Various issues with ZSEV Trophy LR - advice needed

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Topeka

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MG ZS EV
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
 
Q1 - Are you driving in eco mode, as this reduces the efficiency of the HVAC system and also check that the car has not defaulted into recirc mode.
If so, this will cause missing on the internal glass within minutes of setting off.
Q2 - If you have a charging schedule set up, both in the head unit of the car and the wall box, they maybe conflicting with each other.
Try turning off the schedule the wall box and ensure the settings in the head unit are set correctly.
As you are unable to get the Ismart working correctly, it will not be that conflicting with the car or the wall box at least 🙄.
 
Last edited:
Lovemyev said:
Q1 - Are you driving in eco mode, as this reduces the efficiency of the HVAC system and also check that the car has not defaulted into recirc mode.
If so, this will cause missing on the internal glass within minutes of setting off.
Q2 - If you have a charging schedule set up, both in the head unit of the car and the wall box, they maybe conflicting with each other.
Try turning off the schedule the wall box and ensure the settings in the head unit are set correctly.
As you are unable to get the Ismart working correctly, it will not be that conflicting with the car or the wall box at least 🙄.
Click to expand...


As well as the above do check the car battery limit is not set too low, should be 80% for every day use and 100% if you are doing a long journey.
 
Lovemyev said:
Q1 - Are you driving in eco mode, as this reduces the efficiency of the HVAC system and also check that the car has not defaulted into recirc mode.
If so, this will cause missing on the internal glass within minutes of setting off.
Q2 - If you have a charging schedule set up, both in the head unit of the car and the wall box, they maybe conflicting with each other.
Try turning off the schedule the wall box and ensure the settings in the head unit are set correctly.
As you are unable to get the Ismart working correctly, it will not be that conflicting with the car or the wall box at least 🙄.
Click to expand...
Q1 - I'll have to check on recirc mode, but yes we're always in eco mode. I have no complaints about how quickly the condensation/mist clears, it's more that it's misting up every journey and I've never had that with cars before.

Q2 - Both the head unit (infotainment system) and the wall box app are set to exactly 00:30 until 04.30

Thanks for the reply

Robf said:
As well as the above do check the car battery limit is not set too low, should be 80% for every day use and 100% if you are doing a long journey.
Click to expand...
Thanks, it's always been set to 80% and the schedule is set to 00:30 to 04:30 (same as the wall box app).
 
Unfortunately both Gen1 and Gen2 models of the Zs ev seem to suffer from too little air venting to the screen, causing misting up. It is tedious.
If you can spare the battery power, then obviously keeping the fan directing air to the screen is the answer. This is normal in ICE cars. On Gen1 cars like mine, there is a "screen demist" button which works well. But to save battery I have to turn it on for a short while, then off again, about every 10 mins.
 
One of the disadvantages of a EV over a ICE car, is that here is no provision to harvest / scavenge any wasted heat via the cabin heater box.
The electric heater in an EV reacts in the same way as a home electric heater / fire.
Quick to provide heat, but will quickly cool down as soon as it is turned off 🤣.
The cabin heater in an EV has to work very hard to warm and then maintain the heat in the cabin space, as this is the only form of heat being provided.
With a ICE you have a LOT of wasted heat from the engine / exhaust system etc that helps warm the cabin space and reduce misting of the glass.
A flow of outside air can be channeled through the heater box and then through the vents to help keep the glass clear.
It’s possible to channel air in a similar way in an EV but the air is at ambient temperature and therefore not heated in the winter ❄️.
Therefore the heater element has to be turned on, in order to provide the heat to mix with the air.
If the EV is set in eco mode, this reduces the amount of heat provided from the HVAC system.
The fan blower speed can be increased, but heater is unable to provide max heat to the cabin.
There is no such thing as a cheap diner when it comes down to heating the cabin in an EV in the winter months.
If you want to stay warm and toasty, you unfortunately have to get use to losing the range from the traction battery 🪫.
Buying an EV that has a range that suits your summer requirements, is going to come up short on range in the winter months.
Unless you are prepared to change more often of course.
 
4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message
This is very likely to be related to your windows misting up, The front camera is behind the rear view mirror (the box in the grill, is the front radar)
If the screen is misted, then the camera will be blocked and due to the "great" design, the shrouding around the camera, means that it takes longer to clear than the rest of the window

In terms on setting on the heater, I set mine to a fixed speed fan, (Speed 3) Air from the outside (Not recirc) and air directed to the windscreen, Temperature 21 or 22. With the option of the vent to the feet if I want it. This works for me as the best compromise and seems to give a reasonably consistent temperature


6. Boot unlock not working on key fob
I've noticed odd things if the boot is not fully latched closed, it takes quite a shove on mine.
The correct operation, with keys in your pocket, is to walk up to the boot and just open it with the badge/handle, no need to touch the keys
However, if the boot is not fully latched, then I have to unlock the whole car with the remote, before the badge/handle will work
 
Q4 is condensation. My wife insists on having the temp low, the airflow low and using the car to take wet garden rubbish to the tip.

She gets the same problem. You can see the condensation over the camera.

I set the temp to 19 and have airflow to the screen and never have any issues.

Do you disable the a/c? A/c isnt just about cooling, it removes moisture from the air so always keep ac turned on even when you seyt the temp to higher levels
 
With the front camera blocked, I usually get this message when it is cold weather. Although it says blocked, the camera isn’t blocked and can still be used so doesn’t usually bother me.
 
Q1 and Q4 are completely related. I find that having any more than the driver in the car, I have to have the climate control switched on, and certainly not in ECO mode. I had the same condensation issues initially, generally because I was tight, and had everything off to maximise the miles per KwH. Having the car in ECO mode practically switches off the climate control.
 
Topeka said:
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
we have a ohme charger British gas our supplier charge from 00.00 to 05.00 am at .084.p
Time schedules set on both ohme app and Mg app
battery set to charge to 100%
don't have any issues
misting of windscreen have you set for air to come and not just recirculate
no other issues with car
 
As someone who garages their ZS of a night-time I have noticed that if you put away wet she'll come out wet in the morning due to the lack of 'ICE' residual heat.

I find using a squeegee to take off as many water drops before putting away helps.
 
Topeka said:
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I've had all of the same problems with my ZS long range from new. The car is
Topeka said:
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I've having all of your problems and more with my car which is just a year old. Some of the faults were there from new. The dealer said he could not find any faults after 4 diagnostic checks. I employed
Topeka said:
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Topeka said:
Hi all, new to the forum.

We've had our 72 plate ZSEV Trophy Long Range for the past couple of weeks and overall we enjoy it.

However we've also experienced a few issues which are starting to mount up, I'm hoping someone can advise on how to resolve them:

1. Frequent condensation/window misting - I appreciate the weather has been cold but our last car didn't have this issue. Within a couple of minutes of driving the windows will have misted up and we have to turn on the window heaters. This happens every journey, and on longer journeys we have to do it multiple times. Never had this issue with other cars in similar conditions.

2. Car stops our home charger from charging after about half hour - we're on Octopus Go and have 9p kWh charging from 00.30 until 04.30. We have this scheduled on our home charger (Hypervolt) for those hours, and also have set it up inside the car under scheduled charging. We leave the charger plugged in ready. It will start charging fine, but then around half an hour later (approx) it will stop charging. The Hypervolt app says something like "Car preventing further charging" or similar. I have triple checked and both the car and the charger are at the same scheduled time.

3. Cannot connect to MG iSmart app - never had this issue with our old MG4. I managed to bind the car to the app and login, but now whenever I launch the app it just stays loading and new launches/loads properly so I can't use any of the features or check the charge percentage. I've tried unbinding/binding, logging in and out, reinstalling the app, sitting in the car and standing next to it. We have no wifi extenders or anything that could interfere and as I said we've never had this issue on other cars.

4. "Front camera is blocked" warning message - this comes up after a few minutes of driving. I've checked several times and cleaned it gently several times and the message still comes up.

5. Minor infotainment issues - the infotainment theme will switch from dark to light and vice versa randomly and just stay like that for a while before switching back. Also, sometimes when making a turn the side camera will activate but won't switch back when on a straight road until I close the camera screen.

6. Boot unlock not working on key fob - is there a hidden setting to turn it back on? If I press the boot unlock button using the fob it never unlocks. Tried it with spare key and doesnt work either. The normal door lock/unlock buttons work fine.

Mostly concerned about the first three to be honest!

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I've had all of your problems and more with my 73 LR ZS. My faults began on the second day of ownership. The dealer was unable to find any problems following 4 attempts and after a meeting with his technician I decided he lacked product knowledge. I employed a consultant automotive engineer who subsequently found 28 faults, some of which were there from new. I have rejected the vehicle.
 
I don’t know why anyone would drive the car around in eco mode unless they were about to run out of range to be honest, it gives you minimal extra range anyway plus makes the air con next to useless. My ZS used to steam up whenever it was wet or cold outside and especially if there was more than one person in the car. Putting on the window heater would clear it really quickly though but it was a bit of a pain and is quite noisy, all of this is simply down to the fact that the air con is just not especially good.
 
EX MG Owner said:
all of this is simply down to the fact that the air con is just not especially good.
Click to expand...
I find it's fine even in Eco mode, which I use because the guess-o-meter better matches my usage, but Eco mode does cut down on the air con / heater. But again I find it's fine as long as I use temperature settings near the ends (first few bars or last few bars).
 
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