Overnight charge failure

[RobinH]

Got home yesterday on 13%, plugged in as normal, this morning still on 13%.
Scheduled charging is on, no RCD's or anything have tripped and the plug is all the way in. Hit "start charging" in the app just now and it is charging fine, albeit on expensive electrons....
Any ideas why it might have failed?

 

[DBedford]

Which charger?, sounds like a BG scheduling failure!

 

[DB Go Rex]

What's the start and end time now show in the app?

 

[RobinH]

Which charger?, sounds like a BG scheduling failure!

It's an older dumb Rolex. No scheduling clashes.

What's the start and end time now show in the app?

Usual Octopus 00:30 - 04:30. It has always worked before, hopefully this is a one off.

 

[Lovemyev]

It's an older dumb Rolex. No scheduling clashes.

I also have the older type dumb Rolec wall box.
Have you encountered any problems with the unit ?.
I only ask because these units are notorious for the poor quality Rolec branded RCBO’s failing in the unit.
My original one failed and Rolec replaced it for a modified breaker, which lasted about 18 and then it displayed signs of failing again.
Feed up with issue, I replaced the breaker with a much better quality Garo RCBO and it worked just fine.
First signs of failure, would be that the charge did not complete and it would trip the breaker in the wall box.
This may not be the case with you unit, but I thought I would just make you aware.
This problem has been witnessed by our owners of the Rolec wall boxes.
Mine was not just an isolated case.
I find it more effective if I only set the off peak times in the car head unit and not the App as well.
Just in case there is a conflict.

 

[RobinH]

I also have the older type dumb Rolec wall box.
Have you encountered any problems with the unit ?.

Short answer: no.
I have had two installed in different houses, one since 2015, one since 2017, both without problems.

 

[Lovemyev]

Short answer: no.
I have had two installed in different houses, one since 2015, one since 2017, both without problems.

I guess it maybe related to the amount of use the wall box is receiving ?.
I will include images of the ( blue ) original RCB that was installed in the unit from new.
That failed on the negative conductor.
Then the modified ( green ) RCB was installed and after time it displayed evidence of failing at the live conductor.
The other photo is the unit that was installed to correct the problem.
All the original work was paid for by Rolec under warranty.
They just kept suppling the EV installer with replacement items without any argument.
This may indicate that they had a history of premature failures of these units.

---

 

[RobinH]

I guess it maybe related to the amount of use the wall box is receiving ?

Prior to COVID mine was used daily, albeit at 3.3kW. Since then it has been less frequent, but at the full rated 7ish kW since I replaced my Volt with the ZS 12 months ago.

 

[linkandnavi]

I'm "responsible" for charging my wife's MG ZS and I've had this a couple of times. On both occasions it was something that I'd inadvertently caused:

1. Did you definitely lock the car after plugging in the charger? Not locking the car wouldn't lock the charging cable into the charging port and it would stop a minute later;

2. I use a charger with a cable that can be either tethered (locked in place) or removable. Even though I use it in tethered mode, I'd accidentally yanked the cable slightly out of the charger itself, meaning that even though it was plugged into the car fine, it wasn't receiving power from the charger itself.

 

[RobinH]

I'm "responsible" for charging my wife's MG ZS and I've had this a couple of times. On both occasions it was something that I'd inadvertently caused:

1. Did you definitely lock the car after plugging in the charger? Not locking the car wouldn't lock the charging cable into the charging port and it would stop a minute later;

2. I use a charger with a cable that can be either tethered (locked in place) or removable. Even though I use it in tethered mode, I'd accidentally yanked the cable slightly out of the charger itself, meaning that even though it was plugged into the car fine, it wasn't receiving power from the charger itself.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Definitely not #1. That was the first thing I checked.
Possibly #2 at one end or the other, but neither felt like there was movement when I checked.

It was back to charging as expected last night so I will just need to wait & see if it happens again in the future.

 

[Lovemyev]

Prior to COVID mine was used daily, albeit at 3.3kW. Since then it has been less frequent, but at the full rated 7ish kW since I replaced my Volt with the ZS 12 months ago.

My problems started when we shifted from a VW PHEV that only had a small battery and the wall box was only providing about 3.5 kW.
When we then moved to our first full BEV ( ZS EV ) with the 44 kWh battery, the wall box was providing almost double the power at 7 kW.
Charging cycle times was much longer and that is when the wall box RCD problems first started back in 2019 ish.
I would recommend that you monitor your wall box frequently now as it will be working a lot harder ?.