Charging timer issues

[stevestrange]

I have a new 2018 e-Golf, and also a 2015. I've had all the typical charging timer issues with the 2015 that many of us are familiar with, the most frustrating being that about half the time, the car simply doesn't charge overnight. It's completely unpredictable.

I was hoping the 2018, with the built-in timer, would be more reliable and predictable. Here's what I want it to do: charge only during 11pm to 7am each night, and charge to 90%. That's it -- very simple. It looks like there is no way to specify off-peak charging without defining a destination-time timer. So I've defined one with a departure time of 7am, and associated it with a charging location defined with 12:00am to 7:00am charging, and 90% charging. I have seen multiple issues with this setup over the past few weeks:

1) Charging sometimes starts at plug-in, even though it is several hours before midnight. So I have to push the timer button to stop it.
2) Charging sometimes goes to 100% instead of 90%.
3) Charging sometimes goes well beyond the 12:00am to 7:00 am charging window.

Anyone else seeing issues with charging timers on their 2018s? Earlier models?

The other issue I see on the 2018 that I've never seen on the 2015 is that the "miles since charge" display is often wrong. Sometimes it resets to zero even though I haven't charged, and sometimes it doesn't reset to zero after I have fully charged the car.

These all seem like blatant, simple software bugs. It doesn't appear VW has done any QA at all on their charging software. I haven't yet asked VW if there is a software update available for the 2018s that might address all this, but will check later this week.

Apologies if some or all of this has been previously discussed -- I searched around for a while for a similar topic with these issues, but didn't find one.

Thanks!

- Steve

 

[Thorallophon]

I have a 2017 and have run into the same problem. I assumed it was just me not comprehending some aspect of the software or not being aware of some reliant variable.

I haven't been able to find anything useful in the manual and my dealership on the whole are useless, except for the one or two techs in the back, but they guard access to these guys like they're some sort of national security think tank!

However, I'm up to an approximate 80% success rate via trial and error. My wife has given up.

I'm with Steve on this. Anyone have a clear set of steps/rules on how to set the timers, and a list of exceptions where it will or won't work? Can anyone point to some documentation or can post a link to someone who has?

Thanks,
Jon.

 

[johnennals]

My 2017 has been OK on charge timer, except it does not stop when the "charge By" time is reached usually needing another hour to fully charge. I have been setting the minimum charge level at 70%, and it has been stopping there, unless there is a schedule departure when it continues or restarts later. All good. Now after a recent software update to cure radio problems it blows right by the minimum charge level. Is this one of the usual problems you have been encountering?

JohnE
2017 eGolf purchased in May 2018.

 

[Thorallophon]

I don't know. Possibly. I haven't had an update that I am aware of unless it was a background OTA, but I have to admit that over the holidays, I haven't been able to get the timer to work at all.

In the past couple of weeks, I have wanted to use the car for last minute trips into town, and with some below -15*C temps, I have gone out 30mins before and set the timer and then re-plugged the car. The clock "timer" button/light won't light, despite me pressing it, and the car just starts charging, and in one case where no trip ended up occurring, it charged to 100%, despite being set for 80%.

So now I'm completely confused.

I read the response from mlimurra in your other thread http://www.myvwegolf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1690. The parameters he listed make sense, but so far the timer isn't working as expected. Hopefully someone will have an answer.

Until then, I will continue to futz about and hope that I'm successful.
Jon.

 

[BomBoi]

same with me , the delayed charging setting do not kick on when i plug in the car . i would hate to have to buy a smart charger like Chargepoint to manage if the on board doesn't work.

 

[Thorallophon]

So I found this youTube video that does a fairly good job of explaining a lot of the functionality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NpXhFHwlk

It looks like it's for a 2017 SE so some of the buttons may look different, but ultimately it should work (I could swear I've done all of these steps, but I guess I will try again!). He also doesn't seem to mind charging to 100%, so take his advice with a grain of salt

He also says something interesting -that when charging on AC the climate control won't engage until the battery has met the set limit. I'm pretty sure that's not been my experience, but he could be right as I'm not continually monitoring the state.

 

[BomBoi]

Thanks for posting the Video. i will double check that it is not working and will bring the car in . i never saw the blinking green light when i have my configurations set the way i want it.

 

[syd]

Not to hijack this but a related question - i only want to charge between 6p and 8a. I don’t mind charging to 100% and I have a base SE 2016, so I just charge level 1
via the 120v cable. I’d love to schedule this via built in software but I’m not seeing how.

I’m ok if I need to buy a small piece of gear from amazon like an outlet timer, but the cable specifically states not to plug into a extension cord or anything and I don’t know whether there is a timer that will work ok.

Eventually we may install a L2 charger and I know this problem will go away then, but curious if anyone has any insight.

Thanks!

 

[cctop]

Not to hijack this but a related question - i only want to charge between 6p and 8a. I don’t mind charging to 100% and I have a base SE 2016, so I just charge level 1
via the 120v cable. I’d love to schedule this via built in software but I’m not seeing how.

I’m ok if I need to buy a small piece of gear from amazon like an outlet timer, but the cable specifically states not to plug into a extension cord or anything and I don’t know whether there is a timer that will work ok.

Eventually we may install a L2 charger and I know this problem will go away then, but curious if anyone has any insight.

Thanks!

You can easily end charging at 8am by using the built-in timer function as shown in the video above.

However there's no way with a Level 1 charger to say "don't start charging until 6pm". In the 14 hours between 6pm and 8am you can get about a 65% charge in a 2016 SE, so I think the best way to do what you want is simply to have at least 35% charge in your battery when you plug it in. Then it'll start after 6pm by virtue of the timer function. If you have less than 35% charge in the battery, you'll get up to 8 hours charging before 6pm depending on how much you drained it.

Alternatively, in addition to setting the timer you can also set the maximum charge something lower than 100% at the cost of less range. For example, if you set the max charge to 80% and recharge just before you get into the red zone, you'll charge only during the hours you want and get the bonus of potentially better battery health (a point of discussion on this board).

 

[syd]

Good advice. I never thought of it quite that way but that makes sense.

S

 

[BomBoi]

For my car the only thing that works is the maximum charge % for the car on what days. the timing still doesn't work for me.

 

[BomBoi]

I have an apt at the dealership tomorrow for this . i will see what their egolf tech says. I will post my findings once i get the car back.

 

[BomBoi]

I learned something new today . Egolf Tech informed me that the minimum battery percentage will take precedence over the timing that is set.
Example: if you set the the minimum to a high amount 95%. The car will fill to that amount and then start the delay charging rules will kick in . That totally messed me up since i thought the delay rule and minimum charging percentage works in unison to provide the delay charge while providing the minimum %.

Hope that helps other with their charging issues. Now lets see if it works once grab the car back from the dealership.

 

[miimura]

I learned something new today . Egolf Tech informed me that the minimum battery percentage will take precedence over the timing that is set.
Example: if you set the the minimum to a high amount 95%. The car will fill to that amount and then start the delay charging rules will kick in . That totally messed me up since i thought the delay rule and minimum charging percentage works in unison to provide the delay charge while providing the minimum %.

Hope that helps other with their charging issues. Now lets see if it works once grab the car back from the dealership.

Yes, the Minimum Charge Level is not intended to be set to a high level. It is designed to get the car back to a useful level like 50% in case you need to make another trip before the scheduled charging window arrives. It can also be used to ensure that the car does not remain at a very low level SOC. For example, if you arrive home at 10% SOC, you can have the car charge up to 25% SOC on expensive daytime power and then charge the rest of the way on Off-Peak power.

 

[RonDawg]

Yes, the Minimum Charge Level is not intended to be set to a high level. It is designed to get the car back to a useful level like 50% in case you need to make another trip before the scheduled charging window arrives. It can also be used to ensure that the car does not remain at a very low level SOC. For example, if you arrive home at 10% SOC, you can have the car charge up to 25% SOC on expensive daytime power and then charge the rest of the way on Off-Peak power.

I have mine set to 80% and have not had any issues. I don’t have ToU pricing so when I charge doesn’t matter to me, though I try not to do so during the heat of the day to both preserve the battery as well as not put any more strain on the grid when everybody is running their A/C.

The ability to set the minimum charge level to 80% has come in handy since I no longer pay for CarNet and thus cannot set/change timers on my 2015 model. Now I just plug in and forget about it.

 

[BomBoi]

Awesome , now i understand the logic. Thanks everyone

 

[spinner85j]

So the variant I experience is sometimes the timers all revert to 12:00 /no destination/ Monday. At least the charge profiles are there. Concurrently, carnet application shows on the remote tab "NULL" in large font over and over instead of data. I don't know if the car corrupts carnet or the other way around. It's happened 6 times in 14months.

One observation I've noticed in this thread that might be complicating or confusing things. In the car settings there is a minimum charge setting expressed as a percentage. When you plug in the car, if the battery charge state is below that setting config it will start charging even if the charge timer hasn't started. In this mode, the timer button next to the charge port will be out while the charge verves green. If it is working right it will charge to that minimum setting level and then turn off and wait for your timer.

If you set the minimum setting to zero, I would try setting to a non-zero value. Poorly executed software sometimes doesn't like zero values when it is expecting a positive value.

 

[f1geek]

I also sometimes see all charge timers go away. My solution that works 100% of the time is to hold down the power button on the infotainment until it reboots. Voila, all timers return. A bit of a pain, but it is a reliable solution.

 

[eGolfJoe]

I also sometimes see all charge timers go away. My solution that works 100% of the time is to hold down the power button on the infotainment until it reboots. Voila, all timers return. A bit of a pain, but it is a reliable solution.

Thanks for that tip. I haven't experienced timer issues, but how to do a hard reboot of the infotainment I'm sure will come in handy some day.

 

[timcastleman]

Just learned today that changing the key fob battery may impact timer charging. Went through all the menu and confirmed choices, hopefully it will complete the charge tonight between 12 & 6am as it has been doing for a couple of years now.