Carnet troubleshooting-update:working

[Aaronski]

I've been reading everyone's posts re carnet, they really need to get that fixed ASAP.

Zero functions work for me from iphone. Login seems to fail half the time. I can occasionally check what the charge is, or was 45 minutes ago. Not very helpful. Trying to change any setting gives an error after a long timeout. Pretty bummed as otherwise the car is great.
I downloaded the app yesterday and the build is from October, so clearly they aren't putting out patches.

On the bright side, figured out how to disable traction control ;-)
edit: last post shows how I got it working.

 

[GadgetGav]

One thought - if you're getting failures after long time outs, it could be lack of connection to the car over cellular. The CarNet functions are provided by Verizon but there's no indication of the cellphone signal. I could be that you're in a poor reception area for Verizon (what ever type of connection it's using)...

 

[Aaronski]

Thanks gav! I'll try it in some other areas. I have verizon and full bars at home, but who knows?

I called them about carnet web login, and they said a lot of functions require you to accept terms on the web sign up before they work, and, they take 48 hours to fully work. And the sign up online is different than the sign up you do over the phone for the iphone app.

:lol:

Lots of caveats, so I'm going to take it slow with carnet.

On the bright side, their support people are very nice. Ive never had to wait on hold, they know what they are doing and are quite helpful.

 

[GadgetGav]

Yeah, there seem to be a lot of issues with it. The dealer couldn't activate it at first on my car, then when it was active it thought I was in a Passat on the phone but the eGolf on the web. I got the same line about the T&C on the web log in, but that didn't fix it. Eventually they pressed whatever reset button they needed to behind the scenes and it works now, but it's not a well thought out suite of apps or a seamless experience by any means..! Still, it's all extras and we're on the leading edge of tech with this car, so not unexpected.

 

[Aaronski]

I did go into it expecting issues. It's an adventure! Other EV owners seem really friendly, and there's much to learn.

 

[Aaronski]

Many days of playing with carnet, and I can now get it to reliable charge to 60% starting at 11:00 pm, which is closer to what I want.

Car-net iphone app still fails to set things more often than not.

in start time, it shows EST in the web app, and PST in the iphone app. which is annoying.

BUT! But! I talked to car-net support, and they asked me to hit the I button on the car, which will actually do a software update to the car. nothing like undocumented software upgrades. I'll let you guys know if it helps.

-Aaron

 

[cove3]

<<<they asked me to hit the I button on the car, which will actually do a software update

I don't understand the whole software update process for this car. Not having a smart phone makes it even more confusing.
1. Is there vehicle software requiring updating, as well as car-net software?
2. I assume the car net smart phone application software functions and the functions on the web site will eventually be the same, because for now, the smart phone seems to do more
3. Is pressing the i button updating your phone software or does it also update any of the software in the car itself?
4. What are the two sds in the glove box for, and do I do anything with those?
5. Does the dealer do the updates of car software, and if so, how does the car owner know his version of the software and whether it needs to be updated? I'm trying to relate software updates for the vehicle and car net to Windows or Firefox update process, but perhaps it's not as dynamic and knowing the version or having the dealer do it isn't too important.

Ron

 

[GadgetGav]

I don't understand the whole software update process for this car. Not having a smart phone makes it even more confusing.
1. Is there vehicle software requiring updating, as well as car-net software?
2. I assume the car net smart phone application software functions and the functions on the web site will eventually be the same, because for now, the smart phone seems to do more
3. Is pressing the i button updating your phone software or does it also update any of the software in the car itself?
4. What are the two sds in the glove box for, and do I do anything with those?
5. Does the dealer do the updates of car software, and if so, how does the car owner know his version of the software and whether it needs to be updated? I'm trying to relate software updates for the vehicle and car net to Windows or Firefox update process, but perhaps it's not as dynamic and knowing the version or having the dealer do it isn't too important.

1. I would think / hope that it's only updating CarNet functions. Over The Air updates for the vehicle ECU would be fraught with risks of bad data / corrupted files that could "brick" the ECU and disable the vehicle.
2. I hope so! It's confusing now as to which features are where and the smartphone app is not intuitive. Some functions are displayed, some are behind settings icons, some are in sections that don't seem to make sense.
3. It must only update the car. I don't know about Android or Windows phones, but for the iPhone you need to go through the official channel to update any software on the phone. When updates are available there is an icon on the phone, but I don't recall seeing any CarNet app update yet.
4. The SD slots are part of the infotainment system. In my car one is occupied by the navigation data (and I think I have to leave it there - there's no hard drive on this system) and the other is available for putting music files on.
5. The dealer will do any updates needed to the car's ECU, usually as part of scheduled maintenance. If there's a serious issue that needs immediate attention it would be handled through a recall notice and you'd go in before your next maintenance appointment. There's usually no need for the owner to know the version of software the car is running, but I expect the OBD-II diagnostic software tools will be able to tell if you really want to get into the details.

 

[cove3]

Thanks for the insights. Apparently Tesla does over the air updates and Microsoft does Windows updates without crashing, so perhaps eventually vw will evolve to that

Ron

 

[Aaronski]

I called them back about the update, and they said, " delayed charging is not working, this is a known issue and we're working on it."

This is so simple, I don't know how an alarm clock can do it and this car can't.

without it I have to go outside at 11 to plug in the car every night, or pay 44 cents a kwh to charge the car which makes it unusable.

I"m trying again to set every possible setting, and NONE work tonight from home, not on the web, not on the app, just whatever I put in does nothing. I tried turning the car on for it, in case it was asleep, etc, etc.

on the bright side I always get closer to 95 miles on a tank which is great.

 

[GadgetGav]

Thanks for the insights. Apparently Tesla does over the air updates and Microsoft does Windows updates without crashing, so perhaps eventually vw will evolve to that

Ron

As far as I know, Tesla is the only manufacturer to do OTA updates to the actual ECU. They are cutting edge so hopefully lots of aspects of their tech will trickle down to other manufacturers over time.

 

[Aaronski]

I finally got* car-net workingish.

Last night I spent about 90 minutes in the car, while it was on, and charging, setting settings and watching for effects.

With the web app I set the minimum charge level from 100% to 20% in both default and my personal settings.
This took 20 minutes to show that it had taken in the web app, if you opened it after setting it, you'd see it still at 100%. but if you set it, waited 20 minutes, went to the car, turned it on, made some coffee, and came back to the web app, you'd see minum set to 20% finally.

Then, I went to the web-app version of the off-peak times, and attempted to set them there. THat did NOT work. IT seems to put random times in, or not update at all.

Not to be deterred, I went to the iphone app, and attempted to set the times for off-peak in that app. This is weird, you have to highlight the time you wish to change, then set a time in the dial, then hit back, then hit ok. then wait 5 minutes, and the time will have changed. the time does not change within the screen where you set the time. EG: for start time, I highlighted 5:30pm, then slid the wheel to 1 am, then hit back, then hit ok, then waited 5 minutes, and then went back and the 5:30 pm had changed to 1 am. EST, PST? I dont' know yet, either will work for me. I'lll check my usage with PG&E tomorrow when my utility usage is available for last night.

THen I did the same for stop time. I gave the car a 4 hour window to charge, which is fine for my charger.

I got up this morning and the car was charged.

Hope this is useful for any other car-net sufferers out there.

-Aaron

 

[svento]

BUT! But! I talked to car-net support, and they asked me to hit the I button on the car, which will actually do a software update to the car. nothing like undocumented software upgrades. I'll let you guys know if it helps.

Does anyone else have a lot of trouble believing this? It was my understanding (I think I used it once) that pushing the i button basically initiates a call to the car-net folks. The only way I could see this causing a software update is if somehow the car-net reps you speak to can force an update. I hate to say it, but this seems like a convenient answer to get someone off the phone!

 

[svento]

BUT! But! I talked to car-net support, and they asked me to hit the I button on the car, which will actually do a software update to the car. nothing like undocumented software upgrades. I'll let you guys know if it helps.

Does anyone else have a lot of trouble believing this? It was my understanding (I think I used it once) that pushing the i button basically initiates a call to the car-net folks. The only way I could see this causing a software update is if somehow the car-net reps you speak to can force an update. I hate to say it, but this seems like a convenient answer to get someone off the phone!

So... I was bored on my commute home last night and decided to try pushing the i button and seeing if they actually could update the software! I reported a problem I've had which is that I get "action rejected" messages maybe 25% of the time when I try to turn on the climate control system in the morning from my phone. Quite honestly, the tech person they transferred me to was very nice but seemed to have no idea the cause of the problem or how to fix it. After making the restart my phone (I have no idea why) and other nonsense tech support steps, he finally said he was going to try to push an update to my car's software. I asked a few times if my car's software was actually old and there was a new version, but I never got a clear answer to that. I will say, after he did the update, I haven't yet seen the "action rejected" message since. I can't say I'd tried enough times to be sure that the update made a difference, but there's a chance... and my experiment does seem to confirm that they have the ability to update at least the car-net software remotely over-the-air.

My recommendation is that anyone having any problems with car-net (ie, everyone ), push the i button when you're bored driving and see what they can do. If nothing else, it does seem to be a pretty easy direct path to a tech support person who (at least for me) was very willing (offered many times) to escalate the problem if he couldn't fix it. That's more than I can say for most tech support.

 

[Aaronski]

good to hear. I hit the i button to do the update, but they said that tech support department is M-F 9-6, and call back during those hours, so I haven't done it yet. In the meantime, I got the damn thing working I think, so I'm not going to do ANYTHING. I don't care about any features other than delayed charging.

 

[eGolf2015]

I finally got* car-net workingish.

Last night I spent about 90 minutes in the car, while it was on, and charging, setting settings and watching for effects.

With the web app I set the minimum charge level from 100% to 20% in both default and my personal settings.
This took 20 minutes to show that it had taken in the web app, if you opened it after setting it, you'd see it still at 100%. but if you set it, waited 20 minutes, went to the car, turned it on, made some coffee, and came back to the web app, you'd see minum set to 20% finally.

Then, I went to the web-app version of the off-peak times, and attempted to set them there. THat did NOT work. IT seems to put random times in, or not update at all.

Not to be deterred, I went to the iphone app, and attempted to set the times for off-peak in that app. This is weird, you have to highlight the time you wish to change, then set a time in the dial, then hit back, then hit ok. then wait 5 minutes, and the time will have changed. the time does not change within the screen where you set the time. EG: for start time, I highlighted 5:30pm, then slid the wheel to 1 am, then hit back, then hit ok, then waited 5 minutes, and then went back and the 5:30 pm had changed to 1 am. EST, PST? I dont' know yet, either will work for me. I'lll check my usage with PG&E tomorrow when my utility usage is available for last night.

THen I did the same for stop time. I gave the car a 4 hour window to charge, which is fine for my charger.

I got up this morning and the car was charged.

Hope this is useful for any other car-net sufferers out there.

-Aaron

Has the delayed departure feature still been working for you reliably each day? I had played around with it at one point, but found that after the first or second night it would fail to charge, even though the feature still showed as activated. Car-Net did, however, take it upon itself to randomly add or deduct a minute or two from the set departure time each subsequent night (ie. I set it to 4:30am and two days later the setting showed as 4:33am).

My work-around has been to plug in the car in the early evening and press the charge button next the charging port right away to stop charging. Then I have a timer set on my iPhone to remind me to go into the CarNet app and manually press the "Start Charging" button. This is actually the only feature in the CarNet app that has worked reliably for me.

We've also been typically seeing 90-95 miles on a full charge, depending on traffic conditions and remembering to switch into B and/or Eco mode.