How to charge at home whenever plugged in, except during peak hours?

[3sr+buyer]

(Assume ~30A 240V home charging.)

How does one tell the car or app to:
1. Charge whenever plugged in at home,
2. Except during designated peak hours (e.g. 3pm to 9pm, or 15:00 to 21:00 for 24 hour clock users).
?

For example, is there a setting that will do all of the following without additional changes each time?
1. Arrive home at 2pm with 10%: charges from 2pm to 3pm, stops, then restarts charging at 9pm.
2. Arrive home at 6pm with 10%: waits until 9pm to start charging.
3. Arrive home at midnight with 10%: starts charging immediately.

 

[jjrandorin]

The tesla app does not allow this. You will need to use some third party app to do that. You also dont need to be "charging whenever plugged in at home" unless charging during your off peak time will not fully fill your car, which is unlikely with a SR+.

Just set it to charge at the start of the off peak time at midnight, it will be done by 6am, you dont need to have it charging all those other times especially if you have a 30amp 240v circuit.

 

[LoudMusic]

I wish Tesla would make a configuration page for available charge times rather than having to choose between "charge after" and "be done by".

One TERRIBLE option that might actually result in fire would be to use an outlet timer.

TORK 30 Amp Astronomic 7-Day Digital Indoor/Outdoor Industrial Timer Switch with 1-Channel EWZ120 - The Home Depot

TORK EWZ120 digital time switch accepts 120-277 VAC input and its SPDT output contacts can activate a 30 Amp load or 2 HP motor. The switch automatically detects the input voltage and does not require

www.homedepot.com

There are also less expensive versions that are single day, but I've linked to a 7 day because I suspect your weekend times might be different.

 

[CarlThompson]

I have an Emporia charger that can be configured to only charge during non-peak hours. It works at up to 48A and can be either hardwired or plugged into a 14-50 receptacle. It connects to WiFi and is configurable via an app and is very reasonably priced too.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BP1GM76

 

[LoudMusic]

I have an Emporia charger that can be configured to only charge during non-peak hours. It works at up to 48A and can be either hardwired or plugged into a 14-50 receptacle. It connects to WiFi and is configurable via an app and is very reasonably priced too.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BP1GM76

It's strange to me that the Tesla wall charger doesn't have that kind of option.

 

[davewill]

My venerable Blink EVSE and my OpenEVSE both can be set to only be active during specific times, but it isn't as useful with the Tesla as you'd like since if the car is asleep, it won't wake to charge when the EVSE activates. You have to either set the Tesla's timer as well so the car wakes up at the right time or leave sentry mode on so that the car doesn't sleep. I ended up using the Tesla's timer, which negates the functionality you're looking for. The only thing the EVSE's timer buys me is that the car doesn't keep clunking my EVSE on and off every time I need to open a door.

 

[CarlThompson]

... it isn't as useful with the Tesla as you'd like since if the car is asleep, it won't wake to charge when the EVSE activates.

That is really good information to know, thanks. I never actually tried it with my EVSE so I'd guess it would have the same issue. I wonder if there's a way around that? When I get my new Model 3 (I already sold my previous) I'll give it a try and see if I can figure out how to get it to charge on the EVSE's schedule.

 

[thesmokingman]

The tesla app does not allow this. You will need to use some third party app to do that. You also dont need to be "charging whenever plugged in at home" unless charging during your off peak time will not fully fill your car, which is unlikely with a SR+.

Just set it to charge at the start of the off peak time at midnight, it will be done by 6am, you dont need to have it charging all those other times especially if you have a 30amp 240v circuit.

This. KISS... it only makes sense to pay for charging during super off peak to me. Off peak is still stupid expensive around here. Luckily super off peak is at 10pm for us.

 

[cali8484]

... it won't wake to charge when the EVSE activates.

I thought this issue has been fixed by Tesla software updates. I use the JuiceBox Pro and it used to have problem waking up Tesla Model 3 a while back but not since a couple years ago. I like the JuiceBox Pro scheduling better than the car scheduler since it allows different TOU settings for weekdays and weekends.

 

[jjrandorin]

I thought this issue has been fixed by Tesla software updates. I use the JuiceBox Pro and it used to have problem waking up Tesla Model 3 a while back but not since a couple years ago. I like the JuiceBox Pro scheduling better than the car scheduler since it allows different TOU settings for weekdays and weekends.

The way that some (non tesla) EVSEs used to get around this, was by having a small trickle charge keeping the car awake. I thought I remembered the juicebox specifically doing that, but could absolutely be mis remembering it.

Does your car actually sleep before charging?

 

[cali8484]

The way that some (non tesla) EVSEs used to get around this, was by having a small trickle charge keeping the car awake. I thought I remembered the juicebox specifically doing that, but could absolutely be mis remembering it.

Does your car actually sleep before charging?

Yes, that's how JuiceBox used to workaround the bug. It would charge at 2A to keep the car awake. That was a couple years ago.

I am pretty sure the car is asleep since JuiceBox doesn't usually start charging until 2am as I am in the JuicePoint program that dynamically defer charging until the lowest grid demand time within the TOU settings.

 

[davewill]

I thought this issue has been fixed by Tesla software updates. I use the JuiceBox Pro and it used to have problem waking up Tesla Model 3 a while back but not since a couple years ago. I like the JuiceBox Pro scheduling better than the car scheduler since it allows different TOU settings for weekdays and weekends.

I actually never went back to try it again. I will have to try it and see for myself. I would prefer to let the EVSE handle scheduling as I'm able to program it with different schedules on different days (super off-peak goes to 2pm on weekdays here), and the car would go ahead and charge any time I plug it in during the scheduled "on" time.

 

[davewill]

OK, I changed my config to use ONLY the EVSE's timer (making sure that sentry mode was off) and the car does indeed start charging successfully. This is nice as the EVSE is able to create different schedules for weekdays and weekends and even multiple on periods in one day.

I wish my RAV4EV handled things as gracefully. It charges OK with an external timer, but it tends to turn on it's cooling pumps when plugged in during OFF times, leaving them run for hours on end, so I use it's own timer instead. The rub is that it doesn't have the location specific feature the M3 does, so you have to remember to turn it off when plugging in other places.

 

[CarlThompson]

Also did my own test similar to @davewill using my Emporia Energy EVSE and it also works just fine. So it seems that any issue has been fixed and you can use the EVSE's timer rather than the car's.

 

[scottd9000]

This also works with the Charge Point Home charger. I set it to turn on at midnight and the car wakes up and charges.

 

[wiltoking]

Well, what worked for me was setting Schedule Departure and Off-Peak Hours ending within an hour of each other. As long as the time you set allows for the charge you want, it will hold off until the last minute from starting. So 9pm with schedule set to 3am allows for 6hrs of charging. Assuming the SoC is ~30% and you want ~80%, it should charge for ~5hrs starting at 10pm and be done in that window. Can't do anything about setting it to charge multiple times though.

 

[sfRonH]

The tesla app does not allow this. You will need to use some third party app to do that. You also dont need to be "charging whenever plugged in at home" unless charging during your off peak time will not fully fill your car, which is unlikely with a SR+.

Just set it to charge at the start of the off peak time at midnight, it will be done by 6am, you dont need to have it charging all those other times especially if you have a 30amp 240v circuit.

You are assuming that the car will stay at home. I happen to stay at my partner's home many nights, so I *do* need it to start charging whenever I plug it in, if in off-peak hours.