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Link sets up a Charge Amps Halo with the serial number and PIN on its label. Your user restarts the charger first. Then the phone joins the charger’s own Wi-Fi hotspot, points the charger at Plugchoice and restarts it. It shows how the charger reaches the internet, and can connect it to Wi-Fi. Your user stays near the charger while it’s set up.

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Adding a charger

1

A restart

A Halo only opens its Wi-Fi hotspot for setup when it starts. Your user switches it off at its breaker, waits 10 seconds and switches it on again.
2

The label

The Halo’s label and the papers that come with it have its serial number and an eight-digit PIN. Your user types both. The PIN is also the password of the charger’s hotspot.
3

Its connections

The phone joins the charger’s hotspot (HALO_ and the last 7 characters of its serial number); your user taps Join when the phone asks. Link signs in with the PIN, checks that it’s the charger on the label, and shows how the charger reaches the internet. Your user can connect it to a Wi-Fi network from the ones the charger can see, or type another.
4

Onto Plugchoice

Link points the charger at Plugchoice and restarts it, because a Halo only takes a new OCPP address after a restart. Link waits for the charger to come back and checks that it kept the new address. Then the phone returns to its own network.
5

Online

Link adds the charger to Plugchoice by its Chargepoint ID and waits until it connects.
What to know:
  • Its Chargepoint ID stays. A Halo connects as its serial number out of the box, and Link keeps whatever ID it has.
  • Charge Amps’ cloud stays connected. A Halo comes connected to Charge Amps’ own cloud. That cloud keeps getting the charger’s data alongside Plugchoice, as Data & control, so the Charge Amps app keeps working. It isn’t the charger’s operator.
  • The current operator comes along. When the charger used another OCPP backoffice, it stays the charger’s operator, with Plugchoice connected alongside.
  • No charging history or cards. A Halo keeps no charging history, and doesn’t show its RFID cards while it’s connected over OCPP, so none are imported.
  • The right charger. Link checks that the charger it reaches matches the label’s serial number. A wrong PIN takes your user back to the label.
  • No internet during the setup. The phone is on the charger’s hotspot for part of it, which has no internet. The SDK keeps the hosted flow working, and keeps the screen awake, because the hotspot drops when the phone locks.

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Reconnecting it, or changing its network

The reconnect action gets a Halo that’s already on Plugchoice reaching Plugchoice again, or moves it to another network, such as a new Wi-Fi router. Your user restarts the charger and types the serial number and PIN again. Link checks that the charger still connects with the Chargepoint ID it has on Plugchoice, shows its connections so your user can connect it, points it at Plugchoice and restarts it when it isn’t, and waits until it’s back online. It imports nothing again, and keeps the backoffices the charger has.

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What your app needs

  • iOS: the Hotspot Configuration and Access Wi-Fi Information entitlements, NSLocalNetworkUsageDescription, and NSAllowsLocalNetworking under NSAppTransportSecurity (its socket is plain ws://). On iOS 18 and later, AccessorySetupKit asks once per charger instead of on every join. See iOS.
  • Android: the charger serves its setup over a plain WebSocket at ws://192.168.250.1. Android blocks plain connections in release builds unless your network security configuration allows that address. See Android.
  • React Native: the config plugin sets up iOS; Android’s network security configuration is yours to set. See React Native.
In a browser, Link can’t join the hotspot, so your user sets the charger up by hand, or in the Plugchoice app when the charger goes to their own account.