PELS

Configure an EV Charger ​

Use this guide when an EV charger is paired in Homey and PELS should decide how much charging current is available.

The convenient setup is to let PELS use an EV charger control mode. PELS then calculates the current in amps for you, and your Homey Flow only maps that value to the charger app's current-control action.

For some chargers PELS sets the current directly through the charger app, and no Flow is needed for it.

Vendor-specific guides:

These chargers need no vendor guide:

  • Alfen (the Alfen app, or the Alfen Pro-line/ACE app): PELS sets the current directly in whole amps from 6 A, so skip Step 3.
  • Peblar (the Peblar EV Charger app by Kyle Michiels): PELS sets the live charge limit directly in whole amps from 6 A, so skip Step 3.
  • amina S (the amina app): built-in control with a Homey API key under Setup → Charging current, or a Flow. PELS starts and stops charging with the charger's on/off switch.
  • go-e Charger (the go-e Charger app): built-in control with a Homey API key under Setup → Charging current, or a Flow. PELS starts and stops charging with the charger's Charging Allowed switch. Set the maximum current no higher than your cable allows: the charger caps the current at the cable's rating.
  • Smappee EV Wall (the Smappee app): PELS starts and stops charging through the charging mode. It pauses the charger and resumes it in standard charging. The app offers no current control, so skip Step 3.
  • Wallbox (the Wallbox Charger app): built-in control with a Homey API key under Setup → Charging current, or a Flow. Choose EV 1-phase or EV 3-phase as the control model.
  • Zappi (the myenergi app): PELS starts and stops charging, and the Zappi charges in the charge mode you chose in the myenergi app.

Before You Begin ​

  • PELS must already be installed and configured with live whole-home power data.
  • Your EV charger must already be paired in Homey.
  • You need to know whether the charger should be controlled as 1-phase or 3-phase charging.

If PELS is not set up yet, start with Getting Started.

Step 1: Open the Charger Settings ​

Open More -> Apps -> PELS -> Settings -> Devices. The charger should appear there. Refresh the device list if it does not.

Step 2: Choose the EV Control Mode ​

Open the charger in the Devices tab and choose the EV control mode that matches your installation:

Control modeUse when
EV 1-phase230 V single-phase charging.
EV 3-phaseThree-phase charging on a 400 V TN supply.

The presets do not support 230 V IT three-phase charging. Neither preset is an accurate substitute for that supply and charging mode.

This is more convenient than a manual stepped-load setup because PELS can expose EV charger current (A) directly in the Flow. Manual stepped-load setup can still work, but then you must convert watts to amps yourself.

Then configure the charger as a normal managed device:

  1. Enable Managed by PELS.
  2. Enable Power-limit control.
  3. Set a priority that matches how important EV charging is compared with heaters, water tanks, and other managed devices.

Lower priority numbers are more important. Devices with higher numbers are limited first when PELS needs to stay under your grid import limit or hard cap.

Under Setup → Default charging current limits, save the minimum and maximum currents to use when the connected car has no saved range. This covers older cars without a Homey car device and cars PELS has not identified. Both values accept whole amps from 6 to 32.

In the charger's Car section, select the cars that charge there. Each selected car can have its own Charging current limits. When that car is matched or confirmed, its saved range replaces the charger default. The same car range follows it to other chargers. Selecting a car alone does not identify which car is connected. Clearing a car's range returns it to the charger default.

The minimum is the lowest current PELS requests while charging; PELS can still pause charging. The maximum also bounds attempts to raise the current. The charger's physical limits always apply. If no supported level fits the active range, PELS pauses charging. Changing the charger's phase configuration keeps the saved amp limits.

A charger whose Automatic model uses power levels in watts from its own settings, such as Zaptec, charges within those levels. Current limits do not apply to it, so its Setup has no default limits, and a car's limits apply when that car charges on another charger. An on/off charger also has no current for limits to set.

Step 3: Create the Charger Current Flow ​

Skip this step when using built-in current control. Easee, Alfen and Peblar need no key or Flow; supported Zaptec and Tesla devices can use a Homey API key when a writable current capability is unavailable, and Futurehome, Wallbox, amina and go-e always use one. Follow the vendor-specific guide above before selecting a method.

Create the Flows that connect PELS to the charger app. The first Flow sends PELS' desired current to the charger. The second Flow reports the selected current back to PELS when your charger app can expose it.

EV charger Flow exampleFigure 1. Example EV charger wiring: PELS emits the desired charger current, the charger reports the selected current back into PELS, and the car reports battery level for boost mode.

Send desired current to the charger ​

Use this Flow shape:

Flow partCard
WhenPELS: Stepped device target changed for your charger
ThenYour charger app: set available charging current

In the charger app action card, use the PELS Flow tag EV charger current (A) for the current value.

PELS handles the 1-phase or 3-phase conversion based on the control mode you selected in Step 2. Do not use Planning power (W) for a charger current field unless you are intentionally building a manual conversion Flow.

Report selected current back to PELS ​

If your charger app reports the selected current, add this Flow:

Flow partCard
WhenYour charger app: charger current changed
ThenPELS: Report stepped load for your charger matching the charger-current tag

This feedback lets PELS confirm which charging level the charger selected. Use the charger app's current tag, not EV charger current (A), in this feedback Flow.

When the reported value is amps, add A after the tag in the matching field, for example [[Charger dynamic current]] A. Without the A suffix, Homey may pass the number without a unit and PELS cannot reliably match it as charger current.

Step 4 (Optional): Charge on Solar Surplus ​

If you have solar and PELS can see your export, you can have the charger follow the sun instead of running to your hard cap. In the charger's device page, turn on Charge on solar surplus.

PELS then picks the charging current your export covers and adjusts it as the sun changes. The default minimum is 6 A — about 1.4 kW on one phase, 4.1 kW on three. If the active car or charger range has a higher minimum, surplus must cover that level. When it cannot, PELS falls back to the same Power limiting choice it uses for your hard cap: charging is turned off, or lowered to the step you picked and topped up from the grid.

Your grid import limit, hard cap and daily budget still come first, and a smart task with a deadline overrides this while it is running. See Solar and Self-Consumption for the full picture.

Step 5: Configure Boost Mode Battery Reporting ​

This step is optional. Basic capacity control does not need battery reporting.

Choose one of these battery-reporting paths for boost mode and Smart tasks:

  • Selected car: open the charger's Car section and select the supported cars that charge there. PELS uses the battery level of the car it matches to the charger. Selecting a car alone does not establish a match; while the page says Waiting to identify the connected car, the charger has no battery level, and its card on Overview says no battery level. PELS matches cars whether or not they are selected, and each car in the list says whether it has been matched to this charger, so you can check that matching works before you rely on it. When a car selected for another charger plugs in there, PELS matches it to that charger, not this one.
  • Charger reading: leave the car selection empty. If the charger exposes a supported battery-percentage capability, PELS reads it directly.
  • Flow reporting: leave the car selection empty and report a battery-percentage tag from the car or charger app using the Flow below.

You can select both cars if they share a charger. If each car always charges on its own charger, select it only there: two cars plugged in at the same time are then matched to their own chargers straight away. If your cars use either charger, select both cars on both chargers. PELS compares their plug-in reports with the charger's report and uses the battery level only after it finds a match. PELS matches a car as soon as its plug-in report arrives, even when the car's app reports up to 20 minutes after the charger. If another car or charger reports within the next 20 minutes and could match too, PELS drops that match and leaves the car unmatched. Selecting a car does not force a match. A car whose plug-in report arrives more than 20 minutes after the charger's is never matched automatically, even if it is the only car selected, because it could have plugged in anywhere in that time. After those 20 minutes the charger's card says Could not identify the connected car; use Confirm connected car in the charger's Car section to match it by hand.

While any car is selected, PELS ignores the battery-reporting Flow, even before a match is available. It does not provide a fallback reading. Clear the car selection to return to the Flow. Setup & recommendations flags an enabled Report battery level for charger action for a charger with a selected car, so the ignored action can be removed or its Flow disabled when it is no longer needed. If no selected car has been matched to that charger yet, it instead suggests clearing the car selection so the Flow keeps working until the car shows as matched.

Use this Flow shape for boost mode:

Flow partCard
WhenYour car or charger app: battery level changed
ThenPELS: Report battery level for charger

Choose the same charger in the PELS action card, and map the battery percentage tag from the car or charger app to battery level.

With no car selected, this Flow supplies battery reports for the charger. EV boost mode can use the resulting battery level to let the charger take power from lower-priority devices while the car is below the configured boost threshold.

Step 6 (Optional): Charge to a Battery Level ​

Without a target battery level, a charger under power limiting charges until the car stops, at the car's own charge limit. To keep the car at an everyday level instead, open the charger's device page and turn on Charge to a battery level in the Charging card, then set the level, for example 30%.

  • PELS stops charging at that level. At or above it, PELS turns the charger off. Below it, the car charges as power allows. At 100%, PELS never turns it off: the car stops itself, and can keep heating or cooling from the wall.
  • A smart task charges further. In the periods a smart task booked, the car charges past the level toward the task's target, for example 80% by 07:00. When the task ends, the level applies again.
  • PELS needs the car's battery level, from a car selected under Car, from the charger itself, or from a Flow (Step 5). The status line under the setting says what the level means for the car on the cable right now.
  • Charge before the battery level is known decides what happens to a car whose level PELS does not have: a guest car, a second car not selected under Car, a car whose app doesn't share its battery level, or your own car before its app reports in after you plug in. On (the default), such a car charges to its own limit. Off, it does not charge until PELS knows its level. An energy smart task (kWh by a time) still charges it in its booked periods; a battery level task needs the level to plan, so it waits too.
  • PELS needs Power-limit control (or Only PELS starts this device) and a power reading from the charger to stop it. Without them, PELS only watches the charger and the status line says so.
  • A car kept below the level shows as held back. When PELS keeps the charger paused for 15 minutes while the car's known battery level is below the level, its Overview card says Held back, and the Held-back devices widget offers Let it run now: a short smart task that aims to charge the car to the level within three hours.

Charge boost and Charge to a battery level do different jobs: boost takes power from lower-priority devices while the battery is below its level, and the battery level is where charging stops.

Step 7: Check the Setup ​

Start with Simulation mode if you are still tuning the rest of PELS. Then verify:

  1. The charger is visible as a managed device in PELS.
  2. The charger uses EV 1-phase or EV 3-phase control mode.
  3. Current control matches the charger: a new Easee setup uses Use built-in device control, while an existing Easee current-control Flow remains supported. A Zaptec, Futurehome, Wallbox, amina, go-e or Tesla with built-in control shows Built-in current control is selected under Setup → Charging current. Other chargers, and any charger you chose to keep on a Flow, receive EV charger current (A) in their current-control Flow.
  4. Charging current changes in the charger app when PELS asks for a lower or higher level.
  5. If you configured battery reporting, the charger's Car section or charging readout shows the battery percentage from your chosen source.

Troubleshooting ​

ProblemWhat to check
The charger is not listed in PELSConfirm the charger is paired in Homey and choose Refresh devices under Settings → Devices. If it is still missing, choose Request support on the Missing a device? card there.
The Flow does not triggerFor a Flow-controlled charger, including an Easee setup you chose to keep, confirm it is managed, power-limit control is enabled, and PELS has live whole-home power data. A new Easee setup, or a Zaptec, Futurehome or Tesla, can use built-in control instead.
The charger receives the wrong currentCheck that the device uses the correct EV 1-phase or EV 3-phase control mode.
Battery level does not update in PELSIf a car is selected, check whether PELS has matched it to the charger and whether that car is available in Homey. Otherwise, check that your battery-reporting Flow selects the correct charger.
PELS never limits the chargerCheck the charger priority, your limits in Limits & safety, and whether Simulation mode is still enabled.

For problems beyond the charger — budget, capacity, or a missed task — see the full Troubleshooting guide.

Built for Homey Pro users who need tighter control over large loads.

Copyright (c) Ole Markus With