Manual Control
A support-style page for advanced users. Manual Control keeps the automation framework in place but follows your fixed current choices more directly, with safety caps and backend guardrails still applied.
Private beta rollout
This page explains the mode logic, not just the label.
All of these modes sit inside the same wider platform: daytime EV-battery protection where supported, whole-home reporting, and vendor-safe controls. The difference here is what the battery is trying to optimise once those guardrails are in place.
Battery protection still sits above the mode
If your setup qualifies for the flagship daytime drain fix, that protection remains the first job regardless of the mode selected underneath it.
Mode choice changes the operating priority
The question is not whether the battery can charge or export. The question is what outcome should win when value, reserve, and home demand are competing.
Availability still depends on your stack
Real rollout still depends on inverter control support, telemetry quality, tariff setup, and whether the current private beta safely supports your hardware mix.
Best fit
Best for advanced users who know the exact current behaviour they want and need predictable override-style control rather than automatic strategy selection.
Primary goal
Let advanced users apply fixed-current behaviour more directly without discarding the platform's safety checks and visibility.
Decision check
Do you already know the exact current behaviour you want and just need safety-capped manual control?
When this mode wins
- Testing, troubleshooting, or temporary override situations where predictable current matters more than automation quality.
- Users who are comfortable choosing fixed charge behaviour themselves.
- Homes where the operator wants to validate a specific charge-current plan before switching back to a smarter mode.
When another mode is better
- You want hands-off optimisation across tariffs, reserve, and export behaviour.
- You are expecting the platform to decide the best strategy for you automatically.
- You are not comfortable setting fixed behaviour and understanding the tradeoffs yourself.
What it does in practice
- 1
Uses your chosen manual current behaviour more directly than the Autopilot or Home First modes.
- 2
Still applies runtime safety caps and backend guardrails rather than allowing unsafe or unsupported settings.
- 3
Can coexist with the broader platform visibility and safety framework even though the strategy itself is more manual.
- 4
Usually best used deliberately and temporarily, not as the default recommendation for most homes.
Guardrails and stop conditions
- Manual values above the active safety cap are clamped rather than applied blindly.
- Unsupported control capability or fail-safe limits can still stop the requested behaviour.
- This is an advanced mode, not the recommended default for typical users.
Compare with other smart controls
Most homes should choose the operating goal first, then choose the mode. These related pages make the tradeoffs explicit.
Autopilot
The best starting mode for most homes. Autopilot decides when to charge, hold, or export by balancing tariff value, home coverage, refill confidence, and your protected minimum battery SoC. Choose Balanced for a calmer default or Aggressive for stronger value seeking.
Home First
A simpler home-first mode. It prioritises running the home from your own solar and battery first, minimises grid dependence, and avoids optimiser-led battery export.
Tariff pages where this mode matters
These tariff playbooks are the clearest places to see where this control style becomes commercially relevant.
Octopus Intelligent Go coordination
Octopus Intelligent Go creates EV-led charging windows, but battery logic, charger behaviour and whole-home demand still need to be interpreted together.
Octopus Go battery and EV optimisation
Octopus Go is simpler than Agile on paper, but homes still need to know whether the fixed off-peak window is serving the car, the battery and the house in the right order.
Use cases that usually point toward this mode
These whole-home problems are often where this control strategy becomes the practical answer.
Stop Octopus daytime EV charging from draining your home battery
This is the flagship 1app.energy wedge: stop the daytime EV-battery conflict first, then layer in cheaper-period battery charging and broader whole-home coordination.
Smart tariff EV charging without home energy conflicts
When EV charging is cheap, it can still be operationally expensive if it competes with battery reserve, heating demand or export value elsewhere in the property.
Integrations commonly paired with this mode
These integration pages explain the device context where this smart control style usually shows up.
Solis
Connect Solis hybrid inverters to 1app.energy to see live solar, battery, grid and home demand in one place, then automate battery charge decisions around tariff windows.
myenergi Zappi
Connect your myenergi Zappi charger to see EV charging in context with solar, battery and tariff data instead of guessing whether the car is stealing the cheap window.
Related reading
Use the overview hub for the big picture, or jump into the comparison blog for a quicker narrative walkthrough.
Smart Controls overview
See the full smart-control model together and use the overview hub to narrow the choice before you commit to one strategy.
Which smart control mode should you use?
Read the comparison blog for a quicker narrative walkthrough of where each mode tends to fit and where it can disappoint.
Product context
The smart control is not the whole product.
These modes decide how the battery should behave. The wider platform still includes the daytime EV-battery fix, whole-home visibility, tariff context, and vendor-safe control paths across the rest of the home.
See the wider productPriority access
Need help deciding whether Manual Control is really the right mode?
Tell us your setup and what outcome you are trying to achieve. In many homes a smarter default mode is a better fit than staying manual long term.
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