When Should I Charge?

3785 ml per gallon and 20 drops per ml. So there are about 75,000 drops per gallon. At one drop per day it would take 200+ years to get a gallon. So yeah, 7 drops per day for 15 years (car lifetime?) would get you your half a gallon.

Mike

 

The same thing happened to me once I switched over from using the OEM EVSE to an L2 EVSE. The first charge ended really early. I'm not sure how early. I set it to end at 7:20 and when I checked at 6:30AM it was already done. The next day, like you, set it for something like 8AM. When I went to check on it at 7:00AM, it was still charging. When I left the house at 7:20, it wasnt done (dont recall how much charge it did get though).

However, after that first few days, its been pretty accurate. I set it to 7:20AM and noticed the next morning it was done by 7:00AM or so. So I bumped it up to 7:30AM for the next morning. But when I left the house at 7:20AM that day, it was still charging. So I've since just set it to 7:20AM and leave it there.

I havent checked since then to see if its completing early, but its full when I leave at 7:15AM-7:20AM so that's good enough for me. Through my various unscientific tests, at least I know its completing somewhere around the End Time.

 

i feel like mine charges at different rates based on what else in the house is running. but it could be based on how much charge is left in the battery, something i haven't monitored yet, but which the vehicle end timer should be able to take into account.

 

they still put different rooms on the same circuit and different circuits in the same room, so that, if a breaker trips, you won't lose everything in the room you're in. you should install a dedicated circuit at some point as toyota recommends.

 

The current draw is the same regardless what else is running in your house. I tested two circuits, one where the parking lot lights are on the same circuit and the other was dedicated. the one with the lights was at 107.0 volts at 11.72 amps the other dedicated circuit was at 117.0 volts at 11.72 amps

 

I fully charged my car car before going on an 11-day vacation. I lost approximately 0.4 percent charge while it sat for those 11 days. BAttery SOC went from 84.7% to 84.3%.

 

so you're pulling more kwh on the dedicated which would shorten charging time?

 

Somewhere it was also stated that after getting to your destination with a depleted battery and immediately charging the "Hot" battery, it will Shorten the life of the Li battery. So it best, as indicated above, to charge the PIP so that it's ready just before you're ready to drive.

With everyone complaining that the STOP Timer starts the charge before it needs to, I use the START Timer only and set it for 3 hrs before I need to drive it. Works for me.

This question and answer should be added to the FAQ sticky.

 

yeah, on the shared circuit it's 2 hours and 34 minutes, the dedicated it's 2 hours and 13 minutes

 

wouldn't you think the car would sense the voltage and set the start time accordingly? same for where the battery level is when it starts charging. but maybe they just programmed in a fixed 3 hours or something?

 

The charging system drops amperage to zero for about three seconds then resumes full amperage eight times during the charge cycle, then during the last ten minutes drops to half amperage before ending the charge cycle

 

Absolute baloney. The manual also recommends to not use an extension cord, to use a dedicated circuit, and to get your car towed if you get a flat. Are we going to follow that too?
Keep in mind that the manual is written first by lawyers, then by people who know some things about the car. No engineer ever touches it.

 

This. I once charged the car and ended up not driving for two days. Plugged in the charger and the car didn't want to charge at all.

 

Fwiw, the manual actually states to deplete the entire EV portion of the battery and store the car with only HV electricity.

 

This is basic ev knowledge on how to maintain battery capacity.. Go ahead and do what you like to your own battery... just dont deny the science behind what you ought to do

 

The battery is never charged to 100%, so the science isn't applicable in this case.

 

LOL, thanks Mike. Now, I'm completely justified in molesting my car at the gas station as my friend so eloquently put it.

 

One year later... Did any of you guys who plug&charge immediately noticed any battery degradation? Shorter EV range?

I got a new PiP and my lifestyle is too dynamic, to know my next departure time in advance. This "charge as late as possible" paragraph in the owner's manual is hardest one for me to adopt.

I read somewhere (can't remember where), that LiON batteries used in PiP are made by Sanyo/Panasonic. If they use same technology as their eneloopTM brand, the PiP's battery pack should be OK when stored fully charged. Of course at around 70F.