Alternate Carwings app for Android and Android Wear

[patrick0101]

After unchecking "auto-update", did you press save?

That was it. I (incorrectly) assumed that Save only applied to the timer value changes. I assumed that checkbox changes were automatically saved. Android has trained this way (unlike Windows where 'OK' was needed before things were committed).

 

[evyna]

There're two 220V charge levels; one at 30 amps - 6.6kw, and the other at 15 amps - 3.3kw. ...
Maybe instead of calling what you call L3, is to call it L2+

I'd prefer that they were labeled:
L2(3.3kW) and L2(6.6kW)
or
L2(16A) and L2(30A)
or
just L2

Need to keep the number of characters small.. I can do L2 and L2+ or just keep it at L2, though I feel like having a difference is important. For example, there's a place I charge at a lot that has two J17227 plugs, but shares 6.6kW across both of them. So when it's just me, I get full 6.6. But when a cute little i3 shows up, my charge takes twice as long and I need to plan accordingly

 

[Pipcecil]

I think using the L2+ would get the point across for people. In addition, especially using home equipment (or a friends!) you can tell which L2 is being utilized. ~50% less charging speed can make a difference if you are timing yourself to get home with enough range

 

[evyna]

Added L2+, I'll push the update later today.

Also, tested out the auto update thing. I can't reproduce the app updating when auto update is unchecked and the changes are saved. The notification will reappear sometimes if the app gains focus, but the last update time shown in the app keeps the last checkin timestamp. Not sure what to think

 

[patrick0101]

I can't reproduce the app updating when auto update is unchecked ... Not sure what to think

My guess is that others are making the same mistake that I did and not hitting save. Can you make the checkboxes autosave?

 

[patrick0101]

I have a feature request. I'd like to be able to use a voice command to the watch to turn on the car's climate control. The wear side of the app already has the HVAC toggle feature. I'm not sure how you would associate a voice command to it, but that would be waayyy cool.

"Ok Google. Preheat my Leaf."
"Ok Google. Turn on my car's AC."

Bystanders would go

 

[evyna]

I can't reproduce the app updating when auto update is unchecked ... Not sure what to think

My guess is that others are making the same mistake that I did and not hitting save. Can you make the checkboxes autosave?

Yep, planning on adding it next time I push a version. Would make using it much easier (and reduce the need to call the car when I actually want to disable updates )

 

[evyna]

I have a feature request. I'd like to be able to use a voice command to the watch to turn on the car's climate control. The wear side of the app already has the HVAC toggle feature. I'm not sure how you would associate a voice command to it, but that would be waayyy cool.

"Ok Google. Preheat my Leaf."
"Ok Google. Turn on my car's AC."

Bystanders would go

I implemented this on Glass but I'm not sure what the Wear voice api looks like yet. Will have to look into that

 

[lorenfb]

Added L2+, I'll push the update later today.

Also, tested out the auto update thing. I can't reproduce the app updating when auto update is unchecked and the changes are saved. The notification will reappear sometimes if the app gains focus, but the last update time shown in the app keeps the last checkin timestamp. Not sure what to think

Haven't had that update, still shows 1.6.1. Has it been uploaded?

 

[evyna]

Added L2+, I'll push the update later today.

Also, tested out the auto update thing. I can't reproduce the app updating when auto update is unchecked and the changes are saved. The notification will reappear sometimes if the app gains focus, but the last update time shown in the app keeps the last checkin timestamp. Not sure what to think

Haven't had that update, still shows 1.6.1. Has it been uploaded?

My bad; didn't have time to fully QA the build and had a job interview in California. Red eye, 30 hours of awakeness, etc, etc. Anyway. 1.7 is now rolling out to the store. The strings are fixed and the UI now automatically saves anything you check/uncheck/slide without having to talk to the Nissan servers. Let me know if you have any problems, and I promise to push builds much faster than last time.

 

[lorenfb]

Thanks for updating and good luck on the interview.

The charge time shown for L2 or L2+ is not correct:

1. My Leaf shows 4 of 12 bars.
2. L2 indicates 5hrs & 30 minutes.
3. L2+ indicates 5 hrs.

 

[patrick0101]

Yep, planning on adding it next time I push a version.

I just got 1.7. I like the improvements.

I think I found a minor bug on the phone side.
The time is not updating on the phone app notice area even when new notices are being sent to the watch. If I rotate my phone (Galaxy S4), then the notice area is repainted and shown correctly.

 

[evyna]

Yep, planning on adding it next time I push a version.

I just got 1.7. I like the improvements.

I think I found a minor bug on the phone side.
The time is not updating on the phone app notice area even when new notices are being sent to the watch. If I rotate my phone (Galaxy S4), then the notice area is repainted and shown correctly.

That sounds like a bug with the phone OS Is this if you leave the notification area open when notices are being sent, or if the app updates in the background and you check the tray, is the data on the card still wrong?

 

[lorenfb]

Thanks for updating and good luck on the interview.

The charge time shown for L2 or L2+ is not correct:

1. My Leaf shows 4 of 12 bars.
2. L2 indicates 5hrs & 30 minutes.
3. L2+ indicates 5 hrs.

The L2+ time should be 1/2 the L2 time. Why do they indicate basically the same times?
The L2+ indication is NOT correct.

 

[evyna]

Thanks for updating and good luck on the interview.

The charge time shown for L2 or L2+ is not correct:

1. My Leaf shows 4 of 12 bars.
2. L2 indicates 5hrs & 30 minutes.
3. L2+ indicates 5 hrs.

The L2+ time should be 1/2 the L2 time. Why do they indicate basically the same times?
The L2+ indication is NOT correct.

That's really odd... The data is reported from Carwings directly, I don't touch it. Does the app say anything different?

L2+ is specifically 220, 6.6kW

 

[lorenfb]

Thanks for updating and good luck on the interview.

The charge time shown for L2 or L2+ is not correct:

1. My Leaf shows 4 of 12 bars.
2. L2 indicates 5hrs & 30 minutes.
3. L2+ indicates 5 hrs.

The L2+ time should be 1/2 the L2 time. Why do they indicate basically the same times?
The L2+ indication is NOT correct.

That's really odd... The data is reported from Carwings directly, I don't touch it. Does the app say anything different?

L2+ is specifically 220, 6.6kW

Yes, the app says it correctly, but time is incorrect. If the L2+ charges at twice the rate of L2, then
the time should be 1/2, right? It's just simple math.

 

[evyna]

[
That's really odd... The data is reported from Carwings directly, I don't touch it. Does the app say anything different?

L2+ is specifically 220, 6.6kW

Yes, the app says it correctly, but time is incorrect. If the L2+ charges at twice the rate of L2, then
the time should be 1/2, right? It's just simple math.

Right, but does the Carwings website/app report the same time for L2+/6.6/whatever? It's the same data source.

It's not quite simple math, though. Charging rate is non-linear, because as charge increases, the resistance to charge the battery does, too. When your battery is around 80%, the charging rate greatly decreases, because the current is toned down to prevent the battery from overheating from all the resistance. That's why charging from 20 to 30 on trickle is much, much faster than charging from 90 to 100. So the number may actually be right, depending on the circumstances. But again, I don't calculate it, I just pull it from what the car tells Nissan, in raw string form. The text that is displayed is directly from the server.

 

[Pipcecil]

Yes, the app says it correctly, but time is incorrect. If the L2+ charges at twice the rate of L2, then
the time should be 1/2, right? It's just simple math.

You also have to remember Nissan changed how charging and balancing worked in the 2013+ models with the addition of the 6.0 kW charger. Firstly is isn't quite 6.6 kW its 6.0 to your car vs 3.3 to your car (previous models). Or 6.6 kW from the wall vs 3.8 kW from the wall. So it isn't quite double the charging speed. In addition, as the charging speed slows down, all the newer cars do a significant amount of balancing of cells after the car is at full. Many people have reported up to an hour of balancing. In the older gen models, this balancing occurred after the car had charged PLUS some extra time. So it would wait almost an hour to try and balance the cells after it had finished charging. The newer algorithm for the newer cars does this immediately after charging is complete. The balancing the cells takes very little energy, so the time for 3.3 vs 6.0 will be the same for that last balancing time, which the car predicts and adds to the charging to complete time (it didn't on the older models since it happened almost an hour after the charge was complete).

So it really is just a combo of things:

1) charging speed reduced at 80%+ especially at 90%+ - charging rates at 3.3 vs 6.0 are identical
2) charging speed is not quite twice as fast (or half the time) but more like 1.8 times as fast (or 0.55 the time)
3) balancing of cells occurs immediately after charging and can add up to an hour (depending on how much balancing the car thinks it needs) at a slow rate that is the same for 3.3 vs 6.0.

This is also why charging time from level 1 to 3.3 level 2 is not 3 times as long (level 1 charges at 1.1 kW) because of the slow down at the very top.

 

[lorenfb]

"Charging rate is non-linear, because as charge increases, the resistance to charge the battery does, too."

The charging is NOT thru a simple limiting resistor as one might think. The charging is basically a current
source. Besides, if charging at 6.6 Kw yields just a 30 minute reduction versus a 3.3 Kw there would be no
utility in using the higher rate charger. Furthermore, why even provide a QC capability which provides a full charge
in about 30-40 minutes if charge time isn't basically inversely related to the charging current.

If L2+ can't be reported correctly for 6.6 Kw correctly, then don't report it.

"1) charging speed reduced at 80%+ especially at 90%+ - charging rates at 3.3 vs 6.0 are identical"

So, that's at the END of the charging period.

"2) charging speed is not quite twice as fast (or half the time) but more like 1.8 times as fast (or 0.55 the time)"

Oh, so it's now it's 1.8. Well that's VERY close to 2X but not what's being reported, i.e. L2 = 5.5 hrs & L2+ = 5.0 hrs

"3) balancing of cells occurs immediately after charging and can add up to an hour (depending on how much balancing the car thinks it needs) at a slow rate that is the same for 3.3 vs 6.0."

Balancing requires basically the same time in both cases.

 

[evyna]

"Charging rate is non-linear, because as charge increases, the resistance to charge the battery does, too."

The charging is NOT thru a simple limiting resistor as one might think. The charging is basically a current
source. Besides, if charging at 6.6 Kw yields just a 30 minute reduction versus a 3.3 Kw there would be no
utility in using the higher rate charger. Furthermore, why even provide a QC capability which provides a full charge
in about 30-40 minutes if charge time isn't basically inversely related to the charging current.

If L2+ can't be reported correctly for 6.6 Kw correctly, then don't report it.

"1) charging speed reduced at 80%+ especially at 90%+ - charging rates at 3.3 vs 6.0 are identical"

So, that's at the END of the charging period.

"2) charging speed is not quite twice as fast (or half the time) but more like 1.8 times as fast (or 0.55 the time)"

Oh, so it's now it's 1.8. Well that's VERY close to 2X but not what's being reported, i.e. L2 = 5.5 hrs & L2+ = 5.0 hrs

"3) balancing of cells occurs immediately after charging and can add up to an hour (depending on how much balancing the car thinks it needs) at a slow rate that is the same for 3.3 vs 6.0."

Balancing requires basically the same time in both cases.

Either way, I'm reporting the data from the car. If you don't like that the car reports the time to 100% and you care about a different quantity, ignore the L2 6.6kW number and use the L2 3.3 number and divide it by 2, if that's how you handle it. It's an option to view the 6.6 time, and the time is the same as the Carwings app. I'm not going to make up numbers or delete that data because you don't like it.