Problems disconnecting the Zappi 2 Charger from my MG5 2021.

[LiamR]

Hi All. I connected my MG up to my home charger last Thursday night and it started to fast charge as this is the last mode I used on the app. I then switched it to charge on a schedule without cancelling the charge. When I went open the car on Saturday morning the car didn't respond to the keyfob. I checked on the app and it says delayed charge. I have cancelled all charging and even tried turning off the charger at the distribution board, but the charger cable doesn't disconnect and the car is dead. I have been able to get into the car using the key. When the car went onto charge it was about 60% SOC so can't imagine it is drained. Any Ideas anyone ? I have seen a post that shows how to disconnect the charger in an emergency, will try this later.

Update
RAC came around and put jump leads on , within minutes I was able to disconnect the cable and start the car, RAC say the 12v battery is knackered - have contacted the dealer but they don't stock the battery, nor do any of the the three alternative suppliers that I have talked to. Has anyone else had problems getting hold of a replacement battery? it appears that this battery is bit unusual as it has a particularly low height. When I got home I have connected a trickle charger an it seems to be accepting charge. But not sure this is going to hold when I disconnect. The car is booked in for its annual second service in November, so might just ask them to fit new battery. The battery was discharged for about a week, it might just recharge and hold?

 

[dragon2611]

Sounds like your 12v battery may have gone flat, possibly due to something keeping the car awake (wasn't there some polling interval setting on zappis that may need to be changed).

Hopefully it hasn't killed the battery but either way at a minimum you are likely to need either a jump back or a 12V battery charger to get things going again.

 

[LiamR]

Sounds like your 12v battery may have gone flat, possibly due to something keeping the car awake (wasn't there some polling interval setting on zappis that may need to be changed).

Hopefully it hasn't killed the battery but either way at a minimum you are likely to need either a jump back or a 12V battery charger to get things going again.

Many thanks. Not sure what the polling interval setting thing means, It has been charging on the zappi ok for nearly a year, so hopefully not a problem.

 

[MickeySw]

I have come across this on another forum, they use MG5s as company cars and leave them plugged in to charge on a schedule over the weekend. On Monday morning one of them is dead, sometimes just disconnecting the battery for a few minutes helps, other times the 12 V needs to be jump started.

Initially they suspected the EVSE but it works fine with other car brands…

You said you changed to schedule without cancelling the instant charging, does that mean it kept charging from 60% to 100% on Thursday night?

Once the car is “full” the HV battery is disconnected and can therefore no longer supply the Aux battery. If the Zappi then polls the car constantly as dragon2611 hints, you can end up with a flat battery.

Maybe you haven’t seen this before as you don’t usually charge to 100% and leave it plugged in afterwards for a day or two?

 

[LiamR]

Thanks for this additional information. I will check to see if it has charged to 100% when I get it running. According to the app the zappi hasn't charged the car since I plugged in. The guide to the zappi does suggest that it is important to set the schedule prior to plugging in, this could be where I went wrong. It may be that I will proceed with the normal way of charging that I have used. The only reason to charge on the schedule is that I am considering changing to a cheap overnight tariff. Usually I charge on eco mode with the fast charge, this then charges off the solar panels. If needed I then give it a boost off grid up to 100%. It has sat connected for days at times. It sounds like the key is to get the charger onto it and see how it goes. I believe there is a way to disconnect the charger cable prior top doing this.

 

[dragon2611]

Many thanks. Not sure what the polling interval setting thing means, It has been charging on the zappi ok for nearly a year, so hopefully not a problem.

I think there was someone else who had a similar problem and there was a setting on the zappi relating to how often it polls the car but it's possible I'm just getting confused and it was a different EVSE.

 

[LiamR]

Cheers, Once I am up and running I will raise it with myenergi. If I find anything on this I will post for everyones benefit.

 

[MickeySw]

It sounds like the key is to get the charger onto it and see how it goes. I believe there is a way to disconnect the charger cable prior top doing this.

.. just try and disconnect the 12V battery first for a couple of minutes, even better if you could measure the voltage with a multimeter.

Emergency release tips and tricks

Manually releasing the charging port lock

So I just finished charging my MG5 SR and the cable was stuck in the front of the car. Came back in to check the manual and it says to remove the front compartment decorative cover - does that mean the whole top tray? If so not sure what I’d have done if I was away from home without my tools...

www.mgevs.com

 

[Coulomb]

There is an update in the first post of this thread for those interested.

 

[LiamR]

Update
I have release the car and it seems to be all working fine. However the Zappi will not charge the car as the app still says "charge delayed". Is there anybody out there that knows how to reset the Zappi? Incidently the car seems to be ok charging through the Type 2 socket with the 3 pin connector cable so I assume nothing needs to be reset on the car.

 

[Fluffykins]

Is there anybody out there that knows how to reset the Zappi?

My inclination would be to kill the mains supply to the charger without the car connected, obv (switch off at the circuit breaker probably in your meter cupboard), forcing a reboot of the Zappi.

 

[johnb80]

Update
I have release the car and it seems to be all working fine. However the Zappi will not charge the car as the app still says "charge delayed". Is there anybody out there that knows how to reset the Zappi? Incidently the car seems to be ok charging through the Type 2 socket with the 3 pin connector cable so I assume nothing needs to be reset on the car.

Just select STOP on the Zappi, that should stop any charge delayed message. If you want to restart your ZAPPI, press the left hand button to select the menu screen and then press and hold the button until the display goes blank, thats ZAPPI restarting.

Just as an aside, wall boxes dont poll the vehicle, they are merely a mains supply switch that will switch the 240v on to the car when appropriate conditions are met. There are no communication protocols for data to and from the wallbox. The system works with a pilot signal which is switched on and off 1000 times per second, the length of time that it's on instructs the charging unit in the car what the maximum current draw can be. The onboard charger in the car adjusts the voltage of the signal by adding or removing load from it to tell the wallbox what mode it's in eg charging / waiting / charge complete etc.

 

[dragon2611]

Just as an aside, wall boxes dont poll the vehicle, they are merely a mains supply switch that will switch the 240v on to the car when appropriate conditions are met. There are no communication protocols for data to and from the wallbox. The system works with a pilot signal which is switched on and off 1000 times per second, the length of time that it's on instructs the charging unit in the car what the maximum current draw can be. The onboard charger in the car adjusts the voltage of the signal by adding or removing load from it to tell the wallbox what mode it's in eg charging / waiting / charge complete etc.

I think there was a problem with one of the EVSE's signaling that caused the computers in the car to stay awake when waiting to charge which drained the 12v, not sure what went wrong there but that's what it was causing.

 

[johnb80]

I think there was a problem with one of the EVSE's signaling that caused the computers in the car to stay awake when waiting to charge which drained the 12v, not sure what went wrong there but that's what it was causing.

Maybe, all that will be coming from the Zappi or any other wall box / granny charger is a constant 1 kHz pilot signal. If the car chooses to respond to it in some way or ignore it is down to the hardware / software design of the car, beyond control of the wallboxes.