Car-net and delayed charging

[Tuningin]

All eGolfs in the US have those two buttons from the first car and on. There is an addendum that was added to the manual packet that is provided from the dealer which covers its function.

 

[madscot]

Thought I would share my experiences.

Very happy with eGolf overall. Finally got level 2 charger installed and moving to EV-A rate in CA (10 cent/kwh from 11pm to 7am vs the average of 25 cents I pay now). In advance of the rate change I thought I'd try out delayed charging.

Well now I am unhappy with VW / Car.net. Feature doesn't work at all for me either through web or the app. I have no issue checking car status, turning on climate etc but delayed charging setting changes always fail.

So called Car.net. Super apologetic and eager to help. They walked me through pressing the "i" button while I was on the phone with them. No change.

Issue was escalated to VW and I got a case number. Following day got a call back saying that it's a known issue and that the VW execs are concerned. Expect a solution in 6 weeks. They will call me again with an update.

I wonder if the hobbled software in the car (where the ability to program the delayed charging directly was removed in USA market) has created an unexpected bug. My spidey sense in tingling as a software fix might be trivial to implement but would take months of regression testing - hence 6 week timeframe.

I strongly recommend everyone call in and complain. Tell them it's costing you $$ to charge you eGolf at higher electricity rate and that paying $199 for a service that doesn't work properly really deserves a refund for at least the period it doesn't work.

That way the unhappiness of the community will be heard.

Cheers

Madscot

 

[Octavius07]

Not to be selfish....but I realized the difference in rates for LADWP is 14 cents in the day, and 13 cents at night....so delayed charging is not really an issue for me.

(At least I think those are the rates when I looked it up online...I'll check my next bill).

Also, Off Peak hours in Los ANgeles are from 8pm to 8am. again....that's easy for me to do.


The App........Is kind of useless.
I have a lease, So I believe I get the service free for the three year term of my lease.
so far, I've used it to check my charging progress, and it never updates properly.

LASTLY, the Combo SAE Charger is pretty much nonexistent here.

There are two that I know of in the whole city....and I think it's odd the dealerships don't at least have the quick chargers...
They only have the 240volt chargers at the dealers.....

I get my home charger installed tomorrow....I've been surviving off 110 charge at night. Which has worked fine for the amount that I drive.

 

[svienb]

VW have confirmed that there is a bug in the software and they are working on it, I have been assigned a case manger out of their head office. The case manger has been calling me weekly to give updates. The ETR is meant to be 6 weeks.

 

[Unbeliever]

In another thread I stated:

Car-net in general has been a disappointment, especially on charging schedules. So far it's 0/3 on charging going as planned. Twice, even though I set the departure time at 7am, charging didn't START until 7am, and this morning, an absolute failure to charge. The saving grace this morning is that initial plug-in last night, it charged to the minimum level I set as it should. However, overnight, it never woke up to finish the charging.

My charging schedules did not have auto climate control enabled, as living in the LA Basin, and parking in a garage, it really isn't needed for the morning drive.

After reading around here and seeing people reporting that the auto Climate Control was much more reliable, I added climate control to the charging profiles. I did this in the hope that the car would wake up and charge at the right time. It behaved much better this time around. I set a profile for 80% and a temperature of 59 degrees. Over the 3 days since I started the experiment, it has woken up and started charging at the right time according to my SoCal Edison usage plots, but not to 80% consistently. It charged from 50% to 72%, then 80%, then 69% over the 3 days. That highly correlates to the morning temperatures the last few days. Mid to high 40s, high 30s, then back to Mid to high 40s. I set it to the low end of the scale of 59 degrees since I didn't really want preconditioning, only "wake up, car!" and didn't want to waste more electricity than is needed.

My theory, the charging task isn't quite enough to wake up the car, but the temperature task is enough to wake the car. However, the charging can only take place while preconditioning the car has it awake. So when the preconditioning task times out, the car falls asleep again and charging stops. It took longer on that high 30s morning to condition the car, so it had more time to complete the charge. The high 40s days cut off the charging early.

For now, I'm giving up on Carnet delayed charging.

On a side note, Last Saturday night, I plugged in on a no-climate delayed charging experiment. I woke up Sunday morning and noticed the car didn't charge via the App and Webpage. I just disabled the profile on the Webpage and didn't bother unplugging it. It didn't start charging right away (I didn't want to), but two hours later, according to my SCE usage plots, it woke up and full charged on its own.

 

[Frank3]

Called car-net yesterday to voice concern about delayed charging and the fact that there hasn't been a solution yet. They indicated that they'd raise my issue to some sort of higher level and that I'd get a call back by end of the next day.

I received a call at noon today from the higher-level rep who apologized for the problem and indicated that the ETA for the solution is now 3-weeks out. She said she'd call me in 3 weeks to give me an update. Additionally, they told me they're sending me a check for $400 to offset the inconvenience.

Right now, I'm a happy camper.

 

[jakman76]

Same here - got the same exact inconvinience relive package a while back. Good to know its only 3 more weeks.

Called car-net yesterday to voice concern about delayed charging and the fact that there hasn't been a solution yet. They indicated that they'd raise my issue to some sort of higher level and that I'd get a call back by end of the next day.

I received a call at noon today from the higher-level rep who apologized for the problem and indicated that the ETA for the solution is now 3-weeks out. She said she'd call me in 3 weeks to give me an update. Additionally, they told me they're sending me a check for $400 to offset the inconvenience.

Right now, I'm a happy camper.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Side question: how much a month is the Car-net fee? I have not used it, because I think it should be free.

 

[jakman76]

The e-golf specific features are free for 3 years:
"3 years of complimentary e-Golf specific VW Car-Net features available after activation of 6-month VW Car-Net trial."

Side question: how much a month is the Car-net fee? I have not used it, because I think it should be free.

 

[konstantin]

I have had my new Golf for 3 days. Please, advice what Level-2 charger (with built-in timer) to buy to be able to do delayed charge of the car without car-net. I understood that delay must be less than 2 hrs,(before car goes to asleep). Thank you.

 

[IndigoZ]

Thanks, everyone, for all the info posted. I got an e-Golf on 4/12/15 and after three weeks with it, have also experienced the great disappointment that is Carnet and delayed charging. For me, neither the app nor the website are functional. I have also discovered that pressing the charge port button isn't sufficient to wake the car up for another two hours. Where I live (bay area with PG&E) the cheap power starts at 11pm, well past my bedtime for an 0530 morning departure time, so I was hoping that poking the button at 9pm would get it to start charging at 11.

I too have called VW (though I think i used the Carnet customer service number and not the VW customer care number) and they assured me on 4/20 that they were 4 weeks out on a solution, which is roughly consistent with what other folks have posted on the thread. I wish I'd seen the thread before contacting them, though, as I'm only getting $200. If the 4 weeks come and go I'll be sure to ask for the other $200!

I've also noticed that my delayed charging button does absolutely nothing. It doesn't light up after I press it, even when the LED indicator in the charging port is green and I know the car is awake and actively drawing power. Anyone else notice this, or do I have the extra special case of inop app and inop car hardware?

As an aside, I'm using a Juicebox 40 Pro to charge the car. I'm thinking of experimenting tonight with not plugging in the car right as I get home, but over two hours later, with the Juicebox ready to deliver power, to see if that wakes the car up to take a charge. If it does work, then that would imply that there is some kind of signal that the charger sends the car to indicate it's there and ready to deliver power. If it doesn't work, then it would indicate that the car would have to be woken up with a fob click before charging. I'm hoping it's the former scenario since there may be some way to configure the Juicebox to deliver that "just plugged in" signal at the desired charge time. I'll post my results tomorrow.

Looking forward to being part of the e-Golf community,
Arturo

 

[konstantin]

Hi, thank for you post. I have my EV on 4/23/15. I have a problem with delayed charging. I understood that car net pays $200 for not functioning delayed charging. Is it correct?

 

[GadgetGav]

I have set the departure time in CarNet and the delayed charging button is lit in the charging port on the car, but as soon as I plug in it starts charging immediately. The charging time shows it will take between 1 & 3 hours depending on how much I've used it and the departure time is set to 7am but it just jumps right in and starts charging anyway.
I suppose that's better than getting there at 7am to find that it didn't wake up and start charging in the middle of the night.

 

[IndigoZ]

So last night I plugged my car in well after two hours had passed. In preparation for my experiment, I popped open the charge port door before locking the car to ensure I wouldn't have to wake it up to open it. Sure enough, the act of plugging in the charger wakes the car up. My next move is to figure out how to configure the Juicebox such that when the TOS period begins at night, the same signal is sent to the car as when you first plug it in.

 

[miimura]

So last night I plugged my car in well after two hours had passed. In preparation for my experiment, I popped open the charge port door before locking the car to ensure I wouldn't have to wake it up to open it. Sure enough, the act of plugging in the charger wakes the car up. My next move is to figure out how to configure the Juicebox such that when the TOS period begins at night, the same signal is sent to the car as when you first plug it in.

From a technical standpoint, it is difficult to simulate plugging in a J1772 handle when the handle has already been inserted. Typically, the cord between the handle and station only has 4 conductors. For example, my Leviton 40A station's cord is labeled "3C 8 AWG + 1C 18 AWG". This means that there is L1, L2, GND with 8 AWG wires and the Pilot signal on a 18 AWG wire. There is a 5th pin on the vehicle inlet called the Presence Pin. This pin is connected to one of two resistors in the handle that indicate whether the trigger button is pressed or not, and on the vehicle side, a 5V supply, a pair of resistors, and a voltage detector. If the Presence Pin at the vehicle inlet is connected to either of the resistors in the handle, then the car will recognize that the station is connected. If the firmware in the car is not designed to handle the case where the station is connected, but does not present a pilot signal until the desired charging time, then it will likely fail. This is completely within VW's control.

The only way to completely fool the car into thinking that a plug-in event has occurred at a later time is to keep the Presence Pin open until the desired charging time. This requires more wires between the handle and the charging station. I mentioned before that I thought that the upcoming JAMP JR charging station from Quick Charge Power may be able to do this. The reason is that they have commissioned special electric vehicle cable that has two extra small gauge wires in it. This could allow the Presence Pin to be routed from the inlet to the charging station electronics and back to the handle button and resistors. When the charging station closes a relay or otherwise allows the circuit to be closed between the car and the button resistors, the car will recognize a new plug insertion. I have no inside information about the design of their charging station (or the JuiceBox products), but I know the guys over at Quick Charge Power know how to do this and that other cars like the RAV4 EV (with which they are intimately familiar) have the same issue. So, I am hopeful that it will be useful on the e-Golf. Toyota was able to update their firmware to eliminate the most egregious of their bugs, so it's already workable for most people without this special station hardware.

 

[vetaldj]

I'm pretty sure the US version has the menus just disabled/inactive and let's car-net feed the settings in the background.
Doubt that's an easy way for them to do - not because of the software update (that should be easy), but all their manuals are not showing the feature. Makes it a mess for them. Same with a "start charge timer" so many of us would like to see.

I have cable and soft to access the car and will play with it, if this is in EU models it is there, just hidden, for sure. Will report back as soon as i have some time to do so.

 

[miimura]

My car was at Sunnyvale VW for 3 days to address my list of problems the car had since delivery. Applying TSB 2040470 seems to have addressed all of the problems I was having setting up delayed charging. It seemed like a server side problem, but it appears to me now that the web site and app were failing when trying to contact the car upon saving the charging schedule. Now, all appears to be working as intended, as they like to say on the work orders.

This is a huge improvement. Now I just have to see if the car does what it's supposed to.

 

[miimura]

My car did charge last night. However, it must have started late or charged slower than forecast. As you can see above, it was set for 7am departure but it was still charging from the provided 120V cord at 7:40 when I stopped it and unplugged. The estimated completion was at about 8:00.

I also confirmed that the buttons next to the charge port work as expected. When you plug in and it is set for delayed charging, the Charging Progress Indicator will give a quick green flash about every 2 seconds and the button with the clock icon is illuminated. Pushing the upper button with the plug icon will start charging. While it's charging, pushing the lower button with the clock icon will stop charging. While charging, the Stop Charging button in the Car-Net App also works.

 

[oftheseven]

That's good to hear. Nothing on mine (app or car) seems to be working regarding scheduled charging or the charge port buttons.

I took delivery of my car last week but don't know if these updates were installed (i assume not). Do I have to take it to the dealer for them to see the latest version or can we view it somewhere ourselves? I can't afford to keep it there for a few days.

 

[miimura]

That's good to hear. Nothing on mine (app or car) seems to be working regarding scheduled charging or the charge port buttons.

I took delivery of my car last week but don't know if these updates were installed (i assume not). Do I have to take it to the dealer for them to see the latest version or can we view it somewhere ourselves? I can't afford to keep it there for a few days.

You have to take it in. Call to make an appointment and insist on a loaner car. If they don't give you a loaner, call VW Customer service and complain. I was told VW will be sending me a check for $300 for my inconvenience and extra charging costs due to the timer not working. Therefore, I did not take a loaner (it was offered) when they kept the car beyond the first day. I had already borrowed a spare car from a family member.