1st 100% charge.

[GaryMG4]

I gave my Trophy its first 100% charge today before heading out for the day. It reached 100% and showed 271 miles range, then carried on drawing 2Kw without increasing the range for about 20 minutes, then showed 0.0 Kw but still showed status as charging. As I was heading out I stopped the charge at this point. Was it still balancing or did that take place in the 20 minutes at 2Kw? This was done using the granny charger.

 

[siteguru]

I predict it actually drew 20W (0.02kW) for that period. 2kW is more like the normal maximum charge rate for a granny lead.

That's called balancing the battery pack/BMS.

 

[Surfdog]

Once my LR reaches 100% it will carry on charging for a couple of hours but at a very low level while carrying out a balance charge. A small fraction of a Kwh. If I charge my car to say 80%, it will still carry on charging at high rate for a few minutes after reaching 80%. Maybe it reaches 79.5% but this rounds up to 80% on screen and carries on charging up until probably 80.4% until it stops. This sounds like why yours carried on charging for 20 minutes. I would not class this as a balance charge. Need to leave it plugged in for a few more hours.

 

[Rolfe]

The SR only does a balance charge for about half an hour. Of course, it does it a lot more often.

I didn't know what was going on the first couple of times, and stopped the charge, but then some kind people here enlightened me. The take-home message is to leave the car to do its thing (10-80 watts, mostly 20 watts, on the SR) until the app tells you the car is drawing no more power and no longer shows a finish time. If you don't do that, it isn't properly balanced.

Maybe the LR needs two hours, but whatever, leave it and let it do it.

 

[GaryMG4]

Next time I'll use the plug monitor to see if it is still doing something. Does it say charging complete like it does if you set say an 80% limit? When I balance charge my RC Lipo batteries the current tails off quite slowly from the 1C rate I charge them at.

The SR only does a balance charge for about half an hour. Of course, it does it a lot more often.

I didn't know what was going on the first couple of times, and stopped the charge, but then some kind people here enlightened me. The take-home message is to leave the car to do its thing (10-80 watts, mostly 20 watts, on the SR) until the app tells you the car is drawing no more power and no longer shows a finish time. If you don't do that, it isn't properly balanced.

Maybe the LR needs two hours, but whatever, leave it and let it do it.

The app showed 0.0 Kw and a finish time of the current time, which moved on each time I looked at it.

 

[gus]

That sounds about right, can take a few hours the first time you balance the battery, having said that I have only charged to 100% twice in the almost 18 months I have had the car.

 

[GaryMG4]

I predict it actually drew 20W (0.02kW) for that period. 2kW is more like the normal maximum charge rate for a granny lead.

That's called balancing the battery pack/BMS.

The smart meter confirmed that it was drawing 2 Kw at that time, I can't be sure once it showed 0.0 as at that point the solar was was already covering our base load.
Ive been balancing LiPo packs for the last 7 years ;-)

 

[Rolfe]

Next time I'll use the plug monitor to see if it is still doing something. Does it say charging complete like it does if you set say an 80% limit? When I balance charge my RC Lipo batteries the current tails off quite slowly from the 1C rate I charge them at.


The app showed 0.0 Kw and a finish time of the current time, which moved on each time I looked at it.

But you should have another significant figure there. Mine shows 0.02 to 0.08 Kw, and again the finish time is the current time and moves on each time you look at it. Leave it be until there is no finish time, then you know it has finished the balance charge.

 

[GaryMG4]

this is what's on my App

 

[Rolfe]

How very odd. I haven't charged my car since that new update to the app came out. Has it lost the last figure from the charging power? I'll look next time I charge.

Well, if it's not showing you the balance charge (low) wattage, just let it do its thing until the finishing time no longer updates.

 

[Martinonline]

The app used to have 2 decimal places, it's absence means the rounding down loses the balance charge rate and thus you must rely on the absence of the 'Finish Charging' option. Note, the mileage is an indicator - mine went up to 284 when I charged to 100 percent after a gap of 4 weeks.

 

[tsedge]

My LR Trophy drops to 2kW and then down from there and eventually terminates. Balancing for NMC packs is different from the SR LFP.

 

[Rolfe]

The app used to have 2 decimal places, it's absence means the rounding down loses the balance charge rate and thus you must rely on the absence of the 'Finish Charging' option. Note, the mileage is an indicator - mine went up to 284 when I charged to 100 percent after a gap of 4 weeks.

Can they not even prevent themselves putting in new bugs when they update this thing? The absence of the Finish Charge time is a reliable indicator, but some people may not now realise they have to leave it till that happens, if it looks as if it's drawing no charge.

My LR Trophy drops to 2kW and then down from there and eventually terminates. Balancing for NMC packs is different from the SR LFP.

Yes, but the point remains that you should leave the car on the charger until it finishes. The NMC may take longer than the LFP, and it may draw more power, but both of them need to stay plugged in until they stop drawing charge, and that can only be reliably confirmed by the absence of a Finish Charge time, if you don't have the second figure after the decimal point.

 

[Ian Key]

My Zappi charger's app also shows when the charging has finished. During the balance charging phase it will occasionally show 0.0kWh the back to 0.2kWh before eventually showing charge finished.
I guess it's the same with other makes of wall chargers.

 

[KT23]

Anyone know what happens if you charge to 100% and you are using a variable tariff (such as Octopus Agile) and your charger stops after 100% is reached but before any balancing has completed?

 

[Thebiglad]

Anyone know what happens if you charge to 100% and you are using a variable tariff (such as Octopus Agile) and your charger stops after 100% is reached but before any balancing has completed?

?????????????

What do you mean by "what happens........", if the car asks for more juice you will pay for the extra leccy at the tariff quoted in your contract .

 

[KT23]

Ah but my Ohme charger can be set to stop charging if the tariff goes above x pence. I think that can happen after 100% is reached, but before balancing completes.

 

[Ian Key]

Have you tried putting it on charge the next time you have cheap electricity so it can finish balancing?

 

[KT23]

At the moment I am charging with my Ohme to stop at more than 7.5p which will be at 15:00 today. I'll be at 100% in a few minutes so as we get towards 15:00 I'll see what the situation is - about 30mins worth of balancing.

Probably a naive question, but does the car 'consume' electricity while balancing? I assume yes but at a lower rate than if normal charging from what others have said in this and other threads.

I'll try an experiment as you suggest and see if any balancing takes place.

 

[siteguru]

The charge rate is typically between 20W and 80W whilst balancing (compared with almost 7000W whilst charging).