Stop charging?

[g4ixt]

Thank you for the excellent integration (2022 Fiat 500e).

I can start charging but there is no way to stop it from HA or from the Android App (unless I have missed something).

In the Android App I can successfully stop charging by editing the 'active' schedule times, but I cannot see a control for that in HA. Since it's in the Android App, could you add the ability to amend the schedule start/stop times and switch them from 'true' to 'false' in the HA integration?

I would like to be able to do this so that I can automate charging from our solar panels. It would also be nice to be able to change the charge level, but that's not available in the Android App so is presumably impossible from HA.

Ian

[AndyBowden]

What charger are you using, g4ixt? My charger is a Myenergi Zappi and I use the HA integration for that charger to start and stop charging using the FiatChamp add-on just to monitor that state of the car. There is no Stop charging button on the Fiat iPhone app, so my guess is that Stop Charging isn't provided in the api.

[g4ixt]

Hi Andy,

I have a PodPoint Solo. It has HA integration, including "charging allowed" but it doesn't appear to do anything, although I haven't tried it when a schedule is set, which i could try

[AndyBowden]

As my Zappi is concerned, its HA integration permits selection of the modes of the Zappi - Stopped, Eco+, Eco and Fast. I find that using HA to select one of the Zappa's charging modes that charging doesn't start unless I use the FiatChamp add on to send a Charge Now command. When I use the add-on to set the Zappi to Stopped, charging does stop without any command needing to be sent to the car and without needing to go to the car. I never have a schedule set in the car relying solely on HA control. First thing to try, I suggest, is to use the PodPoint HA integration to set "charging allowed" to true and follow that up with a FiatChamp Charge Now command. I'd expect charging to stop if you used the PodPoint HA integration to set "charging allowed" to false.

[g4ixt]

Hi Andy,

I have tested it successfully a few times now and I can stop and re-start charging using the PodPoint HA integration. The key PodPoint setting is to activate 'smart charge mode', otherwise the 'charging allowed' button does nothing. It takes a while after sliding the button for the change to take effect, around a minute or so typically.

I haven't tried all the possible permutations but I expect to need to press the Fiat-HA 'charge now' button if it wasn't running on a schedule. Unfortunately, like the Fiat add-on the PodPoint Solo can't adjust its charge rate either, so I just have to set the car to the lowest or second lowest charge level and hope for the best.

I thought stopping and re-starting it might lock-out the car, requiring an unplug, but it doesn't seem to so far. I have friends with the Peugeot e208 and that will lock-out after about 10 cycles.

[AndyBowden]

Good News! Well done!

The 1 minute delay you mention might just be an update delay. Does the PodPoint Solo HA integration provide for update rate selection?

I've never made any use of the car's charging schedules either from the car or the Fiat app. I just control charge stop and start from HA.

The Fiat Api doesn't provide for charging rate selection so, for now at least, we have to select charging rate inside the car. I have mine set to 2 or 3 when charging in daytime as that prevents the charging rate exceeding about 3kW, which is the rating of my solar/battery system, or set to 5 if charging with off-peak energy overnight.

The Fiat Api has locked me out on occasions, if I try to obtain the State of Charge of the car too often using the FiatUConnect/FiatChamp add on. However, limiting the number of api calls in a 24 hour period to under ~50 seems to avoid problems.

Note that FiatUConnect has advantages over FiatChamp, not least in respect of update rate control.