Really dumb question about charging

OK I'm a new owner baffled by charging. Where is the "charging for dummies" guide? When I connect the charging cable the button is colorless, orange or green. What do the colors mean?

Sometimes when I plug it in I see a green light. More often I see a yellow light. What does it mean? The car seems to charge while showing both the green and yellow lights. This is level 2 charging.

Also can I sit in the car with the AC on while the car is charging? The car has a black interior. Its gets really hot.

By the way you cannot search for something as simple as "charging" on this forum.

Thank you!

Marie

okaycoral said:

OK I'm a new owner baffled by charging. Where is the "charging for dummies" guide? When I connect the charging cable the button is colorless, orange or green. What do the colors mean?

Sometimes when I plug it in I see a green light. More often I see a yellow light. What does it mean? The car seems to charge while showing both the green and yellow lights. This is level 2 charging.

Also can I sit in the car with the AC on while the car is charging? The car has a black interior. Its gets really hot.

By the way you cannot search for something as simple as "charging" on this forum.

Thank you!

Marie

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The buttons in the charge door mean ‘charge now’ at the top, and ‘delay charge’ at the bottom. The delay charge button is available if you have a charge timer set up in the e-Manager.

The status light is:
Steady green = full charged
Pulsating green = charging
Flashing ‘blip’ green = Charge timer set, ready to charge when time comes
Yellow = plugged in but not charging. (EVSE lost power, car just unlocked and stopped charging etc. it will sometimes show yellow briefly at various points while charging if charging pauses.
Red = bad, call VW if it persists.

You can totally run the AC while charging but it doesn’t seem to give full power. Better than just the blower but not full AC. If you ‘start’ the car while it’s charging it will beep at you that you can’t start while plugged in, but it won’t break anything. You can also start just the AC remotely via car-net.

Perhaps some more dumb charging questions from a new 2019 SE owner. And yes, I did read manual!

1). If I plug in to charge at at L1 (110v) or L2 (220v) do I need to always press the "charge now" button? Or would I only need to push it to override a timer?

2) What's up with the minimum charge setting? The default seems to be 30%. So will the car not automatically start charging if charge is above 30%.

3) Is there an easy way to set a default max charge to say 93% to help preserve battery longetivity? Then override this if I ever want to?

4)I know there is the "gas" charge guage but is there an easy way to see state of charge as a percentage?

Thanks

EasyValue said:

Perhaps some more dumb charging questions from a new 2019 SE owner. And yes, I did read manual!

1). If I plug in to charge at at L1 (110v) or L2 (220v) do I need to always press the "charge now" button? Or would I only need to push it to override a timer?

2) What's up with the minimum charge setting? The default seems to be 30%. So will the car not automatically start charging if charge is above 30%.

3) Is there an easy way to set a default max charge to say 93% to help preserve battery longetivity? Then override this if I ever want to?

4)I know there is the "gas" charge guage but is there an easy way to see state of charge as a percentage?

Thanks

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1. In my experience, it seems to remember whatever you selected last time whenever you first plug in. Thus, whatever button is selected when you first plug in, you need to press the other one to override it if you want the other function. Pressing the charge later button will only work if you’ve already set up a charging profile and a timer.

2. You’re correct about how the minimum charge setting works. If the state of charge (SOC) is less than that percentage when you first plug in, the car will start charging immediately and charge until it reaches that percentage and then stop, even if you’ve set up delayed charging via the scheduler. After it has reached the minimum charge value, it will resume whatever schedules you have set up. You can set the minimum charge value to another value in the car via the e-Manager or in CarNet via the app or the web portal.

3. You can do this most easily by setting the minimum charge level to, say, 80 or 90% (logical, I know). Then, whenever you plug in it will immediately start charging and stop when it gets to that percent SOC. After it stops, if you want it to keep charging, start it again via the CarNet app or by unlocking the car and then pressing the immediate charge button. You could also achieve this functionality by setting up charging profiles for a certain percentage of charge and then setting timers for when you want the car to be charged to that percentage. It’s all a bit wonky and not the most user friendly design, but you do get used to it after a while.

4. The only way I know of to view an actual percentage for SOC is via the CarNet web portal (not the app). Sign in to the web portal at https://carnet.vw.com/web/vwcwp/login. Click or tap the Battery box/link. Then, if you’re on your phone, you’ll see the battery percentage in small type next to a Battery item on the screen. If you’re on a tablet, just change the orientation to portrait mode, and you’ll see the same thing. If you’re on a desktop browser, resize the browser window until it’s really narrow, and you’ll see the same thing. I personally think that this is a major usability oversight on VW’s part. I’m actually more interested in SOC percentage than I am in estimated range a lot of the time, and I am always having to jump through hoops when I’m not driving just to see this simple piece of useful data. Other than that, you just have to eyeball it on the gauge on the dashboard.

Hope all of this helps!

To clarify, to use the ‘minimum charge level’ as a maximum, you also need to set a charge timer (for any time. Doesn’t matter) with a ‘maximum charge level’ that matches your minimum charge level.

This charging system is really not dummy proof. I don't understand why the interface has to be so convoluted with no single point of control. I can only charge to 100% and I am lucky if I can do that. I have never seen a flashing green light. The light goes off. Most of the time I get a failure to charge between my JuiceBox and Emanager and CarNet with no direct controls on any of the 3 to just say "Charge now to 80%".. Every time I get in and out of the car a half dozen times, start the car to get the emanager up, change setting then go to the Juice Box all the time seeing only the yellow light. Then I look at Car Net its useless.
The software must have been built for a german software engineer because it makes no sense to me why I should have to set a charging location and time when it it does not apply and I cannot just charge the damn car. And I have to set a minimum charge to get a maximum charge and that does not work anyway. Even after I turn off the charging location I get a crazy message about everything being done at 4:45 AM and its now 1 PM and I need to go somewhere in an hour.

I have seen the yellow light and come back and the system has charged without ever turning green. When it is fully charged (not what I want) the light goes off completely.

It’s overly complex, yes.

I recommend not using any timer functions on the JuiceBox, as it has no way to tell what the charge level in the car is. I believe it requires you to go into the app and set the cars state of charge each time, which is dumb.

This could explain why you see the yellow light and it doesn’t charge. The yellow light to me suggests that the juicebox is withholding current due to a timer or charge limit or something and the car is saying ‘hey I’m plugged in but the EVSE isn’t letting me charge’

So long as your ‘minimum charge level’ is set to 80%, and the JuiceBox isn’t trying to do anything stupid with charge levels, your car will immediately charge.

As long as the JuiceBox is supplying power, the top button will charge you to 100% and the bottom button will tel the car to respect your timer limits.

The ‘ready by 4am’ message is irrelevant if that ‘charge location’ is also set to 80%z

I think there’s a setting on the JuiceBox causing the problem. It’s almost ‘too smart’ of an EVSE. It’s trying to do things that are a bit above its pay grade (setting charge percentages, it’s just not possible with a level 2 EVSE since they have no idea what charge level the car is at, they’re just an expensive safety switch, the real charger is built into the car)


Obviously VW’s interface is absolutely terrible, but the JuiceBox I think is causing it to be nightmarish!

okaycoral said:

This charging system is really not dummy proof. I don't understand why the interface has to be so convoluted with no single point of control. I can only charge to 100% and I am lucky if I can do that. I have never seen a flashing green light. The light goes off. Most of the time I get a failure to charge between my JuiceBox and Emanager and CarNet with no direct controls on any of the 3 to just say "Charge now to 80%".. Every time I get in and out of the car a half dozen times, start the car to get the emanager up, change setting then go to the Juice Box all the time seeing only the yellow light. Then I look at Car Net its useless.
The software must have been built for a german software engineer because it makes no sense to me why I should have to set a charging location and time when it it does not apply and I cannot just charge the damn car. And I have to set a minimum charge to get a maximum charge and that does not work anyway. Even after I turn off the charging location I get a crazy message about everything being done at 4:45 AM and its now 1 PM and I need to go somewhere in an hour.

I have seen the yellow light and come back and the system has charged without ever turning green. When it is fully charged (not what I want) the light goes off completely.

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Why don't you figure out how to just recharge it to 100% first, because the truth is that only really charges the battery up to 90% aproximately of full capacity, even though the gauge in the dash says that it's full.

VW does that to make the car and battery idiot proof, since it's a People's Car. Once you figure out how to get your in dash gauge to say it's "full" , then modify or change only one setting at a time, and note the results. I have the minimum charge setting on my JuiceBox 40 Pro set at 0%, and it charges my 2015 SEL to full on the gauge, every time I plug in, on my 2015 SEL. It's worked flawless since day 1.

Via my JuiceBox webpage, I can control in the "settings" how many kWh I want to add, too. I might add 16-18 kWh to get the needle one or two ticks from a full tank. Just depends what I calculate the battery needs, based on miles for my next trip.

There is a learning curve with all these doo dads... change only one setting at at time and see what it does, and take notes of the original setting, and what it was, and what you changed it to. Do that systematically, and you should be able to figure things out yourself.

This thread should be stickied on top. As more people are buying e-golfs, these questions will come up more and more often

Another total newbie ev owner here - 2019 SE. Trying to wrap my head around the charging options. For the time being, I'll average less than 100 miles per week, so no need in my mind to use anything but the standard Delphi 10 amp charger that came with the car.

I'd love a bit of advice for these options:

1. Just plug it in after every drive and let it charge to 100%. And if so, is it best to just leave it plugged in until next use?

2. Set a minimum charge to 80% and only plug in when approximate charge level is at 20-30%.

3. Set minimum charge to 0% so that it starts charging as soon as I plug in and let it go to 100%.

4. Followup question: can I just ignore the use of the time-delay "feature" or do I HAVE to set the time?

Thank you in advance for any and all who may shed light on this.

Since you drive so little, set 1 timer that covers every day of the week, from 12:00 AM to 11:55 PM, with a max charge of 80%. Thus, you can plug in whenever you're done driving, and it will instantly begin charging but not go higher than 80% for max battery life.

jray said:

Another total newbie ev owner here - 2019 SE. Trying to wrap my head around the charging options. For the time being, I'll average less than 100 miles per week, so no need in my mind to use anything but the standard Delphi 10 amp charger that came with the car.

I'd love a bit of advice for these options:

1. Just plug it in after every drive and let it charge to 100%. And if so, is it best to just leave it plugged in until next use?

2. Set a minimum charge to 80% and only plug in when approximate charge level is at 20-30%.

3. Set minimum charge to 0% so that it starts charging as soon as I plug in and let it go to 100%.

4. Followup question: can I just ignore the use of the time-delay "feature" or do I HAVE to set the time?

Thank you in advance for any and all who may shed light on this.

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When you charge depends on whether your electric rate plan has time-of-use billing. I save money by charging during overnight hours 11pm-7am.
If you're using so few miles per day, set the car to charge to 90% instead of 100%. If you do that, plug it in every time you get home and let it charge up to that level. Running the battery down below 25% is not good for it. Regularly letting it get all the way down to 0% will significantly degrade its capacity.

Time-of-use-billing is not available here, so as suggested I think setting the timer to cover every day of the week makes the most sense. If I set the max charge for 80%, what is the best setting for MINIMUM charge? I think the factory setting is 30%.

50% -60% SOC is what they store new batteries at, for SOC. So 50% would probably be a good minimum, I would think.

jray said:

1. Just plug it in after every drive and let it charge to 100%. And if so, is it best to just leave it plugged in until next use?

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For limited use of 100 miles per week, I would not do this. If the weather is hot and you keep the battery near 100% charge almost all the time I believe that can lead to faster degradation. On the other hand, degradation is fairly minimal and in the real world given your usage schedule I don't think it's all that much to worry about.

jray said:

2. Set a minimum charge to 80% and only plug in when approximate charge level is at 20-30%.

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It seems logical to me to only plug it in once or twice a week when your charge level goes to ~30%. But there is no reason to set the minimum charge level to 80%. Just keep it at default 30% and don't use the timer. Plug it in overnight once or twice a week and you're all good, or whenever you know you need a trip of 100+ miles then charge it up all the way beforehand. Keep in mind that it might take 20-30 hours to charge all the way to full from a low state of charge with the level 1 EVSE.

jray said:

3. Set minimum charge to 0% so that it starts charging as soon as I plug in and let it go to 100%.

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Easier to just turn off or not ever set up the timer.

jray said:

4. Followup question: can I just ignore the use of the time-delay "feature" or do I HAVE to set the time?

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Yes, ignore it. It's not really that useful unless you're using your car for 80+ miles nearly every day and you pay more for electricity during certain times of the day.

zanzabar said:

jray said:

4. Followup question: can I just ignore the use of the time-delay "feature" or do I HAVE to set the time?

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Yes, ignore it. It's not really that useful unless you're using your car for 80+ miles nearly every day and you pay more for electricity during certain times of the day.

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One reason I set up a time was to preheat the interior as the non-heat pump equipped SE I have really kills the mileage if I use the heater when driving. Heated seats work well but I'm still cold in the morning and it'll only get worse come winter.

I appreciate all the responses here to an exploration of my charging options. Here's what I've found works for me so far:

1. Because I want to charge only to 80% for battery longevity, it seems I must use the schedule option. Doesn't look like it's possible to set maximum charge without setting a schedule. A schedule will also allow me to set a cabin temperature for winter driving before unplugging.

2. I've also set a minimum charge of 80% so that, after a drive of any length, charging will begin according to the schedule. I've set the schedule to begin in early evening with a departure time of about 12 hours later so that charging mostly takes place in the cooler hours of the summer.

3. Since I normally drive less than 100 miles per week, I can plug in a couple of times per week after the level gets down to 40-50%. Then the car is back to plenty of juice by morning.

Hope this helps others.

jray said:

2. I've also set a minimum charge of 80% so that, after a drive of any length, charging will begin according to the schedule. I've set the schedule to begin in early evening with a departure time of about 12 hours later so that charging mostly takes place in the cooler hours of the summer.

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You should set the minimum charge to something like 30%.

Setting the minimum to 80% means that when you plug in it'll immediately charge to that level, ignoring the schedule you set.

If you set the minimum to something like 30%, when you plug in it'll immediately charge to that level then pause until it needs to begin charging to get to maximum charge at the departure time you scheduled.

Thanks, yes, I see your logic. Actually I'm not sure it makes much difference in my situation where I set the minimum. Since I don't drive at any set time of day or even every day, I'm mostly interested in having the battery at 80% whenever my next drive takes place. Perhaps, as someone said, I don't need to set a schedule at all. Just charge to my max setting whenever I plug in.

I guess if I know I'll want winter pre-heating of the interior the next day, I can set a schedule for just that situation. So here's one more question... if I set a schedule in order to have pre-heating, will it maintain the temperature even after the charge reaches my 80%?

If you set both the minimum AND maximum to 80% it will immediately charge to 80% and stop every time you plug in. That’s how I have mine set.

I don’t really use the timer as a timer unless I need to charge to 100 before a long trip.

My daily commute is 10mi round trip and I plug in each week day at work; battery voltage stays in a very comfortable voltage range most of the time, then on weekends it sometimes gets drained lower from a drive to the beach to give the battery a chance to cycle