Charging won't start without a restart

[tux43]

Hi, I occasionally have a problem when charging does not start when requested. If I restart the WiFi Firmware it will then being and operate without issue. What debug mode setting should I turn on and copy/paste to help fault find what is causing this.

Issue was presenting in 4.1.7 and has not been fixed in 4.1.8 Many thanks

[KipK]

@tux43 Please post Json result of http://openevseip/claims/target when start doesn't work as expected

[joverbee]

i seem to have the same issue both with v4.1.7 and 4.1.8. With current shaper on an put to 1333W to compensate for measuring current on only 1 phase to get a total of 4kW max total current for the house.

here is the requested dump {"properties":{"state":"disabled","max_current":4,"auto_release":false},"claims":{"state":65548,"max_current":65548}}

the debug terminal show {"shaper":1,"shaper_live_pwr":315,"shaper_max_pwr":1333,"shaper_cur":4,"shaper_updated":true} {"amp":0,"voltage":240,"pilot":6,"wh":38234,"session_energy":0,"total_energy":38.234,"temp":190,"temp_max":195,"temp1":false,"temp2":190,"temp3":false,"temp4":false,"state":254,"status":"disabled","flags":1792,"vehicle":1,"colour":6,"manual_override":1,"freeram":185920,"divertmode":1,"srssi":-45,"time":"2023-02-21T19:31:51Z","offset":"+0100","elapsed":3227} {"shaper":1,"shaper_live_pwr":315,"shaper_max_pwr":1333,"shaper_cur":4,"shaper_updated":true} {"amp":0,"voltage":240,"pilot":6,"wh":38234,"session_energy":0,"total_energy":38.234,"temp":190,"temp_max":195,"temp1":false,"temp2":190,"temp3":false,"temp4":false,"state":254,"status":"disabled","flags":1792,"vehicle":1,"colour":6,"manual_override":1,"freeram":187200,"divertmode":1,"srssi":-44,"time":"2023-02-21T19:32:21Z","offset":"+0100","elapsed":3227} {"shaper":1,"shaper_live_pwr":314,"shaper_max_pwr":1333,"shaper_cur":4,"shaper_updated":true} {"amp":0,"voltage":240,"pilot":6,"wh":38234,"session_energy":0,"total_energy":38.234,"temp":190,"temp_max":195,"temp1":false,"temp2":190,"temp3":false,"temp4":false,"state":254,"status":"disabled","flags":1792,"vehicle":1,"colour":6,"manual_override":1,"freeram":189060,"divertmode":1,"srssi":-43,"time":"2023-02-21T19:32:51Z","offset":"+0100","elapsed":3227}

[KipK]

@joverbee Are you on threephase setup ? have you enable threephase settings in Evse config tab ?

[joverbee]

@KipK I feel dumb but I don’t really see where that evse config tab is. Is it in the proces of compiling the firmware for the evse? In any case, the firmware and hardware measures only 1 phase current and as long as I know that I could work around is what I thought.

[KipK]

It's on the config / Evse tab on UI v2 only. It is still not optimal and probably has bugs has I don't have threephase to test, but worth to try.

[KipK]

seeing /claims/target you've posted, it is shaper that has disabled the evse. Enabling is_threephase in /config should calculate the shaper correctly. If you're not on UI2 you can manually http POST to /config {"is_threephase": true}

[joverbee]

Ok, I did set the threephase:true, this remains after restart. I moved the max power in the current shaper to the desired 4000W. But the car still doesnt start charging. When I disable the current shaper it starts immediately.

BUT: I had set max current to 6A and the charging shows charging at around 5A. Which looked OK to me. However my car (Renault ZOE) indicated that it would take 28h(!) to charge which explains why last morning my battery was alarmingly low. Looking via the digital net meter shows that total consumption of the house is 400W which can't agree with the car being charged at 5A on 240V 3 phase. I then switched the max current to 8A and the indicated charge current on openevse changes slightly higher to 6.16A but now also the consumption follows with a consumption of a bit less than 4kW which could be about right (22063).

What is going on? is there a minimum current below which the car or openevse (unlikely because i assume the contactor is on when openevse says it is charging) refuse to charge? If so, does that also mean the current shaping can't work at low levels like 4kW?

[KipK]

OpenEVSE can't charge under 6Amp, this is the minimum.

[joverbee]

Ok, but what does that mean for a current shaper? Even at 10A set current there is going to be the situation that someone is cooking and the charge current needs to be reduced. What happens if it needs to be reduced below the 6A minimum? Does the contactor go on an off several times (which could be fine if not too often)?

I am interested in this situation since in Belgium the govt. has decided for the 'capacity tarif' which means that the nice high current charging that I had before (and worked really well with openevse) will be heavily taxed based on the 15 min maximum power you hit in a full month. Hence my interest in a current shaper that could depending on e.g. cooking or other appliances throttle the charge current of the car to remain within say a 4kW max total power for the house.

Now I am curious where the 6A limit comes from. It can't be the contactor so it must be the electronic reading of the current pickup coil, but I see I am drifting far from the original topic.

[KipK]

shaper disable evse when <6A, and waits a bit before reenabling to prevent the relay.

I think limitation is from the PP Proximity Pilot specs

[joverbee]

Ok, thanks a lot for the help. I read a bit about the protocol and understand that lower than 6A is not allowed and has nothing to do with openevse.

Today i tried again and the car wouldnt start charging at 4000W max setting for the shaper. In the terminal i see that the calculated shaper current is 5 which probably means because this is lower than 6 that the charging can't start. Then i changed to 5000W setting and the charging starts.

My conclusion is that because the 6A limitation a realistic minimum for 3 phase and 240V is 5000W for the shaper max setting.

I’ll watch it in the coming days, hopefully smooth charging while staying within the 5kW boundaries. Thanks again!

[KipK]

something I don't have the answer: is PP specs says it's 6amp for each phase or for phase total. Current implementation takes the limit for one phase only, but I'm not sure it is correct.

edit: thinking more about this, it should be per phase, PP as there's no such way of asking less than 6amp through PP specs.

Can't you have one phase only wired to the ev charger for solar setup ? I mean , we could automatically change the new is_threephase flag to false when divert is active and keep correct calculations ( assuming using the incoming EnergyMeter class ) Using 1 relay / phase, controlled separately from smarthome ( ideally in a future openevse revision from openevse module directly ) , you can cutoff 2 phases on the EV charger line and then let OpenEvse think it's a normal mono setup.

[joverbee]

Sorry i was travelling for work this week so didnt do any charging. Current 6 A limit is indeed per phase. For lower power charging it would indeed make more sense to charge single phase. But it should also not take longer than a night to charge if I want to be able to drive the next day, so this 5kW is not that crazy. I even have a special plug to test the single phase charging. For cable losses the 3 phase is clearly better but I am not sure about the inverter losses in the car.

[KipK]

Can this issue be closed ?

[joverbee]

As far as I am concerned yes. Charging stayed always under 4kW in practice while cooking with a nominal setting of 5kW.

[tux43]

I still have a problem where mine will not restart unless it is power cycled. It happens when it is in Solar PV Divert mode too. If the solar available drops it stops charging (correctly) and then occasionally when power is available again it stays in waiting for solar mode. The only way around this is with a restart. I have actually wired up a wifi relay (Shelly 1) and I now automate a restart when OpenEVSE refuses to charge. This has got around my problem however it still exists, with me anyway.

[KipK]

there's a delay to prevent wearing of the relay, have you waited long enough ?

[tux43]

there's a delay to prevent wearing of the relay, have you waited long enough ?

3-4 mins.

[KipK]

so can you answer to the question I've asked 3 weeks ago at the top of your issue ? ;)

[tux43]

so can you answer to the question I've asked 3 weeks ago at the top of your issue ? ;)

In Solar PV divert mode it just doesn’t start.

[KipK]

@tux43 Please post Json result of http://openevseip/claims/target when start doesn't work as expected

that was the question

[tux43]

that was the question

Hi, Thanks, that is clearer, here it is.

{"properties":{"state":"active","charge_current":13,"auto_release":false},"claims":{"state":65538,"charge_current":65538}}

[KipK]

I mean I need this data when it fails to start, is it the case here ?

[tux43]

I mean I need this data when it fails to start, is it the case here ?

Yes. That is correct. I can video the screen if you like since I can reproduce this

[KipK]

Just wanted to be sure. Can you check the safety data if there's no errors ?

[KipK]

Divert mode ( id: 65538 ) as set the evse to active according to the target endpoint , seeing that I'd say it's a relay stuck or evse module fault, or safety like gfci and co

[tux43]

I've completed a screen recording where I simulate the issue.

https://youtu.be/8N3-kH4xK40

I always seem to have a count of 2 ground errors even when things are running well. You will see I found it starts running again when I switch it to Normal (Fast) and then back to Eco Mode.

[KipK]

Can you check your ground earth with a multimeter ?

https://electrouniversity.com/how-to-test-ground-with-multimeter/

[tux43]

Can you check your ground earth with a multimeter ?

I've checked and 237V between A-N and A-E so no grounding issues. The count doesn't increase more than 2 as per above. It still operates correctly, except doesn't start charging again. I've worked around this by putting a wifi relay inside the box so if it doesn't start charging it does one reboot and all is good.

[KipK]

What firmware version your OpenEvse module has ?