Another Scheduled Departure Gotcha to Be Aware Of

[PianoAl]

Summary: Car may charge past the off-peak end time unnecessarily.

The programming for scheduled charging should be simple: You enter the end and start times for off-peak rates, set your departure or charging times, and the car only charges within the off-peak hours or warns you if it is unable to finish charging within those hours.

Not only does it not work that way, but here's a new bug I discovered today. Departure time was 10 AM with end of off-peak set to 11 AM. Wife went somewhere this morning before 10 AM, came back, and plugged in around 10:40 AM. Car started charging, which is reasonable but not how I would have set it up (I would have it wait until some time before 10 AM the next day).

Worse, though, is that it kept charging even after the end of the off-peak period.

 

[DaveRZ]

I've seen the same behavior many times. I think you're just "close enough" to your depart time that it still tries to get you charged up, ignoring the peak period. Not saying I agree with this, but that's what I've observed.

I agree that scheduled charging seems to be quite a mess and I also would love to have a simple "Allow/Don't Allow" list of when to charge. But then I realize that would be overly complicated for many causing other issues as well. Maybe an "advanced settings" tab for those of us who are control freaks?

Another similar glitch (or at least as far as I'm concerned), is if I get home early on Friday evening and plug in my car it immediately starts charging instead of waiting for scheduled departure. I know this is because I have scheduled departure set for weekdays only, but the immediate charge on Friday evening is still during peak time. The weekend shouldn't start (for the car) until 12AM on Saturday

 

[PagodaY]

Not sure where to put this on this board, but a function I'd like to see on Scheduled departure is to have the option to do it once and then cancel out afterwards.

Not all of us have set schedules, we're not all commuting at the same time everyday or weekends. If I'm going on a long road trip I set the departure time and the car charges pretty much correctly. But then, the next day the same scheduled departure shows up and acts accordingly. I've tried to delete the schedule from the app after I'm on the road, but sometimes it doesn't "take" and the schedule remains.

 

[PianoAl]

a function I'd like to see on Scheduled departure is to have the option to do it once and then cancel out afterwards.

Yes, I often have changing needs, day to day. I've gotten better at remembering to change the schedule and sometimes I set a reminder.

Note that you can't change the schedule when you're not at home.

Adding that option to the software would add too much complexity perhaps.

 

[DeltaOne]

Not sure where to put this on this board, but a function I'd like to see on Scheduled departure is to have the option to do it once and then cancel out afterwards.

Good idea. We're retired, and when I occasionally use Scheduled Departure it's always only for the next day. I have to remember to cancel it when we arrive back home. I haven't had a problem with cancelling it not working yet.

 

[PianoAl]

Related to this, I was recently at the grocery store and remembered that I needed to change the departure time so that the car wouldn't start charging before midnight, when off-peak starts. Of course, I couldn't because I need to be at home (since scheduling is dependent on location).

However, I don't think they should add options to handle these situations because it adds to much complexity to the app. Most don't need this, and it's not hard to change things manually.

 

[PagodaY]

I think we should continue to ask for improvements, push the capability envelope, etc. etc. and then press for allowing customization of the UI, so it could be much more personalized. Functions we personally do not need/want to see/interact with often could be hidden, moved, sized...

Here's a thought, have a "retired" mode that would reveal the "singular scheduled departure" charge setting.

 

[ai4px]

I just posted exactly the opposite problem…. My cars stop charging at end of “off peak” even if they aren’t done. I need to figure out how you guys are getting the car to continue to charge after off peak ends.

 

[PianoAl]

I just posted exactly the opposite problem…. My cars stop charging at end of “off peak” even if they aren’t done. I need to figure out how you guys are getting the car to continue to charge after off peak ends.

Interesting. In the above, I was testing things, so I had just started charging, IIRC.

To solve your problem, can you just lie about the end of the off-peak?

Mine ends at 3 PM, but I say that it ends at 11 AM. Otherwise it will charge up the day before.

 

[ai4px]

Interesting. In the above, I was testing things, so I had just started charging, IIRC.

To solve your problem, can you just lie about the end of the off-peak?

Mine ends at 3 PM, but I say that it ends at 11 AM. Otherwise it will charge up the day before.

It's not a matter of lying about offpeak expiration time.... it's a matter of the car calculates the start time and stops exactly on the off peak end. I'd hav ethe same problem if I said off peak ended at 11am. It would be great if they had an option for us to permit completion of charge after offpeak. I would tell the car that off peak ended at 5am instead of 6 and check the fictional "complete charging on peak" button.

In the other thread I started yesterday Big Earl said he needs it to stop on time because he'll get hit with a demand fee... so there's not one solution that fits everyone.

what else would be great would be if hte cars could talk to each other thru the HPWC and do some better start time planning.

 

[Marty3SR+]

Related to this, I was recently at the grocery store and remembered that I needed to change the departure time so that the car wouldn't start charging before midnight, when off-peak starts. Of course, I couldn't because I need to be at home (since scheduling is dependent on location).

However, I don't think they should add options to handle these situations because it adds to much complexity to the app. Most don't need this, and it's not hard to change things manually.

Not hard to change manually, but much harder to remember to change things manually.

Actually, sometimes it is hard to change thing manually. Sometimes it takes me a few tries to get it to succeed, and I'm not sure why.