Why Does My Timed Charge FAIL To Start???

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gmcjetpilot

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Messages
130
OK I must be doing something wrong. What are common mistakes.

Last Night:
[*]Timer 1 set for 7 days a week from 10AM to 12PM (lets assume that is OK)
[*]Park Car about 1:30AM (yes I work late).
[*]Shut Car Down
[*]Open nose charge hatch (timer status on dash display says TIMER: "ON")
[*]My LCS25 Charger is Plugged In, Standby Light On
[*]Plug J1772 Charger into Car. I see 3 Light Show Dash Status Light
Go to Bed.
[*]I checked at 9:50AM and the dash status lights were OFF?
[*]I pull J1772
[*]I plug it back in, and I got the 3 light status (timer active) indication
[*]The charged started at 10:00AM per timer

It is possible the timer would have worked with out my intervention, but I have
had other times where it did not (different times)
.

In cases where charge did not start, I blamed it on my error, and it was or an obvious
reason. However as I have got more experience, learned, I'm running excuses why timer
isn't working.

I have a pretty good success with timed charges, but not 100%. It seems when I set timer
to start further out is when my issue happen. I just don't full trust the system (or me).
 
gmcjetpilot said:
OK I must be doing something wrong. What are common mistakes.

Last Night:
[*]Timer 1 set for 7 days a week from 10AM to 12PM (lets assume that is OK)
[*]Park Car about 1:30AM (yes I work late).
[*]Shut Car Down
[*]Open nose charge hatch (timer status on dash display says TIMER: "ON")
[*]My LCS25 Charger is Plugged In, Standby Light On
[*]Plug J1772 Charger into Car. I see 3 Light Show Dash Status Light
Go to Bed.
[*]I checked at 9:50AM and the dash status lights were OFF?
[*]I pull J1772
[*]I plug it back in, and I got the 3 light status (timer active) indication
[*]The charged started at 10:00AM per timer

It is possible the timer would have worked with out my intervention, but I have
had other times where it did not (different times)
.
If you have start time of 10 am and end time of 12 pm, the above sounds normal. It will start at 10 am and end at noon.

The "Ready for charging timer" light sequence of 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 3 off per my '13 manual on page CH-34 automatically shuts off after 5 minutes.
 
If the lights go on in this pattern: 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3... then you have a conflict with a charge timer. If you get repeated beeping and no charge starting, you have an electrical problem of some sort.
 
LeftieBiker said:
If the lights go on in this pattern: 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3... then you have a conflict with a charge timer.
Conflict? I interpret that as an intentional delay due to the set timer(s). I guess you could call it a "conflict".
LeftieBiker said:
If you get repeated beeping and no charge starting, you have an electrical problem of some sort.
Yes. If all 3 blue lights flash in unison, synchronized with beeping (e.g. 3 fairly rapid beep beep beep followed by a pause then the sequence repeats), then yes, that can happen if the EVSE isn't delivering power or the cable isn't plugged all the way (e.g. deformed gasket preventing the connector from going all the way on). I think that can also happen if you plug in and then hold down the trigger for a few seconds.
 
It's a conflict when you want it to charge now but the timer is set to charge later. Your desire for an immediate start to charging "conflicts" with the car's timer setting. I remember how Hellish that timer can be when you try anything other than the 24/7 "charge to 80% anytime" setting...
 
LeftieBiker said:
It's a conflict when you want it to charge now but the timer is set to charge later. Your desire for an immediate start to charging "conflicts" with the car's timer setting.
Ok. I guess you can call it that. The '13 owner's manual doesn't contain any usage of the word "conflict".

On pages CH-38 and 39 has a troubleshooting guide and has the attached...
ch-38.png
ch-39.png
Also, if the OP has any climate control timers set, there is a setting for climate control timer priority. I don't use that and thus have never learned the behavior of that priority setting and interaction w/the charging timer. If on, try turning off all climate control timers to help w/process of elimination.
 
gmcjetpilot said:
OK I must be doing something wrong. What are common mistakes.

Last Night:
[*]Timer 1 set for 7 days a week from 10AM to 12PM (lets assume that is OK)
[*]Park Car about 1:30AM (yes I work late).
[*]Shut Car Down
[*]Open nose charge hatch (timer status on dash display says TIMER: "ON")
[*]My LCS25 Charger is Plugged In, Standby Light On
[*]Plug J1772 Charger into Car. I see 3 Light Show Dash Status Light
Go to Bed.
[*]I checked at 9:50AM and the dash status lights were OFF?
[*]I pull J1772
[*]I plug it back in, and I got the 3 light status (timer active) indication
[*]The charged started at 10:00AM per timer

It is possible the timer would have worked with out my intervention, but I have
had other times where it did not (different times)
.

In cases where charge did not start, I blamed it on my error, and it was or an obvious
reason. However as I have got more experience, learned, I'm running excuses why timer
isn't working.

I have a pretty good success with timed charges, but not 100%. It seems when I set timer
to start further out is when my issue happen. I just don't full trust the system (or me).

It would have started without your intervention. If you have a timer set, and you are outside the timer charge period, the blue lights come on when you connect the EVSE and then turn off five minutes later. It's telling you it has power, and it would start charging, but the timer is telling it not to. If you are inside the timer charge period, when you connect the EVSE, then it just charges as normal until it either hits the charge limit, the timer limit, or it finishes charging.

The most common area where people have trouble is when they set timers that cross midnight. This requires some thought, and possibly mapping it out on paper, especially if you want different weekend and weekday charging behaviors.

I have my charge timer set to start at 2:10am and finish at 6:30pm. This lets it charge during the coolest part of the day, and also allows charging to start without any intervention if additional charging is needed during the day.
 
As usual I asked really basic and obvious questions, and the form comes through with really thoughtful and excellent replies, thank you. Yes the 1 2 3 Sequence lights do go out after 5 minutes. I know that now. It did charge normally the next day. I was just concerned about the sequence lights going out, which is normal. The other replies also enlighten me a little bit more, charge strategies, thank you very much. The key for me is settle into a routine it SOP. I'm almost there.

During my four-day commutes I'm charging about an hour and a half. I could go two days without charging, but I'd be coming home with well under 20%. I would also have to charge to 100% and dischsrge to 10-15%. With an hour and a half I'm charging between about 46% to 85% I think that's probably the best strategy for battery life and comfortable range limits.
 
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