How to preheat the cabin by using the granny charger

[dannyg3081]

Hi, here it's getting cold, so I am wondering how could I preheat the cabin's car using the granny charger instead of taking energy from the battery. With my Dacia Spring it was very easy but with MG4 I couldn't figure out how to start preheating the cabin by using the granny. Any advice is welcomed. Thanks

 

[siteguru]

What power do you get delivered from the granny charger?

Are you currently charging when you're wanting to heat the cabin? (I mean actually charging, not just plugged in but not charging).

Note: you preheat the cabin using the iSmart app. Some cars require an update to allow the preheating to work when you're plugged in but not charging.

 

[dannyg3081]

What power do you get delivered from the granny charger?

Are you currently charging when you're wanting to heat the cabin? (I mean actually charging, not just plugged in but not charging).

Note: you preheat the cabin using the iSmart app. Some cars require an update to allow the preheating to work when you're plugged in but not charging.

My granny can charge up to 16 A. No, I was not charging the car, just wanted to preheat the car. I do have the latest software update.

 

[siteguru]

16A is 3.68kW charge rate (maximum). Cabin heating uses the 7kW PTC heater, so maybe there's not enough "juice" to power the heating? And if your car won't even try (to just use the battery) when it is plugged on not charging then there may well be an update missing - it's not one that you can see the version number for. On my car this issue was fixed when I got 1100R33 Infotainment update, but it was another module update that was applied at the same time that actually did the fix. (I don't know which one, before you ask).

 

[dannyg3081]

16A is 3.68kW charge rate (maximum). Cabin heating uses the 7kW PTC heater, so maybe there's not enough "juice" to power the heating? And if your car won't even try (to just use the battery) when it is plugged on not charging then there may well be an update missing - it's not one that you can see the version number for. On my car this issue was fixed when I got 1100R33 Infotainment update, but it was another module update that was applied at the same time that actually did the fix. (I don't know which one, before you ask).

Ok, I see. Then maybe I will just start charging the car in the morning and in addition to that I will start heating the car in order to minimize the usage of energy from the battery. I've already paid 154 € for the last update, so I will live with it.

 

[Rolfe]

My impression, once I'd got the software update to allow the car to pre-heat while plugged in, was that the granny charger couldn't supply enough juice to get the temperature up to the required level.

 

[tonybridge]

What is your daily journey? If you're charged up, heating the cabin for a few minutes shouldn't drain your main battery too much...

 

[dannyg3081]

What is your daily journey? If you're charged up, heating the cabin for a few minutes shouldn't drain your main battery too much...

50 km daily. What I really want is to get inside the car and to be nice and comfy. Since it gets cold here in the winter. By the way does it worth heating the battery before I depart from home in the winter? If, yes, 20-30 minutes of heating the battery would be enough? Thanks

 

[Tig170]

Personaly I wouldn't bother with any of this, you can get the car from frozen to workable - i.e. clear the windscreen in a minute, and in another 5 mins into your journey the car is at desired cabin temperature. If its really really cold, then just put on the cabin heater on via the app - which turns off after 10 mins in any case, but to be honest the defrost on the windscreen is clear in a minute anyway as soon as you get in.

 

[dannyg3081]

Personaly I wouldn't bother with any of this, you can get the car from frozen to workable - i.e. clear the windscreen in a minute, and in another 5 mins into your journey the car is at desired cabin temperature. If its really really cold, then just put on the cabin heater on via the app - which turns off after 10 mins in any case, but to be honest the defrost on the windscreen is clear in a minute anyway as soon as you get in.

Thank you!

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I use a granny charger. As far as I can tell the remote cabin heating function doesn't use power directly from the charger, it takes it from the battery, but as soon as the car detects the battery is draining the car will start charging to recoup the loss.

 

[Rolfe]

That's interesting. I only tried it once after I got the update that allowed the heating to be activated when the car was plugged in, and as I remember it just didn't get very warm. Since the car will drop 2% charge in a heating cycle, I reckon it would take over half an hour to get that back on the granny charger.

 

[dannyg3081]

I use a granny charger. As far as I can tell the remote cabin heating function doesn't use power directly from the charger, it takes it from the battery, but as soon as the car detects the battery is draining the car will start charging to recoup the loss.

I've tried it this morning and made it work like this. The battery was at 56%, start charging the car and turned on the heat via remote control. 20 minutes later when I've got in, the car was warm and the battery was at 57%, so that works out for me.

 

[Rolfe]

Indeed, no problem with that!