Question

Teltonika Energy can control charger only while in BT range, but that's only part of the house where it works. I was hoping that having WiFi and Ethernet would allow to control it from anywhere, but figured it out the hard way that it's not possible. Are you going to update the app so it could control it through LAN?

If not - maybe Home Assistant integration could be built? Or at least a guide written how to correctly configure OCPP integration in Home Assistant for TeltoCharge and what is supported at the moment.

Answer 1

Hi, I'm using Home Assistant integration, and works fine.

See discussion here https://github.com/lbbrhzn/ocpp/discussions/664

You can get instructions on how to install it here https://home-assistant-ocpp.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html
Select only this measurands:  Energy.Active.Import.Register, Current.Import, Current.Offered, Voltage, Temperature

Let me know if you need any help

Comments

Hi,

Thanks! Already added to Home assistant. Now need to get a car to charge and play with automations.

Answer 2

Hello Triumf,

Teltonika Energy application can communicate over BT only, and we do not have any approved plans to integrate over WiFi or Ethernet interfaces.

For home assistant integration, we can offer only the OCPP protocol, but as far as I know, there are some home assistant projects that support it. From this forum, I know that https://github.com/lbbrhzn/ocpp is used as an example. But I think there should be more projects available with OCPP support, as OCPP is a very popular protocol for EV chargers. We do not have guides on how to set up any home assistant project.

Teltocharge fully supports OCPP 1.6 Core, Local Auth List management, Reservation, Smart Charging, Remote Trigger profiles. Upcoming releases will support the Firmware Management Profile and the Security Profile.

Comments

Hi,

This limitation with BT should be more clear in product description as you learn it the hard way and at some point might have a difference for customer who’s going to buy it. From specs it looks like you should be able to control it using sim, lan, wifi or BT and baam - you’re not even considering other connectivity for controlling it with your own app. I really hope you will review it later as BT technology is poor way with its’ range. Simple users (who won’t use OCPP) will ask for it for sure.

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Well, We have discussions in R&D team that BT is may not the best option and we do not like limitations from BT technology as speed, range etc. We had discussions to move with WiFi maybe(to bind charger with app) for future, which would mean you would have ability to reach charger in local network via WiFi or Ethernet, or maybe app <-> Teltonika server <-> charger or other option. So we are considering this. But we do not have resources for this as we are working on other features for now. So we have any approved plans for this.

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Thanks Giedrius for the honest response and thanks for bringing it to attention for R&D. It can be seen by fw updates that you are actively working on it. Thank you and looking forward to great improvements for the device and the app.

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To be honest - I found it the hard way as well. It does not make too much sense to me, when my fridge, vacuum cleaner, washing machine and dryer are all connected to wifi and accessible from everywhere, meanwhile my smart charger not..

What point of ethernet and wifi in that case?

Many other competitors on the market provide this functionality.

Solution through OCPP is not very solid - as I understood you need 1) manage OCPP first 2) pay monthly fee for having OCPP ...

On the other hand is Teltonika considering run own OCPP in future?

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All interfaces are for charger to access internet. NTP( time source), OCPP and notifications use internet.

Well I agree that professional OCPP management platform may be to expensive for one charger at home. And running own OCPP may require skill and time to do that.

I doubt that there will be Teltonika OCPP platform any soon. We had conversation about it, but this would require new team to develop such management system. There is open source project "steve" that could be used at start but it still requires a lot of work to be usable for clients.

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Giedrius, I’d say at least make it work locally using ethernet/wifi as it works now using BT. I managed to make it work with Home Assistant, but if you’re a simple user I can’t recommend TeltoCharge as it lacks basic connectivity which would work as user would expect. It’s nice to support locals, but it must have such a simple thing from user perspective. I hope more reviews will be left under the app in app stores so you would look into it more seriously.

For those who are looking for simple solution - you can try using free app Monta. After connecting your charging station to this cloud OCPP server you can control it from anywhere and track electricity usage. Downside - you must start charging session with an app (NFC might work, but did not try). You can’t start charging just by plugging the plug.

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Hello Triumph,

thanks the advice with Monta, I will check it!

I am having big issues to explain to all my clients, that the Teltocharge is accessible only via bluetooth...

They just cannot understand, that in "these days" you cannot get it via wi-fi when everything else works this way usually and asking me why the Telto has wifi in this case? ..  hard to explain to them..

Solution OCPP but again - for end client - OCPP is not solution...

Explanation from Telto has been, that it is due to "security" issues of wi-fi, but well, it can still be via WPA encrypted way so accessing charger within "home wifi" is in my opinion MUST and should be scheduled into FW update..

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Marketing department did their best to show specs and it looked very good. At the same time completely hiding limitations. I did not find any information that it will be possible to use the app only using BT. From Teltonika comments it seems that the only trigger to to work on that would be poor reviews making the limitation obvious for other potential customers. I do check apps reviews before buying something, but at the time there were 5 stars. And I thought that BT is used for initial configuration..