Pod point charging

Pontyboy

Pontyboy

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MG ZS EV
I seem unable to get a timed schedule charge on my EV
It charges as soon as I connect cable but disregards the timed overnight schedule.
Amy advice would be gratefully recieved.
 
Has the pod point got a working wifi connection? Is the app reporting your usage?
 
I find setting the delayed timer settings in the head unit of the car, tends to be more successful option TBH.
The App can be a bit hit and miss sometimes.
Probably a good idea to turn OFF the timer settings in the Pod Point, just in case of a conflict in the two settings.
Not sure if the Pod Point works the same way as my dumb Rolec wall box, but when I plug in my unit into the car, it will energise the wall box straight away.
You hear the contacts in the wall box close with a thump, this could give you the impression that the car is instantly charging !.
But after about ten seconds, the wall box will thump again and then drop back into standby mode, awaiting the delayed charge.
When you have set the times in the head unit correctly, when you plug in the car to the wall box, go to the drivers window and look at the dash panel.
It should indicate that the car is set to perform a delayed / scheduled charge cycle.
 
Thank you.
I can't believe so many owners have their own charging proceedure.
You would have thought one system would be reliable, but it seems not so.
Not much use if you expect to wake up to a 100% charge for a planned long journey and find insufficient charge in your car.
 
Lovemyev said:
I find setting the delayed timer settings in the head unit of the car, tends to be more successful option TBH.
The App can be a bit hit and miss sometimes.
Probably a good idea to turn OFF the timer settings in the Pod Point, just in case of a conflict in the two settings.
Not sure if the Pod Point works the same way as my dumb Rolec wall box, but when I plug in my unit into the car, it will energise the wall box straight away.
You hear the contacts in the wall box close with a thump, this could give you the impression that the car is instantly charging !.
But after about ten seconds, the wall box will thump again and then drop back into standby mode, awaiting the delayed charge.
When you have set the times in the head unit correctly, when you plug in the car to the wall box, go to the drivers window and look at the dash panel.
It should indicate that the car is set to perform a delayed / scheduled charge cycle.
Click to expand...
With my podpoint and scheduling the charging with the podpoint app; when you plug in, the cars charging leds will light up blue to tell you it is plugged in but not charging and the pod point led will flash yellow. When charging the car leds go green and the pod point led is green too. Apparently if the pod point loses wifi connection then it loses scheduling and becomes a dumb charger and so will just start to charge the car.

I prefer to set the scheduling on the charger otherwise you'll need to mess about in the car when you're at a public charger to turn off the scheduling to get a charge.
 
drmcw said:
I prefer to set the scheduling on the charger otherwise you'll need to mess about in the car when you're at a public charger to turn off the scheduling to get a charge.
Click to expand...
Given the very high cost of public charging these days, plus the increased range that the Trophy LR offers, I never use public chargers TBH.
Yes I do clearly see your point, if you are public charging a lot.
But it is very easy to switch off the delayed charging function in the head unit, before you leave the car, if you do find the need to public charge.
I guess it will be different from person to person, but maybe having a delay function settings in the wall box App plus another similar delay charge facility in the Ismart App AND again in the head unit of the car can be a little confusing ?.
I have found, that some times if I make a change in the delay times in the Ismart App and then send it to the car, it reports the command as okay, but it has not updated the times and disregarded the change ?.
My wall box is completely dumb so has no "inbuilt" timer function now.
When we had the Gen 1 ZS EV standard range in 2019 it had no facility to delay charge via the "Off Peak" tariff we had at the time.
The fix to gain this function, was to install a Wi-Fi relay inside of the wall box.
Then the timer settings where controlled via a free downloaded App on my phone.
This worked brilliantly for about 18 months.
When we upgraded to the Gen 2 facelift ZS EV LR this was then no longer required and was disconnected.
 
Last edited:
Lovemyev said:
I find setting the delayed timer settings in the head unit of the car, tends to be more successful option TBH.
The App can be a bit hit and miss sometimes.
Probably a good idea to turn OFF the timer settings in the Pod Point, just in case of a conflict in the two settings.
Not sure if the Pod Point works the same way as my dumb Rolec wall box, but when I plug in my unit into the car, it will energise the wall box straight away.
You hear the contacts in the wall box close with a thump, this could give you the impression that the car is instantly charging !.
But after about ten seconds, the wall box will thump again and then drop back into standby mode, awaiting the delayed charge.
When you have set the times in the head unit correctly, when you plug in the car to the wall box, go to the drivers window and look at the dash panel.
It should indicate that the car is set to perform a delayed / scheduled charge cycle.
Click to expand...
Interesting, completely the opposite for me- never used the car scheduled charging, my Ohme Pro schedule works fine even before I “had” to use the scheduling function to get my 10p/kWh Ovo deal
 
fatboyfat1981 said:
Interesting, completely the opposite for me- never used the car scheduled charging, my Ohme Pro schedule works fine even before I “had” to use the scheduling function to get my 10p/kWh Ovo deal
Click to expand...
The newer wall boxes are “Smart” now.
It has been this why for a while now.
My older dumb Rolec unit was installed in 2016 which was not a problem for many EV’s as they had delay timer functions built into the car ( Nissan Leaf / Zoe etc ).
However, the Gen1 version of the ZS EV had no facility to set a delay timer built into the infrastructure of the car.
Making the use of any cheaper rate off peak tariffs a no go situation.
This was a huge problem for any early adopters.
The recommended wall boxes for use with the ZS EV was either a Rolec unit or Pod Point unit at that time.
Of course MG blamed the wall box providers and they blamed MG !.
This went on for months a months on end.
While this blame culture was being passed backwards and forwards, a very clever early adopter came up with the solution to the problem.
A single person, working from home came up with a working solution and tested it on his own car.
He made a video of the whole process and then uploaded it on YT for the benefit of others.
 
Last edited:
Pontyboy said:
Very interesting. Do you have a link to the u tube video by any chance?
Click to expand...
No problem.
He has made 5 - 6 videos on this very topic.
Very interesting if you have the time to watch them all, very clever.
I will include the link to his YouTube page and you can view them at your leisure.
They are not in the correct order, if you intend to watch them all.

 
Oh, it's the guy who wired in a Shelly WiFi switch. Yes, very clever. I'd have done that myself if the car didn't have scheduled charging.
 
It seems like we all do different things - I have set the scheduled charging via the app, which is accurately duplicated in the head unit of the car. I have used public charging a couple of times on a long journey, and never had to cancel anything on the car in order to do so. As soon as I plugged in a DC rapid, it has just worked.
 
Susanna said:
It seems like we all do different things - I have set the scheduled charging via the app, which is accurately duplicated in the head unit of the car. I have used public charging a couple of times on a long journey, and never had to cancel anything on the car in order to do so. As soon as I plugged in a DC rapid, it has just worked.
Click to expand...
It's if you use an AC charger where you have to cancel the scheduled charge (go on, aks me how I know that). :)
 
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