Hi Hollie,
Thank you for your feedback. I also use the charger without backoffice.
As hotfix I increased the EMS current validity time from 60 sec to 150 sec to prevent charging current spikes when the Mobus communication is interrupted.
Best Regards
Peter
Thanks for your help. Got supported by Alfen!
Hi Hollie,
Issue seems to be resolved in firmware release 6.4.0
Release note:
Fixed an issue where the periodic connection check was executed when the charging station was
configured as a standalone charging station. This meant that the charging station was
unnecessarily disconnecting the Ethernet connection, for example the modbus slave connection,
even when that was not supposed to happen.
Best regards,
Peter
Hey @Pedro_65
thanks for this info, I have updated the firmware in my chargepoint and I can confirm the connection remains stable now for more than one hour.
Best regards,
Lieven.
I’ve searched around but can’t find a definitive answer to this question: how exactly do you enable the modbus interface through the ACE application? I don’t see an option for this anywhere. I do have the license for Active Load Balancing though, but not the one for “Smart Charging Network”. What this means is that I can select either “Meter” or “Energy Management System” as a Source, but when I select EMS the “Mode” setting is locked to “Socket” (see screenshots). Is that an issue?
The only modbus related thing I see is when I select “Meter” as a Source, I can select “Modbus TCP/IP” instead of the DSMR protocol, but that doesn’t seem to work.
If anyone has any tips I’d be much obliged.
Hey @jeroen94704
the only thing you need to two are the first two screenshots you show:
From then on you can access the modbus service on the chargepoint using the method explained in this thread.
Good luck,
Lieven.
I’ve got this working with my Alfen Eve, up to load-balancing according to sun-expectations, amperes drawn and km left on my car.
Can I go a bit further, as I know the location of the car and I always use the same RFID card.
Would it be possible to start a session from modbus? If I’ve got the serial-code from the RFID card, would I be able to write that somewhere in a modbus register (perhaps write a few more registers) to start a session without physically hold the card next to the charger?
I’ve got:
car location
wall charger connection status
When those variables are correct, I would like to start the session. I do have a back-office connected to charge the card-holder. When my car is not at home, it should not automatically start the session (I’m able to put in a few more safety-rules within HA).
Thanks! It seems to work now. But it seems like it does require a full restart of HA after changing the configuration. The quick reload option is not enough. That’s what bit me with this.
Thank you for this topic! I just ordered dynamic charging licence for my Alfen Eve Pro chargepoint. So I hope to mess arround with it one of these days, I only want to charge when enough capacity is available (we pay extra if we use more than 2,5kW in 15 minutes here, so slow charging at night, faster when there is solar).
Does anyone know if modbus can give me the charging pass serial number?
According to that, I want to set some charging levels.
Wrote a guide in how to configure evcc with Alfen Eve and a dutch smart grid meter with a P1 port.
Evcc unfortunately doesn’t support load balancing yet but it can do smart solar charging and charging schemes (e.g. make sure at least 50% charged by 8am next Monday but postpone as long as possible while waiting for solar power)
Smart solar charging means it has options to go full power, pv only, or minimum 6A with pv + the help from grid if pv output is less than minimum required current to charge your car
Instructions in Dutch but docker-compose and evcc yaml templates may be of use:
For my Algen integration, created in NodeRed, I also have the ‘CapTar’ option created.
When enabling this button, I set the max power drawn from the net to just below the current CapTar value.
Erwin
Were you able to read out the RFID card over ModBus, that’s what I’m trying to do. Based on that I want to set some charging profiles.
Erwin
Nice! Exactly what I need.
Sadly I can only purchase the licence via the company that placed the Alfen and they don’t respond to anything… Even if I want to order it from the Alfen store, I need them to approve the account so I’m stuck at the moment.
Very interesting thread! I just received my new EV, which is a Volvo XC40, but I don’t have a charger yet. Currently I’m exploring my options before buying one. So after reading (almost) the entire topic, I still have some questions:
What is the advantage of setting the current via HA/modbus compared to the out-of-the-box load balancing?
I assume you can also charge at maximum speed with the out-of-the-box load balancing, regardless of the current household consumption?
These modbus parameters, are they also applicable to charging points from other vendors? How did you find the correct parameters?
@hollie You say you can suspend the charging by using the Volvo API and the “location-id”. But where can I find the exact value for location-id?
I do have a digital meter with a HomeWizard P1 connected to the P1 port.
Thanks!
Hey Thomas,
partial answer to your questions:
See the modbus register document from Alfen that is available on their website. I would be very surprised if they would match the register map on devices from other manufacturers.
Please see this commit I made to the Volvo On Call example scripts on github.
Best regards,
Lieven
Other answers:
When using out-of-the-box load balancing, Modbus can’t be enabled. Modbus can be used to read parameters/variables from the Alfen Eve. So it’s either using Modbus&HA, or P1&Load-balancing
It can be turned off in the configuration software. When load-balancing is turned on AND you disconnect P1, it will fall-back to a safer charging rate.
I had the Alfen Eve with Load-Balancing enabled from the start. Bought a P1 splitter as I already had the HomeWizard P1. Then I found out I could connect the Alfen Eve to HA and enabled modbus. The P1 splitter is not necessary anymore, and I do not have the need for a P1 cable to the charging station.
the password should be the one that you need to login into your alfen wallbox,
if you have use ace installer, it is not the first authentication, but the second dialog
The password, you get them together with your wallbox installation, if you don’t have them, try to contact alfen
