Charging on timers, Chargepoint Home station, and 80% versus 100% questions

[tn77]

I have a 2011 Nissan Leaf and a Chargepoint Home charging station. Two issues that are somewhat related:

The ChargePoint Home station can be set to charge on a timer. This is fine, but the station itself doesn't know when the car has reached 80%... so will it always charge at 100% when on a ChargePoint station (home or otherwise)?

The LEAF itself has a timer too, but I've found that when I plug in the ChargePoint station (and set its timer to OFF), and then enable the LEAF timer, the LEAF just ignores its own timer. It charges immediately. Anyone know why that would be?

Basically, what are your recommendations for using ChargePoint Home, setting timers, and setting the battery percentage?

I'm new here. Nice to be driving an EV.

 

[GerryAZ]

It sounds like you are not getting the LEAF's timer activated. Make sure you set the start and end times for Timer 1 (and Timer 2, if desired) along with desired charge level (80% or 100%). Then select the days that you want the timer to be active.

Gerry

 

[tn77]

Hi. I did set the timer on the car. But then I plugged in the cord and it started immediately.

Do you recommend the car timer over ChargePoint's timer?

 

[GerryAZ]

I have been using the Leaf timers since 2011 to restrict charging to off-peak hours. The owner manual does not provide as much explanation as it should so it can be tricky to get them set correctly and enabled at first (until you learn how they work). I have never had either car charge outside the scheduled charge times unless I press the timer override button. If you just program an end time, the Leaf will determine when to start charging so you must program both start and end times to restrict charging to a defined time window. Post your desired charging times and I will reply with suggestions for setting the timer(s).

You will need to use the Leaf's internal timers if you want to limit charging to 80% because the Leaf will charge to 100% unless it is programmed to stop at 80% with an internal timer. The Chargepoint timer will just enable/disable charging.

Gerry

 

[tn77]

I have Timer 1 configured as 12am-7am on all days, max 80%. Very strange that it would charge at 9pm.

(Yes, the clocks on the car are set correctly!)

 

[GerryAZ]

Since you want all days the same, try setting the start time to 11:50 pm and stop time to 7:00 am. I am not sure, but I think the car may be interpreting your settings to start at noon and end at 7:00 am so 9:00 pm would be within the scheduled range.

Gerry

 

[tn77]

Actually it looks like I had it set at 11pm, not 12am. At any rate, I went out today for a while, then when I came back I plugged it in... and the lights are blinking in the "waiting for schedule" mode.

Not sure why it seems to be working now!

Next up for me: figure out why the mileage did this:
72 remaining
24-mile round-trip
17 remaining. ???

But I guess that's a question for a different thread.