for Sunsynk ones. This would require editing the code though, and you are best asking the community who use the Sunsynk integration for Home Assistant for advice on it really. There's usually a Github page or Facebook group you can join, but you'd need to do a bit of Googling I'm afraid.

[@jenksfzr600r]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech thanks for the reply .you guys make the HA look very easy but as newby it certainly isn't . I've managed to make it see my zappi charger and also some simple esp32 flashes smart plugs but not much else yet . I'll keep trying. Thanks again.

[@CarlAshcroft-t2j]

Thanks for the video - really informative. Just looking at jumping into HA like Gary. I have a GE inverter, batteries and GE charger - I can move onto IOG as my EV is compatible even though the car isn’t. Would this HA setup which is monitoring the Octopus api still work. The GE inverter obviously knows what the EVCP is doing but octopus are controlling the car rather than the EVCP. I realise I might have to modify something but any input appreciated - otherwise it will be car ready by 05:30 solution which misses the added benefits

[@CarlAshcroft-t2j]

I meant the EVCP isn’t compatible with IOG

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Yes, maybe. The thing with car-based IOG is that Octopus know the charge percentage of your car. If your car is charging then you get off-peak energy rates, if your car is not charging (because you unplugged it or it reached 100%) then your off-peak rates stop. This only happens outside the 23:30-05:30 hours so during those hours you always get off-peak. So ad-hoc off-peak sessions need to be monitored carefully - some users do this by monitoring the power going out to the charger using an energy monitor/CT clamp (like a Shelly EM or similar). If power is flowing, car = charging so batteries can be charged. If power is not flowing, car = not charging, so batteries must stop charging. If you can create a binary sensor in Home Assistant to toggle on when the car is charging and off when not based on that logic then you can use that binary sensor in my blueprint instead of the Octopus Intelligent Dispatching one.

[@markriddington]

⁠​⁠@@SpeakToTheGeekTechwouldn’t the Dispatching sensor be the same regardless of if connected to car or charger?

[@CarlAshcroft-t2j]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech thanks for the quick and helpful response

[@gedblezard5213]

Hi New to PV and battery storage. Is there compatible software on Home Assistant to manage Solis Inverter, Puredrive batteries and a Podpoint charger?

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

There’s limited support for Pod Point, but I wouldn’t know about the others, that’s a question for Google sorry

[@ladams5356]

So this is part 2 of Gary’s video

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Sort of!

[@DTech101]

Does intelligent dispatch pick up the free 30min slots they give the house randomly? As I’ve not seen it I’ve integrated my Victron setup like this but my charger is upstream but integrated with octopus so intelligent dispatch shows up in HA

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Only Intelligent Octopus Go slots. Other sessions such as Power Ups or Free Power Hour are different sensors

[@DTech101]

@ ok cool thought I was missing out on stuff but done your power up automation thanks

[@DTech101]

@ ok great I thought I missed out on something with my setup lol, PS I have it announced on Siri using text to speech that it’s now off peak rate and the battery and vehicle will start charging 😉

[@waterloowar]

Can we just set the car ready at5:30 to avoid the peak session in the morning?

[@SkillFullSheep]

Yes

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Of course you can, but you miss out on the potential extra off-peak sessions outside of your standard off-peak hours which is what this video is about.

[@rajus0]

Although this is useful normal people shouldn't need to know how to do this to ensure their battery works as hopped

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

That's what Project Mercury is all about, a new initiative by Octopus Energy and other product vendors - all kit should work together and react to signals from a third party, such as your energy supplier. Until that is live and people have compatible kit, we have to make do. The world is evolving but standards are behind the curve.

[@tarkadahl1985]

A guy at work had to call Ohme for support, according to them it is pronounced oh-me rather than ohme!

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

Oh my

[@tiredofeverythingnew]

I'm amazed he even got through, they never answer the phone, really terrible customer support.

[@jonathanpope4317]

Hi, Do you know if there is a blueprint that works with a Solax Inverter system with Solax batteries. Thank you

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I haven’t made one sorry, but I’m sure my blueprint can be adapted as it would be the same logic. You’d just need to swap out the actions that start and stop the battery charging for solax-specific ones

[@jonathanpope4317]

@@SpeakToTheGeekTech - Apologies I am very new to all this, would you be able to help, happy to source any information needed if you point me in the right direction 🙂

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

I have no experience of Solax inverters sorry, your best place to start would be user forums for Solax/Home Assistant. Usually there's a community based around the actual inverter integration itself with other like-minded users of the kit trying to achieve the same things. It's a Google mission for you sorry.

[@drrock999]

I have exactly this issue with my GivEnergy AIO. Now inspired to test this as I imagine this ought to work for me too. Was all set to have the electrical contractor move the Zappi north of the hub but this is a more elegant solution.

[@ladams5356]

It’s a double win . You don’t loose charge and you actually charge

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

That's the plan :)

[@edwardpickering9006]

I thought that all energy used between 2330 and 0530 was at the low rate, but if Octopus decides to charge your EV outside that time (so it did mine 2000 to 2100 a few days ago) you don't get the low rate on anything but the EV charging?

[@markriddington]

If Octopus schedule additional slots outside of 23:30-05:30, that is at off peak rate for your EV and house, so everything. You’ve only got one smart meter for your consumption to be measured by

[@SpeakToTheGeekTech]

All energy between 23:30 and 05:30 is off-peak regardless, you are correct. If Octopus charge your EV outside that time then everything is still off-peak, not just your EV. Other energy suppliers (e.g. Eon Next) are different. I can't find evidence of this in the FAQs but I know from the experience of several people on the tariff that this is the case.

[@tiredofeverythingnew]

This is up for debate. Octopus Energy supposedly only tracks total energy usage from your smart meter. However, if they are reading the EV charger API statistics, they could see that 3 kWh were used by the car and another 5 kWh from the house (during that period). They then could potentially charge you lower rates for the 3 kWh used by the car. I am waiting for my bill to test this theory.

[@edwardpickering9006]

@SpeakToTheGeekTech That's good to know.

[@markriddington]

@tiredofeverythingnew it’s not up for debate, it’s clearly stated on the Octopus website that your house consumption is at off peak rate during a scheduled charging session and you will clearly be able to see this when you receive a bill as you see the rates charged for every 30 minute slot of the day where it’s either peak or off peak, there is no mixture