Cookbook

This page covers SSH-based provisioning operations. It follows the recommended provisioning approach: configure manually, validate, then scale.

1 Audience and assumptions

We assume the following:

• you are a mid- or senior-level software engineer with linux command line knowledge
• you are working on Windows 11
• you are using PowerShell
• SSH access to the controller is already available

The SSH-based provisioning method will work on other host operating systems and with other terminal applications as well, but the instructions in this documentation are tailored to the above assumptions for simplicity. Minor adjustments may be needed.

2 General recipes

• Controller IP address

  ---

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  ssh charge@192.168.123.123
• Run on Controller

  cd /home/charge/persistency

• For filenames and parameter mapping, see here.

  Run on Controller

  ls *_*

• For filenames and parameter mapping, see here.

  Run on Controller

  head -n 1 *_*
• Filename

  ---

  For filenames and parameter mapping, see here.

  Run on Controller

  head -1 
• Run on Controller

  sync

  tip

  The sync command ensures that all pending changes are written to disk. Make sure to always run it before rebooting the Charge Controller.

• Run on Controller

  reboot

  tip

  Make sure to always run sync before rebooting the Charge Controller.

3 Configuration recipes

• Controller IP address

  ---

  Parameter key (filename without suffix)

  ---

  Value

  ---

  Sets the active value of a configuration parameter. The controller uses the _custom file as the current runtime value.

  Filename: <parameterKey>_custom

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = ''
  Set-Content -Path .\_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/_custom

  On the controller: verify:

  Run on Controller

  head -1 /home/charge/persistency/_custom
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Parameter key (filename without suffix)

  ---

  Value

  ---

  Sets the custom default value of a configuration parameter. This is the value restored after a factory reset.

  Filename: <parameterKey>_custom_default

  Role	Can set a custom default?
  # Manufacturer	No, this wouldn't come with any benefit either as the Operator's reset will reset to the Manufacturer values directly. No need for Manufacturer defaults. See here for more on this.
  # Operator	Yes — write the value to <parameterKey>_custom_default.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = ''
  Set-Content -Path .\_custom_default -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\_custom_default charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/_custom_default

  On the controller: verify:

  Run on Controller

  head -1 /home/charge/persistency/_custom_default
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Charge point ID

  ---

  Filename: ChargeBoxIdentity_custom

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = 'DE*ABC*E1234567*1'
  Set-Content -Path .\ChargeBoxIdentity_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\ChargeBoxIdentity_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/ChargeBoxIdentity_custom
• Controller IP address

  ---

  OCPP backend URL

  ---

  Filename: OCPPBackendJSONURL_custom

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = 'ws://backend.example.com/OCPPJProxy/v16/'
  Set-Content -Path .\OCPPBackendJSONURL_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\OCPPBackendJSONURL_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/OCPPBackendJSONURL_custom
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Manufacturer serial number

  ---

  Filename: SerialNumberManufacturer_custom

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = '1234567890'
  Set-Content -Path .\SerialNumberManufacturer_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\SerialNumberManufacturer_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/SerialNumberManufacturer_custom

  Run on Controller

  ls -l /home/charge/persistency/SerialNumberManufacturer_custom
  sync
  reboot
• Role

  ManufacturerOperatorInstaller

  ---

  Password

  ---

  Passwords must be saved as Base64 with padding (standard RFC 4648 encoding, including trailing = characters). Do not strip padding. Ensure your password itself does not contain characters that produce ambiguous Base64 output — see the tip below.

  tip

  For simplicity, you can restrict your password generation to alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9). This ensures that the generated password can always be safely Base64-encoded.

  danger

  Do not run the command below as-is. Use your own strong password generator and replace the password variable with your generated password. Make sure to keep the password secure and out of reach of unauthorized parties.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $FileName = 'ManufacturerPwd_custom'
  $Password = ''
  $Bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($Password)
  $Base64 = [Convert]::ToBase64String($Bytes)
  Set-Content -Path ".\$FileName" -Value $Base64 -NoNewline
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Password

  ---

  Filename: ManufacturerPwd_custom

  danger

  Do not run the command below as-is. Use your own strong password generator and replace the password variable with your generated password. Make sure to keep the password secure and out of reach of unauthorized parties.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  scp -O .\ManufacturerPwd_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/ManufacturerPwd_custom

  Run on Controller

  ls -l /home/charge/persistency/ManufacturerPwd_custom
  sync
  reboot
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Password

  ---

  Filename: OperatorPwd_custom_default

  The operator password is set as a custom default (_custom_default). By setting only the default, the operator is prompted to set their own password on first login, as intended by RED 3.3.

  danger

  Do not run the command below as-is. Use your own strong password generator and replace the password variable with your generated password. Make sure to keep the password secure and out of reach of unauthorized parties.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  scp -O .\OperatorPwd_custom_default charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/OperatorPwd_custom_default

  Run on Controller

  ls -l /home/charge/persistency/OperatorPwd_custom_default
  sync
  reboot
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Password

  ---

  Filename: InstallerPwd_custom_default

  The installer password is set as a custom default (_custom_default). By setting only the default, the installer is prompted to set their own password on first login, as intended by RED 3.3.

  danger

  Do not run the command below as-is. Use your own strong password generator and replace the password variable with your generated password. Make sure to keep the password secure and out of reach of unauthorized parties.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  scp -O .\InstallerPwd_custom_default charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/InstallerPwd_custom_default

  Run on Controller

  ls -l /home/charge/persistency/InstallerPwd_custom_default
  sync
  reboot
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Primary meter type

  ---

  Filename: OCPPMeterType_custom

  For valid numeric values, see here.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = ''
  Set-Content -Path .\OCPPMeterType_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\OCPPMeterType_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/OCPPMeterType_custom
• Controller IP address

  ---

  Secondary meter type

  ---

  Filename: SecondMeterType_custom

  For valid numeric values, see here.

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  $Value = ''
  Set-Content -Path .\SecondMeterType_custom -Value $Value -NoNewline
  scp -O .\SecondMeterType_custom charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/persistency/SecondMeterType_custom

4 Device identity recipes

• Based on your needs, the firmware version can be read in several ways:

  OPKG filtered

  Run on Controller

  opkg list-installed | cut -d' ' -f3

  Example output: 5.34.4-21648

  tip

  cut -d' ' -f3 keeps only the third word from the line. Here, that is the firmware version.

  OPKG simple

  Run on Controller

  opkg list-installed

  Example output: ebee-firmware - 5.34.4-21648

• Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /sys/class/net/eth0/address

  This is the MAC address of the controller's Ethernet interface (eth0).

• Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /dev/ebee_variant
• • Manufacturer Serial Number:

  Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /home/charge/persistency/SerialNumberManufacturer_custom

  • Controller Serial Number:

  Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /home/charge/persistency/SerialNumber_custom
• Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /tmp/.ebee_version.txt
  head -n 1 /dev/ebee_variant
  head -n 1 /sys/class/net/eth0/address
  head -n 1 /home/charge/persistency/SerialNumber_custom

5 Firmware update recipes

• Controller IP address

  ---

  Firmware package

  ---

  Run on Computer (PowerShell)

  scp -O .\ charge@192.168.123.123:/home/charge/
• Firmware package

  ---

  Run on Controller

  opkg install /home/charge/

  Updates triggered through OPKG will automatically schedule a reboot. You do not need to manually reboot the controller after running this command.

  # First timer	5 sec
  # Second timer	2 min
  # Third timer	30 min

  The second and third timers are failsafes that will reboot the controller if the first timer fails to do so.

• • Option 1:

  Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /tmp/.ebee_version_info.txt

  Example output: 5.33.0-21510-57641b50ef

  • Option 2:

  Run on Controller

  head -n 1 /tmp/.ebee_version.txt

  Example output: 5.33.0-21510