IFTTT (and/or similar services) integration

psiloc

I'm sure you have other priorities right now and that's fine. But I would like to register that I think your solar forecasting would be an amazing IFTTT applet, allowing people to fire different automations based on what the generation will be like the next day.

An example off the top of my head, you could use the solar forecast to decide whether to use gas or electricity to heat up the water cylinder in the morning.

admin

Thanks - we have a solar forecasting API on our roadmap.

psiloc

That's great.

Incidentally, if anyone is interested, I have a rudimentary version of this working with my Shelly EM. I have one of its CTs clamped around my inverter's power cable, and a scene set up to determine whether any energy flowed into the battery during my overnight off-peak hours. If it did, then I can assume that WW decided that there was not "enough" solar incoming the next day, and then I can do what I want with that scene, including firing off an Alexa routine.

admin

psiloc That sounds pretty neat. By the way, we're actually looking at Shelly integration directly, including for people who don't have solar or batteries. 😃

psiloc

That would be amazing. I bet there is a big crossover with your potential user base and Shelly's

KristianS

I have a number of GivEnergy plugs in the house now. It would be great to use IFTTT to coincide with selected Battery charging slots to enable devices to power on during those slots too, pwease 🙏🏻

admin

KristianS We're looking at this as part of a different integration piece of work.

https://www.wonderwatt.com/smart-plug-integration-with-agile-octopus/

It's just juggling the many things we want to do basically. Intelligent Octopus integration is the next thing really for the moment.

KristianS

admin
Yes, and if you look at the list of responses to that page.... I should be there from a couple of weeks ago. 😉
What I was wondering is, would the IFTTT be a more universal way to deliver the capabilities across many ecosystems so that you could offload if required..... just a thought

admin

KristianS

Is there not an existing Agile Octo integration for IFTTT?

https://ifttt.com/agile_octopus ?

KristianS

admin
Not for the GivEnergy plugs, no. There is for Kasa and Smart Life and others I do not currently use, but it's mostly email and upload to Google Sheets....

psiloc

Incidentally when I've played around with the official Agile IFTTT integration in the past notifications have been very, very delayed - e.g. being notified of a matching half hour block 15-20 minutes into the block, rendering it completely useless 😅

Might have improved since then though. This was about a year ago.

KevinD

I have several different brands of Smartplug that I've accumulated over the years. My last purchase a couple of Months ago were a pair of Givenergy branded ones. I tried on several occasions to get them to pair, all to no avail. I tried all the various suggestions, turned off 5G etc but no joy. When I saw the thread on the GivEnergy forum with the melted plug I decided to forego using them.

KristianS

KevinD
But that melted plug was because they were being used beyond their 'peak' current usage as a continuous value - yes, I concur, if it says 16A then you expect to run it 'at' 16 Amps.... but they are in a UK 13 Amp socket format - so why anyone would expect that they should continuously deliver >13 Amps is a little beyond me tbh

MAX values is exactly that

KevinD

KristianS
Yes, I followed the thread on the GivEnergy Forum where the original poster said
" This plug is rated at 16 A (16 x 230 = 3680 W) the drier is a domestic drier on a 13 A plug and socket. You can see it's drawing well under 3200 W.
The smell alerted me."

The original plug was being used to control a standard domestic appliance, so the original poster had no way of knowing that it was short time rated. I worked in Electrical Engineering for decades and am familiar with the various ratings with regard to electrical equipment, MCR, S1, S2, etc. In all cases the data plate stated the power rating with any qualifier.
What concerned me was that the information is printed on the plug and people will usually take that at face value. I don't think having the true rating printed on a slip of paper in the box is acceptable.
Here's a link to the topic if you're not already aware of it:
https://community.givenergy.cloud/d/4047-givenergy-smart-plug-nearly-burned-down-my-house/78
I note that in the latest post the plug had been dismantled and the component identified as being rated at 8 amps continuous.

admin

KevinD 100%. People see Max., but there is no explicit instruction that you cannot run this continuously at those amps. The last thing you want is ambiguity when it potentially comes down to people's lives.

KristianS

KevinD
I concur...
Yes, I had read the article a couple of weeks ago and that is what prompted my reply. I concur, the Max rating is potentially misleading and dangerous - clearly!
16A - 1 min
13A - 5 min
10A - Continuous

So, the rating on the plug should be 10A IMO with the slip of paper maybe clarifying that it can handle up to 16A surge or whatever the official terminology is. I do not have an Electrical Engineering background but common sense tells me that a 13A plug should not be 'rated at 16A' nor should be used for a piece of equipment that is going to pull 3kW plus via standard plug - although you can get kettles that are rated at that value now - which seems a bit close to the wire - if you pardon the pun. But kettles are only on for a short duration - probably up to 3-5 minutes max.
Dryers on the other hand are by the very nature going to pull that value for much longer periods of time.
I think the long and short of it is, that they should be built to run 16 Amp continuously and not 10A - or if they are, then say so.