DemandShaper

Something I was wondering about. With Demandshaper I see that it can update the settings on the OpenEVSE. I was wondering if it might also be used to update the time on the units to include daylight savings in areas that have it? Maybe once a day (night) it would push a time update to ensure it’s sync’d. Maybe even just once a week.

Latest version of evse WiFi software will auto update from ntp, see:

The easiest way to update the time on the evse currently is to tap the time update button on the openevse Web interface.

Which makes it even more vital the timestamps sent to and from the EVSE are in a proper ISO compliant format with a timezone included (or even better just send an epoch time).

I have been looking at that today. I bought my OpenEVSE in Jan. 2019. Would I happen to have the newer ESP32 or will I need to get one to add to each?

I’m afraid not, the ESP32 WiFi 3.x has not yet started shipping, it’s still in beta. It will be a plug and play upgrade if you did want to upgrade the module now or in the future:

We will try to backport any important FW upgrades to the ESP8266 but resources are constrained.

I’m afraid not, the ESP32 WiFi 3.x has not yet started shipping, it’s still in beta. It will be a plug-n-play upgrade if you did want to upgrade the module now, or in the future:

We will try to backport any important FW upgrades to the ESP8266 but resources are constrained.

In my digging I was coming to that conclusion. To bad, but at the same time that is the advantage of the OpenEVSE. I can upgrade/replace components as needed. Hence why I went with it.

Another question, besides the ESP32, will the new firmware for the main module that I see being developed. Will the main module also require a hardware upgrade? Also, what does that new firmware v6 for the module bring?

No, firmware upgrade for the main controller FW does not require any hardware changes. There are no significant changes in recent FW builds. See change log: Releases · openenergymonitor/open_evse · GitHub

Currently, there is little advantage for most users to upgrade to the ESP32 and latest EVSE controller FW. Apart from NTP time update there are no major new features yet that the ESP32 has over the ESP8266. Currently, the ESP32 and latest EVSE controller FW are mainly used by developers.

This is some exciting new solar PV divert features in development which we will try and backport the ESP8266.

To be honest. The NTP is just about worth it to me. I prefer clocks in 2020 to set themselves. lol.

1 Like

Why can’t the ESP8266 do NTP? Tasmota (for example) does.

The ESP8266 in the OpenEVSE is doing a lot more work than a Tasmota. We were nearing the limit of resources on the device hence the decision to migrate development to the ESP32.

1 Like

Makes sense. Seems the maker community at large is moving to the ESP32. I see Adafruit is pushing their own Huzzah32. Kind of wonder if I could get one of those and flash the firmware from here on it.

Yes, this is exactly what we’ve been using. The Huzzah32, it’s a drop in replacement:

Although, @jeremypoulter who’s been doing a lot of the firmware development has been using the esp32-wrover-kit, it’s not more available debug functions. PlatformIO makes it easy to build the FW for lots of different hardware options, the NodeMCU32 and Feather32 are also supported:

Found it on Adafruit. Pretty straight forward to integrate it to my OpenEVSEs. If nothing else I could help you BETA test.

Sounds good, the current ESP32 version is actually very stable. Recommend running the -pre-compiled firmware from the releases page: Releases · OpenEVSE/ESP32_WiFi_V4.x · GitHub