[Phillip Smith]

I have only had my Ampera for 3 days and love it.
However:
I set up the delayed charge in the car to charge overnight and then plug in the plug.

The car beeps twice and the light flashes indicating delayed charge.

Then after a short while i hear a pop from the 16a Rolec unit as if i was disconnecting the charging plug then the car immediately reconnects causing the car to go into immediate charge mode.

It seems like the Rolec charger is not giving out enough power during the delayed charge and therefore it thinks it should switch off, then it switches back on as the car then wants to immediate charge, needing more power.

Does anyone know if this is normal behavior for the Rolec or if i have a fault somewhere.

I have not tried delayed charge with the supplied power cable. I am going to try that next to make sure it is not a problem with the car.

 

[Lee Dalton]

I have only tried delayed charging once, it failed miserably, so now I just let it go as soon as I plug it in.
I don't need to worry about economy 7, so there is no benefit to delayed charging for me really....

 

[Lee Dalton]

However, the was a debate the other day about delayed charging on public charging points may also relate to your rolec unit, depending on how it's setup. I'm a bit out of my depth on that, but one of the other guys might know better as I think at least one of the ampera drivers on here has a rolec charger too !

 

[Phillip Smith]

Thanks Lee, hopefully someone with a rolec will comment. I don't have Economy 7 at the moment but if I can get delayed charging to work I would prob move over to Economy 7. It would be 6p a Kwatt cheaper for me.

 

[Lee Dalton]

6p per kWh is a heck of a saving ! Might be worth just using the supplied evse as it only takes 6 hours, which I suspect should fit into an economy 7 time window ?

 

[Phillip Smith]

Would like to do that but I don't have a suitable plug socket nearby, just the wall pod. I only use the evse at work at the moment.

 

[h8ten]

I have a Rolec but no off-peak yet. Mine does make a relay clunk when charging starts.

 

[Andy]

I'll be interested in how you get on with this. I have a very similar issue which I'm struggling to resolve (although it's not a Rolec unit).

My 32A charger (BMWi wallbox) will charge ok if just plugged in on the immediate charge setting. If I set the delayed timer it occasionally does the same thing as yours where there is a loud CLUNK every few minutes with it turning on/off. I checked with BMWi and they confirmed that it shouldn't be doing this. The wallbox charging unit has been replaced but this didn't fix it and the car has been in to the dealer but no problem found. I also sometimes find that it will CLUNK to start but then CLUNK to stop and then signals an error so it doesn't charge overnight.

The odd thing is that it doesn't do this every night and it only occurs when using the delayed charging. I'm suspecting some issue with the electricity supply. Looking at the current, voltage & power levels everything seems ok so I'm wondering what to do next.

 

[derekb]

I use the delayed charge feature every night (Ampera with Chargemeaster / Polar wall box). When I first plug in I can hear the contactor clunk - it turns on just for a few seconds but the green "charging now" light on the car does not come on steady - it remains flashing) - then clunks off again and sits there nicely until the timed charge begins. I've noticed that if I open a door or the boot or unlock the car or give any stimulation at all it does this again (clunk, on briefly, then clunk off). I've never had the cyclic clicking you mention though...
There is a feature on the Ampera whereby if you plug in, unplug and plug in again within 5 seconds you overide the delayed regime for one charge only - it sounds like your box maybe invoking this feature by turning off / on and then maybe the car thinks "Oh you want an immediate charge"

 

[Phillip Smith]

Hi Derek t that is exactly my thoughts. Wonder if there is a solution?

 

[derekb]

No idea!
Its either the car, the cable or the wall box so I guess you need to try to eliminate one at a time. If you happen to know someone else with all 3 you could do it otherwise I'd start by getting your Rolec installer out to have a look...

 

[Lee Howard]

When I first plug in I can hear the contactor clunk - it turns on just for a few seconds but the green "charging now" light on the car does not come on) - then clunks off again and sits there nicely until the timed charge begins

I tested this just now with the Volt here. With delayed charge the Volt chirps twice when the cable is connected and the dash light blinks green (faster blinking than when fully charged). Meanwhile the EV temporarily puts the charging station into "charging" mode (possibly to ensure that it's functional), and after a minute of being in charging mode the EV switches the charging station back to "connected" mode.

Indeed, the EV shouldn't repeatedly cycle between charging and connected.

The clunking is the sound of contactors engaging when the charging station is put into charging mode by the EV.

 

[Phillip Smith]

I tested this just now with the Volt here. With delayed charge the Volt chirps twice when the cable is connected and the dash light blinks green (faster blinking than when fully charged). Meanwhile the EV temporarily puts the charging station into "charging" mode (possibly to ensure that it's functional), and after a minute of being in charging mode the EV switches the charging station back to "connected" mode.

Indeed, the EV shouldn't repeatedly cycle between charging and connected.

The clunking is the sound of contactors engaging when the charging station is put into charging mode by the EV.

Lee do you have the Rolec charging unit?

 

[George Jetson]

I have the Rolec and Ampera and just enquiried with Ecotricity re Econ7 this week. Happy to test if required....

 

[Phillip Smith]

I have the Rolec and Ampera and just enquiried with Ecotricity re Econ7 this week. Happy to test if required....

Yes please, that will be great. This morning I contacted Mark from nuworldenergy who fitted it. He has been helpful so far and says he will contact Rolec and come back to me. P.S. tried it with the supplied charger at work today and delayed charging works fine with that.

George, thanks for offering to try it but I would strongly suggest you try it for your own sake before getting economy 7 as the normal day tariff is normally more expensive.

And i do not want to go out at 12am to plug the car in if the delayed charging does not work.

 

[derekb]

George, thanks for offering to try it but I would strongly suggest you try it for your own sake before getting economy 7 as the normal day tariff is normally more expensive.

And i do not want to go out at 12am to plug the car in if the delayed charging does not work.

It definitely works so in that sense it's fixable - presumably your Rolec (most likely the problem), your cable (less likely) and your car (could be?) are all under warranty?

 

[h8ten]

I will need to try a delayed charge before I go for off-peak

 

[Lee Howard]

Lee do you have the Rolec charging unit?

No, I have a ZeroCarbonWorld charging station.

 

[RickMGoldie]

Since my GM wall charger died I've been using my portable DIY evse for delayed charge and it uses the same Mainpine controller. Like you I hear the contactor drop out after about a minute but come 01:30 it all gets going again without intervention.

 

[Phillip Smith]

Just done a short video showing you what the unit is doing. The installers have so far been very helpful and have said they will get it sorted for us.