Ev plugged in status not available #821

Hi @storacm — use the Wallbox as the plug signal, not ENODE. ENODE is cloud/EV-side and (as you found) only reports "plugged" during DC sessions, whereas the Wallbox knows the cable state locally. Point SEM's Connected sensor at the Wallbox's own status entity (e.g. sensor.<name>_status) — SEM accepts a text status sensor and reads states like connected/charging/ready as plugged, so you don't need the ENODE value at all.

Two things to avoid: don't leave it blank (SEM reads that as "no car" and won't start a surplus/solar session), and don't fake a permanently-on sensor (SEM would then never see an unplug or a finished session, and would keep planning night charges for a car that's gone). One quick check — in Developer Tools → States, look at the Wallbox status while the cable is in but idle; if it shows a value SEM doesn't map (e.g. "Waiting for car demand"), make a small template binary_sensor that is on for any cable-present state and point the Connected sensor at that instead.

FYI: once current is actually flowing, SEM already overrides a lying plug sensor via its physics defence — but that only rescues an in-progress charge, it can't kick off the first start, which is why a truthful Wallbox-side signal matters.

Short answer: use the Wallbox's plug signal, not the car's — and please don't leave the field blank or fake an always-on signal. Both of those will bite you.

Why ENODE is the wrong source here

ENODE reports what the car says about charging. Your Wallbox Commander 2 is the thing the cable is actually plugged into, and it knows the difference between "no car" and "car present, not drawing". That distinction is the whole basis of SEM's decisions: solar-surplus charging means the car is there and waiting, which the car itself often cannot tell you while it is asleep.

What to configure

SEM auto-detects Wallbox and looks for these, in order:

ev_connected: binary_sensor.wallbox*connected* / binary_sensor.wallbox*plug*
ev_charging: binary_sensor.wallbox*charging* / sensor.wallbox*state*

If your Wallbox integration gives you a plug/connected binary sensor, point SEM's Connection field at it and you are done.

If it only gives you the status string (sensor.wallbox_<name>_status_description), you are still fine — SEM's charger-status classifier already understands Wallbox's own vocabulary, including Charging, Paused, Ready, Waiting for car demand, Connected, Disconnected and No car connected. Point the Charging status field at that sensor.

For the plug signal specifically, a three-line template turns the same string into a binary sensor:

template:
 - binary_sensor:
 - name: "Wallbox plugged in"
 device_class: plug
 state: >
 {{ states('sensor.wallbox_YOURBOX_status_description')
 not in ['Disconnected', 'No car connected', 'Error', 'Unknown',
 'unavailable', 'unknown'] }}

Check your own sensor's values in Developer Tools → States first and adjust that list — the point is "anything that is not no cable counts as plugged".

The two things not to do

Do not leave the connection field blank. SEM reads an unconfigured connection sensor as not connected (bool(sensor and read(sensor))), so it would decide there is never a car and never start a session. Blank is not "unknown", it is "no".

Do not wire a permanently-on plug signal. SEM would believe a car is present around the clock: night charging would run against an empty bay, session energy and daily targets would accumulate against nothing, and the "car is full" detection would have no honest signal to work from. It trades one wrong answer for a noisier one.

Your XPENG via ENODE is still worth having

Keep it — just for a different job. If ENODE exposes the car's state of charge, point SEM's Vehicle SOC field at it and you can charge to a target percentage rather than a kWh amount, with SEM working out how much is still needed. That is what the car-side integration is genuinely good for; the wallbox owns "is the cable in".

If you paste the entity list your Wallbox integration created (Settings → Devices & Services → Wallbox → entities), I will tell you exactly which one goes in which field.

Hi,
thank you so much for your suport.
I did connect "sensor.wallbox_commander_2_sn_XXXXXX_status_description" to SEM as connected sensor. But it seems it does not understand the statuses.

As far as I can see it can have the following statuses:
Unavailable
Paused
Ready
Locked
Charging
Disconnected

Another anoying thing about the Wallbox Commander 2 is that you have to unlock to charge which, is another sesnor than the pause/resume sensor. If the unit is not unlocked first, you can not use the pause/resume button, as it is unavailable.

Another question sabout SEM, how does it determine what is cheap?
I have been using the "EV Smart Charging" addon until now, and it give me the possibiility to charge to a min level, charge above this min level if the price is belw a certain threshhold, and also charge fully if the prices ar really low.
Can I get the same functionality with SEM?

My Wallboc Commander charger is also connected to a power meeter for the complete hous via modbus and the wallbox commander optimises power usage based on avaialable power. Does this work together with you shedding an ramping etc?

Thanks again for your support.

Hi again,

here is a list of all the entities from the Wallbox Commander 2 charger:

Depot price
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Charging power
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Max available power
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Charging speed
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Added range
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Added energy
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Discharged energy
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Cost
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Current mode
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
State of charge
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Max charging current
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Energy price
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Status description
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Pause/resume
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Maximum charging current
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Energy price
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Lock
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Max ICP current
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Maximum ICP current
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Solar charging
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Added green energy
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Added grid energy
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—
Resume schedule
Wallbox Commander 2 SN XXXXXX
EV Charging
Wallbox
—

Thanks for the entity list and the status values — that pinned it down.

Why the statuses "aren't understood"

You put ..._status_description in the Connection field. SEM's plug reader recognises Ready and Charging as plugged, but not Paused or Locked — and those are exactly your box's normal idle and must-unlock states, so SEM reads "no car" and never starts. That's a real gap (SEM's charging-status classifier does treat paused/locked as cable-present, the plug reader just doesn't) — filed as #833 .

Workaround now: keep the template binary_sensor (device_class: plug, on for anything except Disconnected/Unavailable) from my earlier reply and point Connection at that. You can also point the Charging status field at status_description directly — that classifier understands Charging/Paused/Ready/Locked/Disconnected.

Field mapping for your Wallbox

• Connection → the template plug sensor above
• Charging status → Status description
• Charging power → Charging power
• Vehicle SOC → State of charge (lets you charge to a %, not just kWh)
• Control handles SEM drives: Maximum charging current + Pause/resume (auto-detected). Keep the box Unlocked — when it reads Locked, SEM can't drive the contactor and will report it as uncontrollable rather than fight it.

"Cheap" and the tiers you're used to

SEM classifies price by percentile of today's prices (cheapest hours), not a fixed cent threshold. Mode "Solar + cheapest hours" gives you: an At least min floor (guaranteed by your target time) + solar surplus above it + a cheapest-hours grid top-up to your target. The one thing it doesn't do is your addon's absolute-price tiering ("charge fully only if prices are really low") — the target is fixed, not raised dynamically when it's ultra-cheap. Say the word if you'd like that noted as an enhancement.

Wallbox load-balancing vs SEM

SEM controls by setting max charging current + pause/resume. Your Wallbox's Power Boost / Max ICP current is a house-current ceiling — that coexists fine as a safety cap. But turn off the Wallbox's own Solar charging / eco-smart, otherwise two optimisers fight over the same current and SEM's shedding/ramping will oscillate against it. Let SEM be the sole optimiser; leave Power Boost as the hard house limit.