Offline behavior for the EV Charger can be a bit tricky at the moment, so recommended to keep it connected to the local WiFi network as much as possible.
Is a WiFi connection required for the EV Charger to work?
No - the EV Charger will come ready to charge at 40A without needing any adjustments via the app. If needing to adjust the charge rate or automations managing the EV Charger, that will require the EV Charger to be connected to your local network via WiFi.
How do measurements work when the EV Charger has lost connection with the Emporia cloud or internet?
1.) If the outage is under ~20 mins or so, the EV Charger should have enough storage on-device to retain all measurement data and upload that to the Emporia cloud once the connection has resumed.
2.) If the outage is greater than 20 mins, then its behavior is limited to the amount of storage on-device. In this situation, it won't be able to retain each of the individual measurement records (seconds, mins, hours if long enough or more), but will still keep track of the cumulative usage from during the outage. Once the outage is over, it'll then "average" the total cumulative usage into each of the individual measurement records that might've been lost from during the outage. That means that each of those individual records will have the same incorrect "averaged" amount, but the total should still be correct for that time period. It can happen however that the device might lose track of that cumulative usage and thus lose some of the measurement data completely, so very much recommended to keep the Emporia device connected if possible.
What about EV Charger controls when offline?
Without a WiFi/cloud connection, the EV Charger cannot be managed from within the app itself. Will need to reconnect it to the Emporia cloud to manage EV Charger behavior. If your ISP or local network is unavailable, might try to connect the EV Charger to your phones' WiFi Hotspot temporarily to provide app-based control again. The EV Charger should still be able to charge if the EV Charger was left in a "Ready" state from within the app before the outage occurred. If the EV Charger was left in a "Paused" state, would need to reconnect it to the Emporia cloud to adjust its charging state.
EV Charger Schedules in an offline situation?
Schedules are downloaded on-device, so schedules should continue to work even if disconnected from the network or Emporia cloud. Updating/changing scheduled behavior will require the EV Charger to be reconnected to the Emporia cloud.
We are certainly looking to make the EV Charger more responsive in offline situations like these in the future, so be sure to reach out to the Customer Support team if you have specific requests about what features/functionality should be available in offline situations.
Feedback and Suggestions
This knowledge base is pretty new for the Emporia team. Our goal is to provide all of the information we can to help you manage your energy in better ways. If this article wasn't helpful, or we could be more clarifying on any points please reach out to the Customer Support team and we'll certainly work to improve these guides.