Using accessories while charging

[Mxplut]

Hello
I am sitting in my eGolf, connected to a 7kw charger. If I switch on the ignition to use the lights, stereo etc. does this power come from the wall box or am I draining the 12v battery.

I understand that the heater (and presumably the A/C) won’t work while charging is in progress, but my heated seats do. They are after-market. Don’t know of factory fitted seats work the same. With the seats running I imagine I’d put a serious dent in a 12v battery sitting there for 2 hours.

Thanks
Ben

 

[f1geek]

Whether your e-Golf is plugged in or not, when you turn on the car, everything is being powered by the high voltage battery. Anything running on 12 V is running off the 12 V battery, which gets charged from the high voltage battery when the car is charging or turned on.

The heater and the A/C work just fine when the car is charging, and so do the factory heated seats, at least on my e-Golf. If not, something is wrong with your car.

Unless your car is in run mode (power needle pointing straight up), HVAC will not work. When in run mode, the high voltage battery charges the 12V battery, so you can't "dent" the 12 V battery. If you decide to run accessories when the needle is pointing to the left, then I believe you can run down the 12V battery, but I'm guessing you would get a warning at some point - I have not tried it.

 

[Mxplut]

Thank you. I will check with the dealer about the heating not working when on charge. I bought the car used so I don’t know if it ever worked like you describe before. Sure would be nice if it did, though.

 

[cctop]

Mxplut, check that you have this setting is turned on in your car:

Car > e-manager > Settings > Climate control using battery power

The Car-Net app has climate control settings which allow you to defrost the windows and warm up the car before you get in, so the heater must be able to work while the car is charging but turned off.