Missing API features from Zaptec cloud

[sveinse]

The Zaptec API fair use policy forbids integrators to use features that are not part of the official API. We have been using a couple of those in this integration, which we probably will have to remove. These are functions which users ask for.

The purpose of this issue is to collect a list of functionality we in the Zaptec Home Assistent community would like to request Zaptec to add to their official API. I can't promise they will listen, but we can attempt since the HA user base is quite large.

I'll update this description as items are added in the discussions.

1. Push notifications

   • Polling is inefficient. Most requests doesn't carry any change of state, so they are wasteful.
   • Doing it too frequent puts strains on the cloud, doing it too infrequent gives delays in data update for the user.
   • We'd like a non-deprecated mechanism to subscribe to push notifications on data updates to give near-realtime updates of the data.
   • The gold standard in HA is local-push with no cloud involvement. This would be our preferred solution.
   • If that's not possible, the next best thing is cloud push.
   • Fast updates is especially important in HA where data changes might further be used as triggers in user automations

2. Authorize from integration

   • Support the trigger of authorization from HA
   • Used by some as a means to prevent auto start of charging and keeping the cable locked until authorized
   • Discussed in #55

3. Permanent cable lock

   • Some users want to automate when the cable locking from HA. Today this has to be done via the Portal.
   • Issue #102

4. HMI brightness

   • The ability to set the HMI brightness without needing to use the Portal or app
   • Issue #112

5. User UID

   • To use a more reliable key for storing the data and settings internally it would be better using the user UID
   • Accessing the user UID is not available

6. Enable/disable ECO mode

   • To be able to temporary enable/disable ECO mode from HA for e.g. immediate charge
   • Issue #153

[Lheriss]

Hi, I would like to have a way to identify which rfid tag is used to start a session. I have configured three of them, and would like to be able to detect how much energy is used with each of them... Thanks for your incredible work!

[sveinse]

@Lheriss Thank you for the proposal. I believe this is information which is available in the official dataset from Zaptec, so this is most probably just about making it available in the integration. So its a regular feature request. Can you create a new issue for this topic please? -- If it turns out to be a missing feature, we can come back here and update the list. Thanks.

[sveinse]

Removed

1. kWh meter value as state
   • The SignedMeterValueKwh is available when using /api/chargers/{id}, but not as state
   • This is a field users like to see updated regularly

[peterlindqnet]

Regarding: #153

The Zaptex ECO mode is good but to use it in daily life we need a way to temporarily disable it. Sometimes I need to charge my car immediately, a switch to disable ECO mode would enable this.

[sveinse]

Added item 7 enable/disable ECO mode with reference to #153.

[sveinse]

Removed -- this feature seems to be working fine

2. Delayed start
   • Prevent automatic charge start when connecting a car to the charger
   • Can be handled by setting max current to 0, but these are observed to reset when not charging. Zaptec does not recommended to change these values when not connected to car.
   • Use-cases described in #49

[sveinse]

@thecoldwine This issue contains the list of features the HA community would like to make to Zaptec. They are based on actual use and feature requests made by our users. I hope you can consider these, please. As mentioned, our install base is ~2k-4k installations (of HA).

[thecoldwine]

@sveinse will forward this to the product. Thanks for the information!

[steinmn]

@thecoldwine With regards to the "Push notifications"-feature, @ivastokic mentioned in https://github.com/custom-components/zaptec/issues/176#issuecomment-3062637738 that

Installation message subscription - even it is still active and convenient for getting updates, it is deprecated, so I would not advice to go with that approach. It is in planning phase to be decided if something will replace it for small integrators.

Has there been any decisions made? If not, I thought it might be worth mentioning that the gold standard in the HA-community is local push. Meaning that if pushing (some of) the near-realtime data directly from a charger to the HomeAssistant-computer on the local network could help lighten the load on Zaptec cloud infrastructure, that might be a win-win for both parties.

[sveinse]

Thanks @steinmn I updated the top description to reflect your input.

[thecoldwine]

@steinmn we do have a discussion going with a few different approaches (websockets + signalr, server-sent events and so on). For now there is no decision yet, so no tangible date we're ready to share. Preferred model for us is to have a lightweight protocol without Microsoft vendor-lock and we really hope to get time to close this.