Return of phantom 16 amp charging

[Dilly]

Thanks for that - I'm still booked in at MK service on the 17th July but heard nothing yet. Fully expect it to be cancelled with the new firmware update. Until then it's lottery charging and earplugs if you get the "no cabin sounds" issue!

I’m booked at MK 22nd July. Heard nothing since booking. If they don’t cancel, I will. Clearly a pointless journey.

 

[AndrewGR]

Notification received from App this morning. Told me ‘optimised battery charging - scheduled to finish charging by 06.00’. Not much use when charging was stopped at 0430 having been at 16A rather than 32A for most of the low tariff period. So I have 77% rather than the 90% requested to start my day. This ‘feature’ needs a way to turn it off!

 

[NewbieT]

It doesn’t make sense to drop people to 4kW to optimise the battery. 4kW isn’t very efficient. If they were going to try something like that you’d just stop charging altogether and then charge at the full rate towards the departure time. Problem is...I didn’t set a departure time. So I don’t think it’s that.

 

[AndrewGR]

Ive now reported the inability to turn off ‘optimised battery charging’ as a service issue to be addressed at an already scheduled ranger visit.

 

[Jason71]

Notification received from App this morning. Told me ‘optimised battery charging - scheduled to finish charging by 06.00’. Not much use when charging was stopped at 0430 having been at 16A rather than 32A for most of the low tariff period. So I have 77% rather than the 90% requested to start my day. This ‘feature’ needs a way to turn it off!

Were you using scheduled departure with a leave time of 6am? That is what it sounds like it is saying?
edit
actually if using scheduled departure it ALWAYS trys to complete the charging portion by 6am to keep withing some mythical offpeak rate Tesla have decided we all use even if your departure is later. but it still sounds like it is claiming you were on scheduled departure?

 

[hingus2000]

I’ve only used Superchargers so far but on the charging page the maximum current I can select is 16A, with no option to go higher. Considering my first AC charge in the next few days. Is this normal?

 

[Jason71]

I’ve only used Superchargers so far but on the charging page the maximum current I can select is 16A, with no option to go higher. Considering my first AC charge in the next few days. Is this normal?

Strangely yes. once you plug in the charger will communicate with the car and if the charger can go to 32amps that will change. Even more confusingly if using scheduled charge start that communication does not occur until the charge starts so when you plug in it will still show 16amp until the appointed charge start time arrives. I think if there is a reason for the car to start drawing current before the appointed charge start time sooner such as maybe senty or turning on the AC that it will probably update at that point.

 

[AndrewGR]

Jason71 I use a scheduled Start Charging time of 0030 to correspond to the start of the low tariff period. The charger stops at 0430. However the car seems to assume a departure time of 0600 and that charging will continue until then. I should be able to add about 32 kWh during the low tariff period but last night only added 22 kWh. Not a problem today but could have been if I had a long trip planned. I don’t want to schedule a departure for 0430 because I don’t want the car pre-conditioned at that time.

 

[kevuwk]

Any clever person created a script of some description that will monitor the charge and restart if the rate drops? Was going to look at it today but would save me the effort if somebody else has done it

 

[Jason71]

Any clever person created a script of some description that will monitor the charge and restart if the rate drops? Was going to look at it today but would save me the effort if somebody else has done it

due to lockdown it is not really a problem for me but if it carries on for a long time I will do something. i already have my own monitor set up that checks the apis every 5 minutes so it would be pretty easy to review the actual charge current and stop start it if it drops to below a certain level but I am hoping it will be fixed before then

 

[kevuwk]

due to lockdown it is not really a problem for me but if it carries on for a long time I will do something. i already have my own monitor set up that checks the apis every 5 minutes so it would be pretty easy to review the actual charge current and stop start it if it drops to below a certain level but I am hoping it will be fixed before then

Not a massive issue for myself either but on those rare occasions I want the car to be at a certain % by a certain time I want it to actually do it especially when a supercharger costs at least 5-6x the price of a kWh on Agile. The fact that this isn't the first time this bug has appeared is another reason I am willing to put time in to it.

 

[Jason71]

Not a massive issue for myself either but on those rare occasions I want the car to be at a certain % by a certain time I want it to actually do it especially when a supercharger costs at least 5-6x the price of a kWh on Agile. The fact that this isn't the first time this bug has appeared is another reason I am willing to put time in to it.

I actually think this is a new bug rather than a re-introduction of the old one but you make a compelling point. The fact that they have broken this at least twice certainly does not mean they wont do it a third time. ill add it to my Backlog
Just need to make sure the logic filters out 10amp charging with the UMC!

 

[Jason71]

Jason71 I use a scheduled Start Charging time of 0030 to correspond to the start of the low tariff period. The charger stops at 0430. However the car seems to assume a departure time of 0600 and that charging will continue until then. I should be able to add about 32 kWh during the low tariff period but last night only added 22 kWh. Not a problem today but could have been if I had a long trip planned. I don’t want to schedule a departure for 0430 because I don’t want the car pre-conditioned at that time.

the 06:00 figure is only applicable to scheduled departure so if you weren't using that then I don't think you should be getting messages about 'optimised battery charging - scheduled to finish charging by 06.00’. So i you are sure you had not accidentally put it on scheduled departure then that is really odd and may be another bug. Unless on scheduled departure the car should just charge as quickly as it can up to the specified max charge %
For the record this is what I am basing that on, manual page 190:
"NOTE: Your vehicle aims to finish charging before 6am (end of off-peak hours). If given sufficient time to charge, charging may stop at 6am, even if your scheduled departure is later. The vehicle warms the Battery and preconditions the cabin shortly before your scheduled departure time. If the vehicle does not have enough time to complete charging before 6am, it will continue to charge until it reaches the target Battery percentage."

 

[Jason71]

Jason71 I use a scheduled Start Charging time of 0030 to correspond to the start of the low tariff period. The charger stops at 0430. However the car seems to assume a departure time of 0600 and that charging will continue until then. I should be able to add about 32 kWh during the low tariff period but last night only added 22 kWh. Not a problem today but could have been if I had a long trip planned. I don’t want to schedule a departure for 0430 because I don’t want the car pre-conditioned at that time.

if your trip is critical can i suggest ( until this is fixed) setting your max charge % to be 32kw higher than your start charge instead of using the charger to stop charging. that way if the current drops you will still get the extra charge you need just sadly charging will go beyond 4:30am so it will be at a higher cost. I assume that is probably the preferable option to not having enough for your trip.

 

[Jason71]

I have raised a service request to add to the pile. I'm sure it will be cancelled just like the rest but the more the merrier right

Just had a call from Tesla. asking for example times of when I have experienced the bug. On the one hand I am pleased they are taking it seriously. On the other hand I had hoped we were past the point of diagnosis and were on to a fix by now. I gave them a 2 hour window yesterday when it happened twice and they seemed happy with that. Said they were passing onto the virtual service team. Pretty sure its more of an issue for the software team TBH.

 

[Adopado]

I think I recall a release note from a s/w upgrade that said the car would now control charging to reach the desired SoC by the expected departure time. This would optimise battery life. This could explain the problem - not a bug but a feature. Not a great feature if the chargepoint is designed to turn off the supply at an early hour.

That crossed my mind too ... completely incompatible with the (cheap) but short charging slots many people are using.

 

[Adopado]

I charged in the early hours 13.3kWh at an average of just over 7Kw but interestingly from the charge graph there was a wobble at the point in the charge where it did the big drop last time.

 

[Jason71]

I think I recall a release note from a s/w upgrade that said the car would now control charging to reach the desired SoC by the expected departure time. This would optimise battery life. This could explain the problem - not a bug but a feature. Not a great feature if the chargepoint is designed to turn off the supply at an early hour.

That crossed my mind too ... completely incompatible with the (cheap) but short charging slots many people are using.

its fine for scheduled departure. in fact what is being described sounds like the release OF Scheduled Departure. If the car wants to manage how and when it does the charging prior to the designated departure time then that's fine. SD was never compatible with Octopus go anyway because it used it's own hard coded 6am off peak end time anyway to decide when to charge.
Given that the battery can charge at upto 250KWh I don't believe that charge rate is being varied to protect the battery from 32amps. if Scheduled departure was slowing down charging it would be to avoid completing charging too early and holding the car at a high state of charge for hours and hours prior to departure which actually makes sense but that is clearly not what is going on here since none of the people complaining are doing SD charging.
If not doing Scheduled Departure the car has no idea when you are departing so cannot amend your charging rate based on that so should just charge at the fastest rate possible.

 

[Adopado]

I don't believe that charge rate is being varied to protect the battery from 32amps.

I don't either but I could speculate that there's some testing of an ability to externally control charge rates ... for various purposes in the future perhaps?

 

[Jason71]

I don't either but I could speculate that there's some testing of an ability to externally control charge rates ... for various purposes in the future perhaps?

if given the choice of conspiracy or incompetence as the answer to a problem, incompetence generally tends to turn out to be the correct answer though the two are not mutually exclusive.