EVSE "Chargers" with delay of start feature

I bought, built and installed the OpenEVSE charger which I'm really thrilled with. One of the features that EVSE's like this and (JuiceBox) have is a realtime clock feature that will only enable charging during a user programmed window of time.

The problem that I'm encountering is that the after several minutes, the E-Golf's goes into sleep mode if plugged in, but charging power is not supplied. Hours later when an EVSE turns charging on, nothing happens. The E-Golf stays in sleep even though the EVSE is in a state readiness to provide charging to the car and waiting for a signal from the car so that it can start. If I'm not using the Car-net charge settings, I can work around this problem by waking the car up if I hit the key fob's lock button before I go to bed, then charging will begin but this is not what I'd call a automatic process.

I guess this isn't a big deal since we can program the E-Golf to control when at night charging starts, but this is something to consider if you are shopping for an EVSE that has a charge delay feature. That feature is essentially useless with the E-golf. I would have purchased the OpenEVSE even if I knew this ahead of time, but knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have let a delay of charge feature influence my EVSE choice as much.

Does anyone have any other brand of EVSE with Delay Of Start that works with the E-Golf? I suspect it wouldn't be able to function with the E-Golf either, but can someone confirm this?

<<<I guess this isn't a big deal since we can program the E-Golf to control when at night charging starts>>

I got a car net account but do not have a smart phone. I can log in with my desktop, but there is no dashboard menu for delayed charge or warm up. Is this function only available via smartphone?

Ron

cove3 said:

<<<I guess this isn't a big deal since we can program the E-Golf to control when at night charging starts>>

I got a car net account but do not have a smart phone. I can log in with my desktop, but there is no dashboard menu for delayed charge or warm up. Is this function only available via smartphone?

Ron

Click to expand...

I logged into the web browser version and it shows a lot of options to control the e-golf charging including delaying to specified times. Unfortunately whenever I try to change any settings I get error messages. So the features are there but I can't get them to work. Long answer short: If the website would work as designed you shouldn't need a smartphone.

Ok, my error. At the website, the e-settings menu, which wasn't showing previously, now shows and appears to have a bunch of menus for delayed charging and climate control. I don't have a time of day meter, so I was planning to use that function just to help out Con Ed by charging 12-6.

My electrician did install my Clipper Creek 240V fixed unit yesterday and it seems to be working

Ron

I am using the Siemens Versicharge with my e-Golf (replaced a dead Bosch PowerMax) and it works great with both the e-Golf's built in (CarNet) delay as well as with the charger's delay functions.

pixbroker said:

I am using the Siemens Versicharge with my e-Golf (replaced a dead Bosch PowerMax) and it works great with both the e-Golf's built in (CarNet) delay as well as with the charger's delay functions.

Click to expand...

Hi,
What's your "delay" time? Meaning, how long after plugging in is the start charging set to?
On mine, anything over 2 hours and the car does not respond, so no charging occurs.
(Have the same charger as you, btw)

This string is a bit worrisome. I recently bought a Siemens Versicharge in an effort to get around the fact that Car-net delay charging is completely unreliable (one day it works, the next it doesn't at all) and can't be set to start right at 11pm when off peak starts. I hope that there is not an issue with the car not being able to recognize when it should start when delay charging is set. I haven't installed my unit yet, but I'll be curious about what folks who have the versicharge do to make delay timing work successfully with it.

I have a Versicharge and am very happy with it. (see my other post here about my bad experience with the Bosch PowerMax). The delay feature on the VersiCharge seems to work ok for me. I can check again in the next few days but i think i tried the maximum delay time (8?).

Did you turn off (disabled) any and all of the delayed start times (3) on carnet? Is the instant charge LED (top one) on the charge terminal of the e-Golf lit before you plug in?

What happens for me is that when i fist plug in, the Versicharge starts charging immediately. Then i set the delay and the charge stops and then resumes after the delay time.

Rant: Obviously it's terribly sad that VW built such a great electric car but dropped the ball on the delay charge control. The fact that they installed the crippled infotainment, which does not allow setup of delay charge from within the car is inexcusable. To me, carnet is something that should not be needed to operate the car. It's something that is optional, for people who want remote control. The car should be perfectly capable to handle such simple task as delayed charging on it's own. Also i think the charger should not need his feature. It should be a car function.

This topic is cropping up under other headings on this site so problems with the delay charging are more than just here.

We leased our Blue eGolf in early Nov but didn't get the EVSE unit installed until mid Dec. We went with the Bosch Power Xpress (no built in timer) because it had a footprint that best fit the location in our garage.

The unit works fine, just plug it in and off it goes. Only then did we sign up for the tiered energy rates from SCE. To benefit from the lowest rate we attempted to use the delay charge feature on carnet....what a disaster. Like many others here we have found both the online and iphone app to be inconsistent at best and useless at worse. No guarantee the car will be charged in the morning.

We found a SoCal VofA sales manager, Charlie Kim (found him on linkedin) that says he is working on the issue but so far no luck, forget about the dealer, we got back-healed to the service dept and haven't heard from them since.
One poster on a different thread says that after 2 hrs the car goes to "sleep" and any request after that time will be ignored, including the timer on the EVSE unit.

Going to try it tonight, plug in at 10pm and see if the delay timer will start the charge at midnight.

pixbroker,
Everything in CarNet re delayed charge is disabled.
I set the delay on the charger first, plug in second. The light on the car is the top one, instant charge. After a minute on two, the charges lights change to "delayed" (The one under the power light)

I have tried keep the departure time active and inactive on the app but same results.

Here is hoping that Mr. Kim will be successful.
cynandvinecar,
Perhaps Mr. Kim could be made aware of the forum?

Hopefully we can figure this out. As far as I can tell, if departure times are disabled, the car will eventually go into sleep mode if you are plugged in but the EVSE isn't providing a charge. Hours later when the EVSE is ready to provide the charge, the car does not wake up.

in2insight said:

pixbroker,
Everything in CarNet re delayed charge is disabled.
I set the delay on the charger first, plug in second. The light on the car is the top one, instant charge. After a minute on two, the charges lights change to "delayed" (The one under the power light)

I have tried keep the departure time active and inactive on the app but same results.

Here is hoping that Mr. Kim will be successful.
cynandvinecar,
Perhaps Mr. Kim could be made aware of the forum?

Click to expand...

I have made Mr. Kim aware of this forum, dont know if he has viewed or not.
I had a call from VW customer service, they want us to take car into dealer to be inspected by a higher level tech'n. I'm making a lot of noise over this, but with low volume sales (at least locally talking to the dealers) who knows if VW even really cares. Why they didn't make all charging functions programmable from inside the car is beyond me.

cynandvinecar said:

Why they didn't make all charging functions programmable from inside the car is beyond me.

Click to expand...

Apparently VW isn't offering the Discover Media Pro Infotainment unit (required to access charging functions) on any car in the U.S. and they didn't make an exception for the E-golf.

So now after the free 3 years of Carnet E-golf E-management services are up, we won't have any choice but to pay a yet to be disclosed renewal to control charging functions.

It's not as if we can opt out of using Carnet since the charging function goes to sleep if you try to do a delay charge.

Not well thought out on VWoA's part.

I have the Siemens level 2 charger and the reason I purchased it was because it had delayed charging. The delayed charging feature has not worked, like all the other posts my assumption is that the car goes to sleep so even when the charger is ready to give the car power, the car doesn't wake up to receive it.
This means I'm having to rely on the carnet app which, as all of you know, is useless.
I have been working with a tech at carnet who has now escalated my issues to VW, I have been on the phone to them multiple times in the last 3 weeks. I would recommend that if you are having issues with delayed charging call carnet.
I am very close to getting a lemon law attorney, in my opinion this car is not fit for use,if you can't rely on getting a charge, the car is unusable.
I will post updates as I get them from VW.

Maybe this will be a good alternative?

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No indication of price, but I imagine more than Clipper Creek due to circuitry. But I feel the delayed function belongs with the car, not the charger, and hopefully e-golf will get it working, not only from car net but also from within the car

Ron

I just had my Siemens Versicharge installed, like others have posted on this forum, the delay charge did not work. When I woke up, the lights on the EVSE were on indicating that it was ready to charge the car, but the car wasn't charging. I tend to agree with all here that it is the car in some type of sleep mode and not recognizing the EVSE trying to charge after the delay. I will jump on the bandwagon of contacting VW about this and making noise. The fact that delay charging is not possible/reliable with this car is unacceptable. They really need to make this a top priority to fix.

Installed the Siemens wallbox in January and found out very quickly that the only way to make delayed charging work is with the CarNet system. The problem: It is unreliable. Some days it charges for the pre-programmed departure time, some days it doesn't. The dealer is useless (and clueless). VWoA are the only ones that seem to make an effort to resolve this, but I have yet to see a result. The only saving grace is that I decided against TOU metering. (The cost of the meter and bumping up of the tier 1 per-kWh charge make not a great proposition for a mere 25 kWh charge per day.) But I agree that it is one of the most important issues for an EV, and that it is a feature that does not live up to the printed promise.

I just got a 2015 SEL and had this same problem -- I have a Blink EV Project EVSE from when we got our LEAF. I have it set to start charging at 3AM, but apparently by then, the car has gone to sleep and will not charge. Now that many months have passed, has there been any resolution to this? I haven't tried using the car-net delayed charging yet -- I will try that tonight.