Local control via bluetooth

[newlund]

Feature request

So it seems Easee soon will implement local control via bluetooth also on the old Easee Home chargers.
Do you think this integration will be able to utilize that functionality?
Perhaps via an esphome bluetooth proxy?

What version of the integration are you using?

0.9.54

Anything in the logs that might be useful for us?

No response

Additional information

No response

[olalid]

We will certainly explore the possibilities of local control once it is released. OCPP might make more sense than Bluetooth though.
At this point in time we can only speculate...

[newlund]

"OCPP might make more sense than Bluetooth though"

Agree, but have you heard anything about them opening up for local control via OCPP? I have only read about bluetooth.

[olalid]

Local OCPP is mentioned in this article for instance:
https://www.tu.no/artikler/easee-har-lansert-ny-lader/535731?key=SeUClKJK

[newlund]

Ah nice!
Thanks! 🙂

[olalid]

Yes, it remains to see exactly how much of the new features makes it to the already installed devices I guess.

[ste-ta]

According to Easea changelog. Local bluetooth control is available with App Beta 2.0 and Charger Firmware v316.
However I cannot find a firmware v316 update.
https://easeeupdates.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/18593857478801-Easee-App-v2-0-0-Beta-

[olalid]

Ok, so some signs that things are moving along.
Its likely that those versions are for internal testing I guess.

[PeteHassio]

Bluetooth is now available in the IOS app and can be configured and used.

[newlund]

Same in the android app (2.0) but my charger still run firmware v310. Local bluetooth api seems to require v316.

[olalid]

Yes, the app asked for permission to use BT when I opened it recently.
But my charger is not updated to v316.

[nrehn]

Hi,
I received v318 today on ny easee home.
Anything I can do to contribute?
Android app and bluetooth connectivity works.

[olalid]

Yes, I too have v318 now, I have not tried bluetooth yet though.
At this point I do not know what questions to ask yet :)

[ste-ta]

Propably we need to reverse engineer the BT protocol:
https://reverse-engineering-ble-devices.readthedocs.io/en/latest/protocol_reveng/00_protocol_reveng.html

After that commands could bei implemented in Physon scripts.

[ste-ta]

Just had a quick shot at the Easee 2.0.1 apk and tried to decompile it using JADX. There are some hints to Bluetooth communication available however the APK / Java code seems to be obfuscated making it difficult to read / reverse engineer:

If I have some time I will check the bluetooth communication log between Easee app and charger using wire shark.

[skela]

The Bluetooth stuff that's done for the apps and the charger isn't really designed to work with smart home systems, nor any third party system. But the building blocks that were put in place for this means its going to be easier for us to get local OCPP up and running, and possibly other ways of controlling the charger locally. If I can figure out how to get Bluetooth working in an android emulator inside of docker, then perhaps BT could be used for local control as well. But haven't had any luck with that. I very much would like local control over the chargers, but don't much care how or what that looks like.

[olalid]

I think with HA you could in theory place a ESPHome bluetooth gateway close to a charger to get at least some local control.
But I would prefer to work with a protocol over WiFi since would not require any extra hardware.

[celodnb]

Hi, I was just wondering if there was any more updates on this? I have v318 on my Easee home, and can control via the app with Bluetooth, but would LOVE local control and minimise cloud usage.

Otherwise, I'm also willing to try and connect via an ESP device, to get some local control. Does anyone have a guide of how to connect with an ESP, or have tried it yet?

[olalid]

I have not looked in to it yet at least.
As mentioned before Easee has stated that there will be local OCPP support, but there is no target date for the release of that to my knowledge.

[jkaberg]

Seems like they're moving towards making local OCPP an paid feature, if it ever comes.

[olalid]

That is bad news if that will be the case...

[skela]

Let me check but I think there's local and cloud OCPP, that might confuse some people a bit.

Nothing has been decided yet with regard to that, but it would be strange if you had to pay for local ocpp for smart home use, don't think it makes sense.

[jkaberg]

@skela my take on it is that you'll have to pay as the functionality is not yet developed, and to recoup said developer time payment is required (if they ever decide to do it). This is just inline with other moves Easee have been doing lately (like adding subscription features to the newly released charger)

I guess Easee stance on this is the (Easee HOme) charger wasn't sold or advertised with this functionality, and thereby they are not required to develop it.

[skela]

Fair enough. The chargers were not advertised with having Bluetooth either, and released retroactively to all chargers free of charge.

Anything they can do to decrease cost is in the best interest of the company, and I reckon this is one of those things.

The subscription model was sniffed at for the new charger for sure like many other charge point manufacturers have done in the past. And subsequently cancelled.

[olalid]

@skela yes, I sort of assume that reduced traffic to the cloud servers equals reduced cost for Easee, so it should be in their interest to have local "API" of some sort.
From my point of view it can be OCPP or whatever really. OCPP seems complicated to implement compared to e.g MQTT or REST API or even Matter, but I guess OCPP has more than one purpose.

[skela]

There's a few different OCPP docker solutions, combining that with a simple rest api and a streaming thing mqtt or something else) into 1 local Easee docker container should be straightforward enough.

[jkaberg]

There's also https://github.com/lbbrhzn/ocpp (OCPP home assistant integration)

[celodnb]

Not sure if this shows that there's still hope for local control via OCPP. Looking in the table in the link below, the Easee home chargers are due for a local OCPP in the near future (article was updated 2 months ago)...

https://support.easee.com/hc/no/articles/15915437771921-What-are-the-differences-between-Charge-Lite-and-Home-

Wondering if we should collectively all email Easee, and ask them to pull their finger out and get a local OCPP update released asap 🤣