Scheduled Charge unscheduled?

[PeteC]

There's a slider under the battery image on the Target Battery Level page of the iSmart app. It goes up or down in 10% chunks. Mine is currently set at 70%.

I wish I could use your solution to the scheduled charging problem. My Pod Point app claims to schedule charging, but nothing happens. I've logged it with Pod Point - maybe they can sort it. So I am reduced to starting charging by powering on the Pod point when I go to bed, and paying expensive electricity till midnight!

I schedule the car to start charging at 2am but still turn my pod point off in the evening as the car sometimes decides to charge earlier than the schedule. Like you, I turn the pod point on when I go to bed. If the car schedule behaves itself, I get all of the charge on cheap rate electricity and if it doesn't I get some of it. If the car does start early and I've noticed it, then I stop the charge from the app and it has always (so far!) then started again at the scheduled time.

 

[siteguru]

There's a slider under the battery image on the Target Battery Level page of the iSmart app. It goes up or down in 10% chunks. Mine is currently set at 70%.

Only for LR models ... the SR model doesn't enable that feature in the app as LFP batteries are better being charged to 100%.

 

[DavEV]

We had issues too using the granny charger at home. Scheduled set, car plugged in in the evening, and started charging right away. Went into the app, disabled and re-enabled the schedule, and charge stopped (and worked fine overnight).
I also notice that (regardless of schedule) when I charge the car and lock it, then if I unlock it, the charge stops. That seems a pretty dumb behaviour IMHO.

 

[Tigger]

I also notice that (regardless of schedule) when I charge the car and lock it, then if I unlock it, the charge stops. That seems a pretty dumb behaviour IMHO.

Yes, this happened to me yesterday. I was so surprised that I re-did it, and when I unlocked again, the charge stopped again. (on my Pod Point, not Granny charger.)

See also thread: Charging whilst inside the car

 

[renewablejerry]

On the last two occasions when I have attempted to do an overnight scheduled charge on my MG4 Trophy, the car has decided to jump the gun, and charge during the previous evening. Has anyone else experienced this?

My theory is that this is caused by my opening up the ismart app. I do this to check what the %charge is on the car, because I reckon that one hour's charge (at 7kw) gives me an extra 10%. I assume that opening up the app, and checking the charge level, somehow turns off 'Scheduled Charging', and the car starts charging immediately.

I this plausible?

Yes. The stupid software resets it self to 10pm. Not fit for purpose very frustrating

 

[Geoffree]

I agree with renewablejerry, the software is 'flakey'. Setup for a 00.30 start as usual, but last night the charging started at 10pm and I didn't notice. So that's £10 down the drain!

 

[Deleted member 9692]

I agree with renewablejerry, the software is 'flakey'. Setup for a 00.30 start as usual, but last night the charging started at 10pm and I didn't notice. So that's £10 down the drain!

My car the same, scheduled charging does not work, it starts when it feels like it. Has been in to dealer for investigation and they confirmed it doesnt work. Waiting for fix from MG. You should report to your dealer if you haven't already so they can raise a job for it.

 

[toscal353]

My other half says that if the car is powered up and you plug it in, then switch it off the timers work, but if the car is off and you plug in it starts charging. We also wonder if using ismart seems to kick it off.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Seems to be a common complaint, you would think it would be an easy fix, nothing seems that easy though

 

[PeteC]

My other half says that if the car is powered up and you plug it in, then switch it off the timers work, but if the car is off and you plug in it starts charging. We also wonder if using ismart seems to kick it off.

I've tried it both ways and neither is guaranteed to work with my car. It sometimes follows the schedule and sometimes starts early whether I've plugged in with the car on or wth the car off. It's a real pain not being able to trust it.

 

[Geoffree]

Plugging in the lead (with power from the wall box) seems to start the charging despite a schedule being set already.
So, I attach the charging lead to the charger on the wall with charging unit turned off (it's not a 'smart' wall box). Car locked. Later in the evening I turn on the wall box and after a minute or so it starts charging. I then go to the iSmart app, rescan and set the schedule again, car stops charging. Charging then follows the set schedule.

 

[domsim]

This is probably the most frustrating aspect of the car for me. It’s costing me way more than I’d like given it appears to randomly start charging regardless of whether the overnight schedule (2am to 6am is when my cheaper energy is on Bulb) is set in the car or on the app.

As others have said, sometimes the times for the scheduled charge on the app reset to the default. I expect that sometimes this happens without the times in the apps appearing to update I.e., the car updates the schedule to the default but the times aren’t reflected in the app.

I’m sure I had it all working before it went in for an update (the recall, and presumably other updates), but since then no matter what order I do things or the times set for charging in the car or the app it starts charging again at random times.

I even changed the clock settings in the car yesterday to prevent it using the gps time thinking that the sometimes random location item picks up might have triggered things. To no avail. Last night it started charging multiple times, I stopped it, reset the schedule, and it started charging again.

Very frustrating.

Octopus are installing an Ohme home pro in a couple of weeks (albeit still on the Bulb ev tariff for now) - I’m hoping then I’ll be able to use that rather than relying on the flaky scheduling in the car.

 

[meveringham]

On the last two occasions when I have attempted to do an overnight scheduled charge on my MG4 Trophy, the car has decided to jump the gun, and charge during the previous evening. Has anyone else experienced this?

My theory is that this is caused by my opening up the ismart app. I do this to check what the %charge is on the car, because I reckon that one hour's charge (at 7kw) gives me an extra 10%. I assume that opening up the app, and checking the charge level, somehow turns off 'Scheduled Charging', and the car starts charging immediately.

I this plausible?

Yes I have the same issue, got a 'dumb' charger so have just scheduled charging via the app, to come on at 2030 hrs. Sometimes it'll wait until then, sometimes it comes on an hour or two earlier, no idea why, haven't touched any other settings.

This is probably the most frustrating aspect of the car for me. It’s costing me way more than I’d like given it appears to randomly start charging regardless of whether the overnight schedule (2am to 6am is when my cheaper energy is on Bulb) is set in the car or on the app.

As others have said, sometimes the times for the scheduled charge on the app reset to the default. I expect that sometimes this happens without the times in the apps appearing to update I.e., the car updates the schedule to the default but the times aren’t reflected in the app.

I’m sure I had it all working before it went in for an update (the recall, and presumably other updates), but since then no matter what order I do things or the times set for charging in the car or the app it starts charging again at random times.

I even changed the clock settings in the car yesterday to prevent it using the gps time thinking that the sometimes random location item picks up might have triggered things. To no avail. Last night it started charging multiple times, I stopped it, reset the schedule, and it started charging again.

Very frustrating.

Octopus are installing an Ohme home pro in a couple of weeks (albeit still on the Bulb ev tariff for now) - I’m hoping then I’ll be able to use that rather than relying on the flaky scheduling in the car.

My 'solution' is that I just flip the master switch/ trip on the fusebox for the charger on at the time I want it to start charging. It's a pain but it's inside the house, so I just need to remember to do it!

 

[renewablejerry]

This is probably the most frustrating aspect of the car for me. It’s costing me way more than I’d like given it appears to randomly start charging regardless of whether the overnight schedule (2am to 6am is when my cheaper energy is on Bulb) is set in the car or on the app.

As others have said, sometimes the times for the scheduled charge on the app reset to the default. I expect that sometimes this happens without the times in the apps appearing to update I.e., the car updates the schedule to the default but the times aren’t reflected in the app.

I’m sure I had it all working before it went in for an update (the recall, and presumably other updates), but since then no matter what order I do things or the times set for charging in the car or the app it starts charging again at random times.

I even changed the clock settings in the car yesterday to prevent it using the gps time thinking that the sometimes random location item picks up might have triggered things. To no avail. Last night it started charging multiple times, I stopped it, reset the schedule, and it started charging again.

Very frustrating.

Octopus are installing an Ohme home pro in a couple of weeks (albeit still on the Bulb ev tariff for now) - I’m hoping then I’ll be able to use that rather than relying on the flaky scheduling in the car.

We have no had success with the scheduling by not touching the App at all we now plug in and lock. Dash show’s charging scheduled we then leave it with fingers crossed and it has worked now twice. Don’t even open the App to check as that seems to confuse the car. Hope it gets sorted soon as the App would be a nice

 

[dickturpin]

On the last two occasions when I have attempted to do an overnight scheduled charge on my MG4 Trophy, the car has decided to jump the gun, and charge during the previous evening. Has anyone else experienced this?

My theory is that this is caused by my opening up the ismart app. I do this to check what the %charge is on the car, because I reckon that one hour's charge (at 7kw) gives me an extra 10%. I assume that opening up the app, and checking the charge level, somehow turns off 'Scheduled Charging', and the car starts charging immediately.

I this plausible?

I always use my Wallbox plus once setup it never lets me down I do not ever use the car charger Wallbox never lets me down can check on my MG APP can use app it does not alter my charge time. Tony

 

[Obsidien]

Since one year i own my zs, using scheduled charging to use cheaper nightly kwh.

But sometimes, i discovered that charging does not start as expected. Upon investigation, it seems to me that modification of scheduling dates on iSmart app cause failures (date inversion in software, sometimes as stupid, who knows ?).

So, my advice : to change scheduled times, use your dashboard inside vehicle directly.
Don't ever, never, change dates on application.
Use iSmart only to stop/start charging, or even change max charging (from 80 to 100% for long travel, for example).
No charging problems since.

Take a try ?

 

[domsim]

Since one year i own my zs, using scheduled charging to use cheaper nightly kwh.

But sometimes, i discovered that charging does not start as expected. Upon investigation, it seems to me that modification of scheduling dates on iSmart app cause failures (date inversion in software, sometimes as stupid, who knows ?).

So, my advice : to change scheduled times, use your dashboard inside vehicle directly.
Don't ever, never, change dates on application.
Use iSmart only to stop/start charging, or even change max charging (from 80 to 100% for long travel, for example).
No charging problems since.

Take a try ?

Success!

Overnight charging from 2am to 6am appears to have worked last night.

I found that unlocking the car and sitting in the driver’s seat (or pressing it) to get the car to boot up was the key to it recognising the charge schedule.

I then plugged in the charger, and left the car to it. I didn’t even open the app for fear it might reset things.

The previous night I tried unlocking the car to access the charge port (didn’t sit in the driver’s seat) but when I plugged in, it started charging straight away despite the schedule being set.

Maybe the car only registers the scheduled charge settings if it boots up?

I’ll carry on experimenting (at least until my Ohme gets installed on Tuesday - then maybe there will be more fun and games).

 

[PeteC]

Plugging in the lead (with power from the wall box) seems to start the charging despite a schedule being set already.
So, I attach the charging lead to the charger on the wall with charging unit turned off (it's not a 'smart' wall box). Car locked. Later in the evening I turn on the wall box and after a minute or so it starts charging. I then go to the iSmart app, rescan and set the schedule again, car stops charging. Charging then follows the set schedule.

I do much the same and it has worked (so far!). I plug in my lead while the charging unit is still turned on - my car doesn't start charging. When I get into the house I turn off the charger from the consumer unit. I then put a large 'Turn Charger On' note on the stairs so that I don't forget! After that, it behaves like yours. Turn the charger on, car starts charging after a minute or so, use the app to stop it charging and check the schedule, go to bed and it behaves.

 

[sdjmchattie]

I read somewhere that having the car switched on when you plug in does make it behave so I’ve been doing that without issue. The main exception is that opening the app can cause it to start immediately, so I don’t open the app after setting it up. If you do open the app, tell it to stop charging and it’ll go back to behaving.

My theory is that the car doesn’t know the correct time while off. It resets the clock at every boot up. It’s still a bug and should be fixed at some point, but if you plug in while it’s switched on, it knows the time and knows to wait.

That leaves the question “so if it doesn’t know the time while off, how does it know when to start the charge?” And I think the answer is that it uses a separate countdown timer that it sets when you connect the cable. When that ticks down to zero, the car starts the charge and sets a timer to stop again. Why that’s the way it works, if indeed it is, I don’t know.

The reason for my theory is that the car doesn’t start bang on the time you specified. I’ve waited up and one time it started 2 minutes after the start time and the other time it was 4 minutes after. The inconsistency makes me think it’s timing using software instead of a proper clock module. Software isn’t good at keeping time accurately for various reasons.

 

[domsim]

I had my Ohme home pro installed yesterday. I’m on the Bulb ev tariff at the moment so get cheaper electricity from 2am until 6am. I therefore turned off the scheduled charging in the car and set a price cap on the Ohme so that it should only charge at the lower rate.

It worked! 40% charge added overnight between 2 and 6.

Hopefully that means I now won’t have to use the car schedule, but I’m pretty sure I have a working routine if I need to again I.e., wake up the car before plugging in to get it to recognise what the time is.