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Is there any way to charge Zoe overnight without app

19K views 63 replies 23 participants last post by  yoh-there 
#1 ·
Hi,
Is there a way to set the Zoe to start charging in the off peak period during the night, without using the app?

We can’t seem to get the app working and want to be able to start charging on the home port when the electricity is cheaper during the night, on the occasions when we need to charge at home.
Thanks
Duncan
 
#46 · (Edited)
Incidentally I have “limited” Z.E. Services functionality as I can’t initiate a manual charge from my phone app but can from the website on my laptop. I used a workaround in a thread on here somewhere to keep at least some functionality without renewing my subscription :whistle: which only lasted 1 year . Very miserly of Renault IMO.
 
#47 ·
Incidentally I have “limited” Z.E. Services functionality as I can’t initiate a manual charge from my phone app but can from the website on my laptop.
That's curious, since they both use the same API and talk to Renault's servers in exactly the same way... can you from the website via your phone, I wonder? (That's practically the same experience as the app, only without the irritating splash screen...)
 
#50 ·
Connection to Renault server is required for both Calendar and Begin charging at options. When our TMS was faulty, charged timing didn’t work.

Check you are connected. For both our Zoe’s I’ve needed to perform a TMS reset via Fuse F34, so it reconnects to Z.E. Servers.

No need to pay for extra years access to Z.E. Services for continued times charging either. Once the services run out, log back into Z.E. services on the app or website and switch Driving Mode back on (in the section where the VIN is). It can take 24 hours to re-connect to the car, but it all carries on working from then. Our first Zoe worked for over a year after our subscription ran out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#51 ·
Check you are connected. For both our Zoe’s I’ve needed to perform a TMS reset via Fuse F34, so it reconnects to Z.E. Servers.
That's interesting... even when our TMS has crashed or whatever it does so the app doesn't update and it won't send text messages about charging, the "start at" timer has still worked for us! It seemed to be only when there was a server problem or something that it stopped working.
 
#52 ·
I’ve never had a text saying the car is charging or it’s stopped charging but did get about 5 one evening telling me the car had low charge.

(Is plugged it in and scheduled it to start at 1am)

JJ
 
#56 ·
Re: the My ZE app. Has anyone got any experience of this app?! I had a Leaf before my Zoe, and used the Nissan charging app to remotely check the battery status, and charging % whilst charging and when it wasn’t charging, but having used the Renault equivalent, I’m a very frustrated; it has to be plugged in to be able to check the battery level with the app, and I can only check it every 20 mins, it’s very frustrating!
Does anyone know of a better app?!
 
#58 ·
It does not have to be plugged in to see battery % or estimated miles, but yeah only ~ every 20 mins and sometimes much longer especially if your phone or Zoe are in poor signal areas.
 
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#60 · (Edited)
In addition to what @jamesremuscat said: The car basically sends periodically when it is awake, which in a practical sense means it pushes messages while driving, while charging, and when opening the door. I am pretty sure it also drops a message at the end of charge . It is actually a pretty efficient method because if the car is asleep it is not driving and not charging so the status is static.

Problems arise when the car can't reach the infrastructure, or the SMS isn't received, which does happen as the TCU seems to be a bit weak. The back end can't determine if the car went to sleep or is out of reach.

The SMS method might seem archaic but there is nothing wrong with it. The alternative is to keep the connection always on which is very inefficient as it uses TCP keepalive packets that are not aligned with the cleverly designed power saving modes of the GSM network. I am led to believe the SMS coaxes the TCU to set up a VPN not just to drop the battery message, but enables the techs to get in and do some diagnostics.

Now if the goal was to get to the car in real time at any random moment, it is obviously the wrong approach, but I dare to say that was never the design requirement. I can't think of a reason why t would be.

The "get the latest update from the server" is actually what it does when you start / restart the app. In the message is the timestamp that last data was received from the car. I pick that up every 15 minutes in my Node-RED automation and sure enough when the car is asleep the last received time can be hours or even days in the past.
 
#64 ·
@jim2 Can I ask how old your Q90 is? I am asking because I am fairly sure my last firmware update was in september 2017 (the SOH and long balancing issue( and I am assuming the software was fixed sometime before that. I would be surprised if your was was from a later date and still have had the issue.
 
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