IDIOT ALERT: Car didn't charge last night

[cdub]

Just changed my car's timers to the 12am to 12am for Sunday for Thursday. No timer for Friday and Saturday.

I'll see how it works tonight.

 

[Kataphn]

I do 9:00 am to 8:59am to avoid getting text messages at midnight. Charging to 80%, no TOU at this time. I don't use Blink timer at all.

Kat

 

[JPWhite]

I use the timer for the 80%.

Me too.

Is it just me or shouldn't the timer be totally independent of the level of charge you desire?

I can't figure out why Nissan made it so complex. Why not set in preferences 80% or 100% and the car just charge to that level regardless if a timer is involved or not?

 

[JPWhite]

From what I understand, here is how the timers behave:
Time plugged in: 12:08 AM
Scenario 1: Timer Start = 12:00 AM; End = 8:00 AM
Will start charging immediately because ...
(Etc.)

If we had a "thanks" button, you'd get one for this summary.

Due to a lack of knowledge, I happened to program my timers for off peak (8:10 PM thru 8 AM), which gives me a big charging window. (I didn't realize at the time, that there were "other" ways to set it!) Then, the Blink is set to start at midnight+10 minutes, so if it's plugged in, that's when it happens. There's an option on the Blink if I want to charge "now", so it's as easy as tapping that button. That leaves public charging, where I may have to remember to hit the "timer off" button in the car, if it's daytime.

Fortunately, the Blink always seems to charge on time, despite the myriad ways of crashing the box that the programmers have come up with .

For public chargers why not just hit the immediate charge button on the dash? No need to futz with timers when on the road.

 

[davewill]

For public chargers why not just hit the immediate charge button on the dash? No need to futz with timers when on the road.

Because if someone unplugs you, the charge won't restart automatically. Also, if you only want an 80% charge you have to use a timer.

 

[cdub]

I use the timer for the 80%.

Me too.

Is it just me or shouldn't the timer be totally independent of the level of charge you desire?

I can't figure out why Nissan made it so complex. Why not set in preferences 80% or 100% and the car just charge to that level regardless if a timer is involved or not?

Maybe so you can set it to charge to 100% on the weekends? That's what I do.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I jumped in the car this morning to take my 9 year old to school, and almost took off with no juice.

It appears that the awesome Blink didn't charge because it couldn't connect to the internet (I changed the router, and didn't go out and update the connection info in Blink).

So, it didn't come on as 12:10am. I charged it just enough to get my travels done, and sailed into the garage after 12.7 miles on "Low Battery" and 4.5 on "Very Low Battery".

I probably had another 2 or 3 miles to go, but I got the job done. It's nice to have accurate data to turn a crisis into mission accomplished.

 

[LEAFer]

@popak: I agree ! NICE summary. Thanks for that.

Minor gripe: Scenario 3: You should mention that the car may not reach the programmed state of charge by the end time if it was not plugged in "early" enough.

Also, you say:

May or may not start charging immediately but will charge the car today by 8 AM.

This is slightly incorrect; the "today" could actually be "tomorrow" (morning 8AM).

 

[popak]

Minor gripe: Scenario 3: You should mention that the car may not reach the programmed state of charge by the end time if it was not plugged in "early" enough.

Yeah, the blurb on Scenario 3 was already getting too long and complicated, so I left that part out. But I have edited my original post to add that note.

This is slightly incorrect; the "today" could actually be "tomorrow" (morning 8AM).

In my scenarios, the user is plugging in the car at 12:08 AM. So, it's already "tomorrow" (early morning) and charging will finish at 8 AM (later that morning).

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[LEAFer]

We (moderators) should make this a STICKY and/or move posts so that the scenario summary shows up as the FIRST post in this thread

Better: make it the OP in a NEW thread, then STICKY it

 

[popak]

We (moderators) should make this a STICKY and/or move posts so that the scenario summary shows up as the FIRST post in this thread

Better: make it the OP in a NEW thread, then STICKY it

Created a new thread: Guide to LEAF charge timers.

The powers that be can figure out whether it is worthy of stickiness. In any case, may make it a little easier to find.

 

[ttweed]

It appears that the awesome Blink didn't charge because it couldn't connect to the internet...

Are you using the Blink's timer, Tony? I thought I had read that it would still charge the car if you are using the Leaf's timer or an instant charging cycle, whether it could connect to the internet or not--is that wrong?

TT

 

[lc96]

Hi, hope this is the right topic to post this in.

Just took delivery a few days ago. I figured out how to set charging on a timer and have done the non-TOU method. What I don't understand is how the Blink timer relates to the one in the car. Is that a back-up timer, and separate from the one set in the car? Does the Blink timer communicate with the in car one? Can you just use one or the other?

Thanks!

 

[JPWhite]

Hi, hope this is the right topic to post this in.

Just took delivery a few days ago. I figured out how to set charging on a timer and have done the non-TOU method. What I don't understand is how the Blink timer relates to the one in the car. Is that a back-up timer, and separate from the one set in the car? Does the Blink timer communicate with the in car one? Can you just use one or the other?

Thanks!

I use the LEAF timer since you can specify the charge level. The blink timer is not necessary since the car has its own. Don't use both, you could end up not charging at all.

 

[Kataphn]

I don't bother with any thing on the Blink except to get electricity useage at the end of the month. We use the LEAF timer.

 

[LEAFfan]

Some people mentioned that setting their LEAF timer to 12N to 12M caused text messages late at night. So I set mine to 6AM to 6AM since there is no TOU, and it charges to 80% anywhere and any time I plug it in.