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We have an EV and a PV system but don't have OpenEVSE yet. Currently I have access to our required revenue grade meters via RS485.

 So I have PV power and power to/from the grid available to me on a Linux desktop computer. A simple program can do the math and set charge current on the OpenEVSE.

1. How do I send shell command via http to the OpenEVSE to control it - charge current etc? Or Perl or Python.

I've been finding various Python and other scripts but I apparently don't understand just what RAPI and mqtt is. Like does the OpenEVSE use both communication protocols at the same time?

I would be using the hardwired ethernet board in the OpenEVSE instead of wifi as there is no wifi in the garage where the charger would be located.

2. I guess another option would be to use Home Assistant docker image but how do I get the PV and grid power data to HA?

I'll need some basic baby steps to get me going.

Thanks!

After getting some help/answers from the github crew - it is now working.

Seems there's some issues with the software and I needed to understand how it worked.

I was sending both grid_ie and solar using the same http call. Doing this does not work. I had send one or the other and then enable the one I am sending in the settings.

Then in the SolarProduction->Production and Export pages I had to enter a dummy topic for mqtt. Even though mqtt is disabled in the settings.

The github crew will be doing some enhancements that will make this all work better. Reading the issues on github allowed me to understand where they are in the development process.

Right now I have firmware v4.2.2 esp-gateway module and 8.2.2 for the arduino board

It's a great product and will be waiting for the updates to the firmware to make it even better!

> It would appear that HA is controlling the charge current instead of the OpenEVSE?

That is correct, OpenEVSE still does what I want and I have more control over smart logic with HA but I am not using the functionality built in. An example is I have a wholesale power plan where the cost per kW/h is variable by the minute. So, when there is a lot of green energy the price is <10c kW/h, sometimes it is negative where I get paid to charge my car! So with HA I have defined a 'BOOST' mode where depending on my driving needs I can be conservative or aggressive with my power demands based on price & solar. This works really well. Ie. It will charge on surplus solar until the power price gets below 10c kW/h then it goes flat out until the price exceeds this. So, I am probably never going to use the built in logic because I have more flexibilty with HA. I do need a OpenEVSE since it gives me the API for any EV. NB: Tesla has an OOTB API so I can use a normal charger for this vehicle.