Ohme Charger - Octopus - Bad Mobile Data - Alternatives?

Ohme Charger - Octopus - Bad Mobile Data - Alternatives?

Author
Discussion

Jack-h6pfh

Original Poster:

11 posts

88 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Hey folks

So we just bought my wife a Honda ENY1 and need a charger. We are with Octopus so can use one of their 2 tariffs so we are looking at a charger.

Octopus use Ohme chargers but they seem to be SIM card only and not wifi, our mobile data is a bit crap here so unsure about getting one.

We are going to buy a Tesla next year so will have both the Honda and Tesla.

I have heard that the Ohme chargers don't really work too well with 2 cars on their app (having to delete cars and add them to the app each time you want to charge either) and that its probably best to just use the cars app to set the charging times to overnight, which makes the Octopus Intelligent a bit useless and GO a better solution, meaning that we don't need an "intelligent charger".

So I thought about just buying a Tesla charger as they seem to be the cheapest and then using the cars timer to charge overnight on GO, meaning I don't need an app or any intelligent aspects to it, whatever car is plugged in will charge when the car wants to.

Am I thinking about this the right way?

Either that or get an Octopus Intelligent compatible charger that works over WIFI! There doesn't seem to be a list available so I would have to go through their drop down boxes on the site until I find a comparable one!

Mr E

22,125 posts

266 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
I had a dumb charger (always on) and octopus controlled the tesla directly.

I don’t know if they can control the Honda in the same way.

Jack-h6pfh

Original Poster:

11 posts

88 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Mr E said:
I had a dumb charger (always on) and octopus controlled the tesla directly.

I don’t know if they can control the Honda in the same way.
Unfortunately they cant control the Honda otherwise that would be worth going on the Intelligent for it.

Annoying how everything is "TBC". They MIGHT be able to in the future. Really helpful now ha!

Owensy86

49 posts

158 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
We have a Honda Eny1, we just got it a couple of weeks ago and we switched to Octopus IOG and an Ohme Epod, our mobile signal is pretty poor (on EE at least) but so far so good.

However, if using the intelligent charging there are some issues around this tariff and the Eny1 in that if there is a break in the charging cycle, i.e. charged 2330-0030 then 0130-0530, sometimes the second charge period doesn't start as the car thinks its full. There are ways around this, such as reducing the 'ready by time' or increasing the amount of charge required. We generally add 60-65% each charge which fits nicely withing the 6hr window of cheap energy and this then tends to give a continuous charge without breaks.

The Ohme app is nice and easy to use and as far as I can tell, you can switch EV's within the app, however we only have 1x EV so can't be certain how easy it actually is.



Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:19

Basil Brush

5,227 posts

270 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Octopus also do the Zappi, which I think uses wifi. We've got an Octopus supplied Wallbox, which is also wifi, but I understand they've stopped supplying them now.

Sheepshanks

35,018 posts

126 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Don’t have one yet but our mobile phone service(on O2 from work) is iffy so I looked into this and I think Ohme chargers roam onto any available network.

Knock_knock

588 posts

183 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
I have two cars and one Ohme, plus live rural so mobile signal can be marginal on some networks.

As Intelligent Octopus Go controls the charger not the cars we just have a couple of different "Routines" based on adding a number of kWh by a specific time. The one I use 99% of the time aims to add 40kWh by 0530hrs, which tends to give some extra cheap hours wink

We don't change car profiles or anything like that, and it's worked perfectly for the last couple of years.

I think Ohme fit roaming SIM's to their units as this has never had any comms issues at all.


SteBrown91

2,570 posts

136 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Zappis are octopus compatible and use wifi. I have one and had no issues so far

paradigital

970 posts

159 months

Wednesday 9th October
quotequote all
Jack-h6pfh said:
which makes the Octopus Intelligent a bit useless and GO a better solution, meaning that we don't need an "intelligent charger".
Not really, no. The additional hours you get just overnight with Intelligent make it worth it.

I have my Ohme granny charger configured as my “Intelligent” device, but we don’t use it, we use the Zappi that isn’t linked to Octopus.

325iMSport

326 posts

174 months

Sunday 13th October
quotequote all
Owensy86 said:
We have a Honda Eny1, we just got it a couple of weeks ago and we switched to Octopus IOG and an Ohme Epod, our mobile signal is pretty poor (on EE at least) but so far so good.

However, if using the intelligent charging there are some issues around this tariff and the Eny1 in that if there is a break in the charging cycle, i.e. charged 2330-0030 then 0130-0530, sometimes the second charge period doesn't start as the car thinks its full. There are ways around this, such as reducing the 'ready by time' or increasing the amount of charge required. We generally add 60-65% each charge which fits nicely withing the 6hr window of cheap energy and this then tends to give a continuous charge without breaks.

The Ohme app is nice and easy to use and as far as I can tell, you can switch EV's within the app, however we only have 1x EV so can't be certain how easy it actually is.



Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:19
I have a Eny1 with a Ohme Home pro charger for 7 months now.

I have never had any charging issues including a schedules that have breaks in between the charging. One of my schedules the other had about 5 breaks on between yet still charged as planned.

number2

4,561 posts

194 months

Sunday 13th October
quotequote all
SteBrown91 said:
Zappis are octopus compatible and use wifi. I have one and had no issues so far
Same here - I have one and it works on wifi. All good and seem quite future proof with the facility to integrate solar and battery storage.

Nick Forest

139 posts

90 months

Sunday 13th October
quotequote all
I’m on Octopus with an ID3 of theirs since January and the Ohme Smart charger was part of the package, hooked up to Wifi and I’m on the Intelligent Go tariff.

All seems to work pretty seamlessly although the VW app “argues” with the Ohme app several times every charging session but I can’t be arsed to resolve it so long as the charging does its stuff

Ste-EVo

49 posts

158 months

Sunday 13th October
quotequote all
325iMSport said:
Owensy86 said:
We have a Honda Eny1, we just got it a couple of weeks ago and we switched to Octopus IOG and an Ohme Epod, our mobile signal is pretty poor (on EE at least) but so far so good.

However, if using the intelligent charging there are some issues around this tariff and the Eny1 in that if there is a break in the charging cycle, i.e. charged 2330-0030 then 0130-0530, sometimes the second charge period doesn't start as the car thinks its full. There are ways around this, such as reducing the 'ready by time' or increasing the amount of charge required. We generally add 60-65% each charge which fits nicely withing the 6hr window of cheap energy and this then tends to give a continuous charge without breaks.

The Ohme app is nice and easy to use and as far as I can tell, you can switch EV's within the app, however we only have 1x EV so can't be certain how easy it actually is.



Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:18


Edited by Ste-EVo on Wednesday 9th October 16:19
I have a Eny1 with a Ohme Home pro charger for 7 months now.

I have never had any charging issues including a schedules that have breaks in between the charging. One of my schedules the other had about 5 breaks on between yet still charged as planned.
That's good to know. I personally haven't had any issues either but I've read on some of the ENY1 FB pages that people have had these issues but also that others haven't. Generally when I charge I add about 65% so there usually isn't time for a gap in the schedule anyway but I plan to test it with a smaller charge out of curiosity.

Promising to hear you've not experienced any issues.

KTF

10,054 posts

157 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
Jack-h6pfh said:
Hey folks

So we just bought my wife a Honda ENY1 and need a charger. We are with Octopus so can use one of their 2 tariffs so we are looking at a charger.

Octopus use Ohme chargers but they seem to be SIM card only and not wifi, our mobile data is a bit crap here so unsure about getting one.

We are going to buy a Tesla next year so will have both the Honda and Tesla.

I have heard that the Ohme chargers don't really work too well with 2 cars on their app (having to delete cars and add them to the app each time you want to charge either) and that its probably best to just use the cars app to set the charging times to overnight, which makes the Octopus Intelligent a bit useless and GO a better solution, meaning that we don't need an "intelligent charger".

So I thought about just buying a Tesla charger as they seem to be the cheapest and then using the cars timer to charge overnight on GO, meaning I don't need an app or any intelligent aspects to it, whatever car is plugged in will charge when the car wants to.

Am I thinking about this the right way?

Either that or get an Octopus Intelligent compatible charger that works over WIFI! There doesn't seem to be a list available so I would have to go through their drop down boxes on the site until I find a comparable one!
With IOG, if you integrate with the charger rather than the car then it doesnt matter what car you plug in to it.

All you need to do is set the charge level in the app, plug the car in and Octopus does the rest.

Have a look at Hypervolt charger or Zappi as well as they all come in at around the same price anyway and are IOG compatible.

TheDrownedApe

1,208 posts

63 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
same situation as you OP; dire mobile signal. The Ohme always loses connection but i just charge it 2330-0530 via the car's app and treat the ohme as a dumb charger

phil4

1,322 posts

245 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
I do 2 cars through a Zappi integrated with IOG. It can do wifi, but I use it hardwired to the network (this is how the installer did it, if they hadn't I would have), so not any connection issues.

James-gbg1e

386 posts

87 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
Hypervolt Home Pro 3 here. Works well and good UK support.

Ste-EVo

49 posts

158 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
Jack-h6pfh said:
Hey folks

So we just bought my wife a Honda ENY1 and need a charger. We are with Octopus so can use one of their 2 tariffs so we are looking at a charger.

Octopus use Ohme chargers but they seem to be SIM card only and not wifi, our mobile data is a bit crap here so unsure about getting one.

We are going to buy a Tesla next year so will have both the Honda and Tesla.

I have heard that the Ohme chargers don't really work too well with 2 cars on their app (having to delete cars and add them to the app each time you want to charge either) and that its probably best to just use the cars app to set the charging times to overnight, which makes the Octopus Intelligent a bit useless and GO a better solution, meaning that we don't need an "intelligent charger".

So I thought about just buying a Tesla charger as they seem to be the cheapest and then using the cars timer to charge overnight on GO, meaning I don't need an app or any intelligent aspects to it, whatever car is plugged in will charge when the car wants to.

Am I thinking about this the right way?

Either that or get an Octopus Intelligent compatible charger that works over WIFI! There doesn't seem to be a list available so I would have to go through their drop down boxes on the site until I find a comparable one!
Did you manager to get sorted with a charger and tarriff OP?

jacko198

26 posts

88 months

Tuesday 22nd October
quotequote all
Thanks for all of the info guys. The Zappi wasn't on the website when I was looking originally but seems to be back on there now so I think I might just go with that for a smoother experience hopefully!

KTF

10,054 posts

157 months

Tuesday 22nd October
quotequote all
jacko198 said:
Thanks for all of the info guys. The Zappi wasn't on the website when I was looking originally but seems to be back on there now so I think I might just go with that for a smoother experience hopefully!
I have a Zappi and, whilst it might not be the most photogenic of chargers, it has never let me down.