Home Charging for a newbie

[kieransampson]

Hi All,

Firstly, apologies for what's a complete newbie question. We had our Pod Point Solo 3 installed back in March/April and our new Q4 arrived in August. We've been happily driving around, but haven't ventured to a charging station or used our own charger. Secondly, I'm so pleased I've stumbled across this forum.

I'm looking for a dummies guide to home charging because I thought it'd be as simple as plug it in and it'd start charging straight away. Unfortunately, when I've tried this, I get the dreaded red light and the message in the car that there's a fault.

I've tried to set a charging schedule on my Pod Point Solo 3, but end up with the same error. I did read somewhere that scheduled charging needs to be switched off on the Q4 before it's enabled on the Pod Point so there's no conflict, but when I've checked it's definitely disabled on the Q4.

Is there a (very) dummies guide to charging?

Many thanks in advance, Kieran

PS: other than the charging aspects, I've had no issues with the car and absolutely love it.

[lexathon]

Sorry to say, but it does sound like a fault either with the car or the podpoint. You should be able to plug it in and have it charge as simply as you say.
I would see if you can try the car on another charger to see where the fault lies.

[kieransampson]

Some good news. I’ve used the 3 pin adapter and it’s started to charge. I guess that means that if there is a fault then it’s with the pod point and not with the car.

At least it narrows down the line of investigation and does mean that we can drive places.

I’m hoping to nip to Tesco later and to try it there as well on one of their pod points, albeit with a faster charge.

I’m still not ruling out user error on my part, which to be honest I’ll be very happy if it is.

Thanks.

[ScottyQ4]

Reset your Podpoint unit by switching it off and back on again. On the Podpoint app switch off any scheduled charging times, the tell-tale light should be blue with an intermittent purple flash telling you that the unit is connected to the internet. If it’s green then this means it still taking into account scheduled charge settings. Check the app. Assuming the former then plug the the car into the unit to see if the vehicle charges. Charging is denoted on the car tell tales with pulsating green. If it charges then unplug, set a charging time in the app, save it in the app, the Podpoint unit telltale should turn green after about 5 mins. Plug in again and the car telltale will flash white. It may turn red and an error message may appear on the dash/MMI screen saying a fault has occurred. Ignore this and leave it to undertake the scheduled charge. If this does not work or the unit only delivers 3.5kw then what worked for me was to delete the app and reload it. Some Q4 owners do not have the scheduled charging facilities via the cars MMI -waiting forever for the software upgrade.

[Mml2435]

There shouldn’t be anything with the car preventing the charge. My suggestion is to call pod point customer service and have them talk you through the process step by step. Call on your mobile with some headphones on so you hands are free to carry out the steps they suggest. They can also tell you how to schedule a charge using the pod point app so you can charge off peak (something we can’t do in the car’s own settings, unfortunately). I hope you get it working.

[kieransampson]

Hi. Many thanks for your replies, they’re very much appreciated. I’ve been onto PodPoint via twitter, direct messaging. Good call about phoning with a headset - I’ll try that after the bank holiday if I don’t get anywhere.

So far, PodPoint have conducted a remote reset and have asked me to switch the device off/on from the breaker, which I’ve done.

In respect of the scheduled charges, it seems as if I did have one set. Does scheduled charging override a straight plug/charge, such that it’ll only charge at that set time? If so, I guess that’s a security feature for when you’re away.

Anyway, I’ve cleared my scheduled charges and it’s still flashing green. I’ve added an image from the app.

Many thanks

[kieransampson]

Some good news. Whilst the problem hasn’t been resolved, PP have run remote diagnostics and updated some software. They’re now sending out an engineer tomorrow, which is a very good turnaround.

Personally I’m still thinking it’s user error on my part.

[kieransampson]

All resolved. Had an engineer out this morning and the motherboard within the charging unit needed replacing. I ran some tests with the engineer there and it's all working as expected.

Have to say, I've been very impressed with the quality of the service from PodPoint. Raised the issue via Twitter over the B/H weekend and by Weds had a replacement charger.

[Magpie2121]

All resolved. Had an engineer out this morning and the motherboard within the charging unit needed replacing. I ran some tests with the engineer there and it's all working as expected.

Have to say, I've been very impressed with the quality of the service from PodPoint. Raised the issue via Twitter over the B/H weekend and by Weds had a replacement charger.

Glad to hear the issue has been resolved and that it wasn't a fault on your behalf.