Scheduled charging stops early

[Snip]

Scheduled charging stops early. Apols if this has been covered elsewhere - I did look. I have an MG4 Trophy and a dumb home charger. I'm trying to use scheduled charging to take advantage of lower costs between midnight and 7am, setting it up via the app and in the car to start at 00.05 and finish either at 6.55 or a target level or 80 or 100% - I've tried all the combos. All seems fine though I don't know when charging actually starts - I'm asleep! But every time, charging stops after adding only 15-20%, way short of the target or the time.
Has anyone had anything similar or can suggest what I'm doing wrong? Thanks

 

[SimonS]

My first suggestion would be to set it up in the app or car but not both. It tends to confuse things.

 

[Snip]

Thks for this - my attempt at making the msg concise meant it wasn't clear. I have been doing each on different occasions. Though setting the parameters in the app is reflected in the car and vice versa so that part of it is working. I've seen other posts that say it's the app that's suspect but as the car is showing the right info, I don't think that's it. Confused is right!

There are other glitches with it as well - not as annoying as the main one though. Fr'instance - yesterday it started charging early even when scheduled charging was set up - and I didn't press the start button by accident - it happened twice. I'm wondering whether to go back to the dealer and see if there's a software upgrade I should have?

 

[NickHeynes]

There are other glitches with it as well - not as annoying as the main one though. Fr'instance - yesterday it started charging early even when scheduled charging was set up - and I didn't press the start button by accident - it happened twice. I'm wondering whether to go back to the dealer and see if there's a software upgrade I should have?

possible stupid question . Is the app asking you to enter your 4 digit code when setting up the schedule and if so does it say "success" at the bottom of the screen when you've entered it ?

 

[Snip]

Hi, Not a stupid question at all - I wondered about that. No it doesn't, not every time. I haven't figured out why it does sometimes and not others. But as the schedule is reflected in the car and charging does start, I wasn't sure it was relevant.

 

[Martinonline]

Are the incorrect start times 1hour ahead/behind the set times?

 

[Snip]

Hi, Thks for the thought but not as far as I know. I don't know what time charging actually starts - as I said I'm asleep! The problem is that it ends too soon - on one occasion when I happened to wake up and check, it charged for a max 2 and a half hours - out of a planned 7. And added only 16% instead of the 41% it needed to get to the target.

 

[Martinonline]

Have you tried a test during the day and monitored it?

 

[Snip]

Good thought - that's my next step I think. I'll reset it all to no scheduled charging and start again - during the day as you say.

 

[DanLH]

When you say a "dumb home charger" do you mean a 7kw wall charger that's not got any features other than plug in and switch on, or are you using the granny charger? I'm wondering if it has anything to with the amount of juice the car is able to pull. Does anyone know if the car will suspend a charge if the available power drops below a certain wattage?

 

[Snip]

I mean a 7kw wall charger with no extra features. So the supplier limits the wattage with the cheaper tariff? But it's advertised as specifically for EV charging with no stated conditions so you'd hope not. A day time test should help to check that though it won't prove that that's the cause. If it helps, the charger flashes blue when scheduled charging is set - which it doesn't do otherwise.

I wish there was a charging history you could look at to see when charging starts & stops. I don't think there is?

Doing a day time test and it is, of course, working perfectly - so far at least. I'm not going to be able to try it again overnight till Sunday cos it's now nearly fully charged! Thanks for all your suggestions, everyone. I'll be back next week with an update - in case it's useful for anyone else!

 

[fnegroni]

Definitely useful!
At this point I suspect it’s the supplier’s rate limiter. It supplies you with low tariff electricity, but it does so by limiting the output of the charger.
Therefore schedule charging will never work reliably if indeed the charger cuts the supply as the car will not re-establish a charging session after it detects a lack of supply.
My recommendation in this case would be to run the app overnight and validate if the supply ever stops, or check if the dumb charger has the opportunity to be switched on and off via an external timer.
What make and model charger is this?

 

[Snip]

I'm now thinking the same thing - we'll check the small print for the tariff. When I've run down the battery, I'll set it up manually (i.e. not using scheduled charging) to charge overnight and see what happens. It's a BG Sync EV charger, but I'm not sure of the model. And t'internet appears to show that they're all Smart and Wifi enabled, so maybe I do have options to manage it from there. I'll see if I can find the right manual! Thanks a lot.

Hello again, An update on the saga above with charging ending early. I've discovered a few things. Firstly my charger is not dumb and is now online (very helpful tech support from BG EV) so I can see charging history and use Smart charging for timed start & end. And I;ve also discovered that charging fails during the day and overnight, and when it's set up to charge manually, or scheduled from the app or using Smart charging. But not using the Type 1 cable. And it restarts by itself after a power cut so it's not that.
When it stops, the charger shows a fault condition (flashing red light) and the car releases the cable - so (having unlocked the car) the cable isn't fully inserted and snug as it should be. If I reseat the cable in the port on the car, charging starts again without touching the charger or its parameters. So the car is rejecting the cable for some reason. I wondered about a power surge but there's no evidence of that. So I think either a faulty cable or a fault in the car - and I suspect the latter. Anyone got any ideas or experience of anything similar? Thanks

I think my next step is to find a public tethered charger with a 3 phase cable like mine and try that. Or see if the dealer has such a thing - they've offered to test it for me. If it fails then it has to be the car and if it works, it's more likely to be the cable.

 

[fnegroni]

Hello again, An update on the saga above with charging ending early. I've discovered a few things. Firstly my charger is not dumb and is now online (very helpful tech support from BG EV) so I can see charging history and use Smart charging for timed start & end. And I;ve also discovered that charging fails during the day and overnight, and when it's set up to charge manually, or scheduled from the app or using Smart charging. But not using the Type 1 cable. And it restarts by itself after a power cut so it's not that.
When it stops, the charger shows a fault condition (flashing red light) and the car releases the cable - so (having unlocked the car) the cable isn't fully inserted and snug as it should be. If I reseat the cable in the port on the car, charging starts again without touching the charger or its parameters. So the car is rejecting the cable for some reason. I wondered about a power surge but there's no evidence of that. So I think either a faulty cable or a fault in the car - and I suspect the latter. Anyone got any ideas or experience of anything similar? Thanks

Interesting. When you say that after the car releases the cable the plug isn’t as snug and reseating it fixes it…
that in my mind should not happen.
but it might be a red herring

 

[rigby44]

Thks for this - my attempt at making the msg concise meant it wasn't clear. I have been doing each on different occasions. Though setting the parameters in the app is reflected in the car and vice versa so that part of it is working. I've seen other posts that say it's the app that's suspect but as the car is showing the right info, I don't think that's it. Confused is right!

There are other glitches with it as well - not as annoying as the main one though. Fr'instance - yesterday it started charging early even when scheduled charging was set up - and I didn't press the start button by accident - it happened twice. I'm wondering whether to go back to the dealer and see if there's a software upgrade I should have?

Unfortunately you are likely to have to put up with this poor software experience.

We have an MG4 and abandoned scheduled charging on the app as it just doesnt work reliably enough, which isnt good enough by far.

We have a smart wallbox and plug that in of an evening, we can then schedule a charge between 00:30-04:30 in line with our Octopus Go tariff.

However, the car likes to fall asleep after 4 hours - so its crucial that the car is unlocked/locked before bed else the car wont accept charge.

It costs money, time and patience to work around the poor MG software - and whilst you shouldnt have to, it can be done.

 

[tsedge]

Unfortunately you are likely to have to put up with this poor software experience.

We have an MG4 and abandoned scheduled charging on the app as it just doesnt work reliably enough, which isnt good enough by far.

We have a smart wallbox and plug that in of an evening, we can then schedule a charge between 00:30-04:30 in line with our Octopus Go tariff.

However, the car likes to fall asleep after 4 hours - so its crucial that the car is unlocked/locked before bed else the car wont accept charge.

It costs money, time and patience to work around the poor MG software - and whilst you shouldnt have to, it can be done.

My MG4 doesn't fall asleep like this. I charge with a schedule on my Zappi and I don't need to wake the car up, doesn't matter when I plug it in.

 

[rigby44]

My MG4 doesn't fall asleep like this. I charge with a schedule on my Zappi and I don't need to wake the car up, doesn't matter when I plug it in.

Glad to hear you dont suffer from it.

 

[tsedge]

Glad to hear you dont suffer from it.

Maybe your car or charger needs some updates?

 

[Tigger]

My MG4 doesn't fall asleep like this. I charge with a schedule on my Zappi and I don't need to wake the car up, doesn't matter when I plug it in.

My Trophy will charge like this with scheduling on my PodPoint, and again, I doesn't matter when I plug it in. (However, I don't bother with this, as scheduled charging works fine on the car, provided the app is not used at all.. . )

 

[Snip]

Hi all, Thanks for the msgs - I would prefer to charge overnight as we have a cheap tariff but it stops after maybe an hour and a half whenever I try. 4 hours would be wonderful!! At least during the day, I can go out and restart it (just by reinserting the cable into the car). I've resorted to Type 1 charging at the moment - at least it's reliable! And waiting for feedback from the charger company about whether they have any diagnostics that might help. Next step - return to the service dept of the dealer!