IOG Configuration

[kcrussell]

Hello,
I use Octopus Intelligent Go, and I am a bit confused about the correct way to set up my car charging in Predbat.
Under "Planned Car Charging" it states the following:

_**To make Predbat planned car charging more accurate, configure the following items in apps.yaml:

car_charging_battery_size - Set this value in apps.yaml to the car's battery size in kWh which must be entered with one decimal place, e.g. 50.0. If not set, Predbat defaults to 100.0kWh. This will be used to predict when to stop car charging.

car_charging_limit - You should configure this to point to a sensor that specifies the % limit the car is set to charge to. This could be a sensor on the EV charger integration or a Home Assistant helper entity you can set as you wish. If you don't specify a sensor Predbat will default to 100% - i.e. fill the car to full.

car_charging_soc - You should configure this to point to a sensor (on the HA integration for your EV charger) that specifies the car's current charge level expressed as a percentage - it must NOT be set to a sensor that gives the car's current kWh value as this will cause Predbat to charge the car to an incorrect level. If you don't specify a sensor, Predbat will default to 0%.**_

Does all of this apply to both Octopus led charging and Predbat led charging? I can see a reference to using car_charging_soc further on in the docs under "Octopus Led Charging", so I have tried setting this in apps.yaml. I also tried setting up the battery size, but got a configuration error stating that a sensor was expected instead of a hard-coded number.

[gcoan]

Does all of this apply to both Octopus led charging and Predbat led charging?

There's a clue in the documentation:

To make Predbat planned car charging more accurate, configure the following items in apps.yaml:

[kcrussell]

My assumption was that "Predbat planned car charging" in the docs is a collective term that encompasses both "Octopus led charging" and "Predbat led charging", so these values should be configured for Octopus led or Predbat led.
However, as I said above, when I tried configuring car_charging_battery_size with a decimal value (as per the docs) I get an apps.yaml configuration value "Invalid Type, expected sensor", so I wanted to check the documentation is correct, and I am interpreting it correctly.

[gcoan]

"Predbat planned car charging" in the docs is a collective term that encompasses both "Octopus led charging" and "Predbat led charging",

No, Predbat doesn't plan Octopus led charging, it only follows what Octopus does so 'Predbat led' and 'Predbat planned' are synonymous. I will change the documentation to use the same phrase consistently though.

Predbat doesn't care about your battery SoC for IOG Octopus led charging, its up to Octopus to manage the SoC level. It is expecting a decimal value, but the rejection is probably because that's not needed for IOG charging

[kcrussell]

OK, thanks for clarifying that. Another reason I wasn't sure about the correct configuration is that car_charging_soc is explicitly referenced under "Octopus-led Charging" further down the same page:
https://springfall2008.github.io/batpred/car-charging/#octopus-led-charging

The switch switch.predbat_octopus_intelligent_consider_full (expert mode) (default is Off) when turned on will cause Predbat to predict when your car battery is full and assume no further charging will occur. This can be useful if Octopus does not know your car battery's state of charge but you have a sensor setup in Predbat (car_charging_soc) which does know the current charge level. Predbat will still assume all Octopus charging slots are low rates even if some are not used by your car.

[gcoan]

Sorry I should have said, predbat doesn't care about the size of your car battery for Octopus-led charging, but as you have spotted, if you do set the state of charge sensor for the car then predbat can predict when the car charging will cease (i.e. car SoC >= car charging limit as set in Octopus app)

I have reworked the documentation, split it more clearly into predbat-led and octopus-led setup streams now https://github.com/gcoan/batpred/blob/main/docs/car-charging.md

[kcrussell]

Thanks, I appreciate the explanation.