[RandallA]

Hi, folks.

In a bit of a panic on the eve of our first long drive- 120 miles. Have been experiencing a series of failures in the last few days as we attempt to get to 90%+ charge to prepare!

Two days ago I plugged in to our dealer-provided L1 charger and went to adjust the charging settings. The max current setting on the infotainment screen was set at 6A and greyed out so that I couldn’t change it. Despite this, the instrument panel showed charging speeds fluctuating around 10-13A. I could change the charge limit on the infotainment screen, but those changes weren’t reflected on the instrument panel- it still showed the last setting.

Today we lost LTE. First noticed because the instrument panel showed a generic USA map instead of an interactive nav screen. When I checked the map on the infotainment screen, I saw we were “offline,” again with a generic zoomed-out USA map. Other functions requiring LTE were unavailable. This persisted all day, through multiple power cycles and infotainment reboots (30s on the home button).

Tonight we tried a ChargePoint charger, and after connecting the cable got “error- reconnect” on the instrument panel and a red light at the charging port. Tried reconnecting, “hanging up” the ChargePoint cable and starting over, rebooting infotainment, etc. to no avail.

At home, we tried a factory reset using the “system” menu. Still no LTE, max current still greyed out at 6A. When connected to L1 still seeing 10-13 A (despite the supposed 6A limit) and changing the charge limit on the infotainment is not reflected on the instrument panel.

I’m a little panicky about a 120-mile drive with only about 80% charge and no confidence in our ability to use an L2 charger. Any ideas? The only related thread I could find had a “happy ending” where the car was powered down for 4 days and mysteriously “fixed” itself. Not an option- our vehicle is going on the road tomorrow afternoon!

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[CaymanR]

I read on a different forum thread if you hold down the defrost button that will reset/reboot the communication modem. Worth a shot for your LTE issue.
New problem

 

[SeattleCat]

Magic techniques to be used when as a character in a book I love says ”weird bollocks happens”. After each technique below try the thing that had gone wrong. If it still fails please proceeding to the next

1. Exit vehicle. Lock Car. Visualize it switching off. Get back in and turn it on and Test problemish.

2. Reboot the computer by holding down the home key (big key center bottom of the display) for 20 seconds. After the Computer reboots, give it a few second to fully boot up. Now test It.

3. Exit vehicle. Lock Car. Visualize it switching off. Now walk away from the car, walk at least 30 feet from the car. (WARNING) make sure nobody else is close and that there are no other keys in the car. Wait 2 minutes (I will scientifically work on the needed wait time at some point). Now return to the car WITH ONLY ONE KEY. Open door, get in, switch it on and test the problem.

4. Do (3) BUT return to the car with a different key. Make sure all other keys stay away from the car unit you are finished. In this case if it works, make sure that you test it later with the original key.

5. Hold down the defrost button for a while to reset the modem.

 

[SeattleCat]

Number 5 should fix the lte problem and one of the 1-4 will fix the charge greyed our amperage problem.
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[RandallA]

Thank you for these suggestions!

The good news- we were able to build up enough charge using our L1 charger to complete our drive.

The bad news- none of these resets seem to have any effect on our inability to control charging settings and our lack of LTE.

I do have a couple of questions about the resets:

For 1, 3, 4, can the vehicle be charging during the times when it is shut down? And will there be any indication that the reset has been performed successfully?

A similar question for 5- is there any indication that the modem is resetting? For me, this has simply felt like a very slow way to turn on the max defrost blower. I have read that the LTE icon in the top left of the infotainment console should disappear and reappear, but I’m not sure what the LTE icon is supposed to look like. I have an icon in the shape of an isosceles right triangle (like the lower right corner of a square) with a tiny x in the corner (guessing this is it, with the “x” indicating no LTE?), and another to the right of the first one that looks like a mouse cursor/pointer, and neither one seems to disappear as I hold the defrost button. The defrost does come on when I release the button- should it?

Finally, to clarify the charge setting issue- on the infotainment screen, it looks as though I can set the charge limit to any %, but the charging info on the instrument panel still says the limit is set to 100%, and charging seems to continue past the infotainment setting. The charging speed limit on the infotainment shows 6A and is greyed out so that the +/- keys have no effect, but the instrument panel shows currents above 6A.

After our drive, we charged using a ChargePoint station, which this time didn’t fail, but charged at a measly 2kW (I think the ChargePoint stations should do over 6kW?).

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[SeattleCat]

Charge points are normally (in my area) slow level 3s and should be doing max 50kW.

Btw don’t change the charge rate allowed whilst plugged in. This can crash the app esp when you accidentally or even momentarily set the charge % to be less than you already have.

Back to your charging.
what % were you at to start?
What connector were you using
It is also good to try more than one charger. Sometimes charging stations are down or failing. If you don’t get what you expect disconnect and stick it in another one. Last night the first charger I tried (at an ev inuse all the while) failed so I plugged in to another and got a good flow.

Pro tips(that everyone probably already knows). Park like a dick so that your charge hole can be reached by more than one charger. Then if first fails you can go to 2nd easier. Try each one twice. When plugging in make sure you hear a ping/click at final insertion. Whe you have tried all the chargers call the I call number and sometimes they can really help. A really obvious one I failed to do once is … look at and interact with the screen before you plug in to make sure that it is not out of order. Alas they seem to cover out of order with their screen saver ….

Ps parking like a dick is something I do as I tend to charge in the middle of the night with no one around. When there are people charging i park very politely

Margo has been fed only in the wild (public charging) since we got her in may. Only had one complete failure (all pumps down) and we just drove to the next charge station (20 miles away) and that was good.

There are places that only have 1 charging station for a good ways … all of these worked for us on our long trip. I hope that these essential stations have higher priorities to be fixed … thr one that was down had 9+ stations around it …

 

[1moreRobot]

Two days ago I plugged in to our dealer-provided L1 charger and went to adjust the charging settings. The max current setting on the infotainment screen was set at 6A and greyed out so that I couldn’t change it. Despite this, the instrument panel showed charging speeds fluctuating around 10-13A. I could change the charge limit on the infotainment screen, but those changes weren’t reflected on the instrument panel- it still showed the last setting.

Our car is also doing this nightmare nonsense. No LTE, no GPS, no Wifi connectivity. And stuck at 6 amps on that screen (although perhaps it's lying and charging at higher current, will have to investigate).

This started at about 150 miles on our car, which we've had since Saturday. I'm taking it on Thursday to the first appointment I could get at a dealer in a 100-mile radius.

 

[Cuelaw57]

5. Hold down the defrost button for a while to reset the modem.

It’s ever been clear to me which defrost button — front or rear.

 

[SeattleCat]

Yeah …. Last time I tried rebooting it I did both one at a time. Connecting the modems reboot to a defrost button is odd doing it to One of two buttons is worse.

There should be menu options for both reboots.

 

[JT Rock]

Well, I think the following post clears up which defrost button to use:

New problem​

Also, found inside the Volvo On Call App Retailer Pairing Guide:

 

[MMK]

Charge points are normally (in my area) slow level 3s and should be doing max 50kW.

Btw don’t change the charge rate allowed whilst plugged in. This can crash the app esp when you accidentally or even momentarily set the charge % to be less than you already have.

Back to your charging.
what % were you at to start?
What connector were you using
It is also good to try more than one charger. Sometimes charging stations are down or failing. If you don’t get what you expect disconnect and stick it in another one. Last night the first charger I tried (at an ev inuse all the while) failed so I plugged in to another and got a good flow.

Pro tips(that everyone probably already knows). Park like a dick so that your charge hole can be reached by more than one charger. Then if first fails you can go to 2nd easier. Try each one twice. When plugging in make sure you hear a ping/click at final insertion. Whe you have tried all the chargers call the I call number and sometimes they can really help. A really obvious one I failed to do once is … look at and interact with the screen before you plug in to make sure that it is not out of order. Alas they seem to cover out of order with their screen saver ….

Ps parking like a dick is something I do as I tend to charge in the middle of the night with no one around. When there are people charging i park very politely

Margo has been fed only in the wild (public charging) since we got her in may. Only had one complete failure (all pumps down) and we just drove to the next charge station (20 miles away) and that was good.

There are places that only have 1 charging station for a good ways … all of these worked for us on our long trip. I hope that these essential stations have higher priorities to be fixed … thr one that was down had 9+ stations around it …

SHhhhh.... don't tell anyone.... ORKA is still a virgin in the wild !
I admit, got totally spoiled from Day 1 -- the minute I get back from work, regardless of how many miles I've travelled, some days more than others, I just automatically charge it in garage, and rolling out every morning with 90%.
I believe this practice had stemmed from the cold front where we were out of electricity for 4 days -- knowing my luck, it would be one of those days i leave it at 20% and the storm hits for a week ! So yeah..... it's been a habit to just plug it in.

 

[SeattleCat]

I want an auto charge station. You roll in to your garage and a voice of your choosing says deploy charging system. If yes it opens the door and inserts the probe. When charge is complete it withdraws probe. Also with draws when you get in the car.

I saw a raspberry pi powered auto car docking station in an article I would be so tempted to pay for that once the house market becomes sane so I can get a house and hence home charging.

 

[He Keith]

I want an auto charge station. You roll in to your garage and a voice of your choosing says deploy charging system. If yes it opens the door and inserts the probe. When charge is complete it withdraws probe. Also with draws when you get in the car.

I saw a raspberry pi powered auto car docking station in an article I would be so tempted to pay for that once the house market becomes sane so I can get a house and hence home charging.

 

[SeattleCat]

Yeah that’s the one

But I would like the ge/Sony/Tesla version. So not trusting my car around a robot I put together. In cybernetics/robotics we were taught never be within physical range of your robot. Sure things have moved on since then but I do not want a robot trainee around Margo

 

[ColoradoNative]

BMW had the right idea here:

BMW to Debut Inductive Charging on the 530e

The model will be the first to offer the technology in the U.S. as part of a pilot program that includes 200 cars in California.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[He Keith]

I am curious how efficient inductive charging will be when there is going to be a gap and then alignment issues unless you park over it perfectly.

 

[ColoradoNative]

Less than ideal, certainly. However we are currently discussing convenience rather than efficiency. I wirelessly charge my phone every night, and find it quite convenient. FWIW, these guys are confident that they can make it efficient and convenient:

 

[ColoradoNative]

FWIW, their technology uses magnetic resonance, not induction, and (they claim) it is just as efficient as plugging in because it does not need a transformer. It's an interesting video worth watching.