Incorrect Schedule for Value Charging?

[mcowger]

I live in CA and and have PGE's EV-A rate, which means I should, with value charging, be charging my car from 11PM to 7AM (see source here: http://www.pge.com/en/myhome/environment/whatyoucando/electricdrivevehicles/rateoptions/index.page).

So I configured my car for value charging yesterday morning now that I have a working L2 EVSE. Went through the wizard, picking PGE and the EV-A rate, and confirming that it say it downloaded to the car.

Got home last night at approx 10PM. Plugged the car in and went to bed. Got up this morning to find the car charging, which was odd. Checked my power consumption for that circuit (I have a SiteSage device) and found that the car had started charging at 11PM (as expected), but stopped itself at midnight...and then picked up again until completion at 7AM until about 7:35, when it finished....

So, my question is why did the car stop at midnight and then start again at 7AM (during the more expensive partial peak hours)?

The only thing here I can imagine that *I* messed up is that I didn't/don't have a GO time set for today/this morning (because I don't commute on Tuesdays)....

Thoughts?

 

[jmueller065]

No you probably didn't mess up: MyFordTouch did.

I don't ever use the provided schedule, I manually setup the value charge times. In addition, the car seems to be confused when you schedule a value charge that crosses midnight (like yours). Mine started charging reliably when I manually scheduled it to start charging at 1am (even starting at 1am it should be done at the latest by 5am).

In addition: MyFordTouch will also not correctly get the date (sometimes it will think its yesterday, sometimes today, and sometimes tomorrow) so you should manually setup your weekend times the same (otherwise you might get a surprise on Friday or Sunday).

 

[mcowger]

No you probably didn't mess up: MyFordTouch did.

I don't ever use the provided schedule, I manually setup the value charge times. In addition, the car seems to be confused when you schedule a value charge that crosses midnight (like yours). Mine started charging reliably when I manually scheduled it to start charging at 1am (even starting at 1am it should be done at the latest by 5am).

In addition: MyFordTouch will also not correctly get the date (sometimes it will think its yesterday, sometimes today, and sometimes tomorrow) so you should manually setup your weekend times the same (otherwise you might get a surprise on Friday or Sunday).

Gotcha - I guess that makes sense if its a known bug.

Will set up a manual schedule then.

 

[unplugged]

Will set up a manual schedule then.

When you set the manual schedule, I found that 2 a.m. is just fine. Even from complete empty, the charge is finished by 5:30 a.m.

 

[WattsUp]

Even from complete empty, the charge is finished by 5:30 a.m.

Just a note... such charging times (3.5 hours) will require a Level 2 EVSE that supports the maximum 6.6 kW power level usable by the FFE. If using Level 2 at a lower power level, or if using Level 1, a full charge will take longer, perhaps much longer.

For example, using my ClipperCreek LCS-25 Level 2 EVSE, which has maximum power level of 4.8 kW, fully charging my FFE takes 5 hours.

 

[mcowger]

Even from complete empty, the charge is finished by 5:30 a.m.

Just a note... such charging times (3.5 hours) will require a Level 2 EVSE that supports the maximum 6.6 kW power level usable by the FFE. If using Level 2 at a lower power level, or if using Level 1, a full charge will take longer, perhaps much longer.

For example, using my ClipperCreek LCS-25 Level 2 EVSE, which has maximum power level of 4.8 kW, fully charging my FFE takes 5 hours.

Good point. I have a charger capable of 15kW, so its not an issue for me