Netzero App

[offandonagain]

What is the long term support mechanism for NetZero? How do you plan to keep this going from a cost perspective?

Costs are low right now. If that changes in the future (e.g. Tesla starts charging for the API), I'll re-evaluate.

It now says the test was successful but the message says it is in Self-Powered mode even though the Automation is for Time-Based Control. The Tesla app shows I'm still in Self-Powered mode.

I might need to make this clearer: the message you see after testing an automation describes the state you can RESTORE to (i.e. the state before testing the automation). The goal here is to test a configuration (make sure the changes can be applied) and then immediately restore to the prior state -- your goal is to apply this configuration in the future, not now.

I would also suggest you only apply the configuration changes you need (and uncheck the rest if left unchanged). Tesla backends are not always reliable, so more configuration changes mean higher probability of failure. When your automations run, Netzero will make sure to retry if needed, but testing automations doesn't retry yet.

The emporia data is not working today on netzero on my iPhone. The emporia app is working fine though.

I'll have a look. Emporia uptake has been very low, so I haven't given it much focus. Let me know how you use it with the Send Feedback form in the app.

 

[RKCRLR]

I might need to make this clearer: the message you see after testing an automation describes the state you can RESTORE to (i.e. the state before testing the automation). The goal here is to test a configuration (make sure the changes can be applied) and then immediately restore to the prior state -- your goal is to apply this configuration in the future, not now.

I would also suggest you only apply the configuration changes you need (and uncheck the rest if left unchanged). Tesla backends are not always reliable, so more configuration changes mean higher probability of failure. When your automations run, Netzero will make sure to retry if needed, but testing automations doesn't retry yet.

Thanks, I had a brain fart on the message.

 

[IronCoffee_Max]

I'll have a look. Emporia uptake has been very low, so I haven't given it much focus. Let me know how you use it with the Send Feedback form in the app.

I was considering adding Emporia Vue because of NetZero. Just not a priority yet - but maybe at some point this year. Funny - I thought I recall seeing the Emporia stuff in the app, but now I can't find it. Part of my hesitance is I don't know what I really need to buy for Emporia. I've got 2 panels in my basement and a panel in my garage. I don't know that I need to monitor EVERY room…really just the majors: utility, kitchen, basement utility, and maybe master bedroom. So I need to do a good catalog of what I have, what needs to be monitored, and so on, and which box / panel they are in, and see what the cost for that is. It might not be worth it if I have to buy 3 monitors. I just found out that their company is a few miles away from me though, so maybe I'll ask them

 

[offandonagain]

I was considering adding Emporia Vue because of NetZero. Just not a priority yet - but maybe at some point this year. Funny - I thought I recall seeing the Emporia stuff in the app, but now I can't find it. Part of my hesitance is I don't know what I really need to buy for Emporia. I've got 2 panels in my basement and a panel in my garage. I don't know that I need to monitor EVERY room…really just the majors: utility, kitchen, basement utility, and maybe master bedroom. So I need to do a good catalog of what I have, what needs to be monitored, and so on, and which box / panel they are in, and see what the cost for that is. It might not be worth it if I have to buy 3 monitors. I just found out that their company is a few miles away from me though, so maybe I'll ask them

Emporia Vue is a good product, I use it myself. It gives you better visibility into where your home usage goes -- other than the large loads (EVs, heat pumps), it's hard to tell otherwise. You'll get a better understanding of your base load, find vampire drain, etc.

It does mean you'll have to install one monitor per panel, at least for the panels where you have loads that you care about. You can install the sensors selectively -- monitor the loads that you suspect are larger (e.g. in my case heat pump, fridge/freezer, network cabinet, range), and you can adjust them later if you find more unaccounted usage.

Now for the bad parts: the Emporia app is pretty basic, they have no official API, and the unofficial API has performance issues. That and the low uptake is why I removed the feature for new Netzero users (I kept it for users that already had it set up). It's unfortunate because it really fits my vision of a comprehensive home energy dashboard, so I might revisit this in the future.

 

[adspguy]

When it stopped working for me the other day I tried to set it up again once and it couldn’t log in. Now I can’t set it up again. That explains why.
I really liked the integration with Netzero, viewing the various loads stacked up is much more interesting than the views available in the emporia app. I agree with your assessment of the emporia product.

 

[SteveO332]

Would it be possible to set the charging priority when using Charge with Solar to prioritize the powerwall and not vehicles? I think you can do this in ChargeHQ, but would love to keep my automations in a single app.

 

[furuike]

Nice touch labeling eclipse time in the daily logs and showing the forecast icon as the sun in totality!

 

[offandonagain]

Would it be possible to set the charging priority when using Charge with Solar to prioritize the powerwall and not vehicles? I think you can do this in ChargeHQ, but would love to keep my automations in a single app.

Netzero doesn't have access to vehicle controls currently. You could create an automation that would bump your Powerwall reserve to 100% when the vehicle is charging, but I'm not sure if that would have the desired effect.

 

[offandonagain]

Nice touch labeling eclipse time in the daily logs and showing the forecast icon as the sun in totality!

Thanks Looks like you'll be on the path of totality, hope the weather is clear and you get a nice dip in solar production. And bump your Powerwall reserve in case the grid has problems tomorrow!

 

[adspguy]

+1 on the label and forecast icon
Looks like your app knows better about the eclipse better than the estimated power. Somehow I don't actually expect he maximum generation during the eclipse

t t

 

[SteveO332]

Netzero doesn't have access to vehicle controls currently. You could create an automation that would bump your Powerwall reserve to 100% when the vehicle is charging, but I'm not sure if that would have the desired effect.

I see. What if we just focus on the excess solar event? Could you create a trigger to fire when solar generation > home usage?

 

[offandonagain]

Looks like your app knows better about the eclipse better than the estimated power. Somehow I don't actually expect he maximum generation during the eclipse

Oops! I'll blame this one on PVWatts -- it's based on historical weather, and on average there is no solar eclipse

 

[yblaser]

The eclipse bar seems to be about an hour off for my area. It shows approximately 11:30-1:30 whereas it should be ~10:30-12:30 in Los Angeles.

 

[offandonagain]

The eclipse bar seems to be about an hour off for my area. It shows approximately 11:30-1:30 whereas it should be ~10:30-12:30 in Los Angeles.

Yup, thanks! Fix already out for this timezone -- it was meant to show totality in the US, but I realized that's confusing for parts that will only see a partial eclipse.

 

[adspguy]

 

[OCJeff]

I might need to make this clearer: the message you see after testing an automation describes the state you can RESTORE to (i.e. the state before testing the automation). The goal here is to test a configuration (make sure the changes can be applied) and then immediately restore to the prior state -- your goal is to apply this configuration in the future, not now.

I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe instead of "Cancel" make the buttons "Keep" or "Restore" to roll back the automation. Just a thought.

 

[OCJeff]

Last night I set up automations to take action when a vehicle starts charging, and another action when it stops charging. Apparently it triggered the "Car stopped charging" automation erroneously in the middle of my charge. Is there anything I can do to ensure this doesn't happen? I'm not sure if there is a way to confirm after two or three updates that the vehicle is no longer charging rather than maybe 1 or two? I'm not sure how that determination is made.

@offandonagain

 

[offandonagain]

Last night I set up automations to take action when a vehicle starts charging, and another action when it stops charging. Apparently it triggered the "Car stopped charging" automation erroneously in the middle of my charge. Is there anything I can do to ensure this doesn't happen? I'm not sure if there is a way to confirm after two or three updates that the vehicle is no longer charging rather than maybe 1 or two? I'm not sure how that determination is made.

@offandonagain

Thanks for the report. I actually had the same thing happen today and was able to investigate in more detail. Wall Connectors sometimes erroneously report a charging_completed state. I fixed this specific issue (fix is already live), and I'll think about other ways to make it more robust.

 

[IronCoffee_Max]

Thanks for the report. I actually had the same thing happen today and was able to investigate in more detail. Wall Connectors sometimes erroneously report a charging_completed state. I fixed this specific issue (fix is already live), and I'll think about other ways to make it more robust.

Is that why I had a couple notifications recently of my "stopped charging" automation running even though no charging had occurred in recent days?

 

[offandonagain]

Is that why I had a couple notifications recently of my "stopped charging" automation running even though no charging had occurred in recent days?

Possibly, but if you send me a note from the app I can investigate in more detail.