How do you know when it is fully balance charged?

[CuriousIslander]

Hi
Loving my 5 (SR) and only done a few hundred miles so far, pottering about on the Isle of Wight. I have a PodPoint 7kw charger and did a full charge the other day, just to see what happens. I don't have a smartphone so couldn't use the app to monitor the charge. However, I do have a smart electric meter. The meter showed the car charging at about £1.40 per hour ( I don't have cheap overnight rates) which is right, as I am paying just under 20p per unit. As the car reached 100% according to the screen, the rate dropped, I spotted it at about £1 per hour and then a bit less later on. (I did make sure that there was nothing else taking significant power at the time.) Although the display said 100%, presumably the car was still balance charging. How do I know when it has finished? I didn't think to look at the "time left" - does this continue through balance charging?
Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received.

 

[JCFlippen]

Just let charge. MG badge will light up continuously until balance completed. It is only a trickle charge as the balancing progresses.

 

[CuriousIslander]

Just let charge. MG badge will light up continuously until balance completed. It is only a trickle charge as the balancing progresses.

No, it doesn't light up on the 5 - only on the ZS. If only it were also on the 5 I would not have the problem.

 

[Lovemyev]

Can you switch the screen to display the kw’s being consumed, rather than the £‘s,
I can display either on my home energy meter.
You should be pulling around 7 kw’s from a wall box at any percentage below a SOC of 97%.
When the car hits 100% fully charged, the consumption should drop from 7kw’s down to about 500 Watts.
This is when the balance process has commenced.
When it gets close to completing the balance, the drain will reduce to about 175 Watts.
Shortly after this, the balance will complete.
This is how it works on my ZS EV .

 

[Ron61]

Hi
Loving my 5 (SR) and only done a few hundred miles so far, pottering about on the Isle of Wight. I have a PodPoint 7kw charger and did a full charge the other day, just to see what happens. I don't have a smartphone so couldn't use the app to monitor the charge. However, I do have a smart electric meter. The meter showed the car charging at about £1.40 per hour ( I don't have cheap overnight rates) which is right, as I am paying just under 20p per unit. As the car reached 100% according to the screen, the rate dropped, I spotted it at about £1 per hour and then a bit less later on. (I did make sure that there was nothing else taking significant power at the time.) Although the display said 100%, presumably the car was still balance charging. How do I know when it has finished? I didn't think to look at the "time left" - does this continue through balance charging?
Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received.

I fully charged my MG5 SR last night. When it's balancing in should only be taking 100 to 200W, voltage read 401v on the car. hope this helps.

 

[CuriousIslander]

Can you switch the screen to display the kw’s being consumed, rather than the £‘s,
I can display either on my home energy meter.
You should be pulling around 7 kw’s from a wall box at any percentage below a SOC of 97%.
When the car hits 100% fully charged, the consumption should drop from 7kw’s down to about 500 Watts.
This is when the balance process has commenced.
When it gets close to completing the balance, the drain will reduce to about 175 Watts.
Shortly after this, the balance will complete.
This is how it works on my ZS EV .

That sounds very useful - I will give this a try. I am sure that I can change the meter to read kws rather than £.

I fully charged my MG5 SR last night. When it's balancing in should only be taking 100 to 200W, voltage read 401v on the car. hope this helps.

Thanks a lot. Very helpful.

 

[Kithmo]

Without your key present, press the unlock button on the door and look at the display.
If it says 100% and something like finished or charged, then it's still balancing.
If it say connected but not charging (or uncharged IIRC) then it's finished balancing.

 

[CuriousIslander]

Without your key present, press the unlock button on the door and look at the display.
If it says 100% and something like finished or charged, then it's still balancing.
If it say connected but not charging (or uncharged IIRC) then it's finished balancing.

I think this refers to the Exclusive. I don't have an unlock button on my Excite, but thank you for trying!

 

[Alb]

If it's still plugged in you get the same display when you open the door.

 

[supermegamonkee]

Mine did a full charge on Sunday night 7% to 100%, checked the smart meter in the morning and it wasnt pulling any current. Used 25% so far this week and my voltage shows 375V ish. Is that normal? Should you only check the voltage once its fully charged?

Thanks.

 

[Toby]

Mine did a full charge on Sunday night 7% to 100%, checked the smart meter in the morning and it wasnt pulling any current. Used 25% so far this week and my voltage shows 375V ish. Is that normal? Should you only check the voltage once its fully charged?

Thanks.

Oops. Not worked out how to use this on a mobile. Reply is below.

 

[Toby]

If it works like a standard lithium ion battery then max volts (on one cell) is 4.2V and as it discharges the voltage drops to dead at around 3.3V but it is not a straight-line so at 3.7v it's not far off dead. 375V at 75% sounds about right if 400v was max. You also get voltage sag (drop) as you apply a load so can't measure that accurately on voltage alone

 

[supermegamonkee]

Thanks Toby that makes sense, I will check it next time I do a full charge.

 

[EWD]

I think this refers to the Exclusive. I don't have an unlock button on my Excite, but thank you for trying!

You should be able to press the lock button on the remote. That way the screen comes on but the charging doesn't stop.

 

[Kithmo]

I think this refers to the Exclusive. I don't have an unlock button on my Excite, but thank you for trying!

Open the rear hatch instead.