The charging timer is quite inadequate

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jwatte

Well-known member
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
132
The timers and charging control really needs some usability engineering.
It's cumbersome and non-intuitive to set.
And I can't even make it do what I want/need.
They need to put some real people on that UI!

Things I need that it doesn't do:
- when opportunity charging, be able to hit the timer override button before plugging in
- when opportunity charging, choosing 80% target or 100% target
- more than two timers
- perhaps per-charging-location timers or charging targets

Specifically, I go further on Fridays than other days, so I charge to 100% on Thursday night, but to 80% all other nights. However, I also get to trickle charge at work, but there's no good way of automating that within the available parameters. And if I manually start trickling in the morning, it may actually over-charge by the end of the day on a non-Friday.

I'd be OK with a setting that worked something like "always opportunity/trickle charge to 80%; use timer settings for L2 and night-time charging."

Barring that, I'd like a list of timers that is extendable -- start with none, and you can add up to N -- would be OK. Where each timer has a "days active" setting, instead of that being separate.
And the "end time" is a "duration" field from the start time, instead.
And where plugging in after the start time, but during the duration, would still start the charging.
And the target % for each timer is individually settable.
A good value for maximum number of timers might be 8 -- one per day, plus a "general."
If the timers overlap, just use the highest level programmed for the current interval.

This way, you could say things like "when plugged in during these hours of the week, charge to at most this level," which would be pretty good for me!
In fact, a weekly schedule with "80% / 100% / none" per hour-length slot would be totally good for me, as well, and probably a lot easier to implement and understand...
 
+1

I'd also add that there should be an option to resume charging by schedule if unplugged and replugged in a certain amount of time. I start charging to 80% when I get to work but if we go to lunch and return then I have to reset the timer to be the next 10 minute block so I can continue charging to 80%.

I'd also be keen on an option to charge to 90% as this would be better for me on weekends. For the rare instances I truly need 100% I could get that amount of charge in under an hour on L2 and wouldn't have to think about it in advance.
 
jwatte said:
- when opportunity charging, be able to hit the timer override button before plugging in
Well, it certainly does THAT one, anyway. You've got 15 minutes, I believe, after pressing the override to plug in. I can't say I want the timers to be any more complicated. I'd be happy if they'd just add a default charge % target and a way for timers to only apply when the car is at home.
 
It should be possible for the user to specify a custom charge %. 60%, for example, is more appropriate than 80% if you are about to descend a big mountain and don't want regenerative braking to be limited (my situation). There are other scenarios where 90% makes sense.
 
davewill said:
jwatte said:
- when opportunity charging, be able to hit the timer override button before plugging in
Well, it certainly does THAT one, anyway. You've got 15 minutes, I believe, after pressing the override to plug in. I can't say I want the timers to be any more complicated. I'd be happy if they'd just add a default charge % target and a way for timers to only apply when the car is at home.
I've tried that a few times and it has never worked for me. The timer override will only work for me when the plug is connected. I have tried long presses and rapid presses when it's disconnected and then plugged the car in within a minute (or less) afterwards with no success. It works with a long press every time when the plug is connected.
 
The car has to be OFF when you push Timer Disable.

That one got me too.

They really need to tie GPS into the timer behavior -- I want the timer behavior only at Home, never elsewhere. It knows where I am..
 
Several of the things mentioned in the first post can be done now.

For timer over-ride, I turn the car off, get out, and reach down in (with my good arm), pull the charge-hatch release, and give a quick (optional) press to choose 100% instead of timed 80%, THEN plug in, ... the center blue light comes on, and it ALWAYS works for me.
 
Hmm, could've sworn it was off but maybe not. I've never been the best about making sure the Prius was turned off before walking away (it does beep angrily when I try to lock it if it's on at least). Luckily I haven't left the Leaf on (yet) but perhaps it was still running all those times. I'll try it again and see what happens. Probably just a wetware issue (ID-10-T or PEBDAC) rather than a soft/hardware one.
 
I agree, the UI in the car seriously needs some work. It is woefully cumbersome and not the least bit intuitive.
 
My life is not complicated enough to need most of the functionality suggested in the original post, but I do agree the opportunity charge options should be better. I would like a timer that is not connected to days, just to a single use, so you can tell it to just charge a fixed amount of time this time, but not change the regular timer for the day. This would be useful on those rare occasions when I run the charge way down near zero and want to put a few miles back on it in case I need to go out again, but want to stop charging after an hour or so because of the high TOU rate, then start up again at midnight as usual. I hear the Blink unit has that functionality, but I don't have mine yet and in any event, the Blink doesn't have the ability to stop when the battery is at 80%, so I plan to rely on the car's timer anyway.
 
I would simply like an easy way to toggle back and forth from Timer1 to Timer 2, and be able to assign each to all 7 days a week at the same time (or tweak as necessary if my utility changes its rate schedule for TOU). As it is, having each day of the week assigned to only one OR the other timer means I have to go in and change which days are assigned to a timer (or the % charge) in order to use it that night, depending on how much we are going to drive the next day. This is cumbersome and requires several extra steps to accomplish. The way I use the timers, I would like to have one set to 80% and one to 100% for all 7 days of the week and just toggle between them. Of course, an easy way to have a 90% choice would be nice, too. :D

TT
 
garygid said:
Several of the things mentioned in the first post can be done now.
For timer over-ride, I turn the car off, get out, and reach down in (with my good arm), pull the charge-hatch release, and give a quick (optional) press to choose 100% instead of timed 80%, THEN plug in, ... the center blue light comes on, and it ALWAYS works for me.

+1
 
LEAFfan said:
garygid said:
Several of the things mentioned in the first post can be done now.
For timer over-ride, I turn the car off, get out, and reach down in (with my good arm), pull the charge-hatch release, and give a quick (optional) press to choose 100% instead of timed 80%, THEN plug in, ... the center blue light comes on, and it ALWAYS works for me.

+1

+2 Bingo! Works like a charm. :D
 
Yep, it does work but only if the car's off. Thanks for enlightening me!

That said, it should also work when the car is on, but at least now I know I'm not completely crazy. :D
 
"give a quick (optional) press"... Where?! I've been bumming on having to deal with timers to opportunistically charge, too.

Oh yeah, now I see it... Never noticed that button before! It is to the left of the steering column! Eureka!

+1

When you press it, nothing seems to happen, but then on the center dash one of the blue lights comes on. Hey, its ready to go! Indeed, works like a charm! Thanks!!
 
abasile said:
It should be possible for the user to specify a custom charge %. 60%, for example, is more appropriate than 80% if you are about to descend a big mountain and don't want regenerative braking to be limited (my situation). There are other scenarios where 90% makes sense.

+1 on this don't know why they just didn't make that completley user selectable. Like I would like to charge to 85% just to make sure I have a little backup power if I need to make a stop somewhere after work. I think it would be simple to do this, maybe a software update?
 
planet4ever said:
I only use one timer, seven days a week, 80%, starting at 12:10 AM. If I want 100% charge I just log in to the Nissan Owners Portal sometime before midnight and click "Start Charging".
The trouble with this, and the other methods of immediate charging to 100%, is that they start charging immediately, and unless I stay up until midnight (which I never do these days), I will be paying non-optimal rates for the electricity on TOU service.

TT
 
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