Delayed Charging Doesn't Work

[fooljoe]

Just heard back form the manufacturer. They said that they were able to verify the problem, but said that the same thing happened when they tried a Clipper Creek EVSE so they think the problem is with the RAV4. Which EVSE's are people using with the delayed start feature?

They tried it out on another Rav4 or your Rav4? Plenty of people in here charge with Clipper Creeks, Levitons, openEVSEs, Juiceboxes, etc. and this is the first I've heard of a problem like this, provided the departure timer was actually set correctly (as it appears to have been in your case.) If the manufacturer (EV power pros?) had the same thing happen with a different EVSE and a different Rav, then I'm nearly certain they just didn't set the departure timer correctly.

 

[Incredulocious]

Just heard back form the manufacturer. They said that they were able to verify the problem, but said that the same thing happened when they tried a Clipper Creek EVSE so they think the problem is with the RAV4. Which EVSE's are people using with the delayed start feature?

They tried it out on another Rav4 or your Rav4? Plenty of people in here charge with Clipper Creeks, Levitons, openEVSEs, Juiceboxes, etc. and this is the first I've heard of a problem like this, provided the departure timer was actually set correctly (as it appears to have been in your case.) If the manufacturer (EV power pros?) had the same thing happen with a different EVSE and a different Rav, then I'm nearly certain they just didn't set the departure timer correctly.

I'm guessing they saw the usual early start issue with the RAV4 scheduler (where it might start and finish five hours too early, for example), and mistook it for the issue aginzu is having.

 

[aginzu]

They certainly didn't try it on my RAV4, and they may not even have direct access to one (they are located on the East Coast). The response from their engineer was:

"We tested with RAV4 by BC2 and ClipperCreek’s chargers. Both of them met the same issue.
We also confirmed with the RAV4 owner that he met the same issue with other chargers before.

This should be the settings of RAV4 delay timer, not chargers’ issue."

In any event, since they have admitted that their EVSE is not compatible with the RAV4, contrary to what is listed on their ad page on Amazon, I am planning to return it. I'm going to take my car over to a friend's house tonight who has a Jesla. If that works I will order one of those. After this experience I'm not going to believe what the ads say with respect to vehicle compatibility unless I can verify it myself.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for your comments and support.

 

[Dsinned]

My Leviton (still for sale) works fine. I'm using a JuiceBox now, which has a built-in timer, but I believe it also works fine when using the car's delayed start timer.

 

[aginzu]

My Leviton (still for sale) worked fine. I'm using a JuiceBox now which has a built-in timer, but I believe it also works fine when using the car's delayed start timer.

Which model Leviton and how much are you asking for it? You can respond by PM or point me to an ad if you prefer.

A JuiceBox looks like a good option, but it is fairly new on the market and I'm a bit gun shy now after my experience with the EVPowerPros one and would want to verify that it it is safe, reliable, and fully compatible.

 

[fooljoe]

It's a little hard to imagine that if your EVSE works at all with the Rav that it won't work with the timer, especially in the manner described (charging immediately as opposed to failing to charge), so I'd hesitate to jump to the conclusion that the EVSE is the problem (despite their iffy customer support) and not the car. These are very simple devices, after all. Again I'd urge you to just test the departure timer with the included 120V EVSE. It should take about 10 minutes to move your departure timer around until you've got it where charging should happen in let's say 30 minutes, then plug it in and see if it does what it's supposed to or starts charging immediately. If it works correctly with the 120V EVSE then you can blame it on the EV Power Pros unit, but you need to rule out the possibility that the car itself is at fault first.

 

[aginzu]

It's a little hard to imagine that if your EVSE works at all with the Rav that it won't work with the timer, especially in the manner described (charging immediately as opposed to failing to charge), so I'd hesitate to jump to the conclusion that the EVSE is the problem (despite their iffy customer support) and not the car. These are very simple devices, after all. Again I'd urge you to just test the departure timer with the included 120V EVSE. It should take about 10 minutes to move your departure timer around until you've got it where charging should happen in let's say 30 minutes, then plug it in and see if it does what it's supposed to or starts charging immediately. If it works correctly with the 120V EVSE then you can blame it on the EV Power Pros unit, but you need to rule out the possibility that the car itself is at fault first.

I did test it with the 120V OEM unit that came with the car and it was fine. I suspect there is some problem with the signaling that goes between the EVSE and RAV4 that is causing the charger in the RAV4 to initiate the charging sequence.

 

[Dsinned]

My Leviton (still for sale) worked fine. I'm using a JuiceBox now which has a built-in timer, but I believe it also works fine when using the car's delayed start timer.

Which model Leviton and how much are you asking for it? You can respond by PM or point me to an ad if you prefer.

A JuiceBox looks like a good option, but it is fairly new on the market and I'm a bit gun shy now after my experience with the EVPowerPros one and would want to verify that it it is safe, reliable, and fully compatible.

It's the EVB32-M5L model with 25' output cord. I have modified it to have a (longer) 4' input cord. I have been using it to charge two EVs; my Volt and RAV4 EV for nearly two years. It also comes with a wall mounting bracket and a built-in Enclosure saddle for coiling the output cord. When new, I paid close to $1500. I'm asking $700 or best offer. I live in the Silicon Valley area of San Jose, so if you're interested and live nearby, we can make some sort of arrangement to avoid any shipping charge. You could even test it on your car first, if you wanted to pick it up in person.

For more info, go here: http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1284

Frankly, the JuiceBox is a much better value, but some people are concerned about open source EVSEs because none are (yet) approved by any safety agencies. However, my Leviton is UL listed and has a 3 year warranty.

 

[aginzu]

I just tried my RAV4 on on my friend's Jesla EVSE and it worked fine, no false starts.

I did notice something else that may explain what is going on with the EVPowerPros. When it is first plugged in and the car is set for a delayed start, if I open the car door it displays a message saying something like "charging malfunction, check external power device". Then, after a few minutes it starts charging even though the car is set to charge at a later time. I suspect that there is some protocol communication error between the EVSE and the vehicle charger when it is first plugged in. The vehicle charger then tries to reset the connection in order to clear the error and for some reason it may ignore the delayed charge mode when it does the reset causing it to begin charging immediately. Without looking at the firmware, it's only a guess, but might make some sense?

Anyway, I'm ordering a Jesla and the EVPowerPros is going back.

Thanks again to everyone on this form for all the suggestions.

 

[aginzu]

My Leviton (still for sale) worked fine. I'm using a JuiceBox now which has a built-in timer, but I believe it also works fine when using the car's delayed start timer.

Which model Leviton and how much are you asking for it? You can respond by PM or point me to an ad if you prefer.

A JuiceBox looks like a good option, but it is fairly new on the market and I'm a bit gun shy now after my experience with the EVPowerPros one and would want to verify that it it is safe, reliable, and fully compatible.

It's the EVB32-M5L model with 25' output cord. I have modified it to have a (longer) 4' input cord. I have been using it to charge two EVs; my Volt and RAV4 EV for nearly two years. It also comes with a wall mounting bracket and a built-in Enclosure saddle for coiling the output cord. When new, I paid close to $1500. I'm asking $700 or best offer. I live in the Silicon Valley area of San Jose, so if you're interested and live nearby, we can make some sort of arrangement to avoid any shipping charge. You could even test it on your car first, if you wanted to pick it up in person.

For more info, go here: http://www.myrav4ev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1284

Frankly, the JuiceBox is a much better value, but some people are concerned about open source EVSEs because none are (yet) approved by any safety agencies. However, my Leviton is UL listed and has a 3 year warranty.

Your EVB32 looks good, but if I'm going to replace the mis-functioning EVPowerPros I want to get a 9.6KW unit. I'm still leery of the open source devices so I think it's going to be the Jesla.

 

[Dsinned]

Anybody else interested in buying my Leviton? It works great charging the RAV4 EV up to 32A (7.7kW).