My smart home

Discussions around the latest tech at home: EVs, solar, smart heat, battery storage and more

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468 Topic threads

kevgallacher
Carbon Cutter****
kevgallacherCarbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Ford EV charging no longer working with Charge Anytime - what's happened?

I have a Ford Mach-E and have been using OVO charge anytime for about 4 months now.But Ford have decided OVO is a security risk and has blocked the account.Is anyone else using this successfully? Is there any plans for charge anytime to support Ford cars?

78
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
15 hours ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

Tesla update and charging issues through Charge Anytime appNews

Update on 22/03/24 by Tim_OVO: You might’ve had trouble charging your car through the Charge Anytime app recently. We’re really sorry about this – it’s because Tesla updated their software.  Update the app by 5th April to keep our Charge Anytime rate By the 5th April, you need to update your Charge Anytime app to the latest version, and reconnect your car through the Charge Anytime app. That way, you’ll carry on enjoying our Charge Anytime smart charging rate of 7p per kWh.* What you need to do Check the App Store or Google Play for any Charge Anytime app updates. You’ll need version 2.0.10 or newer. Reconnect your car in the Charge Anytime app by 5th April by following the steps below. Please have your Tesla login details and key card to hand. Disconnect your car from the account in the Charge Anytime app. When in your car, connect to Bluetooth in your phone’s settings. You’ll need to put your key card in the centre console (the storage area between the front 2 seats) to pair your car

4648
ChristopherS_OVO
Community Moderator
12 days ago
Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
Emmanuelle_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

Solar installed by OVO? We’d love to hear from youBlog

 Solar power is a great way to generate your own renewable energy, and gain energy independence. We’re proud that we’re now offering solar, even if you’re not an OVO customer. If you’ve recently begun your solar journey and had your panels installed by OVO we’d love to hear more about your experience.  Not yet had solar installed but thinking about it? See our solar product page.  Whether you’ve already got solar panels, are interested in getting them installed, or are simply a green tech enthusiast here to find out more – we’ve got a number of topics here on the Forum which may interest you. Find out more about OVO’s solar offering:   Check out this collaborative user guide to all things solar:   Here’s a community members guide to help if you’re planning a DIY-approach to installing solar panels:  Your advice and feedback might help other community members start their solar journey! 🙂 🌞 

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Emmanuelle_OVO
Community Manager
22 days ago
C
New Member*
callingsimonNew Member*
Posted in My smart home

Trying to connect Home Assistant to Ovo API

I understand that the Ovo API is not intended for non-Ovo use, and any use is not supported by Ovo.  However, the Home Assistant Ovo integration looks useful, so I thought I’d try it.The integration has loaded in HA, but fails to initialize, claiming an issue with the JSON returned by the API.  I suspect that I’m hitting a security lockout that HA is trying to treat as JSON and therefore not understanding.Does anyone know if the HA integration does still work? Is there anything I need to configure to get it to initialise?Thanks!

1
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
11 hours ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

Introducing Charge Anytime - next generation EV chargingNews

Updated on 15/01/24 by Emmanuelle_OVO:Here’s the latest on our new electric vehicle charging type-of-use plan We’ve relaunched Anytime as Charge Anytime. It’s not only a new name, we’ve made some updates to the product and we want to tell you all about it… See our Charge Anytime product page here What are the headline facts about Charge Anytime? Smart charge your electric vehicle for 7p per kWh whenever you need to, Now available to be added to any OVO plan, including electric-only households, Intelligently optimises your charge for when the energy is at its greenest.*  Am I eligible? You can see all eligibility details in our Charge Anytime page here. You must be an OVO Energy customer and have an eligible car or charger. We’re constantly looking to open up the eligibility of this product to more EV models and chargers, so if you don’t see your tech here, keep an eye on our page.  Right now, solar panels aren’t compatible with Charge Anytime (unless you have an Indra Pro Smart Charger

9251356
A
Carbon Cutter**
14 days ago
Tim_OVO
Community Manager
Tim_OVOCommunity Manager
Posted in My smart home

How to set up your smart charger to use it with Charge AnytimeTutorial

If you have a compatible charger (such as an Indra or Ohme) then you need to link the charger to your OVO online account. You don’t need the additional Charge Anytime app. Ohme have made step by step instructions on how to set up Charge Anytime.We recommend opening your OVO online account in Google Chrome, and following these steps: (If this doesn’t work the first time please try this using a new ‘Incognito’ window) Go to the Offers and Upgrades section. Click on the Charge Anytime banner. Select the compatible charger that you have (Ohme or Indra). It’ll ask you for the username and password to log in to your charger manufacturers’ app. This will link your charger to your OVO account and you’ll get a new heading in your OVO account called ‘Your EV’.  You’ll still need to schedule the charging in your charger manufacturers' app. And after you’ve charged, the savings will show in the Your EV section of your online account. NOTE - If you ‘Boost’ or ‘Max Charge’ on the charger to charge i

85452
M
Carbon Cutter**
12 days ago
R
New Member***
rchiileeaNew Member***
posted in My smart home

Charge anywhere app you want £8 subscription from your customers

So you overtook bonnet to get a app for public chargers, which i was excited about until I read that to get a discount I have to pay £8 for 15%… and I am a ovo customer were is the loyalty in that.. Its starting to make me rethink my supplyer, espcially as octopus gives its customers on ev tarrifs charging discounts at public charger via the octoverse app…. mmmmmm

3
Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
15 hours ago
J
Carbon Cutter***
John CCarbon Cutter***
Posted in My smart home

Can I add a second car to my Charge Anytime?

Hi, I have 2 electric cars and hoping to use Charge Anytime for them,I can see a response from OVO on a similar question 8 months ago where they said a new app update would allow this and was imminent, it seems this has not happened yet.Does anyone have any realistic workaround before I give up and change suppliers, thanks in advance 

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S
Carbon Cutter*
12 days ago
T
Carbon Cutter****
Tes_M3Carbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

ovo charge anytime rate - will this reduce following price cap reduction

I appreciate that the rate had reduced from 10p per kWh to 7p per kwh back in Nov 2023, but given further reductions in wholesale elec prices since then as reflected in the lower price cap on 1st April, with another reduction forecast for 1st July will we see a corresponding decrease to the ovo charge anytime rate??

9
Peter E
Plan Zero Hero
21 hours ago
H
Carbon Cutter****
Hesse12345Carbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Fordpass charge anytime not working

Hello Like most people in this forum, I've recently started having issues with my Ford MachE using charge anytime. I seen on another thread we're hopeful to have an update today, can anyone confirm if we've a resolution.Ill simply have no other option but to leave and join one of the company's offering a discounted EV

19
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
22 hours ago
D
Carbon Cutter****
danh71Carbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Ford electric vehicle smart charging issue with OVO Charge Anytime?

Earlier this week Ford Pass suspended my account as linked with OVO (3rd Party App)Therefore I am unable to use and will cost c£100 per month more on my electricity bill.Is anyone else experiencing this issue and what are Ford and OVO doing to resolve?I use a Pod Point 7kw charger to charge a Ford Mustang Mach E XL using the OVO Charge anytime App linked to my Ford Pass for the smart charging to give me best rate.

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Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
1 day ago
B
Plan Zero Hero
BeePeePlan Zero Hero
posted in My smart home

Optimise your hot water set-up

 It seems quite straight forward doesn’t it? You stick a thermostat on the tank. If the water is cold you turn on the boiler/heat pump and heat it back up again. What’s the problem?Well if you know where heat is going and where it is being lost you make changes to reduce your losses.So I have an old (ancient?) 160l copper cylinder with around 1” of crumbly foam insulation. It has an additional insulating jacket and recently I have added further insulation (10cm thick Diall insulation roll – the stuff made from recycled plastic bottles).In June I added four temperature sensors at approximately 1/8, 3/8, 5/8 and 7/8 down from the top (this equates to around 20l, 60l, 100l and 140l of hot water above each sensor). I can also measure the indirect coil flow temperatures in and out, and the temperature of the cold water entering the tank.The first thing to note is that water is actually quite a poor conductor of heat. You need strong convection currents or stirring/mixing to get a volume of

5
B
Plan Zero Hero
2 days ago
B
New Member**
BryanBNew Member**
Posted in My smart home

Mitsubishi Ecodan DIP switch settings for 2 Zone system

My Mitsubishi ASHP was installed last year, to run the existing radiator CH system.  An extension with UFH was about to be built and the installers left me with a separate pumped connection for the UFH.  That has duly been completed and connected and been running by connecting the UFH pump in parallel with the existing CH pump - ie I have one zone.I now want to separate the CH and UFH into separate zones.  I have the contacts from the UFH wiring centre connected to IN6 (Room Thermostat 2 input) and the UFH Pump to OUT3 (Zone 2 space heating).I have turned on DIP switches SW2-6 and SW2-7 but keep getting an L5 error (Indoor FTC temperature thermistor reading incorrect value, thermistor disconnected or wired into the wrong connection on the board, incorrect dip switch setting on the FTC board).  The manual tells me I don’t need an indoor thermistor if I’m using the remote wireless controller.  I have also tried changing SW3-1 and SW4-1 but still get an error code.With SW2-6 and SW2-7 on,

3
Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
2 days ago
B
New Member**
BobbychNew Member**
Posted in My smart home

ovo anytime charging at 1kw

Ok wonder if anyone is having same issiei have had my Indra pro for 6 months. Always been on Ovo anytime. Have 2 EVs. And charge them both when needed generally using a schedule of 8am for which ever is plugged on however for the last week or so, one car will charge fine , and receive a full 7kw at Ovos discretion and be charged in the morning the other will not. It sits at 1kw charging. If I manually override the schedule it will go immediately to 7kw. So that proves the car and charger are working fine in  unison. But switching back to schedule and leave it overnight it’s just not charged in the morning and I have to charge on public chargers on that car while out and about. But the other car works fine this only started around ten days ago any thoughts 

2
Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
2 days ago
S
Carbon Cutter****
serennuCarbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Electricity bills have tripled

Help, we have had air source heat pump fitted with solar panels and back up battery. This is our first winter with this new system and our electricity bills have tripled, we are afraid to turn the heating on. Our bill for the last 3 months is £1150 when it hasn’t been exceptionally cold. How can this be?

78
S
Carbon Cutter****
3 days ago
Buzby
Carbon Cutter*****
BuzbyCarbon Cutter*****
posted in My smart home

How to measure real home energy rating ? i.e Not EPC guesswork

How can I measure home efficiency ?. ( I know I have, and can get another, EPC rating, but I’ve not got much trust in them. )However, I have got thermometer gadgets around the house. These record every 5 minutes to a database somewhere. I can then view graphs going back upto a year.Using these I can see how, say, the livingroom temperature drops when the CH turns off, or rises as the sun shines in. I am sure that the rate of change could be useful, somehow.I’m sure I’ve got enough data to actually calculate something useful, but I haven’t got a clue how to do it.Probably it needs room volumes, wall and windows areas, etc., as well as the records of temperatures.Does anyone know of a website or app that can take all this info and generate something useful ?Or, failing that, point me to the required calculations so I can program an Excel thingy myself ?Cheers,Buzby

19
Buzby
Carbon Cutter*****
5 days ago
D
New Member**
DonJohn24New Member**
Posted in My smart home

Anyone else getting lower than expected amounts from Charge Anytime ?

I have a Kia Niro EV and a Pod Point charger.  After some initial incomplete transactions, I now seem to have the system working OK, but the savings are lower than expected.To avoid peak rates, I started the last two chargings at around 1:00 to 1:30 am each time, with the car itself set to charge to a maximum of 80% - both times from existing levels of around 40%.   As expected, the details shown by my PodPoint App show charge amounts of 30kWh each time over around 4 hrs each time - so finishing well before 7 a.m.For 30 kWh the Charge Anytime rate of 7.07p/kWh compared with my OVO rate of 27. 07p/kWh gives a saving rate of 20p/kWh, so I expected to see saving of around £6.00 for each charge.   However, in my Charge Anytime App, savings are shown as around £4.00 each time.When I sent copies of my data to Charge Anytime at OVO, I received a reply containing the following:Comparison with vehicle manufacturer and charger apps have in some cases shown discrepancies, that suggest customers a

11
Taj
Carbon Cutter**
6 days ago
R
Carbon Cutter*
rossGCarbon Cutter*
posted in My smart home

Hypervolt EV charger.

Just read on another convo on here that OVO don't have a date for when the hypervolt charger will be ready for charge anytime.Why is it even on there as an offering at the moment? People are probably getting that charger based on OVO saying this will be working by early 2024, it's still not working and there is not date for when it will be.And having a compatible car doesn't save you either of it's a newer one, OVO seems to be quite slow with getting this sorted out. All quite poor from OVO 8 thought.

6
R
Carbon Cutter*
7 days ago
J
Carbon Cutter*
Juice911Carbon Cutter*
posted in My smart home

We've got a new battery and solar panel, any tips?

Array: 6.8 kW, 16 x 430W panels.Battery: 5.12 kWhInverter: 6 kWHello,I am having my setup completed today for a new-built house. I asked the electrician if I double the battery, and he's saying the battery may charge itself with the grid, so it's best to monitor the usage.We use the dryer and washing machine a lot in the house, and we have just installed underfloor electric heating. We also have a big server drawing a lot of power, which we had to power down for a year due to electricity costs.As the battery is modular, we are thinking of doubling up, but it does not make sense to charge the battery from the grid.Any tips and opinions would be much appreciated.

6
Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
7 days ago
F
New Member*
farmericeNew Member*
Posted in My smart home

Charge Anytime compatibility with Hypervolt Home Pro 3

Does anyone know if the Hypervolt Home Pro 3 will work directly with Charge Anytime, anytime soon?  It says on this page ‘early 2024’ https://www.ovoenergy.com/electric-cars/smart-charger#choose, but we are into April now...The phone signal is very poor at my house,  so although my car is compatible with Charge Anytime, it often does not work as my car can’t connect to 3G or 4G.  The solution (I think) is a Indra or Hypervolt charger that can connect via wifi or ethernet.I am on my second quote for an Indra charger, but each one has thrown up a a different obstacle.  Coincidentally I have an electrician working at my house already on an extension.  He can buy the Hypervolt charger and install it himself.  But the Home Pro 3 doesn’t look to work directly with Charge Anytime, which is the whole point!

3
Shads_OVO
Community Moderator
7 days ago
L
Carbon Cutter****
LadyroseCarbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Scam email from SEG team at OVO?

HiI received an email this afternoon supposedly from the SEG dept at OVO. It addressed me as “Dear Valued Customer” rather than by name. It asked me to resubmit documents. This is many months since my original submission. My IMac refused to upload. I am thinking it is not genuine.Thoughts?     

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L
Carbon Cutter****
7 days ago
H
New Member***
heselectricNew Member***
Posted in My smart home

Which charger works best with OVO Charge Anytime?

I’m a bit undecided which home charger to buy.  I have a Tesla and it is currently working well with a 3 pin and connection to the ovo anytime app.  Bit concerned the new charger might interfere with this.  Also if I got another vehicle which is compatible could I add this as well (id3 for example) if I don’t have a compatible charger. thanks for any help   

5
Peter E
Plan Zero Hero
7 days ago
P
Carbon Cutter****
philipghCarbon Cutter****
Posted in My smart home

Kia EV and OVO Charge Anytime - when will this be eligible for direct to vehicle (D2V)?

I had a Easee charger fitted as recommended by my electrician last year. I am due to take delivery of my Kia EV shortly. I am also a OVO energy customer. Bizarrely I seem unable to take advantage of the anytime + tariff as i have neither a compatible charger or car. How can this be the case? Has it now come to the point where you choose the car and charger based on an available electricity tariff?! Com on OVO get Kia on board ASAP.

62
Blastoise186
Plan Zero Hero
8 days ago
B
New Member***
BillMNew Member***
Posted in My smart home

How can I contact the OVO Feed-in tariff (FIT) team?

I have an outstanding problem concerning FIT payments for several periods whilst my smart meter was faulty and subsequently replaced. Despite sending numerous emails and trying to make contact by phone, I am getting no answers or response. Is there a problem at OVO

103
S
Carbon Cutter****
8 days ago
S
Carbon Cutter*
Simon1953Carbon Cutter*
Posted in My smart home

Battery registration with central fit register (CFR)

Back in December 23 I discovered that my FIT account with SSE had been transferred to OVO.  In subsequent correspondence relating to outstaning FIT payments due to me from SSE, I mentioned that I had had a battery installed here last Spring.  I was told that OVO would need to register it on the Central FIT Register and was asked for documentation to allow OVO to do this.I was subsequently received a message on 4 January from OVO stating…"Thank you for your email and submission of your battery schematic."We have reviewed your schematic and have determined that the installation of the battery should not affect your tariff. The battery does not charge directly from the grid and therefore you will remain eligible for metered generation and deemed export payments."I can confirm that the account has been updated and we have also updated the Central FiT Register (CFR) with Ofgem with this information."However, Octopus, to whom I’m now in the process of transferring my FIT account to, say that

6
S
Carbon Cutter*
8 days ago

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