Issue with AC charging/New CCU fitted (Phase One SE LR)

[Talky Toaster]

My Trophy LR has been in today with the exact same issue. They believed they had resolved it with a software update but sadly not, so it's got to go back in again. Symptoms are: It shows as charging for 1 minute (green lights) then stops but is still connected to the charger (blue lights), it repeats this another twice then I hear what sounds like the cable lock release and It goes to no lights and doesn't try again. I would be interested to know how you get on so I can pass the info to them when they look at it again.

Update. They had the car in again yesterday and after they finally got round to looking at it at 4pm, determined that there were faults reported on the charge controller, so after contacting the MG techs and under advice from them they applied another software patch to it, told me it was resolved and guess what? Same issue. I am currently waiting for them to call me back but they are apparently 'busy'. At this point I have lost all confidence in this car and if they don't fix it (and actually test it) next time I will be starting the procedure for a refund and I will look elsewhere.
I am a software developer and I know that you can't fix hardware issues by applying software patches, very likely all the patch would do is instruct the CCS to ignore the errors, which would seem an inappropriate approach given what the charge controller does.

 

[Arcalis0]

Original poster here.....

My update....After been in for two weeks and waiting days and days for updates I finally had enough. Because it's a motability leased vehicle I contacted MG, the dealer and motability about these ridiculous delays between the dealer service department and MG. The complaint worked, 12 hours later MG have told the dealer to order and fit a new CCU. Software updates didn't work and it seems a common problem. Now I just have to wait for part to arrive. Personally I've never had an experience like this, MGs technical repair department does not seem fit for purpose or able to cope with garage enquiries and if I'd known it was this bad I'd not have got the car, even though I love the car itself. Real bad service, and 16 days and counting since it went in.

 

[Arcalis0]

So I've finally had approval for a new CCU to be fitted after my issues with it not charging through AC.
There's a couple of threads on this issue and a lot of the people with these problems seem to have solar, which got me thinking that could an overvoltage be the reason these units are giving up on us. You are far more likely to have a supply voltage in the higher range if you have solar and/or live out in the sticks. Mine had to be dialed down at the local transformer. I'm no expert, but just wondering.

 

[timE]

I do have solar panels. However, have used these much less to charge the car over the past 2 months whilst using cheap rate overnight charging - this was really when it started for me.

 

[Vaasref]

I has issues with scheduled charging in mode 2, but after two events it started working.

The first was leaving it charging over 10 hours.
I am on a high-low prices scheme for electricity, so I wanted to only charge it during the low times. It didn't work and behaved as described by the OP (although starting the charge manually worked). I thought it was the plug used, but while bothersome I started manually putting the car on charge during the low periods. But it needed multiple periods to fully charge the car as the granny cable could only supply 1.6kW. But one day I forgot to stop the charge and it charged fully and I just left it on.
I'm noting that as an event because on the OEM granny cable it is noted to leave the car charging past 100% 7 hours every month to allow it to do a balance cycle. So maybe it needed that first balancing cycle after the car left factory mode.

The second even was changing the time setting from auto to manual.
During the next trip after that potential balance cycle, I was waiting in the car I noticed that the time wasn't right, I got the car right after the daylight saving time change so I figured there was an option unchecked for it. So I went in the setting but it was set correctly, no DST option, it was in automatic and set to the correct capital city. So I switched it to manual and set the correct time.


The night after changing the time and since then, the car charges on scheduled time.

 

[Talky Toaster]

I has issues with scheduled charging in mode 2, but after two events it started working.

The first was leaving it charging over 10 hours.
I am on a high-low prices scheme for electricity, so I wanted to only charge it during the low times. It didn't work and behaved as described by the OP (although starting the charge manually worked). I thought it was the plug used, but while bothersome I started manually putting the car on charge during the low periods. But it needed multiple periods to fully charge the car as the granny cable could only supply 1.6kW. But one day I forgot to stop the charge and it charged fully and I just left it on.
I'm noting that as an event because on the OEM granny cable it is noted to leave the car charging past 100% 7 hours every month to allow it to do a balance cycle. So maybe it needed that first balancing cycle after the car left factory mode.

The second even was changing the time setting from auto to manual.
During the next trip after that potential balance cycle, I was waiting in the car I noticed that the time wasn't right, I got the car right after the daylight saving time change so I figured there was an option unchecked for it. So I went in the setting but it was set correctly, no DST option, it was in automatic and set to the correct capital city. So I switched it to manual and set the correct time.


The night after changing the time and since then, the car charges on scheduled time.

Interesting ... my problem started on the night BST ended, it had put on 20% then stopped. It might be a coincidence but I'll check out the settings tomorrow.

 

[Talky Toaster]

I have the same AC charging issue, which I have posted in another thread. It's been in twice now, both times they tell me they've fixed it and they haven't. I get the feeling I'm just getting flicked off with excuses. There are three codes reported which indicated malfunction of something so how they expect to fix with software patches I don't know. Got to call them again tomorrow.

 

[timE]

My dealer has also had approval from MG to replace the CCU - costs ~£1800, fitting next week hopefully. However, there may be a shortage of them if demand is strong - hopefully there are plenty available.

Looks like MG may have been fitting sub-standard units at the end of 2022 for the batch of cars that are reporting this issue.

 

[FiferMG4]

I have the same AC charging issue, which I have posted in another thread. It's been in twice now, both times they tell me they've fixed it and they haven't. I get the feeling I'm just getting flicked off with excuses. There are three codes reported which indicated malfunction of something so how they expect to fix with software patches I don't know. Got to call them again tomorrow.

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I took the car in on Friday and got a call today saying three software updates were done and it’s fixed. Great, I thought. Got it home at 21%, so plugged it into the Zappi. Five minutes later, the charge had been “completed”. That was after the charge being delayed twice.

I then phoned the dealer saying that it wasn’t working. They said it had been working and I should try another charger to eliminate whether it’s the Zappi that’s at fault. I plugged in the granny charger next and it lasted around thirty minutes, stopping and starting numerous times and then finally ending the charge.

So, I’ve just taken it to a public slow 7kW charging point. That lasted about three minutes. I tried it three times with the same thing happening, three minutes of charging and then stopping and unlocking the cable. As I was getting low on charge at this point I had to take it to a fast DC charger. No problem getting it to 80% charge.

I’ll have to phone them again tomorrow, but the next time I pick it up after it being “fixed”, I want to see it charging for longer than five minutes before I take the car home, especially as it’s a 52 mile round trip.

 

[Talky Toaster]

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I took the car in on Friday and got a call today saying three software updates were done and it’s fixed. Great, I thought. Got it home at 21%, so plugged it into the Zappi. Five minutes later, the charge had been “completed”. That was after the charge being delayed twice.

I then phoned the dealer saying that it wasn’t working. They said it had been working and I should try another charger to eliminate whether it’s the Zappi that’s at fault. I plugged in the granny charger next and it lasted around thirty minutes, stopping and starting numerous times and then finally ending the charge.

So, I’ve just taken it to a public slow 7kWh charging point. That lasted about three minutes. I tried it three times with the same thing happening, three minutes of charging and then stopping and unlocking the cable. As I was getting low on charge at this point I had to take it to a fast DC charger. No problem getting it to 80% charge.

I’ll have to phone them again tomorrow, but the next time I pick it up after it being “fixed”, I want to see it charging for longer than five minutes before I take the car home, especially as it’s a 52 mile round trip.

Agreed, ideally I'd want to see it solid green on the charger for more than five minutes. Mine goes through three cycles of trying to charge before giving up, during which there are three sixty second periods where it's green and looks like it's charging, but it isn't. Four minutes thirty in total. I think they just see it go green at the start and it's thumbs up, job done. I have explained this to them in detail.

 

[siteguru]

You've not had any luck mate, eh?

 

[FiferMG4]

I think they just see it go green at the start and it's thumbs up, job done. I have explained this to them in detail.

Seems like it, doesn’t it? Even if they were to use a granny charger for 15 minutes, they’d think it was fine. I wrote all of this down on paper before handing them the car on Friday, so I trusted that it was fixed when they said so today. Fingers crossed we get them repaired properly next time.

 

[FiferMG4]

You've not had any luck mate, eh?

Thing is, I love driving the car and it gives me a lot of pleasure, but charging at home was one of the attractions of an electric car - the convenience and savings.

 

[timE]

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I took the car in on Friday and got a call today saying three software updates were done and it’s fixed. Great, I thought. Got it home at 21%, so plugged it into the Zappi. Five minutes later, the charge had been “completed”. That was after the charge being delayed twice.

I then phoned the dealer saying that it wasn’t working. They said it had been working and I should try another charger to eliminate whether it’s the Zappi that’s at fault. I plugged in the granny charger next and it lasted around thirty minutes, stopping and starting numerous times and then finally ending the charge.

So, I’ve just taken it to a public slow 7kWh charging point. That lasted about three minutes. I tried it three times with the same thing happening, three minutes of charging and then stopping and unlocking the cable. As I was getting low on charge at this point I had to take it to a fast DC charger. No problem getting it to 80% charge.

I’ll have to phone them again tomorrow, but the next time I pick it up after it being “fixed”, I want to see it charging for longer than five minutes before I take the car home, especially as it’s a 52 mile round trip.

I think you should insist that they charge it to 80-100% to demonstrate it is charging correctly before taking it back - may mean leaving with them an extra night, but a much better and more demonstrable test.

 

[FiferMG4]

I think you should insist that they charge it to 80-100% to demonstrate it is charging correctly before taking it back - may mean leaving with them an extra night, but a much better and more demonstrable test.

That’s good advice @timE I’d have thought this would have been done, but the car was handed back at 35% charge which is similar to what it was on the Friday when I dropped it off.

 

[tsedge]

That’s good advice @timE I’d have thought this would have been done, but the car was handed back at 35% charge which is similar to what it was on the Friday when I dropped it off.

Yes, make it their problem to prove they can charge it to 100% without issues.

I expect they hoped the updates would fix it and did a quick test and hoped that was ok and then ran out of time and moved on to a different job.

 

[FiferMG4]

Yes, make it their problem to prove they can charge it to 100% without issues.

I expect they hoped the updates would fix it and did a quick test and hoped that was ok and then ran out of time and moved on to a different job.

Going by what other members have posted I think this will be the case. MG should be advising the dealerships to thoroughly test the AC charging after updates have been carried out, otherwise how will they know for sure.

 

[tsedge]

Hmmm.... I might have this problem.

Car has always charged as expected up until now.

A couple of nights ago it only hit 74%, I put that down to my 4 hour window and low state of charge.

Last night it did not charge at all - I manually started it on fast mode on my Zappi, charge stopped at 64%, not the 80%.

Have rebooted my Zappi and will see if it now finishes off or not...

I also have a March delivered car (made in November 2022) and I will test DC charging to see if that still works without problem.

Zappi trace looks normal, I got the car up to 70% before I needed to use it, now back on charge to see if it reaches 80%.

No... it stopped at 72%! Damn, looks like I have this issue.

Has anyone tried rebooting the car by disconnecting the 12V supply?

 

[ttforever]

yeah made no difference to mine

 

[tsedge]

Here's my charge log from this morning - yes that was me manually charging it at 3.30am!

yeah made no difference to mine

Thanks, I thought it wouldn't but I might try anyway.

Mini-update: my dealer's service department have asked me to test DC charging, then bring it in.

They are stacked up into mid-January but they said they would be able to at least do a diagnostic before that.

No loan cars available - which sounds common from what other people have said.

A few more tests - I managed to go from 72%-78% then it stopped again. Then 78%-80% limit and it seemed to properly balance the pack, saw what I'd expect.

Over the weekend I'll test DC charging out.