[Raqs]

Hi all,
First time poster, so I hope I will comply with all protocols...

Also, I hope this hasn't been posted on previously, but the search function doesn't seem to work and I tried a few times.

I wonder if anyone else is having the same experience with the "charge in time slot" function. I am always using it via phone app, and though it seems the request uploads to the car successfully, it's a tossup if the charge only starts when I set it to. 50% of the time it starts immediately.

And yes, I am also always setting a "departure time" - which is the dumbest feature dependency in history of apps.

Thank you very much for your input.

[Noggie]

I have had a handfull of times when the charging has not started.
Then it has been down to the plug, did you get an alert that charging failed?
I found that if I came in contact with the plug or cable after plugging in, the issue was most lightly to happen, think it somehow prevented the plug from locking when it was going to start charging.
So I started locking my car after I plugged it in and haven't had any issues since.

I don't use the car functions, mine is set to charge immediately, and I control the charge time on my Easee home charger wallbox.

[Raqs]

Originally Posted by Noggie

I have had a handfull of times when the charging has not started.

The issue I have is quite the opposite of yours, I think - I set it to wait until my TOU electrical utility pricing changes and instead of waiting until then, charging starts immediately. This is even if the app says the upload of the request to the car was successful (and I seem to see it also on the car). And yet, the car charges immediately...

The car never failed to start charging. The only charging issues I ever had were at EVGo - those are so bad I find it awkward they claim those stations to be for commercial purposes. I have not public-charged my car many times, but I have about 75% chances there's going to be some sort of fail when I try to do it (I have not tried other networks than EVGo). I am certain none of that is the fault of the car.

[Noggie]

Originally Posted by Raqs

The issue I have is quite the opposite of yours, I think - I set it to wait until my TOU electrical utility pricing changes and instead of waiting until then, charging starts immediately. This is even if the app says the upload of the request to the car was successful (and I seem to see it also on the car). And yet, the car charges immediately...

The car never failed to start charging. The only charging issues I ever had were at EVGo - those are so bad I find it awkward they claim those stations to be for commercial purposes. I have not public-charged my car many times, but I have about 75% chances there's going to be some sort of fail when I try to do it (I have not tried other networks than EVGo). I am certain none of that is the fault of the car.

Seems like a different issue, here is some things I have found out.
Like I said I don't use the car functions, only the ones in my home charger.
I did notice that I had to make sure my home charger was enabled before the car settings.
if I set both to i.e 12 o'clock it would fail.
I had to set the car to 12 o'clock and the home charger to 11.55.

Seemed like if the car hit the timer and there was no power available, it would just fail charging and not try again a minute or two later.
That is why I set my car "charge immediately", as it will start charging as soon as there is power available.
I then set my Easee charger to provide power when the power is cheapest.

Could be that you should try setting your time in the car, not in the app, or make sure you get the "settings have been successfully received by your vehicle" in your app, something that could take 1-2 minutes, could be that the app settings are not received by the car.
Could be you need to set the charging to "delayed" and not "immediately" in the car.

[Korky]

If I leave the settings alone, the i3 charges every time I plug in successfully. When I charge "Immediately" then switch back to Charge in time slot, I do have problems sometimes. My guess is it is probably the app not communicating very well with the BMW, although I've also had problems when I do the settings directly on the car. Even so, it could be the app trying to alter settings afterwards.

Does anyone have a fix for these myBMW i3 app issues?

[dillishep]

As above I also have had issue with the "charge in time slot" function. At first it appears to be setup correctly (i.e. departure time set, charger initialised then off waiting for the appropriate time) but when I get to the car it appears as if the charger aims for 100% battery at departure time regardless of the time slot set for charging.

I've only tried it on a couple of occasions using the domestic socket (perhaps this is the problem?) but it occurred both times. Primarily I tend not to use this function but would be helpful to know for reference in future.

[Raqs]

I always wait for the notification the settings were successfully uploaded to the vehicle. Sometimes that also fails, but at least I know immediately and try again. But when the delayed charging starting fails, the result is the car starts charging during very expensive kW/h from my utility company, and that's a big issue for me.

The other inconvenience is the requirement to set a "departure time." Why is this tied to the "charge in time slot" feature? There absolutely no need for that. I've seen it strive to charge in ways that shoot to complete at the "departure" time, which just adds unnecessary and overall confusing complexity to something that should (and is) simple. A lot of people got "time of use" plans on their electricity service and this doesn't seem like a difficult feature to trim down and streamline, though it's an essential convenience feature.

I am using a fairly simple charger on a 240V wall outlet which doesn't allow me to set this up via another device.

[Noggie]

I guess the I3 is an "old" car, maybe BMW never thought it through, and then never changed it.

I guess BMW's thought is that you should have the car just finished charging by the departure time, so that the battery is warm and operating optimal.
Don't think this feature was intended to fit into electricity price brackets.

Could you get a smart plug installed that could be programmed?
This thing you plug into your wall socket, and then you plug the charger in that and you program that to specific times and just leave the car at "charge now"?

[Raqs]

Originally Posted by Noggie

I guess the I3 is an "old" car, maybe BMW never thought it through, and then never changed it.

I guess BMW's thought is that you should have the car just finished charging by the departure time, so that the battery is warm and operating optimal.
Don't think this feature was intended to fit into electricity price brackets.

Could you get a smart plug installed that could be programmed?
This thing you plug into your wall socket, and then you plug the charger in that and you program that to specific times and just leave the car at "charge now"?

Well, there's two symptoms happening here:
- car starting to charge immediately, though apparently set successfully to charge in time slot. This is I think pretty clearly a "car software" issue, and may easily be explained by BMW leaving an "old model" slide down into retirement. Though very bad form from a high end make. How hard is it to upload an update via its (measly) 3G downlink?... My laptop frankly seems better maintained than that.
- phone app being badly mis-designed (attaching the time slot charging with time of departure). This is a "phone app" issue, and may be less easily excusable. I wonder if the same app is used for the iX and i4 and maybe also the hybrid or "e" versions of other cars. Because that would be even less excusable.

[ovekvam]

I guess the easiest way to charge in a time slot, is to set the departure time at the end of the time slot, and turn off climatisation.

[Olliehh]

This is very simple…. I had this issue when charging from a regular ‘3 pin’ wall socket In my garage.

What’s happening is due to the slow 2.4 kwh charge speed available from a ‘3 pin’ charge the car detects that you will not reach 100% in the time you have specified. It will start charging at a time it detects is needed in order for you to reach 100% at your set departure time.

If you don’t care about charging to 100% and just want to charge during off peak hours then change your departure time to about mid day. Bearing in mind that using a 3pin plug to charge a 94 Ah battery takes approx 10 hours. If you have a bigger battery this will be longer.

Or you can attach an external timer to your wall socket and set the car to charge immediately. It will start once the timer turns the plug on. I wouldn’t recommend this as bmw recommend plugging directly into the wall and not into any extensions or accessories in case of over heating.

I can confirm that the plug end attached to wall does get warm whilst charging overnight and personally I wouldn’t be comfortable connecting to any accessories.


Hope this helped!