Charge light blinking - EVSE says "Waiting for Vehicle"

[anko]

I'm using the Chargepoint app to tell me the real-time charging rates at home and at work. It seems pretty accurate.

About 3.4 kW reported by the charge station seems normal. I typically see 3330 watts, but I think I am at the low side of 240 volts. I cannot think of a reason why your car would take less power in the office than at home, provided it sees the same advertised max charge current.

I can see two reasons why you see less watts on the office charger:

- Lower grid voltage
- Lower advertised amps

How sure are you the office charger is indeed configured to deliver 6.6 kW? Is this a dual charger? If so, could it be that available power is split over two sockets when two cars are charging at the same time?

 

[generaltso]

About 3.4 kW reported by the charge station seems normal. I typically see 3330 watts, but I think I am at the low side of 240 volts. I cannot think of a reason why your car would take less power in the office than at home, provided it sees the same advertised max charge current.

I can see two reasons why you see less watts on the office charger:

- Lower grid voltage
- Lower advertised amps

How sure are you the office charger is indeed configured to deliver 6.6 kW? Is this a dual charger? If so, could it be that available power is split over two sockets when two cars are charging at the same time?

The screen on the office charger says it can deliver 6.6 kW per plug, but I don't have any way to actually test that. I've read reports from several other Oulander PHEV owners saying that public Chargpoint stations top out at 3 kW for them even though they're 6.6 kW stations, so I don't think this is abnormal. There must be something in the negotiation between the Outlander and the public Chargepoint stations that makes them agree on 3 kW instead of the vehicle max of 3.4 kW. But I'm fine with that. It's the "waiting for vehicle" and not charging at all that's frustrating the heck out of me.

 

[anko]

But I'm fine with that. It's the "waiting for vehicle" and not charging at all that's frustrating the heck out of me.

I can understand that :evil: But ...

There must be something in the negotiation between the Outlander and the public Chargepoint stations that makes them agree on 3 kW instead of the vehicle max of 3.4 kW.

There is no negotiation or agreeing going on. The station advertises a max charge current, regardless of what kind of car is connected or how much power that car would like to draw. All the station knows is that a car is present. There is no reason why the advertised current for an Outlander would be less than for any other car.

The only things that can make a charge station advertise a lower max charge current than normal is:
- load balancing between multiple sockets (seems not to be the case)
- overload of the grid hookup (if the station is smart enough to know about overall load on the grid hookup)
- when the cable that connects the charger to the car would not support the max current the charger supports. But this is not relevant with a tethered charger.

BTW: My fixed EVSE is smart. It knows the overall load on the grid hookup. When the sun is out and my solar panels are working, the car can and will charge faster as some of the load goes to the PV inverter instead of the grid hookup

 

[generaltso]

Well, I ran out for lunch, came back with the battery down 4 bars, plugged in and it's charging just fine. I don't get it!

 

[Niallerknot]

Hello. Apologies for reopening an old thread. Wondering if you ever figured out what the issue was? I have the same issue, blinking red light then nothing,.no charge. This happens all the time for me.

 

[generaltso]

Hello. Apologies for reopening an old thread. Wondering if you ever figured out what the issue was? I have the same issue, blinking red light then nothing,.no charge. This happens all the time for me.

Nope. I battled with this issue for 3 years and never figured it out. I traded in the Outlander for a Mustang Mach-E earlier this year, and that charges at the same station perfectly every time. My wife also got a RAV4 Prime, which also works every time.

 

[littlescrote]

Sounds very much like a Charging Timer is active and preventing it (although I'm sure that must have been suggested earlier and tried, but sometimes they are not visible on the screen even though they're there.)

I would try the double press of the small side button on the key fob that overrides the charging timer.