Smart charger won't charge MG ZS EV

[Howeuk]

Hi fellow owners !
Just got my MG ZS EV on Monday and had an OVO smart charger fitted on Thursday.
Now I can charge the car (OVER A LONG PERIOD) from the 13amp charger but the new Smart Charger does nothing and I mean Nothing in BOOST or regular mode.
Any Ideas ...
Graham

 

[Mark Holmes]

I can’t help sorry, I have a Rolec, but I’m waiting for my smart meter to be installed so that I can fully check mine is working, it does charge fine normally the minute it’s plugged in.

 

[jiserman]

I have a Rolec as well, but with a free cable, ie both ends need to be plugged in. It took me 3 attempts to get the car to charge for the first time and it was down to me. I hadn't noticed the instruction to plug the car in first and then the charging unit and I had also missed that the car must be in the locked position for the charge to complete.
If you have a tethered plug then your operation may be different, but the locked car position is pivotal. Hope it helps.

John R

 

[Mark Holmes]

With me I need to plug the unit end in first and then the car, you are right the car needs to be locked...

 

[Howeuk]

Mines Tethered LOL

 

[Chris3cm]

@Howeuk . Did you get it sorted? Slightly worried as I’m seriously considering an mg zs ev and have an ovo charger (installed because son works for ovo and they gave him a Nissan electric van).

 

[Mark Holmes]

@Howeuk . Did you get it sorted? Slightly worried as I’m seriously considering an mg zs ev and have an ovo charger (installed because son works for ovo and they gave him a Nissan electric van).

Done over 5000 miles in mine now for work, charge nearly every night from either my 7kw or granny charger and never had any problems, love this car and with the software update next week I’m sure I’ll love it even more...happy days

 

[SteeveeLeevee]

Hi fellow owners !
Just got my MG ZS EV on Monday and had an OVO smart charger fitted on Thursday.
Now I can charge the car (OVER A LONG PERIOD) from the 13amp charger but the new Smart Charger does nothing and I mean Nothing in BOOST or regular mode.
Any Ideas ...
Graham

I have a BP Chargemaster and it's taken ages to get a handle on the BP app. I think I have it now, but the main thing is it seems to take 3-4 minutes for the instruction to reach the charger and switch on (timed charging). So if you want to start charging at 9pm it won't actually start until 9:03 or 9:04pm.
Hope this helps.

 

[Dave S]

Sorry, I've got a Wallbox. It seems a bit "old fashioned" and the app doesn't tell me very much other than it is charging and the rate of input, but it is reliable.

 

[Ender]

Sorry, I've got a Wallbox. It seems a bit "old fashioned" and the app doesn't tell me very much other than it is charging and the rate of input, but it is reliable.

Hi,

I just got my MG ZS EV last month and am now running the cables for the charger. Thinking of buying the Wallbox Copper SB. (becaus I don't want a cable permanently attached). What kind of wallbox do you have and would you recommend it?

 

[Dave S]

@dprager
I've got the WallBox Plus, and yes it does charge the car successfully. You can amend the input, so I often set it quite low and use the electricity I'm generating from my PV cells.
The App is quite limited and only really permits you to start, stop, set a timer, amend the input and give you some data.
I had hoped that it would give you live charging data for the car, but it doesn't, sadly.
Yep, it "does what it says in the tin", it chargers the car quite successfully, but not many attractive value adds, I'm afraid.

 

[Ender]

@dprager
I've got the WallBox Plus, and yes it does charge the car successfully. You can amend the input, so I often set it quite low and use the electricity I'm generating from my PV cells.
The App is quite limited and only really permits you to start, stop, set a timer, amend the input and give you some data.
I had hoped that it would give you live charging data for the car, but it doesn't, sadly.
Yep, it "does what it says in the tin", it chargers the car quite successfully, but not many attractive value adds, I'm afraid.

OK, good to know. Although i would like to see the battery percentage on the chargerapp I don't know any that can or do that other then the public fast chargers. even public slow chargers don't give me that information. Some even add a subscription for the data and app usage.. so i guess I'll still be going with the wallbox. Thanx for your comment!

 

[Dave S]

What I tend to do (and here's where the more knowledgeable will dive in and humiliate my naivety) is whilst the car is charging on the fast (7kwh) charge, I just unlock and re-lock the car. The information display in the centre of the dashboard then indicates your %age charge and expected range. Yes, it would be better if it appeared via your app, particularly on a rainy night when you feel stupid nipping out to the drive to see how it's going!!

 

[Pecari]

What I tend to do (and here's where the more knowledgeable will dive in and humiliate my naivety) is whilst the car is charging on the fast (7kwh) charge, I just unlock and re-lock the car. The information display in the centre of the dashboard then indicates your %age charge and expected range. Yes, it would be better if it appeared via your app, particularly on a rainy night when you feel stupid nipping out to the drive to see how it's going!!

what you can also do is open and close the tailgate, with your keys in your pocket
then you don't have to unlock the car.
and just keep charging it.
The information display in the centre of the dashboard then indicates your %age charge
that's how I usually do it

 

[Frank]

Dave and Dprager,

Nobody diving in, the forum is here to help. Another way to check is, without the keys, press the open key on either door and the charging thingy will appear as well. Bit more on the opening the tailgate method which ONLY works when the car is locked (for those who don't know) you would assume that opening the boot would leave it unlocked, well it doesn't, after a couple of secs it will lock again, but you can't check this with your keys in your pocket as it will ALWAYS open.

Regards

Frank

 

[KasEV]

@Pecari and @Frank
You are absolutely right we are learning something new everyday.
What worries me however is that our individual ZS EVs seem sometimes to behave absolute differently from each other when it comes to charging so one has to try and error a bit with one's individual circumstances to achieve success in the end.
I have recently been told by a MG person that when I go charging the car on a rapid charger after connecting and initiating charging, I should sit in the car with HVB /AC on and relax to the music from the radio and just keep an eye on the small miles to empty counter in the dashboard display and this will automatically increase till charging is completed. I think works only if one has BMS update and C2U so I tried yesterday on a rapid charger and it worked excellently. I was so happy as the temperature reading was 32 and I was relaxed in the chilled car.
Has anyone tried this or noticed this is possible yet?

 

[Nibloprice]

what you can also do is open and close the tailgate, with your keys in your pocket
then you don't have to unlock the car.
and just keep charging it.
The information display in the centre of the dashboard then indicates your %age charge
that's how I usually do it

You don't even need to go this far. If you have your keys, just press the lock button on the fob and it will display the charge info on the dashboard.

 

[Skippy]

If you don’t have your keys near, pressing the door handle button also wakes up the display without affecting charging.

 

[RichardB]

I have a Rolec smart charger and ever since getting the car I had issues with it cutting off after varying amounts of time. After going back to the dealer and the installers several times I had the latest software upgrade and then a reprogrammed Rolec module but still the same issues. yesterday the installer called EV Energy and found out that it has recently been discovered that wi-fi boosters can affect the charger wi-fi. Sounds potty but I turned off the booster (the kind that use the house ring main) and it worked! Not sure how it does affect the charger wi-fi but it seems to have done the trick.
So if anyone has issues with Rolec chargers try that before wasting months of stress!!

 

[Skippy]

I have a Rolec smart charger and ever since getting the car I had issues with it cutting off after varying amounts of time. After going back to the dealer and the installers several times I had the latest software upgrade and then a reprogrammed Rolec module but still the same issues. yesterday the installer called EV Energy and found out that it has recently been discovered that wi-fi boosters can affect the charger wi-fi. Sounds potty but I turned off the booster (the kind that use the house ring main) and it worked! Not sure how it does affect the charger wi-fi but it seems to have done the trick.
So if anyone has issues with Rolec chargers try that before wasting months of stress!!

Rolec has a WiFi module? Not sure about that. I have heard that the box can be affected by power line network gear (some WiFi range extenders connect to each other this way), but not WiFi as such.