Zappi charging slowly

[Scratch]

I charged my ID3 overnight to 80% without any problems. This morning, I wanted to boost it up to 100% for a longer journey, but the charge rate is only 3.8 kW and not the nearly 7kW I have seen on previous occasions. This is the first time I have done this since the car was updated to V3.0 software. I now wonder whether I have missed a setting in the car which is limiting this charge rate?
Has anyone else experienced a similar issue?
Thanks

[Scratch]

Think I now know what the issue is.
By setting the charge percentage in the phone app to 100%, which works, the car will not charge at the faster rate until I changed the setting in the car which limits the charge rate to 80%.
Not sure I can get my head around the reason for this but I can see it's probably yet another VW software mess. They haven't tested it.

[sidehaas]

Changing the target % in the app and car does the same thing. They sync with each other. If you have changed the target in the app and then immediately plug in before they have synced, the car will simply use the previous setting until it receives the new one. The target % does not affect the charge rate either. Your problem was almost certainly determined by the Zappi, or by some aspect of the interface between the two.
(Edit to add: there is no user setting in the car to limit the charge rate to 16A (3.5-4ish kw) but it does happen sometimes if the car doesn't receive the signals it expects from the chargepoint. This was an issue for a while with Ohme, EO and Podpoint chargers particularly. It may now be fixed as I haven't seen any complaints on Facebook for ages.)

[Scratch]

Changing the target % in the app and car does the same thing. They sync with each other. If you have changed the target in the app and then immediately plug in before they have synced, the car will simply use the previous setting until it receives the new one. The target % does not affect the charge rate either. Your problem was almost certainly determined by the Zappi, or by some aspect of the interface between the two.
(Edit to add: there is no user setting in the car to limit the charge rate to 16A (3.5-4ish kw) but it does happen sometimes if the car doesn't receive the signals it expects from the chargepoint. This was an issue for a while with Ohme, EO and Podpoint chargers particularly. It may now be fixed as I haven't seen any complaints on Facebook for ages.)

With respect, I'm not sure I agree. The car was plugged in yesterday, and charged to 80% without any problems, overnight. The charge had finished, when this morning, without unplugging the car, I changed the max charge from 80% to 100% in the phone app. I then changed the Zappi setting from "eco+" setting to "fast" setting. This had always worked in the past, prior to the V3.0 software update. It accepted the "charge to 100%" setting but the charge rate was only 3.8kW until I changed a setting in the car. I can't remember what that setting is called, but it was a new setting that arrived with the V3.0 update. I think it is meant to ensure that you do not charge the car over 80% by mistake. So whilst the app and car sync together, the setting in the car was somehow limiting the charge rate.

[stoneyb]

I'm also having this issue with a Hypervolt....I have had my id3 Tour for a couple of weeks now and whilst the car is amazing, I am only getting 3Kwh from the charger into the car, so with the car having a 77Kwh battery, it could almost take a day to charge fully! Prior to this car I had a CUPRA born v1 and that was so easy to charge, plug in and it would charge until 100% at 7Kwh.....@scratch what do you think you changed in the software on the screen to allow 7Kwh again?.....I'm struggling to find anything to make it charge faster. Would love to know what you changed if possible. Thanks in advance.

[StewartManley]

Three possible workarounds I've found for slow charges scheduled using the charge point:

1. When plugging the car in, wait for the charge to fail (red light) BEFORE locking the car. This works about half the time.

2. If possible, unlock and re-lock the car (to wake it up) a couple of minutes before the scheduled charge. This always works for me . Of course you have to be a night owl and the remote must be able to reach the car from your bedroom.

3. Stop and restart the charge using the WeConnectID app. This always works.

I generally use 1, followed by 3 if that hasn't worked.

[daern]

What's your ambient temperature when charging and could this have any impact? I've seen my own car (Cupra Born) drop below 7kW when charging to 100% when ambient temperatures drop significantly, although in my experience it needed to be well below zero to make a significant impact.

For example, last week it dropped 500w in the last few percent of the charge even though it was 6C ambient. When it was colder, this was far more pronounced.

[sidehaas]

Three possible workarounds I've found for slow charges scheduled using the charge point:

1. When plugging the car in, wait for the charge to fail (red light) BEFORE locking the car. This works about half the time.

2. If possible, unlock and re-lock the car (to wake it up) a couple of minutes before the scheduled charge. This always works for me . Of course you have to be a night owl and the remote must be able to reach the car from your bedroom.

3. Stop and restart the charge using the WeConnectID app. This always works.

I generally use 1, followed by 3 if that hasn't worked.

(Tour, v2.4, dumb QUBEV charge point with added Shelly1 wi-fi switch)

Or, for people with software 3.x like some above, just put the charger in a dumb mode and schedule through the car. Avoids the need to do any of this and avoids slow-charging issues caused by the interface between the car and charger, which are what is being observed (unless someone is seeing a reduced charging rate when there is no scheduling or smart control going on, in which case they probably have a different problem).

[Scratch]

I'm also having this issue with a Hypervolt....I have had my id3 Tour for a couple of weeks now and whilst the car is amazing, I am only getting 3Kwh from the charger into the car, so with the car having a 77Kwh battery, it could almost take a day to charge fully! Prior to this car I had a CUPRA born v1 and that was so easy to charge, plug in and it would charge until 100% at 7Kwh.....@scratch what do you think you changed in the software on the screen to allow 7Kwh again?.....I'm struggling to find anything to make it charge faster. Would love to know what you changed if possible. Thanks in advance.

I will take some screen photos of the settings tomorrow. I won’t have the car available until then.

[Scratch]

I'm also having this issue with a Hypervolt....I have had my id3 Tour for a couple of weeks now and whilst the car is amazing, I am only getting 3Kwh from the charger into the car, so with the car having a 77Kwh battery, it could almost take a day to charge fully! Prior to this car I had a CUPRA born v1 and that was so easy to charge, plug in and it would charge until 100% at 7Kwh.....@scratch what do you think you changed in the software on the screen to allow 7Kwh again?.....I'm struggling to find anything to make it charge faster. Would love to know what you changed if possible. Thanks in advance.

The setting I couldn't remember is the "Battery Care Mode" :

Th photo shows it is on. I turned it off and the car then completed the charge to 100% at 7kW.

[G43FAN]

Yes, Battery Care mode simply limits the charge to 80% it doesn't do anything else.

The reduced charge options that exist are there to protect the Infrastructure providing the charge, not the Battery.. 3kW or 7kW is not going to make much difference to a battery that can charge at 135kW.

[Scratch]

Yes, Battery Care mode simply limits the charge to 80% it doesn't do anything else.

The reduced charge options that exist are there to protect the Infrastructure providing the charge, not the Battery.. 3kW or 7kW is not going to make much difference to a battery that can charge at 135kW.

Exactly, but I wasn't aware that if I changed the max charge level from 80 to 100% in the app, it would have the effect of limiting the charge rate, until I turned that setting off.
It doesn't make sense to allow the charge override in the app, but then there be a conflict in the car. I guess its just another example of the VW programming prowess?

[G43FAN]

Yes, Battery Care mode simply limits the charge to 80% it doesn't do anything else.

The reduced charge options that exist are there to protect the Infrastructure providing the charge, not the Battery.. 3kW or 7kW is not going to make much difference to a battery that can charge at 135kW.

Exactly, but I wasn't aware that if I changed the max charge level from 80 to 100% in the app, it would have the effect of limiting the charge rate, until I turned that setting off.
It doesn't make sense to allow the charge override in the app, but then there be a conflict in the car. I guess its just another example of the VW programming prowess?

What do you mean by charge rate?
It limits the max SoC to 80% that's it.

[Scratch]

Yes, Battery Care mode simply limits the charge to 80% it doesn't do anything else.

The reduced charge options that exist are there to protect the Infrastructure providing the charge, not the Battery.. 3kW or 7kW is not going to make much difference to a battery that can charge at 135kW.

Exactly, but I wasn't aware that if I changed the max charge level from 80 to 100% in the app, it would have the effect of limiting the charge rate, until I turned that setting off.
It doesn't make sense to allow the charge override in the app, but then there be a conflict in the car. I guess its just another example of the VW programming prowess?

What do you mean by charge rate?
It limits the max SoC to 80% that's it.

As the OP of this thread, I was asking why the charge rate of nearly 7kW had dropped to 3.4kW, when using my Zappi. The battery care setting seems to have had an unexpected affect on how fast the car charges, in the circumstances I outlined earlier. I believe what you are saying is perfectly logical and correct, but I suspect there is yet another VW software bug that is causing what I have seen. It would need someone (VW perhaps?) to look into this further to come to any definitive conclusion. Of course, it may be that the next time I try this exact scenario, it would be fine, but who knows?

[JohnEG]

My Zappi has always charged reliably at 7.4kW since I took delivery of my iD3 last November.
The "Reduced AC Charging Current" option has to be set to "Off".

[G43FAN]

As the OP of this thread, I was asking why the charge rate of nearly 7kW had dropped to 3.4kW, when using my Zappi. The battery care setting seems to have had an unexpected affect on how fast the car charges, in the circumstances I outlined earlier. I believe what you are saying is perfectly logical and correct, but I suspect there is yet another VW software bug that is causing what I have seen. It would need someone (VW perhaps?) to look into this further to come to any definitive conclusion. Of course, it may be that the next time I try this exact scenario, it would be fine, but who knows?

From your OP it sounded like a one off occurence?
Did you try resetting the charging session? (You would have needed to unplug the charger to do that).
Has it occured again, it's a bit of a wild jump to announce 'another' software bug when the only software related item is the battery care setting which has no normal ability to affect RoC, only SoC.


I noticed the ther day that I had 3.0kW of spare generated electric but the car was only accepting 1.4kW (1.6kW was going to the grid). I cancelled the charge, unplugged the charger, waited a few seconds and then plugged back in and it hit 3.0kW straight away. It happens.

[Scratch]

As the OP of this thread, I was asking why the charge rate of nearly 7kW had dropped to 3.4kW, when using my Zappi. The battery care setting seems to have had an unexpected affect on how fast the car charges, in the circumstances I outlined earlier. I believe what you are saying is perfectly logical and correct, but I suspect there is yet another VW software bug that is causing what I have seen. It would need someone (VW perhaps?) to look into this further to come to any definitive conclusion. Of course, it may be that the next time I try this exact scenario, it would be fine, but who knows?

From your OP it sounded like a one off occurence?
Did you try resetting the charging session? (You would have needed to unplug the charger to do that).
Has it occured again, it's a bit of a wild jump to announce 'another' software bug when the only software related item is the battery care setting which has no normal ability to affect RoC, only SoC.


I noticed the ther day that I had 3.0kW of spare generated electric but the car was only accepting 1.4kW (1.6kW was going to the grid). I cancelled the charge, unplugged the charger, waited a few seconds and then plugged back in and it hit 3.0kW straight away. It happens.

I hope it was a one off. No, I didn't try resetting the session. I needed the car when the 100% charge “should" have been ready. As I said allude to previously, it needs someone (VW) to test their systems , not the customer.
I have gone straight for the possibility of a software bug, as they have previous with software bugs.
I really like this car, and mine drives without issue now I'm on V3.0, but will I keep it as the warranty comes to an end? Im not sure. It depends what else is around at the time and whether our UK government has abandoned any semblance of attaining net zero.

[roryh]

I have just been experiencing this same thing recently. I have an ID.3 with a Zappi v1. I use the ECO+ override timer for night charging and in recent months have only been getting 4kW max. Putting the charger in Fast mode gives me 7 kW.

I tried recently also using the timer in the car as i have the latest software and i got the same issue.

[sidehaas]

I have just been experiencing this same thing recently. I have an ID.3 with a Zappi v1. I use the ECO+ override timer for night charging and in recent months have only been getting 4kW max. Putting the charger in Fast mode gives me 7 kW.

I tried recently also using the timer in the car as i have the latest software and i got the same issue.

When you set the timer in your car, did you remember to put the zappi in fast mode?

[nick67]

Think I now know what the issue is.
By setting the charge percentage in the phone app to 100%, which works, the car will not charge at the faster rate until I changed the setting in the car which limits the charge rate to 80%.
Not sure I can get my head around the reason for this but I can see it's probably yet another VW software mess. They haven't tested it.

second your opinion.