Charge Timer Using ‘Granny’ Charger

[Station]

Hello All,

My PHEV is now only a few weeks from delivery so getting excited, and equally anxious!

First venture with a car that’s not just petrol or diesel, so zero experience of a PHEV.

Just wondering if anyone can answer a question I have -

When charging using the granny charger at home, can I simply plug it in and then set the app to have it charge say from midnight to 7am ??

I know times can be set when using a proper home charger box, but I don’t have one yet.

I do have a dedicated outside 13amp socket fed direct from the consumer unit (3m cable run) with a separate 16 amp MCB. Hoping this will suffice as possibly moving house in 12 months time so don’t want the expenditure of a dedicated charger at this time.

Regards.

 

[nlee]

Simply - Yes you can. Can be set in the app or the car, as a one off, or a repeating schedule.

No electrician but your arrangements with external socket sound ok. 

[Flatcoat]

About 3 hours from memory. I was lucky and got a free charger with my PHEV which halves the time. Enjoy your car when it lands! 

[Station]

34 minutes ago, nlee said:

Simply - Yes you can. Can be set in the app or the car, as a one off, or a repeating schedule.

No electrician but your arrangements with external socket sound ok. 

Great stuf 👍

Thanks for the reply.

[Station]

9 minutes ago, Flatcoat said:

About 3 hours from memory. I was lucky and got a free charger with my PHEV which halves the time. Enjoy your car when it lands! 

I take it you are referring to 7kw charger vs 3kw being way quicker?

Would be good to have one someday 👍

[Flatcoat]

37 minutes ago, Station said:

I take it you are referring to 7kw charger vs 3kw being way quicker?

Would be good to have one someday 👍

Yep. 

[Audrius1970]

I charge my Nissan Leaf from 3 pin socket 2 years by now-cheaper than public chargers 3x times and Battery will last longer. I dont have driveway so no 7kw charger for me. At first I used usual supermarket extention lead (unwinded of course) and since socket in my room become dangerously hot when charging, I simply used fan to cool it down, ofc monitoring closely in first 2-5 charges.

Later I changed socket in room to metal one and bought industrial extention lead from eBay. After that -no overheating, everything is cool. 40kWh Leaf from 20% to 95% (buffer for first drive regeneration) taking about 14 hours or so, overnight.

[ernieb]

I've always charged my '21 PHEV with a granny charger. From the 30% traction Battery charge or zero user EV mode it takes about 7h 40m. You can set the app to a start charge time but tend to use my leaving time as the charge target time. So I set the app at say 7am for the next day and the car/app works out when to start the charge to be full when I'm ready to leave. (taking into account ambient temperature and the state of the charge in the traction battery) You can also set up cabin conditioning heating or cooling to be ready to go at the same time. Connected to the granny cable it will take power from the 'house' giving you the maximum EV mode range and a nice heated (widows defrosted) or cooled cabin.

I have a schedule I set up for the whole week and have left it like that since more or less day one. If I know I going to need the car earlier I simply use the 'start change now' feature in the app.

[Torrox]

2 hours ago, ernieb said:

I've always charged my '21 PHEV with a granny charger. From the 30% traction battery charge or zero user EV mode it takes about 7h 40m. You can set the app to a start charge time but tend to use my leaving time as the charge target time. So I set the app at say 7am for the next day and the car/app works out when to start the charge to be full when I'm ready to leave. (taking into account ambient temperature and the state of the charge in the traction battery) You can also set up cabin conditioning heating or cooling to be ready to go at the same time. Connected to the granny cable it will take power from the 'house' giving you the maximum EV mode range and a nice heated (widows defrosted) or cooled cabin.

I have a schedule I set up for the whole week and have left it like that since more or less day one. If I know I going to need the car earlier I simply use the 'start change now' feature in the app.

Do you mean My Toyota app?

[Station]

5 hours ago, ernieb said:

I've always charged my '21 PHEV with a granny charger. From the 30% traction battery charge or zero user EV mode it takes about 7h 40m. You can set the app to a start charge time but tend to use my leaving time as the charge target time. So I set the app at say 7am for the next day and the car/app works out when to start the charge to be full when I'm ready to leave. (taking into account ambient temperature and the state of the charge in the traction battery) You can also set up cabin conditioning heating or cooling to be ready to go at the same time. Connected to the granny cable it will take power from the 'house' giving you the maximum EV mode range and a nice heated (widows defrosted) or cooled cabin.

I have a schedule I set up for the whole week and have left it like that since more or less day one. If I know I going to need the car earlier I simply use the 'start change now' feature in the app.

Excellent 👍 

All good to know - thanks.

[Beefstah]

6 hours ago, ernieb said:

Connected to the granny cable it will take power from the 'house' giving you the maximum EV mode range and a nice heated (widows defrosted) or cooled cabin.

Does it still pull from the house for the climate pre-heat/cool even if it's not an active charging window?

[ernieb]

4 hours ago, Torrox said:

Do you mean My Toyota app?

MyT app, yes.

[ernieb]

1 minute ago, Beefstah said:

Does it still pull from the house for the climate pre-heat/cool even if it's not an active charging window?

Yes, climate cabin conditioning can be operated anytime, with or without the nanny cable connected.

[philip42h]

1 minute ago, ernieb said:

4 hours ago, Torrox said:

Do you mean My Toyota app?

MyT app, yes.

When we installed the smartphone app it was called MyT, the later / replacement version is called My Toyota. But either way it is the same thing.

[Flatcoat]

8 hours ago, Audrius1970 said:

I charge my Nissan Leaf from 3 pin socket 2 years by now-cheaper than public chargers 3x times and battery will last longer. I dont have driveway so no 7kw charger for me. At first I used usual supermarket extention lead (unwinded of course) and since socket in my room become dangerously hot when charging, I simply used fan to cool it down, ofc monitoring closely in first 2-5 charges.

Later I changed socket in room to metal one and bought industrial extention lead from ebay. After that -no overheating, everything is cool. 40kWh Leaf from 20% to 95% (buffer for first drive regeneration) taking about 14 hours or so, overnight.

Thank goodness you stopped using it but you may have caused some degradation of the insulation…… 

[Torrox]

Thank you Ernieb and Philip.

[Audrius1970]

2 hours ago, Flatcoat said:

Thank goodness you stopped using it but you may have caused some degradation of the insulation…… 

Im still charging from socket every week, expecting my Bz4x delivery in February and since this amazing beast have option lower charge to 8A, I would be triple safe to continue charge from socket for another 3 years lol 😉

degradation of the insulation? When I changed socket after 1.5y of charging, I checked wires, they all ok. Please dont scare me (if you are professional electrician), because I asked multiple dealrships before start charging my Leaf and they laughed at me asking "why you think they making granny cables then?". Nissan technician when I been on service last year, he said he charging all his cars from socket and told me not to worry.

Pumping roughly ~2.63 kWh at 12A - I read nowadays cars very clever by calculating charging safety buffer...

Maybe sowhere on very old house with old wiring I will be worried, but my house in young. Also on fuse box labeled is 32A for that room where Im using that socket. Between car and wires at socket is 6 safety fuses, so yeah...

Hope I not missed smth...

[Flatcoat]

33 minutes ago, Audrius1970 said:

Im still charging from socket every week, expecting my Bz4x delivery in February and since this amazing beast have option lower charge to 8A, I would be triple safe to continue charge from socket for another 3 years lol 😉

degradation of the insulation? When I changed socket after 1.5y of charging, I checked wires, they all ok. Please dont scare me (if you are professional electrician), because I asked multiple dealrships before start charging my Leaf and they laughed at me asking "why you think they making granny cables then?". Nissan technician when I been on service last year, he said he charging all his cars from socket and told me not to worry.

Pumping roughly ~2.63 kWh at 12A - I read nowadays cars very clever by calculating charging safety buffer...

Maybe sowhere on very old house with old wiring I will be worried, but my house in young. Also on fuse box labeled is 32A for that room where Im using that socket. Between car and wires at socket is 6 safety fuses, so yeah...

Hope I not missed smth...

If the socket is getting hot such you need to cool it then something is very, very wrong! It is probable the current being drawn when charging is beyond the socket specification and possibly other components in the circuit. I studied building wiring design at building college many years ago but also from observation.

[Audrius1970]

9 minutes ago, Flatcoat said:

If the socket is getting hot such you need to cool it then something is very, very wrong! It is probable the current being drawn when charging is beyond the socket specification and possibly other components in the circuit. I studied building wiring design at building college many years ago but also from observation.

Yeah like I said, it was hot before I change socket and extension lead. Now is not, all good.

Everything in this life is risk calculating. Driving in tiny british streets when my car mirror flying 30-40 mile per hour 50cm distance from purchair or person face every single day multiple times is more risky than 5% fire hazard with all these safety systems and smoke detectors around. In my life Ive seen much much worsts cases, believe me.

Not like advise that. Living without driveway and £0.85 public charging prices in my city, not much a choice here for me. And love live in digital age future, never going back to smelly, cold and underpowered obsolete ICE cars. My choice.

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Audrius1970 said:

like I said, it was hot before I change socket

so in all probability a 'duff' socket with worn contacts ... that's the weak point in any plug and socket connection.

The granny charger is limited to drawing a maximum of 10A for a nominal 2.3kW charge rate precisely so that it can't do damage to a properly wired domestic main.

[ColinB]

15 hours ago, philip42h said:

so in all probability a 'duff' socket with worn contacts ... that's the weak point in any plug and socket connection.

The granny charger is limited to drawing a maximum of 10A for a nominal 2.3kW charge rate precisely so that it can't do damage to a properly wired domestic main.

I've looked at customer complaints against domestic appliances with overheating sockets at work. It is invariably due to weak contacts in the socket or, less often, a loose fuse in the plug