delayed charging to benefit from cheaper electricity

All Volkswagen ID.3 related discussions
P645865
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:41 am

Post by P645865 »

Ive been charging via the "granny cable", while waiting for the VW Charger to be installed, and have been using a HIVE programmable 13a. socket luckily the Hub signal reaches the garage. Works fine I can set a schedule for night charging plus manually switch on and off via the app if needed. Car charging starts when supply is switched on. Only draw back is slow charge rate and no stats.
This method may continue for some time as VW have stopped installation of the charger in the UK due to non compatibility with the UK grid if load shedding is necessary . A solution is yet to be agreed with the UK DNO's.

pdk42
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:57 pm

Post by pdk42 »

scott28tt wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 8:01 am
pdk42 wrote: Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:39 pm Another solution would be to use a contactor in the wall-box circuit controlled from a simple timer. However, that'll only work if the car will start charging when power is brought up on the wall box. Could anyone confirm whether this is how the ID3 operates?

I read somewhere of a guy who added a wifi-enabled relay inside his charger (invalidating the warranty), another who had a wifi-enabled breaker in his consumer unit - I can’t remember if this was specifically for the ID3 though.

Obviously you could simulate the effect of those to test the ID3 response by turning the breaker off, plugging the car in, then turning the breaker on.

I’ll wait for the software solution next month :-)
I guess if it really is next month then I agree - but you never know...

Modding the charger internally is actually a sensible option. I might look into that.
NorwichComputersAndy
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 8:42 pm

Post by NorwichComputersAndy »

Ohme Smart charger worth a look. Has a 4g card installed and you can program charging schedules etc and also links into the octopus go and the other tariff so only charges when free / green or sub 5ppkwh energy available ✅

Quite a nice looking unit too with an inbuilt cable - will send a pic of mine in daylight tomorrow
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

I didn’t go for the OHME partly as I found it ugly having 2 separate boxes and a loose cable to have to hang off the front of my house, much preferred the look of the Pod Point.
NorwichComputersAndy
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 8:42 pm

Post by NorwichComputersAndy »

scott28tt wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 5:52 am I didn’t go for the OHME partly as I found it ugly having 2 separate boxes and a loose cable to have to hang off the front of my house, much preferred the look of the Pod Point.
This is mine - in a narrow carport so it couldn’t stick out past the electric meter which my father in law mullered 😂

7FA79D79-EA1A-43A0-A68E-9ABCC90D1052.jpeg

Also the schedule feature was a big part for the 5p pkwh!

I do also prefer the look of pod points though!
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

NorwichComputersAndy wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:46 am
This is mine - in a narrow carport so it couldn’t stick out past the electric meter which my father in law mullered 😂

Too many dangly bits for my liking ;)
NorwichComputersAndy
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 8:42 pm

Post by NorwichComputersAndy »

scott28tt wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:14 pm
NorwichComputersAndy wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 8:46 am
This is mine - in a narrow carport so it couldn’t stick out past the electric meter which my father in law mullered 😂

Too many dangly bits for my liking ;)
Never had a complaint about my dangly bits from the wife - She did say it is was a bit long. 🤣
pdk42
Posts: 40
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:57 pm

Post by pdk42 »

pdk42 wrote: Sat Nov 21, 2020 4:32 pm Modding the charger internally is actually a sensible option. I might look into that.
Answering my own post here... I think it should be quite easy to add a timer to any dumb charger. The principle is to switch the "pilot" connection (CP) which is a low-voltage signalling pin that's used to communicate between the car and the supply point. The attached diagram I got from the EVOneStop web site, which shows the wiring for a QUBEV wall box, but the principle is the same for any type. All that's needed is to splice a timed switch into the CP line.
WPOD-0265.pdf
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Ollyk
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:00 am

Post by Ollyk »

I’ve owned a Nissan Leaf for 3 years and got an ID3 a month ago. I’ve been trying to work out how to do delayed charging as I’ve got half price electricity overnight. The dealership didn’t know how to do it, VW customer service didn’t know how to and I was going to take it back into the garage next week for them to do another software update but yesterday I came across a way to do it...

Under “vehicle” click “locations” then add current position as home then you can set desired overnight times to charge. It’s a bit strange as you have to add in departure times in the morning. I think this is so the ID3 knows when to get to the desired charge by.

Last night it worked fine and it was the first time in a while I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to swipe to start charging!!

Hope that’s helpful for people. One question I wanted to ask was- how can you get airflow into the cabin without impeding range and using the AC? I used to be able to let air into the leaf but it seems harder to do on the ID3.

Thanks, Ol
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

Timed charging has been available since the 2.0 software was released in December, I’m glad it worked for you as it doesn’t as expected for many others, often under-estimating the current needed to reach the configured percentage levels.

There’s an option in Classic Climate to turn off the AC, but you must still have the fan running (even at the lowest speed)
NpID3
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 11:09 pm

Post by NpID3 »

The timed charging via “location” is the way to go but when you’re setting the times scroll down to find “charge immediately to “ and pull this back to 80% from the default 100. This setting seems to override the usual charge setting so if you want 80 set it here. I’ve yet to get the charge to stop at the end of my cheap time, 4:30am.

If you’re a podpoint customer the latest app version enables timed charging which works ok, however if you want to plug in the night before you need a “fake” time setting for that day as well as the real setting for the following morning otherwise it starts to charge on plug in. At least this does stop at the set time.
Scottyb
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2022 10:50 am

Post by Scottyb »

Has anyone solved this yet?
This is my take it-

The 0-50%
If you make this above 0 the car will charge immediately to the amount set.
So to just charge at night leave at 0

Then..

50-100%
This seems to be the delayed part so if you set this to 80% it will stay off until the evening and charge to 80%.

You can set the times to charge in the evening like from 11-7
But the departure time seems to be the issue.
If you then Set the departure time for 9 it will calculate back from 9 how much is needed and when to start. So if it calculates it needs to charge from 6 it will cut out at 7, leaving an uncharged battery. It doesn’t just come on at 12 like other models.

I would leave the dep time earlier.
Example. Time to charge is 12-8, departure 7.

VW could have made this much clearer to use and made 2 options 1. Immediate charge 0-100% and 2. delayed 0-100% (not 50%)and a ON time for the overnight usage.
It should really come on at 12 and cut out when done.
On other cars you can set the heater to come on separately to charging.
Hope this helps.
Deleted User 192

Post by Deleted User 192 »

VW know it doesn’t work like they meant it to, they have said the 3.0 software will include a fix.
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