Problems with scheduled charging

[Anniepen]

Hello - can anyone please help before I lose the will to live?

We have an MG ZS January 2020 registration, new to us a couple of weeks ago. We also have a home Podpoint Solo charger. We have not yet been able to successfully charge overnight (0030-0430, our energy suppliers ‘cheap’ EV rate) - the podpoint app allows scheduling, and everything seems fine on that; we’ve had remote troubleshooting from Podpoint plus a maintenance visit yesterday when the engineer changed the PCB as a precaution and left, sure all was working.
Plugged car in, went to bed…… charge again failed.
Reading various fora suggests this isn’t an isolated case - reading the car’s manual (tortuous…) isn’t helping.
Can anyone please give me an idiot’s guide to
a) checking if the car itself has an existing schedule that is clashing with Podpoint’s and
b) clearing that down so only the Podpoint schedule applies?
Thank you for your anticipated shared wisdom before I scream!

 

[Lovemyev]

Can anyone please give me an idiot’s guide to
a) checking if the car itself has an existing schedule that is clashing with Podpoint’s and
b) clearing that down so only the Podpoint schedule applies?

Well you can rule out any conflict with cars scheduled charging, because you have a Gen 1 model that does not have this facility.
I am assuming that you have a smart wall box and not the older dumb unit ?.
Scheduled charging is only available via the wall box / approximate App.
I am sure somebody with a Pod Point unit will be along shortly with some advice on this subject.
When I had my previous Gen 1 we are using a dumb Rolec unit.
We were able to utilise the off pear rate by installing a Wi-Fi relay and schedule delayed charging via a free App on my phone.
This worked fine for about two years.
The Gen 2 facelift model has the inbuilt scheduled charging facility, so this is not required any more.

 

[Anniepen]

Thank you - good to be able to rule something else out. We DO have a smart wall box but after nearly three weeks of frustration in trying to get this feature working properly, I’m running out of ideas. Grateful for your reply and hopefully someone with a Pod Point can also help

 

[Gadget Geek]

Although the day rate is more expensive, it may be worth running short test charges during the day so you can see how the car reacts to the start of the timed charge. It may give an error message on the dash which you are not seeing.

Also, do you know anyone with an EV who could do a test charge to rule out the wall box or the car?

 

[gus]

I am just thinking of other things not based on knowledge, on my box (not a podpoint) there is a feature for keep alive to stop the car going to sleep, wasn't there a requirement for this at one stage?

 

[Anniepen]

Thank you - we have charged during the day (it’s been essential given night charging isn’t working) and that DOES work. I’ll try it with someone watching the dash though, in case of an error message. Re the wall box; we had a Pod Point engine here yesterday, who did a change of the internal board, lots of testing etc., and left happy. I was too, until checking at 6 am today! I’m at the dealer tomorrow about something else, so will ask them to run a check too, just want to be able to rule out any user errors etc., (First Time EV Owner ).

I am just thinking of other things not based on knowledge, on my box (not a podpoint) there is a feature for keep alive to stop the car going to sleep, wasn't there a requirement for this at one stage?

Thank you - I’ll ask the dealer tomorrow. The Pod point app gives a post-charge report and every overnight one shows zero charge, alongside the correct timings for connection/disconnection. It’s very frustrating!

 

[Gadget Geek]

Can you connect your car in the morning and set a chrge to start in the afternoon or evening, giving the car time to "go to sleep". If the charge fails, without opening the doors to wake up the car, see if there are any messages on the dash.

 

[gus]

Thank you - I’ll ask the dealer tomorrow. The Pod point app gives a post-charge report and every overnight one shows zero charge, alongside the correct timings for connection/disconnection. It’s very frustrating!

The keep alive section is on the wall box not the vehicle.

 

[Lovemyev]

Does the App have a “Off Peak” slider control on the interface by any chance ?.
Some of the inbuilt head units on other models have this facility.
You slide this button and then set your off peak start and finish times and don’t forget to hit the SAVE button !!!.

 

[Anniepen]

The keep alive section is on the wall box not the vehicle.

Thanks - no such section on the PodPoint that I can see. It’s blank other than a small light that shows yellow, blue, green or flashing green depending on what stage it’s in.

Does the App have a “Off Peak” slider control on the interface by any chance ?.
Some of the inbuilt head units on other models have this facility.
You slide this button and then set your off peak start and finish times and don’t forget to hit the SAVE button !!!.

Thanks for reply. Not as such - the schedule paid has Sunday to Monday and you choose your schedule from a 24 hour digital ‘clock’ on each day, then ‘save’. I went through what I have been doing, with the engineer who said it was correct.

Can you connect your car in the morning and set a chrge to start in the afternoon or evening, giving the car time to "go to sleep". If the charge fails, without opening the doors to wake up the car, see if there are any messages on the dash.

Thank you - I’m out at the moment (Tesco, charging the car…..) but will try that when I get home.

 

[Lovemyev]

Any good ???.

 

[Anniepen]

Any good ???.

Thank you - I’m in a very noisy Tesco cafe at the moment and can’t hear these, but will check them out when I’m home. Thanks again

 

[bollard1969]

I own a MG ZS first edition model and a Hypervolt charger. I also have an issue with the scheduled overnight charging, which according to Hypervolt is due to the car basically shutting down if you plug in the car too early. For me to get an overnight charge, I have to plug it in as late as possible, basically after 11.30 pm so the car doesn't shut down before the scheduled overnight charge. Hypervolt say this is an issue with MG ZS EV's, but MG do not seem to be interested in providing a fix. Try plugging it in as late as possible and see if that helps.

 

[Pict]

Has the car had all its software updates?

Early versions of the software had a bug/feature/failure that stopped the car waking up when the charger sent the start charging command.

When you plug the car in without the charge being started the car eventually went into a deep sleep from which it would not automatically wake up.

The work around to this was to have a trickle charge always on keeping the car awake until the schedule kicks in when the charger will ramp up to 7kW. This is how we had to have the car set up with our smart Rolec EVSE

A software update was released by MG to stop the deep sleep situation so the car would then respond appropriately. Given the age of your car I would have thought it would have had 2 services by now so all updates should have been applied. I think at one point some dealers were saying the update required was not a warranty item so we're charging for it so maybe the previous owner declined.

Just a thought

 

[Gadget Geek]

A good thought by Pict. Some dealerships won't look for updates unless the customer specifically asks for them.

 

[Anniepen]

Can you connect your car in the morning and set a chrge to start in the afternoon or evening, giving the car time to "go to sleep". If the charge fails, without opening the doors to wake up the car, see if there are any messages on the dash.

Thank you - trying that now

Has the car had all its software updates?

Early versions of the software had a bug/feature/failure that stopped the car waking up when the charger sent the start charging command.

When you plug the car in without the charge being started the car eventually went into a deep sleep from which it would not automatically wake up.

The work around to this was to have a trickle charge always on keeping the car awake until the schedule kicks in when the charger will ramp up to 7kW. This is how we had to have the car set up with our smart Rolec EVSE

A software update was released by MG to stop the deep sleep situation so the car would then respond appropriately. Given the age of your car I would have thought it would have had 2 services by now so all updates should have been applied. I think at one point some dealers were saying the update required was not a warranty item so we're charging for it so maybe the previous owner declined.

Just a thought

Thank you - I’m going to the dealership tomorrow and gave already alerted them to something that may also be a software update (impossible to remove charging cable from the car 9/10 times….. usually have to lift the bonnet and manually release it). It may well be something related so will see what they say and report back.

A good thought by Pict. Some dealerships won't look for updates unless the customer specifically asks for them.

Thanks, will investigate with the dealership says tomorrow, but wouldn’t surprise me

 

[Lovemyev]

That’s a great shout @Pict .
We sometimes incorrectly take it from granted that the earlier Gen 1 cars will have received all of the necessary software updates by now !.
But as we understand by now, not every dealer does this as a matter of course !.
They tend to be driven by either a customer complaint or a direct request to check for updates.
The MG update to prevent the car going into a deep sleep, was one the first updates brought out, if I remember correctly.
My previous ZS EV arrived mid December 2019 and was collected 3rd Jan 2020.
The update was done prior to collection.
This was very important to us as we had this update done, because we had a cheap off peak tariff.
Thinking back, when MG first released the ZS EV in 2019 they were offering a free wall box under the grant.
The two recommended wall boxes were a Rolec and the Pod Point !.
Neither of which ( at the time ) would allow a delayed charge !.
I do remember the row between the two, going on for weeks and weeks.
Each blaming each other from the problem !,
One clever owner, was one of the first people to get this dumb wall box to carry out a delayed charge, by carrying out a modification.
Pod Point should be well conversant with the history of this problem with the ZS EV .
But your new smart wall boxes should be equipped to over come this issue.
The fact that you need to press the unlock button at lot to get the cable to release, give some insight that something is not working 100% correctly.
You should not need to keep pulling the emergency release cord to release the cable.
It could be that the previous owner had a single rate tariff and never charged on a delayed scheduled of peak rate ?.
Therefore the problem was never identified.
The car needs to be checked for any updates before going any further really.
You will need to explain both of the problems you are having in some detail.
This is because there is not one single simple button to apply all updates to every module in the car at one time.
They will have to go into each of the different modules in a set pattern, and then apply any available updates on a one by one basis.
It can be a bit of a time consuming exercise and easy to miss some tick boxes along the way.
This is why it’s important that they fully understand what the problems you are having before commencing work.
It helps give them so type of direction to follow.

 

[Anniepen]

That’s a great shout @Pict .
We sometimes incorrectly take it from granted that the earlier Gen 1 cars will have received all of the necessary software updates by now !.
But as we understand by now, not every dealer does this as a matter of course !.
They tend to be driven by either a customer complaint or a direct request to check for updates.
The MG update to prevent the car going into a deep sleep, was one the first updates brought out, if I remember correctly.
My previous ZS EV arrived mid December 2019 and was collected 3rd Jan 2020.
The update was done prior to collection.
This was very important to us as we had this update done, because we had a cheap off peak tariff.
Thinking back, when MG first released the ZS EV in 2019 they were offering a free wall box under the grant.
The two recommended wall boxes were a Rolec and the Pod Point !.
Neither of which ( at the time ) would allow a delayed charge !.
I do remember the row between the two, going on for weeks and weeks.
Each blaming each other from the problem !,
One clever owner, was one of the first people to get this dumb wall box to carry out a delayed charge, by carrying out a modification.
Pod Point should be well conversant with the history of this problem with the ZS EV .
But your new smart wall boxes should be equipped to over come this issue.
The fact that you need to press the unlock button at lot to get the cable to release, give some insight that something is not working 100% correctly.
You should not need to keep pulling the emergency release cord to release the cable.
It could be that the previous owner had a single rate tariff and never charged on a delayed scheduled of peak rate ?.
Therefore the problem was never identified.
The car needs to be checked for any updates before going any further really.
You will need to explain both of the problems you are having in some detail.
This is because there is not one single simple button to apply all updates to every module in the car at one time.
They will have to go into each of the different modules in a set pattern, and then apply any available updates on a one by one basis.
It can be a bit of a time consuming exercise and easy to miss some tick boxes along the way.
This is why it’s important that they fully understand what the problems you are having before commencing work.
It helps give them so type of direction to follow.

Thank you again - having spent many hours talking to Pod Point and getting pretty stroppy (me, not them), plus trying to do my own research (including finding this great forum today), I do think it’s software updates that are at the bottom of the various glitches. As you say though, Pod Point must be aware of the scheduling issue but have never mentioned it. Feeling better equipped now for the dealership tomorrow!

 

[Rutsy]

We use a Solo 3 with a MK2 LR. We find the plug a tight fit. Sometimes we plug it in, blue lights illuminate but it doesn't charge as scheduled. Overcome by giving it a wiggle and a push.

 

[Lovemyev]

As you say though, Pod Point must be aware of the scheduling issue but have never mentioned it.

They probably never mentioned it, because as far as they are concerned, the problem was sorted at there end a long time ago !.