Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:51 pm
This thread seems to be the most appropriate place I can find to post about a Carwings oddity/problem I experienced for the first time last night. Here's what happened:
As usual, we put the car in the garage and plugged it into the Blink about 5:30PM yesterday, not expecting we would use it again for anything that evening. We have a timer set in the Leaf to charge to 80% starting at midnight, ending at 5:00AM, to take advantage of super off-peak rates. No timer set on the Blink at all. This has worked perfectly for us for months. When I plugged it in, I heard the usual startup clunk of the Blink relay, and the 3 blue lights on the dash did their little blinking dance, lighting in sequence, which told me it was ready to charge when the timer kicked in at midnight--all as usual--so I shut the garage door and put Leaf matters out of my mind for the day.
The weird stuff started this morning when I checked my email. I had four Carwings notifications in my inbox. The first was sent at 8:39PM and said "Charging Started." I had never received a "charging started" notification EVER before, and I could not understand why it had been sent at that time, 3 hours after I had plugged the car in but still 3.5 hours before charging was supposed to start, according to the timer settings. The next message was from 8:42PM and said "Status Updated." This was bizarre, as I usually only get these notices if I have logged into Carwings and checked the status. I don't have a smartphone, and only do this from my PC, and I had not even had my PC on at 8:30 that evening! The 3rd message was sent at 1:40AM this morning, and said "Charging Complete," and the Leaf was at 12 of 12 bars. I couldn't understand that, as the timer was set for 80% and these messages usually say 10 of 12 bars. The fourth message said the same thing, but was sent at 3:45AM (basically a duplicate of the previous "12 of 12 bars" message at 1:40AM).
I was confused about what happened, so went out to the garage and checked the car. It was indeed charged to 100%, even though I had never asked it to do that. I checked the timer settings and they were just as always--charge to 80% at midnight 7 days a week.
I called Carwings support and they have no explanation for what happened. They said it sounded like I had logged onto Carwings at 8:30PM on 6:21 and clicked the "start charging" link. I assured them I hadn't done that. Their speculation was that it was just a software anomaly, then.
What I am wondering is if there is any chance of "crosstalk" in the telematics--that is, would it be possible that someone else sending a signal to their car to start charging could somehow get relayed incorrectly to my car? I have received a few "status updated" messages in the past 3 months when I had NOT logged on and checked the Leaf's status myself, and I always wondered why, but wrote it off to occasional "hiccups" in Carwings. I had NEVER received any "Plugged In" or "Charging Started" notifications before, even though I have my account configured to send emails for those events. This was the first "Charging Started" message ever, as I said above. Just an odd coincidence? The Carwings support guy said that there are still known issues with people receiving notifications correctly that they are working on to correct, but denied any known issues with their system last night that could have caused my issues. He suggested closing my account and assigning a new PIN and password in case someone else was accessing my account. I declined, as I can't believe there is any incentive for a hacker to break into and mess with my account. What for? I think it is far more likely that messages are sometimes being routed incorrectly between the web interface and the car's telematics and/or the owner's email account. I am going to just wait and see if this is a fluke or continues happening on a regular basis.
I thought I would post here, though, to see if anyone else is experiencing any similar oddities with Carwings notifications, status updating, or unintended "Charging Started" episodes. I know you people with smartphones and mobile apps have bigger fish to fry with your apps, etc., but having my car charge to 100% when I didn't ask it to, and at the wrong time besides, is an issue for me.
TT
Tom Tweed
La Jolla, CA
Plowshare Media
2011 SLe #1317 del. 4/1/11
1st bar lost at 31,953 miles
2nd bar lost at 38,685 miles
3rd bar lost at 50,711 miles
4th bar lost at 59,758 miles after 64 months
Battery replaced at 61,307 miles.
