Car charging

[Exfarmer]

Finally our new car has arrived
we ordered an Audi Q4 21 months ago but after 18 months and no car we cancelled it and bought a BMW IX1.
When we ordered the Audi it came with a free Pod point home charger which was fitted within a fortnight of the order.
This has quietly in the garage winking at us for the last 20 months
yesterday I went to plug in , the house battery was full and our 8 kw of panels were chucking 6 Kw+ back into the grid
The charge turned green green and the car went to blue for perhaps 60 seconds
then the charger went red and the car to orange , indicating it was not charging.
tried it several times to no avail
I tried it again first thing this morning, foggy outside panels producing 150 watts, wife has put washing machine on ( I know what happened to that early craze to do it in the afternoons when we are exporting)
the charger and car work perfectly except we start importing 6K . ( the batteries charge and discharge at around 3.5 Kw)
I guess the issue is over voltage although the inverters and my readings have only shown a max of 248
could it spike when the battery kicks in ?
any onew else had tyhe issue?

 

[Clive]

the only charger that makes good use of your pv is a Zappi

the problem above sounds odd though, both ours will change even when inverters are flat out exporting

 

[Exfarmer]

the only charger that makes good use of your pv is a Zappi

the problem above sounds odd though, both ours will change even when inverters are flat out exporting

Thanks yes i am aware of the Zappi I believe givenergy do simlar too
I am wondering if the car is set a bit low on the Max voltage. Trouble is speaking to anyone who has the slightest clue what is being talked about

 

[Clive]

Thanks yes i am aware of the Zappi I believe givenergy do simlar too
I am wondering if the car is set a bit low on the Max voltage. Trouble is speaking to anyone who has the slightest clue what is being talked about

from seeing similar issues on various ev / pv facebook groups the issue is usually the car not the charger

plugging in the car should help an over voltage situation by using a load of it

 

[Exfarmer]

from seeing similar issues on various ev / pv facebook groups the issue is usually the car not the charger

plugging in the car should help an over voltage situation by using a load of it

Thanks I have a suspicion that the batteries kicking in is the issue. Will try it again this afternoon
BMW are checking the max voltage the car will take, may need tweeking

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Thanks I have a suspicion that the batteries kicking in is the issue. Will try it again this afternoon
BMW are checking the max voltage the car will take, may need tweeking

Are there any settings in the car for solar charging?
Presumably BMW will have looked at this if you have them involved?
Our enyaq has a habit of not cutting in again after a dip in solar production unless you open a door or something to "wake it up". Saw someone on the enyaq forum mentioned a solar charging setting in the car, but I'm yet to find it.
I presume to do with allowing for variations in supply. (Minimum 1.4kwh needed).
But your issue sounds different as max power available?
You will be far more technically minded to understand the workings of the solar/ battery set up than I so apologies if this is an obvious irrelevance.

 

[Exfarmer]

Are there any settings in the car for solar charging?
Presumably BMW will have looked at this if you have them involved?
Our enyaq has a habit of not cutting in again after a dip in solar production unless you open a door or something to "wake it up". Saw someone on the enyaq forum mentioned a solar charging setting in the car, but I'm yet to find it.
I presume to do with allowing for variations in supply. (Minimum 1.4kwh needed).
But your issue sounds different as max power available?
You will be far more technically minded to understand the workings of the solar/ battery set up than I so apologies if this is an obvious irrelevance.

I can promise you this is a whole new field to me. Finding the right guy at BMW is tricky too as they do not seem to realise tech at the customer interface means sorting out the gizmos in the car.
Luckily now speaking to a mechanic who is knowledgable and I amm sure it will be relatively simple answer

 

[Poorbuthappy]

I can promise you this is a whole new field to me. Finding the right guy at BMW is tricky too as they do not seem to realise tech at the customer interface means sorting out the gizmos in the car.
Luckily now speaking to a mechanic who is knowledgable and I amm sure it will be relatively simple answer

Yes our experience (albeit a couple years ago, and in tail end of covid restrictions) was that the sales staff were not really up to speed with the new product.

 

[Exfarmer]

Think we are sorted after a few hours trawling the net i came across a piece of advice to move the Pod Point load sensing block to the feed from the Henley block to the Pod point cable. It was charging this afternoon thankfully
will probably source a Zappi charger sometime

 

[Exfarmer]

An update on my charging , we had few issues over the last few weeks with thew charger but now suddenly a dead halt to all charging both via the pod point and the 3 pin plug charger
Currently talking to BMW as the next step forward, hopefully it is a software issue!