My OpenEVSE has been running perfectly with my Smart ForTwo ED3 for some months now, timed to charge between 00.00 and 07.00. No problems.
Today someone came over with a Smart ForTwo EQ (i.e. the later/latest model) in order to test charging irregularities with his own (different) EVSE. Essentially, it seemed like timed charging was unreliable and I could easily adjust that on my OpenEVSE for us to test his EQ.
Trouble is, we couldn’t get it to charge at all. It was down to about 30% charge, however simply switching the OpenEVSE to ‘manual override’ would start a charge session, but within a second or so it would simply stop. Subsequent switching between ‘Auto’ (timed) and ‘manual override’ via the web interface had no effect. If the car was first unplugged and plugged back in, it would again start a charge but almost immediately stop again.
Trying this instead with my ED3 and it worked as expected. Charging started immediately and continued. So the difference is purely down to the EQ.
Has anyone come across this on a Smart EQ? Under what circumstances would the OpenEVSE start to charge but stop almost immediately? I can only think the car is erroneously reporting that it is full and needs no charge. However this EQ charges from public EVSEs and also the owner’s ‘granny’ charge cable from mains socket. So the EQ clearly can ‘see’ a difference between the OpenEVSE and a ‘granny’ or public chargepoint.
Whilst this is essentially ‘not my problem’, I want to get to the bottom of this so I won’t be at a loss if this ever happens with my own car. Any advice appreciated.