VoltTime Charger

Devices
1

Hey there,

Recently I bought a Volt Time charger for my new car (still has to arrive, expecting it in january :-0).
Since there is no app available for the Volt Time charger I decided to investigate other options and contacted Volt Time myself. They have now released their Cloud API exposing many functions and I am busy building a couple of scripts (apps are beyond my programming skills) that build upon this API.
You can find the homey script here: git-syquens/VoltTimeCloudHomeyPro (github.com)

The script uses the better logic library to store/retrieve the API key, it expects this to be stored under: ‘VoltTimeCloudAPIKey’. In this way - I can update and share the script without worrying about exposing the API key itself - and it is in general a good practice to separate script and security IMHO. You can obviously modify this to work with the regular built-in logic function.

The script exposes the following tags upon execution:
Tag VoltTimeUserID
Tag VoltTimeName
Tag VolTimeAccount
Tag VoltTimeTeamID
Tag VoltTimeTeamType
Tag VoltTimeTeamContact
Tag VoltTimeSiteID
Tag VoltTimeSiteName
Tag VoltTimeSiteStreet
Tag VoltTimeSitePostalCode
Tag VoltTimeSiteHouseNumber
Tag VoltTimeSiteHouseNumberAddition
Tag VoltTimeSiteCity
Tag VoltTimeSiteCountry
Tag VoltTimeSitePhase
Tag VoltTimeSiteMainFuseAmperage
Tag VoltTimeSiteLoadManagement
Tag VoltTimeSiteNetType
Tag VoltTimeChargerID
Tag VoltTimeChargerIdentity

These can then obviously be used to serve other scripts or flows.
For now it just searches and lists the first occurence of every hierarchical object. That should however fit most usecases of home-owners nicely - as long as they have one single charger with a single connector.

Happy to collaborate on further improvements !

My priorities next are to work on more specific scripts that use the post commands such as enabling/disabling the connector itself. I do see a good use for that - as you may apply a geofence that monitors you/your car and actively disables the connector. That way the configuration of the charger can remain in plug-and-charge while making sure nobody but you can use the charger while you are gone. You can then even extend that courtesy to multiple cars/persons - even if you’re not there. This might come in handy when you have a charger that is easily accessible by road.

1 Like
2

Hi Vincent, I’m looking to add my Volt Time charger to Homey as well. Did you come any further with your script, and did you manage to charge your new car?

Question; the link to the script gives a 404 - can you maybe re-share the link?

My main goal is to curtail the charger based on energy pricing, energy consumption, solar production and my home battery. Will be sweet!

Hope to hear from you. Cheers! Klaas

3

Hey Klaas,

I haven’t really had much time (due to ‘real’ work) - to expand the script. I forgot to set the visibility of the git repo to public - have done that now - so you should not get a 404 anymore.
I can charge my car - that’s working perfectly. But that does not involve using the script - that’s just default behaviour and procedures from Volt Time.
My main interest would be to get the sessions out in a structured way - and to roll those up to a monthly automated cost report (since I need to invoice my own company for using the private charger to charge - and really don’t see a need to pay a backoffice to do this basic task for 5€ / month.)