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zas.fi
Low data mode - feature request

Hi there,

New to OVMS I thought the bundled 1MB/month Horizon card would do the job of occasional battery checking and daily starting of AC just fine.
After all, that should not be very many bits of real data payload.

The reality seems to be something else, as it burned through the 1MB allowance the first day. Leaving it on seems to burn through the money rather quickly.
It's great that some seem to have 2€/month unlimited IoT available, but for those who don't, would it be difficult to create a low data mode?

I would be happy with an OVMS waiting for a request to send battery info or a request to start AC or charging. Or location (different requests? for one-time current location and location streaming which can obviously use a lot of data). That should limit data used. And as OVMS seems to respond very quickly, that wouldn't be a problem as it has been with Nissan's original service that could take 5 minutes to respond.

Since the v3 hardware wifi chip doesn't interface with any older routers (see https://www.openvehicles.com/comment/6993#comment-6993 )  I've paused my Horizon SIM and started a habit of sharing the wifi from my phone through the window whenever I want to talk with the car. Seems to work, but of course it's a bit clumsy and only works if you have a spot where your phone wifi (or any working wifi) will reach the car. No-hassle 4G usage would be great. Especially with cars that can start AC even if the car is not charging (mine is a 2016 Leaf, 2015 works fine I hear).

Great if this can be considered. Please let me know if I can do something to help, I haven't delved in to the OVMS code at all at this point.

markwj
markwj's picture
OVMS v2 should use around

OVMS v2 should use around 60KB/day baseline. Maybe more if you have poor connectivity or other issues causing a reconnect. About 2MB/month. That is without SSL/TLS (which would increase the usage somewhat during the connection phase.

If you are seeing 1MB/day, something is wrong. Time to check logs to see what.

zas.fi
Thanks markwj. I thought the

Thanks markwj. I thought the usage was high.
And I did have SSL/TLS activated, but that is as well something I can live without.

zas.fi
example definitions

Low data mode (activated with a checkbox from setup) example definitions

Version 1.0:
 - minimize data usage, send nothing that isn't vital  (how does server login / keepalive work, is this a problem?)
 - wait passively for AC ON/OFF or lock/unlock request
 - once request is received, act accordingly and also send battery&charging status to the server once (so AC OFF can be used to check the battery as it does nothing if AC is off)
 - location services disabled (not sent) in low data mode
 - no changes to the app required, only OVMS firmware (as long as the server is not a problem)

Version 2.0:
 - include configuration of the low data mode on/off in the app (propably requires server changes as well, since such a command doesn't exist at the moment)
 - include a separate 'update battery status' feature in the app
 - include a version of the 'live' graphic that says 'low data' as the car may be 'live' but we haven't heard of it for hours/days (necessary?)
 - include location services by
   * adding a timestamp of the car location data at the server on the app Location screen
   * adding a 'update location' button on the app Location screen that requests the car to send it's location once
   * adding a 'live location' button (on/off statuses) on the app Location screen that streams the location as usual, with a warning of high data usage

markwj
markwj's picture
 minimize data usage, send

 minimize data usage, send nothing that isn't vital  (how does server login / keepalive work, is this a problem?)

Yes, this is the issue.

dexter
dexter's picture
General recommendations to

General recommendations to keep data usage low:

  1. Don't use the V3 (MQTT) protocol. MQTT needs much more bandwidth than MP.
  2. Don't activate the App's background service mode (currently only applies to Android).
  3. Don't activate GPS Streaming Mode (feature #8).
  4. Reduce the general update intervals (web UI: Config → Server V2).

Depending on the vehicle type, you may have additional options, see documentation or ask a developer.

If the vehicle sends custom data records to the server, you can suppress these by adding the corresponding config entries. For example, the Twizy sends an additional extended GPS track recording using data subtype "xrt.gps.log". To disable transmission of these records, do "config set notify xrt.gps.log -".

Regards,
Michael

drewski
This happened to me in the

This happened to me in the Spring on Hologram SIM.

It looked like something funky happened with the modem and cell network as Markwj said he didn't see corresponding activity on the OVMS server side.

jogeeg
jogeeg's picture
Is unlimited 64kbps SIM good for OVMS in 2015 Nissan Leaf?

I found this SIM with unlimited 64kbps service for 1 year and I'm hoping someone might be able to confirm this will work fine with the OVMS v3.3 4G SIM7600G I just ordered from fasttech.com for my 2015 Nissan Leaf SL.

markwj
markwj's picture
Should be ok, but would

Should be ok, but would probably work out more expensive than the suggested Hologram option..

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