[dBC]

Hi.
How was the contactor wired and controlled? I'm assuming it it must be on the output from the charger (mine's a tethered cable so envisage having to cut the cable and put contactor in between).

Nope, it's upstream of the EVSE, actually even upstream of the RCD/breaker for the EVSE. So the EVSE just sees it as a blackout. It's remotely controlled by the energy company in a scheme known as "controlled loads" and typically used for pool pumps, storage hotwater tanks and EVs. In return for giving them that control, they give you cheaper rates. As an added incentive (at least here in Qld) making it a controlled load allows you to set it to 32A. If it's wired to the always-on meter, you can only set it to 20A (I'm talking single phase... slightly different rules for 3 phase). It's typically only switched off for a few hours per day (7:00 to 9:00 and again at 18:00 to 19:30) so doesn't disrupt overnight charging much at all.

Assuming your energy company doesn't have such a scheme, then you could control the contactor with a simple timer, something like this.

 

[Sandancer04]

Nope, it's upstream of the EVSE, actually even upstream of the RCD/breaker for the EVSE. So the EVSE just sees it as a blackout. It's remotely controlled by the energy company in a scheme known as "controlled loads" and typically used for pool pumps, storage hotwater tanks and EVs. In return for giving them that control, they give you cheaper rates. As an added incentive (at least here in Qld) making it a controlled load allows you to set it to 32A. If it's wired to the always-on meter, you can only set it to 20A (I'm talking single phase... slightly different rules for 3 phase). It's typically only switched off for a few hours per day (7:00 to 9:00 and again at 18:00 to 19:30) so doesn't disrupt overnight charging much at all.

Assuming your energy company doesn't have such a scheme, then you could control the contactor with a simple timer, something like this.

Thanks for the info.
I'm unable to fit upstream as no room in the supply box fitted by the company who installed the charger (feed directly off the meter supply via 32A breaker (see photo))k

 

[dBC]

Thanks for the info.
I'm unable to fit upstream as no room in the supply box fitted by the company who installed the charger (feed directly off the meter supply via 32A breaker (see photo))k

Actually, I think you're well set up for adding a timer to that. You've already got the 40A contactor (the right most device) as part of your Broyce voltage monitor, and you've got a spare slot to the right of that which would take that timer I referenced above. Consult with your local sparkie, but I think putting the timer switch in series with the output of the voltage monitor would do what you want. Then the contactor would only close when the voltage is in-spec and the timer allows it.

 

[Sandancer04]

Actually, I think you're well set up for adding a timer to that. You've already got the 40A contactor (the right most device) as part of your Broyce voltage monitor, and you've got a spare slot to the right of that which would take that timer I referenced above. Consult with your local sparkie, but I think putting the timer switch in series with the output of the voltage monitor would do what you want. Then the contactor would only close when the voltage is in-spec and the timer allows it.

Info much appreciated. Now just got to find a suitable certified Electrician.
Not sure if you've already specified it but would the timer only have to be rated for the contactor control side or for the full 40A?
Cheerz
John

Quick update. BP came and fitted the manual timer just over a week ago. It fits inside the fuse box that was installed with the charger. It works perfectly. The car is now charging each night during the off peak window 00:30-04:30. You can override it by pressing a button and the car will immediately start charging.
I know this isn’t smart and in 2021 this shouldn’t be happening but I plug in every night and it just works. I can live with this until BP release their new WiFi enabled charger.

Hi.
Any chance you can post a photo of the timer update?
I'm in the same position where I'm going back and forth with BP regarding lack of night charge capability.
I've been told by someone else on this Forum that my set up is good to go to fit a timer.

 

[dBC]

would the timer only have to be rated for the contactor control side or for the full 40A?

Just the control side. Most timers seem to be rated for 16A so that would be heaps.

 

[Sandancer04]

Just the control side. Most timers seem to be rated for 16A so that would be heaps.

Just had a quote to fit the timer as suggested. £85 supplied and fitted. Worth it in the long run.

 

[Sandancer04]

Quick update. BP came and fitted the manual timer just over a week ago. It fits inside the fuse box that was installed with the charger. It works perfectly. The car is now charging each night during the off peak window 00:30-04:30. You can override it by pressing a button and the car will immediately start charging.
I know this isn’t smart and in 2021 this shouldn’t be happening but I plug in every night and it just works. I can live with this until BP release their new WiFi enabled charger.

Chris.
Any chance of a photo of the set up where the timer fitted?
Just had a quote of £85 to supply and fit.

 

[dBC]

Just had a quote to fit the timer as suggested. £85 supplied and fitted. Worth it in the long run.

Cool. I'd be keen to see a pic when it's done.

 

[drlmiles]

I bought an Ohme cable to use with my free Mercedes supplied BP Pulse Charger (untethered). It cost £150 on offer (normally £200), as long as you have an Octopus electricity account. I originally used it with the Octopus Agile tariff, but that has been very expensive for the last few months, so changed to Octopus Go - it's easy to change in the Ohme app.
Ohme knows when my electricity tariff is cheap, so I can just plug it in any time, but it will only charge 0:30-4:30am.

 

[Sandancer04]

It seems we’re having exactly the same battle. A bit like the battle between the Mercedes me app and the charge master app. I have recently had some success scheduling but it s far from perfect as the car charges then stops intermittently until the scheduled start. They have also suggested the manual timer but that seems very old school...however I will be very interested to hear about how you get on . Good luck.
On a different point I have to take my car in for a minor repair and the dealer mentioned it needs a ‘battery management software update’ which may be Unrelated but might fix some of this. We shall see. Thanks for posting as it’s nice to know I’m not the only one 👍

Also having same battle. Latest is BP coming out to change charger unit (would rather have a timer after comments on this forum).
Also had word from Mercedes who said it is perfectly normal for the battery to start charging for 15 mins to test battery status the stop charging until scheduled start.
Unfortunately mine stops and starts charging every 15 mins until 00.30 ⁸

 

[Sandancer04]

Very disappointed the car or Mercedes me do not control the charging times. As ever for every really high tech bit of kit mercedes has some really poor tech.I have been driving Mercedes since 2007 and was there when Mercedes me came out it has been a painful journey at times🙄my french supplier has been in contact and they will be doing an over the phone diagnostic this week and then the installation. I will incl on my list of questions how I programme the charge times. Will feed back the response but from what I can see of the boxes used mine will not have internet capability☹

Just had this reply from the Mercedes Me developer:-

Very disappointed the car or Mercedes me do not control the charging times. As ever for every really high tech bit of kit mercedes has some really poor tech.I have been driving Mercedes since 2007 and was there when Mercedes me came out it has been a painful journey at times🙄my french supplier has been in contact and they will be doing an over the phone diagnostic this week and then the installation. I will incl on my list of questions how I programme the charge times. Will feed back the response but from what I can see of the boxes used mine will not have internet capability☹

Very disappointed the car or Mercedes me do not control the charging times. As ever for every really high tech bit of kit mercedes has some really poor tech.I have been driving Mercedes since 2007 and was there when Mercedes me came out it has been a painful journey at times🙄my french supplier has been in contact and they will be doing an over the phone diagnostic this week and then the installation. I will incl on my list of questions how I programme the charge times. Will feed back the response but from what I can see of the boxes used mine will not have internet capability☹

Just had this reply from the Mercedes Me help.

 

[Parkwood]

Just had this reply from the Mercedes Me developer:-




Just had this reply from the Mercedes Me help. View attachment 619

Thanks for that we shall wait and see. I am still waiting for a delivery date for my car which was due the 24th July. No idea when it might arrive!

 

[Sandancer04]

Thanks for that we shall wait and see. I am still waiting for a delivery date for my car which was due the 24th July. No idea when it might arrive!

Finger crossed you won’t have to wait much longer.
mine was scheduled for the end of March. Took delivery on 28th April.

 

[Parkwood]

Finger crossed you won’t have to wait much longer.
mine was scheduled for the end of March. Took delivery on 28th April.

Thanks for responded helpful info might mean it will come the end of this month. I am on holiday now last trip in the e which I love but my enjoyment is reduced knowing I am still adding to the co2 crises😢

 

[Parkwood]

Finger crossed you won’t have to wait much longer.
mine was scheduled for the end of March. Took delivery on 28th April.

Good call my car apparently left the factory yesterday at 13.00 and is now starting it’s journey to my dealer which will take 10 to 15 days. Sadly I am very busy the week of the 6th so may have to delay until the following week. He confirmed the car has the LTE module and all the extras ordered. be inreresting to see what the parking assistance system is.

 

[Petronious]

It seems we’re having exactly the same battle. A bit like the battle between the Mercedes me app and the charge master app. I have recently had some success scheduling but it s far from perfect as the car charges then stops intermittently until the scheduled start. They have also suggested the manual timer but that seems very old school...however I will be very interested to hear about how you get on . Good luck.
On a different point I have to take my car in for a minor repair and the dealer mentioned it needs a ‘battery management software update’ which may be Unrelated but might fix some of this. We shall see. Thanks for posting as it’s nice to know I’m not the only one 👍

I have a GLC300e PHEV and a reoccurring theme is that when you set the scheduler on the BP Pulse App or the web page, it by default does not charge for 10 minutes then charges for 5 minutes and repeats this until the battery is charged. So for example if you plug in at 3pm and have your scheduler set for for any time between 0030 & 0430 by the time it reaches the scheduled time the car is charged up, which really defeats the object of having a low night time electricity rate. Because of the regularity of the charging/stop charging it cannot be the sim card losing connection with the mobile network and is likely to be a software issue it seems.
On a brighter note I have BBC Watchdog coming on Tuesday to interview me about the whole BP Pulse debacle. It seems BP Pulse is more interested in getting as much OLEV Grant from the Government without having the customer service infrastructure in place to support customers, with their only solution at the moment seeming to be "fitting a manual timer", which really shows that the charger/app/software was not fit for purpose from the outset, which then begs the question did it comply with Government specifications/requirements for installation of SMART chargers. The Government requirements, say the following:


The chargepoint must be able to receive and process information provided.
The chargepoint must be able to react to information received, by adjusting the rate of charging or discharging.
The chargepoint must be able to monitor and record energy consumption and be able to transmit this.

Residential chargepoints: minimum technical specification

Minimum technical specification for manufacturers of chargepoint units for residential properties covered by OZEV chargepoint grant schemes.

www.gov.uk

 

[Sandancer04]

I have a GLC300e PHEV and a reoccurring theme is that when you set the scheduler on the BP Pulse App or the web page, it by default does not charge for 10 minutes then charges for 5 minutes and repeats this until the battery is charged. So for example if you plug in at 3pm and have your scheduler set for for any time between 0030 & 0430 by the time it reaches the scheduled time the car is charged up, which really defeats the object of having a low night time electricity rate. Because of the regularity of the charging/stop charging it cannot be the sim card losing connection with the mobile network and is likely to be a software issue it seems.
On a brighter note I have BBC Watchdog coming on Tuesday to interview me about the whole BP Pulse debacle. It seems BP Pulse is more interested in getting as much OLEV Grant from the Government without having the customer service infrastructure in place to support customers, with their only solution at the moment seeming to be "fitting a manual timer", which really shows that the charger/app/software was not fit for purpose from the outset, which then begs the question did it comply with Government specifications/requirements for installation of SMART chargers. The Government requirements, say the following:


The chargepoint must be able to receive and process information provided.
The chargepoint must be able to react to information received, by adjusting the rate of charging or discharging.
The chargepoint must be able to monitor and record energy consumption and be able to transmit this.

Residential chargepoints: minimum technical specification

Minimum technical specification for manufacturers of chargepoint units for residential properties covered by OZEV chargepoint grant schemes.

www.gov.uk

I have a GLC300e PHEV and a reoccurring theme is that when you set the scheduler on the BP Pulse App or the web page, it by default does not charge for 10 minutes then charges for 5 minutes and repeats this until the battery is charged. So for example if you plug in at 3pm and have your scheduler set for for any time between 0030 & 0430 by the time it reaches the scheduled time the car is charged up, which really defeats the object of having a low night time electricity rate. Because of the regularity of the charging/stop charging it cannot be the sim card losing connection with the mobile network and is likely to be a software issue it seems.
On a brighter note I have BBC Watchdog coming on Tuesday to interview me about the whole BP Pulse debacle. It seems BP Pulse is more interested in getting as much OLEV Grant from the Government without having the customer service infrastructure in place to support customers, with their only solution at the moment seeming to be "fitting a manual timer", which really shows that the charger/app/software was not fit for purpose from the outset, which then begs the question did it comply with Government specifications/requirements for installation of SMART chargers. The Government requirements, say the following:


The chargepoint must be able to receive and process information provided.
The chargepoint must be able to react to information received, by adjusting the rate of charging or discharging.
The chargepoint must be able to monitor and record energy consumption and be able to transmit this.

Residential chargepoints: minimum technical specification

Minimum technical specification for manufacturers of chargepoint units for residential properties covered by OZEV chargepoint grant schemes.

www.gov.uk

Hi.
I've been battling with BP for months regarding the Scheduling (or lack of) function.
Carried out the reset instructions (again) as requested and now car (A250e) starts to charge immediately regardless of the time of day.
Latest from them now is that they have identified my charger as being faulty and it is getting replaced on Tuesday 24th Aug.

When I mentioned quite a few members having to have a timer fitted the reply was:-
"This was only Carried out when units were fitted with old Vodafone 2G sim cards and timers fitted as a last resort".
Bulls**t in my opinion.

Hope Watchdog does an exposè? on the company. Please keep us all informed.

By the way I now seem to get replies to my emails within 48hrs after I threatened to contact the CEO regarding the abysmal customer support.

I have a GLC300e PHEV and a reoccurring theme is that when you set the scheduler on the BP Pulse App or the web page, it by default does not charge for 10 minutes then charges for 5 minutes and repeats this until the battery is charged. So for example if you plug in at 3pm and have your scheduler set for for any time between 0030 & 0430 by the time it reaches the scheduled time the car is charged up, which really defeats the object of having a low night time electricity rate. Because of the regularity of the charging/stop charging it cannot be the sim card losing connection with the mobile network and is likely to be a software issue it seems.
On a brighter note I have BBC Watchdog coming on Tuesday to interview me about the whole BP Pulse debacle. It seems BP Pulse is more interested in getting as much OLEV Grant from the Government without having the customer service infrastructure in place to support customers, with their only solution at the moment seeming to be "fitting a manual timer", which really shows that the charger/app/software was not fit for purpose from the outset, which then begs the question did it comply with Government specifications/requirements for installation of SMART chargers. The Government requirements, say the following:


The chargepoint must be able to receive and process information provided.
The chargepoint must be able to react to information received, by adjusting the rate of charging or discharging.
The chargepoint must be able to monitor and record energy consumption and be able to transmit this.

Residential chargepoints: minimum technical specification

Minimum technical specification for manufacturers of chargepoint units for residential properties covered by OZEV chargepoint grant schemes.

www.gov.uk

Hi.
I've been battling with BP for months regarding the Scheduling (or lack of) function.
Carried out the reset instructions (again) as requested and now car (A250e) starts to charge immediately regardless of the time of day.
Latest from them now is that they have identified my charger as being faulty and it is getting replaced on Tuesday 24th Aug.

When I mentioned quite a few members having to have a timer fitted the reply was:-
"This was only Carried out when units were fitted with old Vodafone 2G sim cards and timers fitted as a last resort".
Bulls**t in my opinion.

Hope Watchdog does an exposè? on the company. Please keep us all informed.

By the way I now seem to get replies to my emails within 48hrs after I threatened to contact the CEO regarding the abysmal customer support.

 

[Sandancer04]

Hi.
I've been battling with BP for months regarding the Scheduling (or lack of) function.
Carried out the reset instructions (again) as requested and now car (A250e) starts to charge immediately regardless of the time of day.
Latest from them now is that they have identified my charger as being faulty and it is getting replaced on Tuesday 24th Aug.

When I mentioned quite a few members having to have a timer fitted the reply was:-
"This was only Carried out when units were fitted with old Vodafone 2G sim cards and timers fitted as a last resort".
Bulls**t in my opinion.

Hope Watchdog does an exposè? on the company. Please keep us all informed.

By the way I now seem to get replies to my emails within 48hrs after I threatened to contact the CEO regarding the abysmal customer support.

Hi.
I've been battling with BP for months regarding the Scheduling (or lack of) function.
Carried out the reset instructions (again) as requested and now car (A250e) starts to charge immediately regardless of the time of day.
Latest from them now is that they have identified my charger as being faulty and it is getting replaced on Tuesday 24th Aug.

When I mentioned quite a few members having to have a timer fitted the reply was:-
"This was only Carried out when units were fitted with old Vodafone 2G sim cards and timers fitted as a last resort".
Bulls**t in my opinion.

Hope Watchdog does an exposè? on the company. Please keep us all informed.

By the way I now seem to get replies to my emails within 48hrs after I threatened to contact the CEO regarding the abysmal customer support.

PS.

Further to my post. Just put my car on charge and set the web version to override the schedule and it WON’T…. Says charging but it’s not

So now can only charge for 5 mins every 15 mins NOT HAPPY.

 

[Petronious]

PS.

Further to my post. Just put my car on charge and set the web version to override the schedule and it WON’T…. Says charging but it’s not

So now can only charge for 5 mins every 15 mins NOT HAPPY.

Yes no matter whether you set up a schedule on the app or the webpage the outcome is the same. The thing to make sure is that you don't leave the schedules active but disable them because it will stop you charging them fully as if you were just plugging in, if a schedule is active it will do the 15 minute thing.

From what BBC Watchdog have told me they are interviewing someone else about the delay in having his charger installed (it was nearly 3 months for me and BP making me jump through hoops to get it installed and changing the goalposts).

My interview is about the Scheduling (or lack of) and yes they are doing an exposè, I don't know yet when it will be broadcast but they have had a significant amount of complaints and all with the same issues relating to the scheduling and the 15 minute thing, although they may do a follow up story about the failure to comply with the Government specifications because they say it is a big piece of work and they will only have a 4.5minute slot for this

 

[Petronious]

So completed some filming with Watchdog yesterday and coincidentally while this was happening BP rang and clearly someone higher up the food chain. They left a message and called again later in the afternoon before Watchdog returned to complete some more filming. I spoke with the chap who claimed that there had been an issue with a "firewall" which was not allowing the scheduled charging to take place, so this may be worth others looking at but before doing so log off the app and any other devices web browsers and delete the app. Put the key in put into the lock position then switch off at the distribution box for at least 2 minutes then switch it back on. Once the charger has gone through all its start ups check Chargevision | Login and login. The data fromyor device ie charging times history may take up to 48 hours to reappear but once it has done so then reinstall the app. I have tried this to do and whilst not 100% it is working differently and will need to carry out some more checks myself to find any further faults before speaking again with them.
They also said if it does not work then they can offer a manual timer that has 6 schedules you are able to set. He also said that the issue could be due to their 2G Vodafone sim card but I very much doubt, in my case that this was the problem because of the consistency in the 15 minutes cycle of off for 10 minutes and on for 5 minutes which really did not suggest it was mobile signals dropping in and out with such consistency