Toyota Home Charge

[SpenToy]

So if this helps anyone with their planning. 

Paperwork done for my plugin hybrid. Toyota Home Charge (free until end of July) ordered.

Earliest date for video consultation is currently first week of July. Then 2 - 3 weeks after that to get installed. 

I'm in London. Different areas will have different timescales based on number of engineers and availability.

[Graham1969]

I had one fitted after two months of being given wrong links and wrong information then failed appointments, it is now however fitted but it doesn't work. After it was fitted Toyota customer "care" called me and I said it had been installed that day but the installers were struggling to get it working, Toyota's answer was "it will never work" no explanation why and that's how it has been left for over a week with no follow on calls or explanations! 
So my advice is don't hold your breath!  

[philip42h]

OK, so I understand that you are not a happy bunny but do you actually want to get it working enough to find out what the problem might be?

There are a number of possibilities, including:

1. You have an inadequate supply to your property and the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) is required to upgrade your supply. Even British Gas should be able to resolve that as part of the survey so I doubt that this is the issue, but you can check the size of the fuse feeding your supply.
2. Your chosen supplier / tariff is not compatible with the BG supplied Hive charger. If you are on a standard variable tariff, or short-term fixed rate equivalent, the Hive charger should work just fine. If you have chosen a smart tariff for lower cost "off-peak" charging you will need a charger that is compatible with your energy supplier's 'smart' system and a suitable Internet connection at the charger - and in this case, your choice of charger may be limited to a single brand as adopted by your energy supplier. Who is your energy supplier and chosen tariff?

 

[Graham1969]

3 hours ago, philip42h said:

OK, so I understand that you are not a happy bunny but do you actually want to get it working enough to find out what the problem might be?

There are a number of possibilities, including:

1. You have an inadequate supply to your property and the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) is required to upgrade your supply. Even British Gas should be able to resolve that as part of the survey so I doubt that this is the issue, but you can check the size of the fuse feeding your supply.
2. Your chosen supplier / tariff is not compatible with the BG supplied Hive charger. If you are on a standard variable tariff, or short-term fixed rate equivalent, the Hive charger should work just fine. If you have chosen a smart tariff for lower cost "off-peak" charging you will need a charger that is compatible with your energy supplier's 'smart' system and a suitable Internet connection at the charger - and in this case, your choice of charger may be limited to a single brand as adopted by your energy supplier. Who is your energy supplier and chosen tariff?

 

The supply is not an issue, the charger was tested with their test kit as working fine and the correct voltage being distributed, the charger is a Toyota homecharge not one of the Hive units not sure if this is compatible with my supplier didn't think of that Utility Warehouse is the supplier we do have a smart meter and are just on the basic variable tariff. 

[philip42h]

31 minutes ago, Graham1969 said:

the charger is a Toyota homecharge not one of the Hive units

Quite so ... Toyota launches new home charging box with British Gas. So, apparently, it is an ABB Terra 3 home charger (rather than a Hive unit). This seems to be a rather new thing and will be 'new' to British Gas installers (who didn't have a great reputation with the Hive system that they supposedly understood).

The HomeCharge system is supposed to be 'smart' so there could be issues interacting with Utility Warehouse, but, on the other hand, it ought to cope equally well with a 'dumb' supply.

How are you supposed to be using it? Just plug-in and go, via the My Toyota App or via its own App?

Either way, you will have to get onto the installers for an explanation as to why it's not working as it should ...

Good luck (and do let us know what you find out)

[Graham1969]

Just now, philip42h said:

Quite so ... Toyota launches new home charging box with British Gas. So, apparently, it is an ABB Terra 3 home charger (rather than a Hive unit). This seems to be a rather new thing and will be 'new' to British Gas installers (who didn't have a great reputation with the Hive system that they supposedly understood).

The HomeCharge system is supposed to be 'smart' so there could be issues interacting with Utility Warehouse, but, on the other hand, it ought to cope equally well with a 'dumb' supply.

How are you supposed to be using it? Just plug-in and go, via the My Toyota App or via its own App?

Either way, you will have to get onto the installers for an explanation as to why it's not working as it should ...

Good luck (and do let us know what you find out)

According to the online training it was supposed to be integrated into the MyToyota app but that doesnt work, or rather doesnt allow the addition of the charger to "My Garage" within the app as per the instructions. This could well be why it doesnt work, but that would surely be Toyota who need to solve that? I have asked, repeatedly, for both sides to respond but they have both gone silent, I have a case open on both sides and have had for some weeks but still nothing. 
I have escalated to directors emails etc. on both sides and still nothing (not even a response) I have tried the dealer who sold me the car and they got nowhere either. 
I will keep trying, because I have to in order to charge the car and yes will let this group know where there is a solution. 

** It is indeed an ABB Terra box underneath the Toyota branding **

[philip42h]

Ok, that's all quite worrying. Toyota don't have a great track record with the My Toyota App ...

1 hour ago, Graham1969 said:

I have to in order to charge the car

But the saving grace is that it is only a PHEV - you can use the car perfectly successfully on petrol alone, and the traction Battery is small enough that you can reasonably charge it via a 13A socket.

[Graham1969]

25 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Ok, that's all quite worrying. Toyota don't have a great track record with the My Toyota App ...

But the saving grace is that it is only a PHEV - you can use the car perfectly successfully on petrol alone, and the traction battery is small enough that you can reasonably charge it via a 13A socket.

You can, assuming you have a 13A socket close enough to the car for the supplied lead to reach which I don't unfortunately. 

[Hayzee]

Graham....Notwithstanding the issues with the app I assume you can just plug it into the car, set your car to 'charge now' on the driver's screen charge settings and let it charge till full? Essentially using it in manual mode.

[Graham1969]

4 minutes ago, Hayzee said:

Graham....Notwithstanding the issues with the app I assume you can just plug it into the car, set your car to 'charge now' on the driver's screen charge settings and let it charge till full? Essentially using it in manual mode.

No, I connect the two cables and it doesn't even lock the cable in like the charger doesn't recognize the car or the car doesnt recognize the charger but nothing happens at all. The installers even tried their van same result 

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, Graham1969 said:

You can, assuming you have a 13A socket close enough to the car for the supplied lead to reach which I don't unfortunately. 

Add a heavy duty extension lead? OK, that's not exactly best practice but the granny charger is designed not the draw more than 10A / 2.3kW and we can readily get heavy duty extension leads rated at 13A / 3.25kW. Simply get one the correct length and use it fully unwound ... OK, I can't recommend that you do so, but in your position, I would 😉

[Graham1969]

13 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Add a heavy duty extension lead? OK, that's not exactly best practice but the granny charger is designed not the draw more than 10A / 2.3kW and we can readily get heavy duty extension leads rated at 13A / 3.25kW. Simply get one the correct length and use it fully unwound ... OK, I can't recommend that you do so, but in your position, I would 😉

Yeah I had considered it but given it said the warranty was invalidated it put me off even though I know the chance of anything going wrong is pretty much zero! If I haven't heard anything tomorrow that might be the way forward. Thanks 👍 

[SpenToy]

On 6/11/2024 at 6:49 PM, Graham1969 said:

I had one fitted after two months of being given wrong links and wrong information then failed appointments, it is now however fitted but it doesn't work. After it was fitted Toyota customer "care" called me and I said it had been installed that day but the installers were struggling to get it working, Toyota's answer was "it will never work" no explanation why and that's how it has been left for over a week with no follow on calls or explanations! 
So my advice is don't hold your breath!  

In 3 weeks time I will give my first update, that being the video consultation from British Gas.  Fingers crossed. 

So far experience:  Booked home charger online via Hive website. Got an email from BG to submit my photos, within 24 hrs.  I was supposed to get a response after 3 working days following photo submission.  On the 4th day I gave BG a call and they checked I'd sent my photos and booked me in for the video consultation.

[Hayzee]

3 hours ago, SpenToy said:

In 3 weeks time I will give my first update, that being the video consultation from British Gas.  Fingers crossed. 

So far experience:  Booked home charger online via Hive website. Got an email from BG to submit my photos, within 24 hrs.  I was supposed to get a response after 3 working days following photo submission.  On the 4th day I gave BG a call and they checked I'd sent my photos and booked me in for the video consultation.

One of the main things that held me back was the BG engineer (who actually came to install the charger) telling me that the Master Fuse at the incoming electricity supply point needed to be uprated by the NDO (Western Power) in my case. Took a while for the NDO to install a new master fuse. BG never picked this up during the video consultation process.

[nlee]

15 hours ago, Graham1969 said:

No, I connect the two cables and it doesn't even lock the cable in like the charger doesn't recognize the car or the car doesnt recognize the charger but nothing happens at all. The installers even tried their van same result 

You probably know this already but it's clearly not outputting any power. The car will lock the plug in the charger port as soon as it detects power (I control my schedule from the charger rather than the car and it doesn't lock in until the schedule starts)

Either it's not installed correctly i.e. there is no supply to the charger, or something in the charger is telling it not to supply charge. It will be nothing to do with your electricity supplier. 

Most charger problems are to do with WiFi or mobile signal (whichever that brand uses) or software glitches. By default chargers usually have no schedules or other settings and will just act as a basic power supply. Quite often, they will resort to default settings if you power them off at the fusebox for 10 mins and power back up. That could be worth a try if you haven't already.

[Graham1969]

5 minutes ago, nlee said:

You probably know this already but it's clearly not outputting any power. The car will lock the plug in the charger port as soon as it detects power (I control my schedule from the charger rather than the car and it doesn't lock in until the schedule starts)

Either it's not installed correctly i.e. there is no supply to the charger, or something in the charger is telling it not to supply charge. It will be nothing to do with your electricity supplier. 

Most charger problems are to do with WiFi or mobile signal (whichever that brand uses) or software glitches. By default chargers usually have no schedules or other settings and will just act as a basic power supply. Quite often, they will resort to default settings if you power them off at the fusebox for 10 mins and power back up. That could be worth a try if you haven't already.

I haven't tried that but I will later thanks. I have to kill the whole house as its connected into the meter, worth a try though, it was giving out 7.? Kw when they tested it and the electric supplier says they are doing nothing to stop it. I am convinced it is software stopping it.

[philip42h]

25 minutes ago, Graham1969 said:

I have to kill the whole house as its connected into the meter

Surely not! If there is space within the existing consumer unit it should be connected via its own circuit there. If not, it should be connected via a secondary consumer unit. It must be possible to switch it off without disrupting the supply to the rest of the house!!!

(The installers can't be that bad! 😉 )

[Graham1969]

Just now, philip42h said:

Surely not! If there is space within the existing consumer unit it should be connected via its own circuit there. If not, it should be connected via a secondary consumer unit. It must be possible to switch it off without disrupting the supply to the rest of the house!!!

(The installers can't be that bad! 😉 )

Now you mention it there is another box they fitted outside, underneath the homecharge box which I haven't looked in, possible this is a secondary consumer unit, ill have a look later. My knowledge of electrics is zero!  

[nlee]

59 minutes ago, Graham1969 said:

I haven't tried that but I will later thanks. I have to kill the whole house as its connected into the meter, worth a try though, it was giving out 7.? Kw when they tested it and the electric supplier says they are doing nothing to stop it. I am convinced it is software stopping it.

It may be connected in the meter cabinet (mine is too) but it should have its own breaker still to be a compliant install. Really it should be in a separate box outside of the meter box (strictly speaking you are not allowed to put anything in the meter box as it is owned by the DNO and they could insist on removal) but I know many installations have been done in there. 

[P_J]

3 hours ago, Graham1969 said:

there is another box they fitted outside, underneath the homecharge box which I haven't looked in

Is it possible this box has an electrical isolator in it, which is in the 'isolated/off' position, hence no supply? 
Maybe there is a visual indication on the charger unit that suggests it has a supply to it, which would rule this out. 

[GBgraham]

It does sound like a case of mass incompetence overall and it's definitely not rocket science to get a usable supply for a 7.2kw charger.

I have selected to recharge at 20 ampere, and I can choose 25a or 32a but the lower setting just takes some of the stress of the circuit. I use the cars "charge now" or a pre-set time through the cars instrument panel.

As for MyToyota, what a waste of space. I contacted them on the 10th of March and they just replied on the 8th of June and they are showing akin the same as a chocolate fireguard🙄

[Graham1969]

On 6/13/2024 at 12:10 PM, P_J said:

Is it possible this box has an electrical isolator in it, which is in the 'isolated/off' position, hence no supply? 
Maybe there is a visual indication on the charger unit that suggests it has a supply to it, which would rule this out. 

 

[Graham1969]

Quick update, still no joy have to wait again for British Gas but I checked last night the box is on, the power is fine, it just doesnt lock the cable in place and start charging. I have made sure there are no schedules either on the box or the car. 

British Gas called me today and said the Toyota box is only visible to Toyota not them, so yet again the finger pointing started. Still no answers on what is wrong from Toyota but seems they cant manage their own boxes. 

Thanks for all the useful suggestions I assume I am the only person in the UK with a Toyota homecharge box! I will come back once they have found a solution and let you all know what it is.

[philip42h]

Well, this may be a complete waste of time but ... I downloaded a user manual for a Terra AC:

Terra AC User manual BCM.V3Y00.0-EN V004.pdf

It may or may not bear any relation to the Toyota HomeCharge box ...

It would appear that the box needs to be 'activated' each time it is used - either via an RFID card / PIN code or via the ABB ChargerSync App on your smartphone (downloaded via the appropriate store). Do you have an RFID card and/or PIN?

I assume that you are supposed to be able to use the My Toyota App to do this - and it isn't set-up and without that set-up you can't proceed. But would it be worth attempting to download and set-up the ABB ChargerSync App instead?

I fear that the chances of success are moderate at best, and trying may simply be a waste of time, but you seem to have time to waste while Toyota get themselves sorted out and you never know ...

😉

[Graham1969]

18 minutes ago, philip42h said:

Well, this may be a complete waste of time but ... I downloaded a user manual for a Terra AC:

Terra AC User manual BCM.V3Y00.0-EN V004.pdf 2.11 MB · 0 downloads

It may or may not bear any relation to the Toyota HomeCharge box ...

It would appear that the box needs to be 'activated' each time it is used - either via an RFID card / PIN code or via the ABB ChargerSync App on your smartphone (downloaded via the appropriate store). Do you have an RFID card and/or PIN?

I assume that you are supposed to be able to use the My Toyota App to do this - and it isn't set-up and without that set-up you can't proceed. But would it be worth attempting to download and set-up the ABB ChargerSync App instead?

I fear that the chances of success are moderate at best, and trying may simply be a waste of time, but you seem to have time to waste while Toyota get themselves sorted out and you never know ...

😉

Ill pretty much try anything at this point! Yes it did come with 2 RFID tags but according to the setup they are not active, however I will be trying both of them in case. I have the two ABB apps one for setup and one for using it so will have another attempt over the weekend, and look into the manual, thanks!