SoC for Opel Astra and other cars: OBD adapter + MQTT

[Formstation]

It's possible to get the charge status of your vehicle into evcc without car brand app madness and token terror!

I didn't want a subscription to the Stallantis app just for getting the SoC into evcc, so I started looking for an alternative. However, there wasn't one specifically for the Astra in connection with evcc yet. Nevertheless, thanks to the help of @hurzhurz, @moritzklein, @meatpiHQ and others, I managed to come up with a working solution for my Astra. That should also work for many other models, especially if there is a suitable vehicle profile in the WiCAN interface.

For this, you will need the WiCAN OBD-II adapter from meatpi and a machine that can run mosquitto/MQTT. I installed Mosquitto on the same device that runs evcc. In my case, this is an old Mac mini, which runs all day anyway as a media center and Minecraft server.

First, you need to plug the WiCAN adapter into the OBD port of your Astra on the left under the steering wheel. I recommend a 30 cm extension to hide the adapter under the cover. Make sure that it is actually connected.

Then set up the WiCAN adapter. To do this, you first connect to the device's Wi-Fi with a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. The SSID will look like "WiCAN_xxxxxxxxxxxx", default password: @meatpi#, and access the adapter settings via IP 192.168.80.1 in any browser. Enter your home Wi-Fi details there. Detailed instructions can be found here: https://www.meatpi.com/products/wican

The adapter should now appear in your router's device overview. There you will see its IP address, which you can now use to open the adapter interface in the browser of a device connected to your home Wi-Fi, in my case 192.168.178.63. The car's ignition must be on for this to work!

I recommend performing a firmware update first, you get the newest version here: https://github.com/meatpiHQ/wican-fw/releases/

Now it's time to get MQTT to work. Here you will find all the ways to get it running on your system. https://mosquitto.org/download/

As a complete novice, it was quite a challenge for me, but it's worth it. Don't give up!

It is also important to set a username and password. Please research for yourself how this works on your system. Also, how to start and stop the server in the terminal, or check its status.

To ensure that the MQTT server knows where to wait for the SoC from the WiCAN adapter and make it available for evcc, the following lines must be written to the MQTT configuration file:

allow_anonymous false
password_file /opt/homebrew/Cellar/mosquitto/2.0.22_1/etc/mosquitto/pwfile #replace with path of your pwfile
listener 1883 #MQTT port

Then make the following settings in the WiCAN interface in your browser:

To check whether MQTT is receiving the SoC from the WiCAN adapter, use an app such as MQTT Explorer. https://mqtt-explorer.com

Last but not least, the evcc.yaml file must be adjusted by adding MQTT and adjusting the values for the Opel Astra.

mqtt:
  broker: 192.168.178.69:1883
  user: xxxxxxxx
  password: xxxxxxxx

vehicles:
- name: opelastra
  type: custom
  title: Opel Astra
  capacity: 50
  soc:
    source: mqtt
    topic: wican/astra/soc
    jq: '.SOC'
    timeout: 480m

Since the WiCAN adapter only transmits the SoC when the vehicle's ignition is running, I set the timeout to 8 hours to avoid the evcc error message “Opel Astra: vehicle soc: outdated”. If anybody has a more efficient solution, please let me know.

And if you've managed to get it working with another model, please feel free to share your experience.

[stan23]

Very nice, this will also help in the future once there is no 2G network coverage and the car cannot communicate with the PSA backend anymore.

[supachris]

The Opel Astra has 4G connectivity for the remote functions. Only the emergency call part is 2G.

[stan23]

I forgot to mention that my car is a e208 which is only capable of 2G/3G.

[kjs-DE]

Great solution and very well explained! Should work for all other car brands too.
Looking at all the issues with other car brands and them not willing or capable to fulfill the requirements of the EU data act (with exception of BMW and Tesla) this could be a workaround and also a way to avoid paying for car connectivity.

[Formstation]

@kjs-DE Should I perhaps rephrase the headline so that it doesn't only apply to the Opel Astra? And make the description a little more general?

[kjs-DE]

I would just add & others after Astra.

[Formstation]

I also shortened it a bit while I was at it. I hope it fits.

[hurzhurz]

As an addition:

The WiCAN is in theory capable of an even better solution, as it allows listening for any data frame on the CAN bus instead of just querying specific OBD PIDs.
This way I was able to get frequent live SoC updates for my 2020 e-Corsa, even if the ignition is off. I described that here: #13685 (comment)

Unfortunately, this solution was not working for @Formstation, probably because the newer Astra uses different CAN data frames.

One could give it a try to sniff and analyze the data on the CAN bus to get that information, but that is not an easy task. But at least it is possible to use the WiCAN together with SavvyCAN for this purpose.
Well, or maybe in some cases Google can help to find information about the CAN frames of a particular car, probably in the form of DBC files (good chances for e.g. Tesla).
And if not successful, the solution described by @Formstation can still be used as fallback.

[Formstation]

Your solution is definitely the ideal solution! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it to work for me.

Luckily, this method also works very well. Of course, it's not quite as accurate, but so far evcc has always calculated the percentage correctly, even though it only receives the SoC directly from the adapter once.

@kjs-DE is right. It remains frustrating that we have to find such workarounds because so few major players in the automotive industry comply with the EU Data Act. Thanks to the evcc and meatpi communities, however, more than one workaround was found in this case too!

[moritzklein]

Sadly this solutiuon will not work for e.g. Volkswagen Passat GTE - as they monitor the CAN bus while ignition is off. If the the WiCAN will be active the alarm system of the car will tigger.
I tried to avoid this, by disable WiCAN by voltage thershould (<12.5V) - but unfortunately the 12V rail is charged (>13.8V) during HV charging - so the WiCAN will activate during shutoff ignition but HV battery is charging.

This behavior can not be disabled permanently for the Passat GTE :-(.... so if I use this - the car alarm goes on every time the HV Battery is beeing charged at night time!

[hurzhurz]

Do you know why exactly the alarm goes off? Maybe because WiCAN actively queries for OBD PIDs?

In that case you could try what I mentioned above: #25214 (comment)
If you listen and read passively on the CAN bus, it probably won’t be able to detect this.

And while I don't know if they match and contain all you need, there seem to be DBC files around for VW:
https://github.com/jamiejones85/DBC-files
https://github.com/commaai/opendbc/tree/master/opendbc/dbc

So maybe just try to look what you get with SavvyCAN: https://meatpihq.github.io/wican-fw/savvycan/usage
(Also need to set WiCAN protocol to "SavvyCAN", too. Should probably also disable PID queries.)

[meatpiHQ]

@hurzhurz currently Autopid does not support just listening I plan to add it soon. For now you can try CAN filter in the settings page, it only works with MQTT.

[hurzhurz]

@meatpiHQ Exactly, I meant the CAN filter feature, which I used very successfully with my e-Corsa (until I sold it recently).

[meatpiHQ]

@hurzhurz unfortunately most of the newer car models do not broadcast CAN frames anymore, it would have made life much easier..

[Formstation]

This?

[1Cedric1]

hi @Formstation and thank you for your great explanation.
How does this dongle solution deal with the fact that Opel Astra is always sleeping and does not provide data ?
I tried last winter an OBDLink dongle, but my Opel Astra Sports Tourer always denied provide the SOC.
And by the way, I confirm that getting data through the MyOpel App is an horror...
Do you maybe have any advice on it?

[supachris]

Hat damit nix zu tun. Ich hab hier das Log vom Wican im SavvyyCAN Modus eingestellt. Mehr Frames kommen nicht auf dem CAN wenn die Zündung aus ist:

#13685 (reply in thread)

[TobiGitHubi]

This looks really interesting, our Mokka-e is on its way and want to charge automatic.

Is it possible to use this MQTT connection also in HomeAssistant?
I'm using HA and my PV and wallbox are installed and ready, only the car is missing.

[supachris]

Yes, the values over mqtt can be used as sensor in HA. There is also a HA integration for Stellantis cars, which works fine. But this also requires connected services.

[TobiGitHubi]

Thanks for the quick reply, have a great weekend
with kindly regards
Tobi