preconditioning interior of mg4 SE on IGO?

[Koops]

I’ve had my mg4 SE around a month now and am comfortable doing reliable charging overnight using IOG.
I will be trying to heat the car interior whilst plugged in for charging in the morning, probably after 5:30am, initiated using iSmart app ‘air conditioner’ option. Three questions:
Will clicking on the button in the app start the internal heating?
If internal heating is started, will it be on the overnight 7.5p tariff or the standard rate?
Does the app give a timer option for the internal heating (pre conditioning)?

 

[Rolfe]

There is no timer on the app for this, that's one thing I do know.

 

[Tight Git]

After 5.30am if it draws from the grid it will be at the higher day rate.

 

[mg4mc]

After 5.30am if it draws from the grid it will be at the higher day rate.

But it won't be much, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[siteguru]

Agreed. People focus too much on only ever using electricity for their car during the "cheap" period, forgetting that they'll still be using electricity during the "non-cheap" period anyway for other things. The additional cost of running the HVAC for 10 or (max.) 20 minutes is negligible, especially as this is unlikely to be a regular occurrence.

 

[fnegroni]

Yeah but it’s enough to watch a few EV noobs on YouTube and read the comments section to see how much more education needs to take place.
Honestly I sometimes despair.
Dave takes it on, E V Man and others do their bit in dispelling myths but since most social media algorithms are geared towards revenue rather than spreading knowledge…

 

[Koops]

There is no timer on the app for this, that's one thing I do know.

Tried it this morning, on for 10 minutes then off automatically with no option to change the timer value

 

[Rolfe]

Correct. It works, though. If you want a shorter time, start it say five minutes before you're due to leave. Pressing the footbrake turns it off. If you want longer, it will let you start a second session.

 

[PaulD]

Being able to set a schedule for cabin pre-heating / pre-cooling is one thing I definitely miss from my previous EV.

It’s frustrating as it would have been an easy thing to implement on the app.

 

[Rolfe]

Never before having had a car that would do this at all, I'm just happy to have what we have!

 

[PaulD]

You don't miss what you never had, but going backwards in terms of functionality is often annoying. It obviously also depends on your use case. If you don't do the same journey at the same time 5 days a week it's obviously pretty irrelevant.

In my own personal case, it also now means I can't have the car warmed or cooled when I leave off work like I could previously.

 

[siteguru]

But you can ... just remember to open the app and set it heating/cooling before you finish work.

You're right, you can't do it automatically, but you can still do it manually. That's very different from saying you can't do it.

 

[PaulD]

No, I can’t. That’s why I said “in my own personal case”.

I’m not allowed to have my mobile phone with me at work.

 

[siteguru]

So you keep it in a locker/desk drawer until your shift has finished, then you collect it when you get changed to go home? (e.g. you work on a site where explosive materials are processed, so only ATEX approved mobile devices are allowed - been there, done that).

How long does it take you to get changed? How long does it take you to walk to your car? No opportunity whatsoever to open the app and start the heating/cooling?

Or do you have to leave it in the car? (Been there, done that too).

 

[PaulD]

Have to leave it completely off site in the car unfortunately, which is a pain for many reasons. It’s a nuclear power station.

 

[Burgo]

Have to leave it completely off site in the car unfortunately, which is a pain for many reasons. It’s a nuclear power station.

Fascinated to know the reason behind that rule. Any idea what it is?

 

[siteguru]

At a guess ... to mitigate against any risk of mobile transmission signals potentially interfering with critical control and/or safety systems.

 

[PaulD]

Fascinated to know the reason behind that rule. Any idea what it is?

Exactly as siteguru said. The Radio Frequency Interference Safety Case doesn’t currently allow for devices with those frequencies and powers to be near equipment. In reality it would almost certainly be ok, but work has to be done to prove it first. (Which will happen, as everything you buy these days has Bluetooth and WiFi capability, so we need to modernise the safety case)

 

[fnegroni]

I haven’t played with it yet, but Home Assistant allows you to control the MG4 now using your account credentials.
You can run an instance of HomeAssistant in the cloud and set up an automation.
This way you don’t have to have your phone with you to send the command at a fixed time