Charging reminder... app, ifttt, APIs, script??

[Ton K]

What I'm looking for is a way to have some sort of notification send (from the app, an email, a text, ifttt) when I forget to plug in my Mini SE.

Ideally, I would love to do this through the Mini app, but ifttt or writing a custom script would also be good (I would just need access to theMini's status). The goal is to have the battery level checked at perhaps 9pm. If it is below x% and the car is not plugged in, send a reminder.

Does anyone know if a) Mini might add such a feature (probably not), or b) if there are any APIs that one could use to write an ifttt or custom script?

Thanks!

Ton

 

[SameGuy]

If you have a home automation system that talks Zwave, you can get a high-current Zwave relay that has energy monitoring, then base a script around that. It’s on my back burner now, but when I get the time I’ll wire in the Aeotec Heavy Duty Smart Switch and write some automations or maybe Groovy scripts for Hubitat — one of them being a notifier when the circuit is energized (or not).

 

[Ton K]

If you have a home automation system that talks Zwave, you can get a high-current Zwave relay that has energy monitoring, then base a script around that. It’s on my back burner now, but when I get the time I’ll wire in the Aeotec Heavy Duty Smart Switch and write some automations or maybe Groovy scripts for Hubitat — one of them being a notifier when the circuit is energized (or not).

If I understand what you are suggesting correctly, you are approaching this by getting information from the charger… is that correct?

If so, that would solve part of my goal… send a reminder when the car is not charging. The other thing I was trying to include is to only send the notification when the car has less than X% charge in the battery.

 

[SameGuy]

Yes, that’s the plan for now. Some EVSEs (as well as the OpenEVSE station) are able to communicate with external software or apps; unfortunately, my so-called “smart” EVSE currently only talks to the woefully inadequate ChargeLab app, so for now I can only automate status notifications (or control the charge based on external triggers) by reading the energy metering output.

 

[endquote]

You could try reverse engineering the MINI app by snooping on its traffic with a proxy server, and then impersonating it in your own code.

https://www.charlesproxy.com/

Likely easier said than done though.

 

[Tommm]

When you get that app working do you think you can get one to text me when the car my kid (or wife) is driving is getting low on gasoline?

 

[carrrl]

How about https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/bmw_connected_drive/ which is powered by https://github.com/bimmerconnected/bimmer_connected

 

[piflechien]

BMW has API that you can call to get battery status.
Write a script that runs everyday at 9pm, check battery status with these API, then if it's below X do something (notification, mail, sms, etc)

Alternatively you can use Tronity service and use their API or create a webhook. (need developer skills though).
Here's my referral link for one month free trial: https://app.tronity.io/signup/pKISSyUJm

 

[AndysComputer]

I bought two OpenEVSE units purely for their APIs so that I could write a web app and run it on a raspberrypi in a 7” touchscreen “frame” to sit in the living room and show me live status.

Whether each unit is sleeping or available (they only provide power during the night) and whether or not the car is connected. Plus pull the session stats to store and calculate charging cost (which is currently zero due to the free at night plan).