[Mommasal999]

Hi
I took delivery of my Msport pro yesterday and so far, I love it. My first experience of EV.

I have an Indra pro charger (7.2kw I believe) and attempted a first charge last night utilising our cheaper overnight tariff with octopus.

It didn’t go as I expected. It charged literally 3% of charge overnight and my bmw app was saying it would take 36 hours to fully charge.

I noticed that the app says the current limit for AC charging is 6A, is this anything to do with it. The charger app says it is charging at 1.4kw.

Are there changes I need to make in the car? Or is it a charging pod issue?

Any help greatly appreciated

[ggla]

In the car change the AC charging to 32amp and you should be good to go. If you plan on using the granny charger anytime in future then drop it back down to 10amp for that session or it might trip the circuit.

[the_ape]

Or just be sensible and don't use the granny unless absolutely have to (in the UK at least its not particularly safe, as there is a possibility of an earth protection fault) and leave the AC charge at 32amps

[Mommasal999]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve changed the car to 32a. It worked, so hopefully I will get successful charging overnight with my cheap rate. Hopefully I’ve set it up correctly 🤞

[DaveCV]

Originally Posted by Mommasal999

Thanks for the replies. I’ve changed the car to 32a. It worked, so hopefully I will get successful charging overnight with my cheap rate. Hopefully I’ve set it up correctly 🤞

All BMW EVs are factory set to home charge at the lowest setting as BMW has no idea of the customer’s home set up. Sadly, car handovers are often rushed and men tend not to read manuals.

[The shadow]

Makes you wonder as when you collect your new car you should have 100% charge which the dealership will do and the dealer should have changed the amp setting as was in my case

[the_ape]

They shouldn't change it unless they have made sure with you that you have a home charger, as if it tries to draw 13amps from a home socket then it may lead to issues

[ThreeXi]

Hello,

This has been really interesting to read, thank you Mommasal999.

I was wondering wether to reply with my question, or put it in a new thread, as it is sort of similar to the question by Mommasal999, about the charging settings.

Reading posts on this forum and others, some EV owners like to really scrutinise the charging point apps and the car apps to see how much electricity is being consumed and the cost savings, as well as changing settings to work out efficiencies which is great and all that.

Personally I'd struggle with finding the time at the moment, plus it seems that when some owners start fiddling about with settings on the apps, then settings on the car, then settings on the cars app, it can get the process into a right pickle, I just want to plug the car in at home to charge between my shifts, then unplug and drive. Is this actually possible with a EV? (I don't mean this sarcastically, genuine question as my car hasn't been delivered yet, or is changing settings unavoidable and something that has to be done?).

I have a Pod Point which will give 3.7Kw, work travel is a 60 mile round trip, so should be plenty of time to recharge overnight.

Many thanks,

[ggla]

Yeah I’ve not changed any settings since day 1. I just plug in to my 7kw charger at home and I’ve got it set to automatically charge between 00:30 and 04:30 when I get cheaper electric. In theory you can set that to auto charge when plugged in or any other timings you like. Although as a home worker I only plug in maybe once a week and pickup free chargers from supermarkets etc

[ggla]

You can set the timings in the car or in my case on the charger. I would only reduce amps on the rare (never so far) occasion I use the granny charger.

[hollpe]

Originally Posted by ThreeXi

Hello,

This has been really interesting to read, thank you Mommasal999.

I was wondering wether to reply with my question, or put it in a new thread, as it is sort of similar to the question by Mommasal999, about the charging settings.

Reading posts on this forum and others, some EV owners like to really scrutinise the charging point apps and the car apps to see how much electricity is being consumed and the cost savings, as well as changing settings to work out efficiencies which is great and all that.

Personally I'd struggle with finding the time at the moment, plus it seems that when some owners start fiddling about with settings on the apps, then settings on the car, then settings on the cars app, it can get the process into a right pickle, I just want to plug the car in at home to charge between my shifts, then unplug and drive. Is this actually possible with a EV? (I don't mean this sarcastically, genuine question as my car hasn't been delivered yet, or is changing settings unavoidable and something that has to be done?).

I have a Pod Point which will give 3.7Kw, work travel is a 60 mile round trip, so should be plenty of time to recharge overnight.

Many thanks,

It's a fair question I just plug mine in and leave it when I get home. Initially I setup the charging schedule on the Ohme app (see screenshot) (I have a Ohme charger) to use the cheap electricity and that's its really. I don't use any of the charge scheduling on the car as it can easily start to confuse things if you are already doing that on from the charger side.

The settings I do change on the car is if I have to use a granny charger. Depending on where I'm using it I normally set it at 10amps and no more than that, sometime less. I don't use the granny charger every often.

For the DC charging on the car I have the noise setting set to 'not limited'. If it is on limited or auto then it can slow the charge speed down.

[the_ape]

I use ev.energy for it all, leave the charger EVSE in dumb mode and set that up to do it for me. The app is on playstore etc (or https://ev.energy) got a code if it gives you anything (715745)

But you tell it your energy taffir and it works it all out for you and integrates with the car to set it all up. When not at home the car will just start charging.

[iX3 rijder]

I use a Zappi V2 by MyEnergi. Run it in the so-called “Eco+” mode in which the wall-unit charges the car when my solar panels produce over 4,3kW. If not fully charged during daylight, the additional power is drawn from the grid during a programmed interval in the night with reduced tariff. Since same tariff runs for me from Friday evening 23hr till Monday morning 6hr, during the weekend my car charges immediately still with max available sunpower.

Works fine with me. The Zappi wallboxes come with an option to have an external signal indicating high/low tariff and take that to charge if low priced. For now that doesn’t work in private installations here in Holland. Knowing MyEnergi is British, I take it this can work in England.q

[adam.b]

Originally Posted by ggla

In the car change the AC charging to 32amp and you should be good to go. If you plan on using the granny charger anytime in future then drop it back down to 10amp for that session or it might trip the circuit.

You do not need to do that, car will automatically change to 10Amp and then will go back to 32amp when on normal charger. At least my does this.

[ggla]

Mine doesn’t, or at least didn’t when I first got it.

[DaveCV]

Originally Posted by iX3 rijder

I use a Zappi V2 by MyEnergi. Run it in the so-called “Eco+” mode in which the wall-unit charges the car when my solar panels produce over 4,3kW. If not fully charged during daylight, the additional power is drawn from the grid during a programmed interval in the night with reduced tariff. Since same tariff runs for me from Friday evening 23hr till Monday morning 6hr, during the weekend my car charges immediately still with max available sunpower.

Works fine with me. The Zappi wallboxes come with an option to have an external signal indicating high/low tariff and take that to charge if low priced. For now that doesn’t work in private installations here in Holland. Knowing MyEnergi is British, I take it this can work in England.q

The iX3 like its predecessor the i3 doesn’t always play nicely if there are frequent start/stops in the charging process. After about 9 quick cycles, the car goes into 12VDC battery self processing mode, and CHARGE DELAYED. I tend to charge during the day in Eco mode with any solar shortfall coming from my solar battery. BMW has gone completely silent on whether there is a fix for this problem.

[iX3 rijder]

Originally Posted by DaveCV

The iX3 like its predecessor the i3 doesn’t always play nicely if there are frequent start/stops in the charging process. After about 9 quick cycles, the car goes into 12VDC battery self processing mode, and CHARGE DELAYED. I tend to charge during the day in Eco mode with any solar shortfall coming from my solar battery. BMW has gone completely silent on whether there is a fix for this problem.

The fix for me has been to program a start and stop delay time. Plus I set the MinimalGreenLevel never below 65% (summer) and 45% (winter). The first year I struggled a lot with the “12VDC protection issue”, but this year it only happened once.

As MyEnergi stated in the correspondence at the time, it will become an issue at public charging when energy suppliers will go to loadshedding in their grids. I know BMW bought a Zappi to test, but as you state correctly it is utterly quiet ever since. I brace myself for the future as this looks like something that might not be solved with software alone. When the reason is in the OBC I think BMW will not replace that in goodwill. But I might be wrong.