Stay plugged after charge

[Mdejon]

Is there any problem stay plugged after charge? for example the car charges in 5 hours (usind the charger that comes with the car), is better to unplug right ater 100% charge or I can unplug in the next morning without worries?

How about a weekend trip, without usind the car, better leave it plugged or charge when come back?

 

[jkh112]

I leave mine plugged in for days at a time. No problem.

 

[Regulo]

Once the charge is finished the box is just like any other bit of electronics on stand-by. Very little current taken. I've left mine plugged up for over a week once - no ill-effects as far as I could see.

 

[jaapv]

No problem to leave it plugged in. It is not a charger in the conventional sense of the word. It is more like a relay with a minimal intelligence. When the battery is full it simply cuts out.

 

[Mdejon]

Great, tonight will be no more " ghost in pajamas" on the cameras of my building.. :lol: :lol:

 

[Bert]

I've checked the energy drawn from the grid when plugged into a 240V outlet and once the control box starts flashing, it pulls only 2.5W from the socket. As mentioned by Regulo, this would be the standby rate of the control box, not the car. Leaving it plugged in and turning on the car for a minute will actually restart the charging for a few seconds. The control box still senses the battery fill-grade in the car and re-charges accordingly.

Cheers,
BERT

 

[maby]

I've checked the energy drawn from the grid when plugged into a 240V outlet and once the control box starts flashing, it pulls only 2.5W from the socket. As mentioned by Regulo, this would be the standby rate of the control box, not the car. Leaving it plugged in and turning on the car for a minute will actually restart the charging for a few seconds. The control box still senses the battery fill-grade in the car and re-charges accordingly.

Cheers,
BERT

The charger is in the car - the control box in the cable contains very little and does equally little. It contains relays and electronics to detect connection faults and cut the power to the car. It also contains a signalling system that informs the charger in the car of the maximum current it is permitted to draw. The same functionality is included in the dedicated EV charging points that you can have installed on your wall and in the fast (not rapid) chargers you find in some car parks. I believe that the control box in the cable that ships with the car encodes a maximum current drain of 10A. Fast chargers will encode either 16A or 32A - though the PHEV charger will never draw more than 16A (actually rather less, if I remember correctly).

The control box does not get involved in any decisions of whether or not to charge the battery, or how much charge to put into it.

 

[PolishPilot]

I keep mine connected all the time, since 1,5 year.

Disconnected only, when I take the cable with me on a trip,
where I can expect available charging position.

Never a problem.

 

[jaapv]

I've checked the energy drawn from the grid when plugged into a 240V outlet and once the control box starts flashing, it pulls only 2.5W from the socket. As mentioned by Regulo, this would be the standby rate of the control box, not the car. Leaving it plugged in and turning on the car for a minute will actually restart the charging for a few seconds. The control box still senses the battery fill-grade in the car and re-charges accordingly.

Cheers,
BERT

The charger is in the car - the control box in the cable contains very little and does equally little. It contains relays and electronics to detect connection faults and cut the power to the car. It also contains a signalling system that informs the charger in the car of the maximum current it is permitted to draw. The same functionality is included in the dedicated EV charging points that you can have installed on your wall and in the fast (not rapid) chargers you find in some car parks. I believe that the control box in the cable that ships with the car encodes a maximum current drain of 10A. Fast chargers will encode either 16A or 32A - though the PHEV charger will never draw more than 16A (actually rather less, if I remember correctly).

The control box does not get involved in any decisions of whether or not to charge the battery, or how much charge to put into it.

I have a 6A/10A switchable box. It will detect when a power supply is unable to deliver 10A and will switch down to 6A in that case.

 

[jaapv]

I've checked the energy drawn from the grid when plugged into a 240V outlet and once the control box starts flashing, it pulls only 2.5W from the socket. As mentioned by Regulo, this would be the standby rate of the control box, not the car. Leaving it plugged in and turning on the car for a minute will actually restart the charging for a few seconds. The control box still senses the battery fill-grade in the car and re-charges accordingly.

Cheers,
BERT

The charger is in the car - the control box in the cable contains very little and does equally little. It contains relays and electronics to detect connection faults and cut the power to the car. It also contains a signalling system that informs the charger in the car of the maximum current it is permitted to draw. The same functionality is included in the dedicated EV charging points that you can have installed on your wall and in the fast (not rapid) chargers you find in some car parks. I believe that the control box in the cable that ships with the car encodes a maximum current drain of 10A. Fast chargers will encode either 16A or 32A - though the PHEV charger will never draw more than 16A (actually rather less, if I remember correctly).

The control box does not get involved in any decisions of whether or not to charge the battery, or how much charge to put into it.

I have a 6A/10A switchable box. It will detect when a power supply is unable to deliver 10A and will switch down to 6A in that case.

 

[anko]

That is "how fast", not "how much"

 

[Tipper]

I assume that as the auxiliary battery is charged every day on a schedule then the main battery could need a charge if the car is left for any significant time so leaving it connected may be a good idea?

We left ours for 14 days recently at the airport parking (mmmm...St Lucia in December....) with only about 50% main battery charge and it was fine when we returned.

 

[Sunder]

We left ours for 14 days recently at the airport parking (mmmm...St Lucia in December....) with only about 50% main battery charge and it was fine when we returned.

How much remained when you returned?

 

[Mdejon]

great feed back, thank to everyone.

So maybe in a long trip for example, better leave plugged to prevent deep discharge..

My friend has a tesla in Orlando, and leave the car parked for 4 months, when he returns the car did't open, i was dead. has to send it to fix the battery.

 

[HHL]

I've checked the energy drawn from the grid when plugged into a 240V outlet and once the control box starts flashing, it pulls only 2.5W from the socket. As mentioned by Regulo, this would be the standby rate of the control box, not the car. Leaving it plugged in and turning on the car for a minute will actually restart the charging for a few seconds. The control box still senses the battery fill-grade in the car and re-charges accordingly.

Cheers,
BERT

The charger is in the car - the control box in the cable contains very little and does equally little. It contains relays and electronics to detect connection faults and cut the power to the car. It also contains a signalling system that informs the charger in the car of the maximum current it is permitted to draw. The same functionality is included in the dedicated EV charging points that you can have installed on your wall and in the fast (not rapid) chargers you find in some car parks. I believe that the control box in the cable that ships with the car encodes a maximum current drain of 10A. Fast chargers will encode either 16A or 32A - though the PHEV charger will never draw more than 16A (actually rather less, if I remember correctly).

The control box does not get involved in any decisions of whether or not to charge the battery, or how much charge to put into it.

I have a 6A/10A switchable box. It will detect when a power supply is unable to deliver 10A and will switch down to 6A in that case.

How could that possibly work?
Surely you have to tell it the charge rate you want?

 

[Bert]

though the PHEV charger will never draw more than 16A (actually rather less, if I remember correctly).

The control box does not get involved in any decisions of whether or not to charge the battery, or how much charge to put into it.

That is true and wrong explained in my previous post. I have never seen it pulling more than 3.650W from a public charger so far (have tried only 3 different ones so far), so the 16A max theorie makes sense which is the max the charger may be capable off.

 

[Tipper]

We left ours for 14 days recently at the airport parking (mmmm...St Lucia in December....) with only about 50% main battery charge and it was fine when we returned.

How much remained when you returned?

I don't remember checking it too carefully but to all intents and purposes, the same.

[On another point previously when we were away for 3 months on an antipodean adventure there was a serious risk that my BMW would not let me get at the rear mounted battery to charge it on our return (need to open the tailgate to get to the battery but this has electrically operated release, so no power = no easy way to charge the battery!). As it was parked on my driveway and not in airport parking for the whole period I rigged up a 'Lidl's best' battery charger/conditioner to keep it live whilst we were away. Worked perfectly.]

 

[Neverfuel]

We left ours for 14 days recently at the airport parking (mmmm...St Lucia in December....) with only about 50% main battery charge and it was fine when we returned.

How much remained when you returned?

I don't remember checking it too carefully but to all intents and purposes, the same.

[On another point previously when we were away for 3 months on an antipodean adventure there was a serious risk that my BMW would not let me get at the rear mounted battery to charge it on our return (need to open the tailgate to get to the battery but this has electrically operated release, so no power = no easy way to charge the battery!). As it was parked on my driveway and not in airport parking for the whole period I rigged up a 'Lidl's best' battery charger/conditioner to keep it live whilst we were away. Worked perfectly.]

Is there any reason that a solar trickle charger could not be used to keep the aux battery topped up if the car wasn't going to be used for a long period. I used to put one on my Landy if it was stood for 6 months as the battery flattened itself after a month or so. It worked perfectly and only cost £10 from Maplin.

 

[jthspace]

There was some posts on keeping a battery booster for emergency use such as one of these 50 amp rechargeable units in the boot in case of a flat 12v battery. Smaller capacity ones are also available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-58000...578071?hash=item2ee4d3bfd7:g:FHcAAOSwT5tWHia1

You could have this charging from a rear power supply so it is always topped up or have it at home for other uses and take it with you if you have to park the PHEV for any long period of time.

Alternatively, maybe it would stay charged up via a solar panel as Neverfuel mentions. These units provide a very small "trickle" charge to the battery. Some of these you buy can plug into the 12v socket, but the PHEV isolates these with the ignition off, so you would have to use the ones with croc clips if connecting to the 12v car battery directly to charge.

Thought - comment welcome - if you have a version with an alarm / immobiliser then the alarm / ultrasonic sensors will be drawing current all the time and even a solar charger will not cope with that kind of draw, I would suspect. You can turn off the ultrasonic sensors manually when leaving the car (I forget the exact sequence, something to do with standing on one leg, whistling Dixie and twiddling with the washer stalk . . . )

Surely the main battery, when topping up the 12v battery in the early hours, would keep it with enough charge for months?

 

[Ollycat]

Ours stays plugged in, as I'm not sure that the pre-heat option works without grid power?