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

Yes and No it was helpful that guide. That was a long complicated journey when we first had the charger installed so as a firm believer of it ain’t broke don’t touch it, I’m not taking that journey again. We just need a second device set up with the details so we both get to see the status of the charger.

Hey @Davewn2,

I’ve responded to you on this topic:

While my ‘compatible’ Renault Zoe is still present but in advance of its replacement by an ‘incompatible’ BYD Dolphin, when my ‘compatible’ Ohme ePod charger is installed in a couple of days, should I uninstall the Charge Anytime app from my Android phone and do all the ‘connecting stuff’ through the Ohme app?
  Incidentally, that “Offers and Upgrades” menu item is not present if using Chrome (incognito or otherwise) on a PC and on an Android phone appears just as “Offers”.

Hey @Nosmarb ,

Forum Volunteer here.

You’ll probably want to disable all EV’s in the Charge Anytime app just before you get the charger installed - I’d also recommend deleting the app as well since you wouldn’t need it after that. Once the Charger is installed and linked up to CA, please use the Ohme app for ALL scheduling so that everything works as intended.

If you get stuck, chargeanytime@ovo.com has your back.

A clear steer, thank you Blastoise. Your volunteering is much appreciated.

Just had Indra Smart Pro charger installed, and linked with OVO Call Anytime.  Indra say there is only a web-based app to control charging.  I have this but cannot set it up to charge the car for more than a few minutes after midnight before it shuts off.  Last 2 nights, it didn’t charge at all.

The Indra app seems to confuse “tariff” and “period” - no guidance as to what is meant by “period”.  And the “period” shows a ‘start time’ but it’s not editable.  

Has anyone any experience of setting up this Indra app, and can give guidance?  Grateful for any help - Indra Customer Service don’t work weekends.     Keith Drury

Generally you just set up a ‘charge by’ time and I understand there’s a charge level as well

There’s also a user who reports here ..

They say 

1. Keep it simple. I set the maximum charge level needed in the car, and the required ready by time in the Indra web app. Nothing else needed

I can see BPLightlog has given some helpful advice here. I’ll also ask the team internally and see if they have any other advice @LancastrianScot 🙂

Thank you.   :-)        As you suggested, that guide gets me exactly to the point where my issues start, so not a help.  Frankly, the whole matter of describing to newbies just how smart charging works, with explanation of what system talks to what is IMO opaque, and the apps to manage smart charging are inadequate in their handling of this.  AFAICS, the parties involved [perhaps a ‘control architecture” of a “workflow”]  for my case are Indra, Kaluza, the charger itself, the My BMW app, BMW servers and my BMW car, with OVO receiving data to base the Call Anytime credit on.  A simple map of who is sending what data to whom and for what purpose in that chain, would be a real bonus BEFORE starting to try and use.    ;-).

Minor issues have arisen like Boost command from the web-based Indra app doesn’t work, and car only charge for a few minutes each night. I’m in touch on those issues with the Indra Customer Service ATM, and they have responded ultra-rapidly with a firmware update and to enable “compatibility mode”.  We’ll see what comes out of that.

But thanks to all responders to my initial wail!    Keith Drury

Hi @LancastrianScot , I feel your pain! I went through the same fog when I started using Charge Anytime 11 months ago.

Like you, I have a ‘compatible’ car (a Cupra Born) and a compatible charger (an Indra Smart Pro), and it wasn’t clear to me whether I should ‘connect’ the car or the Indra to Charge Anytime.  

Like you, I was confused between the relative merits and pitfalls of using the car’s App, the Indra’s Phone App, the Indra’s Web App or the Charge Anytime Phone App to control the charging process. 

The resolution of this was that the advice from OVO was to connect the Indra Charger in preference to the car - that way, any visitor to your house can charge their EV at Charge Anytime rates.  And the advice from Indra was to use their Web App rather than their Phone App, as proper Charge Anytime integration was (and still is!) a work in progress in the Phone App.

Unfortunately, if you initially download and try to use the Indra Phone App, it may result in difficulties getting the charger connected properly to Charge Anytime later, as I discovered. Like you, I ended up in ‘compatibility mode’ for a while until Indra were able to sort out the firmware in the charger.

Indra’s Web App is a simple affair which basically enables Kaluza, the real brains behind Charge Anytime, to talk to the Indra Charger and tell it when to start charging. When charging, the Indra reports back to Kaluza the number of kW the car has taken, and Kaluza in turn reports this to Charge Anytime. 

This all works fine for me. As quoted above, I simply set a ‘Ready By’ time in the Indra Web App, and plug the Cupra in. I set the required percentage charge level in the Cupra - generally 80% unless I’m going on a long trip. As I understand it, the Indra does not know or care what car is connected, it simply provides power until the car tells it to stop. I have also charged a friend’s Mercedes EQA several times, and it’s just the same routine.

I do not set anything else in either the car itself or in the car’s App, so the car is just dumbly waiting for a charge. As I understand it, anything set in the car is likely to cause conflicts with the process. 

I haven’t tried a BMW, but I’d have thought it should in principle work the same?

Hope this helps!

Mike