For the first time I tried using the onboard charging timer in the car. Previously I used only the timer in my ChargePoint home charger app. Often in the morning I would see 10, 15 or more notices from the Audi app that charging was complete. As the charge dropped to 79% from the requested 80%, the charge cycle would reinitiate to bring it back to 80%. These cycles continued endlessly until the ChargePoint timer window closed out, stopping any further charging. However with each 79%>80% cycle, like many of us, I'd get the 'charge complete' app notice and hence the endless notifications from the app based on how many of these cycles actually occurred.
Fast forward to last night when I tried the onboard timer instead of the ChargePoint timer for the first time. I set the timer for a departure of 5:30am even though I was going nowhere. The charging began at 2:26am and ended at 5:30am with no apparent problems. I got one single notification from the Audi app that charging was successful. That's where the good news ends. Just like using the ChargePoint timer when you set a charging window that's unnecessarily long for the required charge, when I went into the garage at about 8am, I heard the relays clicking as another low energy cycle was apparently beginning. Now that was just by chance, as I'm sure there were many other of these brief cycles that occurred between 5:30am when the real charging ended and 8am when I entered the garage. The good thing was that the app sent out only one 'charge complete' notification.
Now granted this could be part of the 'conditioning' routine, but good grief, this constant cycling of the relays clicking & clacking away cannot be good for longevity of the system. It would seem that if you're using the onboard timer, you really want to accurately time your departure or you'll get these endless cycles. But on the weekend, many of us don't know exactly when we're leaving the house but still want to charge the car overnight. After all, it is the weekend. At least with the ChargePoint timer I can estimate the necessary charge time to bring the SoC to 80% and dial in that amount. That minimizes the wear & tear on the relays & what ever other system components are involved in the charging cycling. It would also minimize the number of app notifications I get.
Fast forward to last night when I tried the onboard timer instead of the ChargePoint timer for the first time. I set the timer for a departure of 5:30am even though I was going nowhere. The charging began at 2:26am and ended at 5:30am with no apparent problems. I got one single notification from the Audi app that charging was successful. That's where the good news ends. Just like using the ChargePoint timer when you set a charging window that's unnecessarily long for the required charge, when I went into the garage at about 8am, I heard the relays clicking as another low energy cycle was apparently beginning. Now that was just by chance, as I'm sure there were many other of these brief cycles that occurred between 5:30am when the real charging ended and 8am when I entered the garage. The good thing was that the app sent out only one 'charge complete' notification.
Now granted this could be part of the 'conditioning' routine, but good grief, this constant cycling of the relays clicking & clacking away cannot be good for longevity of the system. It would seem that if you're using the onboard timer, you really want to accurately time your departure or you'll get these endless cycles. But on the weekend, many of us don't know exactly when we're leaving the house but still want to charge the car overnight. After all, it is the weekend. At least with the ChargePoint timer I can estimate the necessary charge time to bring the SoC to 80% and dial in that amount. That minimizes the wear & tear on the relays & what ever other system components are involved in the charging cycling. It would also minimize the number of app notifications I get.