Device integrations
Smappee Genius Flex
Supported devices: Smappee Genius Flex
Our EMS integrates with the Smappee Genius Flex gateway over its local MQTT interface. The gateway is the single point of contact for the charging stations behind it: it exposes each connector for monitoring and control, and the same gateway also delivers the metering of the installation and the battery behind it.
This manual assumes the Genius Flex gateway and the charging stations have already been installed and commissioned in the Smappee environment. After these steps, the gateway is ready for connection to our EMS.
Supported devices
- Genius Flex: the Smappee Genius Flex gateway with its local MQTT interface, one device per charging station
A charging station announces itself on the gateway with its own identifier, and its connectors are steered individually. In the platform you add one EV charger per charging station and set the number of connectors it has.
EMS functionality
With the current integration, our EMS enables:
- Monitoring of the charging state, the charging power and the per-phase currents of every connector
- Monitoring of the running session: charged energy and charging duration
- Power limiting per connector, within the installation maximum the gateway reports
- Pausing and resuming a running charging session
- Load balancing within the limit of the grid connection, together with the battery and PV
- Charging at the cheapest moments, including during negative prices
Starting and stopping sessions stays with the driver and the Smappee backend. Our EMS steers the charging power and pauses the session when charging has to stop.
Additional functionality may be added over time as integration capabilities evolve.
Steering pace
The gateway accepts a new charging setpoint every 5 seconds. Our EMS respects that pace and always sends the most recent allocation, so a limit that has to drop follows the grid connection within one interval.
Configuring the gateway
Install the MQTT integration in the Smappee app
In the Smappee app, go to Control > Smappee Store, open the MQTT app and tap Install Integration. The last step shows a user name and a password: copy both with the copy button in the app.
The same pair gives access to the metering data of the gateway. A battery behind the gateway needs its own pair from the Generic MQTT battery integration.
Put the gateway on the local network
- Connect the Genius Flex to the same wired network (LAN) as the Voltmasters Controller, on the same subnet.
- Give the gateway a fixed IP address and note it.
- Verify that the controller can reach that IP address on port 443.
Check that the charging stations are paired with this gateway
Only charging stations that are coupled to this Genius Flex are published on its interface. Verify in the Smappee environment that every station you want to steer belongs to the same location as the gateway. A station that is not coupled stays invisible to our EMS, even when it charges normally.
Add the charging stations in the platform
Add an EV charger per charging station, selecting brand Smappee and model Genius Flex, and fill in:
- the IP address of the gateway and the credentials from the MQTT app
- the number of connectors of the station
Set the number of connectors to the number the station really has. A station configured with more connectors than it serves waits for measurements that never arrive, and its charging power stays unmanaged.
Measure the charging consumption separately (optional)
Do you want the charging consumption as a separate measurement point? Then add the charging circuit as a submeter, as described under Smappee energy meters. The gateway publishes each submetered circuit of the installation, so the charging consumption is followed on the circuit rather than per connector.
The gateway is now successfully configured and ready for use with the EMS.
Number of phases
Every connector reports how many phases it charges on, and our EMS uses that to convert between the charging current and the charging power. A station that switches between single-phase and three-phase charging is therefore followed automatically.
State of charge
The state of charge of the vehicle is only reported for DC charging sessions. AC stations do not report it, so no state of charge is shown for an AC connector.