c350e - charging when out and about?

[agooday]

Hello everyone -

I've had my c350e a week now. Great car. Official MPG total fiction of course, more like 44mpg even eco mode, but that's a different topic.

Just had my first attempt at charging when out and about, at a local motorway services, ecotricity charge point. Car just wouldn't lock the plug in place and go onto amber/green charging as happens at home. :fail

Anyone got charging to work at a public charging point, and which ones have worked for you? Do you ever need to use the additional "mode 2" cable supplied?

 

[fields5069]

An Ecotricity charger in IKEA Cardiff worked perfectly for me. I only connected when instructed to do so. The cable was a bit short as I had to reverse in to the left-hand bay when looking at the charger, which meant that the cable was pretty much at its comfortable limit when plugging in to the right hand side of the Merc.

 

[agooday]

Thanks - that's helpful. Will try another ecotricity charge point and will ensure I connect only after connection showing on screen (I think I did this, but...)

Has anyone every used the mode 2 cable? Not sure when this would be used (e.g. it wouldn't be applicable at Ecotricity) - As boot is small, would be nice not to lug it around...

 

[derekthetree]

I've not yet charged my car out and about, in a black hole of charging stations...

The one time I went somewhere where I knew I could charge it over xmas, I parked up, went to the wall, mode 3 in hand, and found a normal domestic 3 pin!! and I didn't have my mode 2

I presumed that all public chargers would be mode 3, or have their own cable, so I'd leave my mode 2 at home and only take when on holiday?

 

[Hatchie]

Thanks - that's helpful. Will try another ecotricity charge point and will ensure I connect only after connection showing on screen (I think I did this, but...)

Has anyone every used the mode 2 cable? Not sure when this would be used (e.g. it wouldn't be applicable at Ecotricity) - As boot is small, would be nice not to lug it around...

Yes used mine the other day worked like a dream have found most charging points in shopping centres and carparks just have a mode 2 plug and no cable.

However also got the ecotricity plug stuck after charging (see other post) there seems to be a issue with the locking pin (right hand side is the socket) lining up with the ecotricity ac plug if you have a issue give it a good wiggle and it should. Lock in / unlock.

 

[MaidenheadMerc]

Some of the ecotricity chargers require the cable, these are the "medium" speed 7kWh chargers, the little grey ones. The car doesn't charge any faster on the high speed chargers so I tend to leave them for Leafs, i3s, Zoe's etc.

Main thing I usually have to remember is to use the key to unlock the car for it to release the charger, if I use the hands free unlock method, the charger seems to remain locked in place.

 

[StuartK]

Keep a diesel generator in the boot

 

[Mercnewbi]

Mode 2

I have had no problems with charging on the larger plug. I use the source london network and they are pretty good.

The one problem I have with the Chargemaster/sourcelondon posts is when you use the 3 pin lead, the weight of the black box makes shutting the post lid difficult some times.

So I mostly leave the 3 pin lead at work through the week keeping it in the car for weekends just in case

 

[derekthetree]

I had some issues with my first ecotricity attempts, during some motorway stops.

First try, the station said it was waiting for a go signal from the car. Then the cable wouldn't release! Some wiggling and unlocking/relocking seemed to work.

Second go it again said waiting for go signal from car. I left it to it, on my return a bit too hasty unplugging it (no issues this time), but not sure if any juice went in...

I presume the c350e is compatible with the ac mennekes chargers that ecotricity have?
Is there someway to make the car start charging, I haven't yet sorted my connect me...

 

[flango]

Hello everyone -

I've had my c350e a week now. Great car. Official MPG total fiction of course, more like 44mpg even eco mode, but that's a different topic.

I bought the VW equivalent of the 350e for that reason here are my last two commutes home. These are really genuine.

38 miles 80% Motorway, 15 % A road 5% country lanes.

 

[wrighty senior]

Boot

Thanks - that's helpful. Will try another ecotricity charge point and will ensure I connect only after connection showing on screen (I think I did this, but...)

Has anyone every used the mode 2 cable? Not sure when this would be used (e.g. it wouldn't be applicable at Ecotricity) - As boot is small, would be nice not to lug it around...

As I have said in another thread - there is a massive unused void under the boot mat at the very back of the saloon (left hand side when standing at the back of the car). I have cut a hinged flap in the cover and store the charge cable and a few other items there. The 12volt battery and the high voltage battery and wiring looms are back there so measure the location of the void and cut the cover well away from the car!!

 

[derekthetree]

Right I'm not sure what is going on.

I've tried three more ecotricity chargers on a drive up to Scotland.
Two have connected ok but them immediately stopped claiming a circuit breaker fault. The other would recognise the car.

Am I doing something wrong. I'm picking ac type 2, swiping my card, then connecting to vehicle...

Did have another fail to release first time.

 

[Dieseldrinker]

Right I'm not sure what is going on.

I've tried three more ecotricity chargers on a drive up to Scotland.
Two have connected ok but them immediately stopped claiming a circuit breaker fault. The other would recognise the car.

Am I doing something wrong. I'm picking ac type 2, swiping my card, then connecting to vehicle...

Did have another fail to release first time.

I had success using an Ecotricity point at Toddington services a couple of days ago. Having had difficulty connecting to the Rolec socket we've installed in our site car park, I wanted to try a public charger to make sure the 'fast' charging was working. I had no problems this time, though I have tried an Ecotricity point in the past with no joy.

 

[derekthetree]

I had success using an Ecotricity point at Toddington services a couple of days ago. Having had difficulty connecting to the Rolec socket we've installed in our site car park, I wanted to try a public charger to make sure the 'fast' charging was working. I had no problems this time, though I have tried an Ecotricity point in the past with no joy.

Right, that's promising, you are using the same cable as I was! I thought I was going mad.

Sorry for all the questions, but....

What steps did you go through to start the charge?
Do you have the connect me app to force the car to start charging.
The time it didn't work, did it give you an error reason?

As I put in the other thread, following my trials and tribulations, my car now won't charge from my home socket... I'm worried it might have been related to my attempts at charging..

 

[Dieseldrinker]

What steps did you go through to start the charge?

Place your card on the reader then when it's recognised it instructs you to connect to the car. I can't remember whether I just gave it a wiggle to get it to connect or pressed a button at the side of the charger screen. It's worth noting that the cable is very rigid and I've seen other posts about needing to adjust the cable and wiggle the plug to make the connection.

Do you have the connect me app to force the car to start charging.

No, there is no need to do anything in the app or in the car so all controls are on the charging station.

The time it didn't work, did it give you an error reason?

I think that could have been a faulty station (it was a very wet day which might not have helped), though from what I can tell there are some Ecotricity stations which are incompatible with the Merc. The one I tried was local to me at J15a Services on the M1 so I might try it again sometime.

Have you tried the Zap Map app? That can be filtered by vehicle type and the one I tried previously in Northampton gets filtered out as incompatible, but so does the one I used this week successfully which is listed as a Rapid AC 43kW model, the same as at Northampton. Strange!

As I put in the other thread, following my trials and tribulations, my car now won't charge from my home socket... I'm worried it might have been related to my attempts at charging..

I'm installing my own tethered Rolec socket at home (I'm an electrical engineer) so that will hopefully work, though we've had an untethered Rolec installed in our site car park which I'm having difficulty with. Which socket have you got at home and have you had any difficulty before now?

 

[derekthetree]

lots!

Thanks for all the points, much appreciated

Your method sounds the same as mine. I scan my card, it says plug in. Then it attempts to start charging and either said "AC circuit breaker fault", or sits there showing the timer but claims its waiting on the car and delivers no charge. I figured I needed something to get the car to tell it to charge, but obviously not.

It seems a bit poor that you have to wiggle the cable to get a good connection. Especially as the release mechanism for the cable is lock/unlock the car. Then add in the 2/5 that haven't released straight away, causing minor heart palpitations.

Do wet days affect the connection? I spotted there is a disclaimer to not charge in a thunderstorm!

I have looked at Zapmap, but have been using Plugshare mainly, seems to have good info, and some user reviews of whether they could charge or not.

I'm getting a Pod-Point 3.7kWh installed, it was our lease company preferred supplier (Rolec are just down the road but hey ho)

 

[C350e Driver]

As anyone noticed a deterioration in battery charge achievable mileage range when using the domestic 13A home charging unit?
Mercedes specification states the manual charge will provide a 20 miles range.
I've owned the C350e since last July and the maximum range I've ever achieved on a full charge has been 18 miles and this has now deteriorated to 13 miles.
I appreciate that external temperature has an impact on the charging capacity and also Mercedes have informed me that the range is calculated on previous driving performance. Although, taking all of this into account my maximum range has dropped off.
The best actual range I've ever achieved has been 14 miles driving on the flat at under 30MPH and this has now reduced to approx. 8 miles.
I've asked Mercedes to check the battery during the Service A due in two weeks time.

 

[C350e Driver]

Mileage Range Using Domestic 13A Charging Unit

As anyone noticed a deterioration in battery charge achievable mileage range when using the domestic 13A home charging unit?
Mercedes specification states the manual charge will provide a 20 miles range.
I've owned the C350e since last July and the maximum range I've ever achieved on a full charge has been 18 miles and this has now deteriorated to 13 miles.
I appreciate that external temperature has an impact on the charging capacity and also Mercedes have informed me that the range is calculated on previous driving performance. Although, taking all of this into account my maximum range has dropped off.
The best actual range I've ever achieved has been 14 miles driving on the flat at under 30MPH and this has now reduced to approx. 8 miles.
I've asked Mercedes to check the battery during the Service A due in two weeks time.

 

[C350e Jan 2016]

I have never managed more than 15 miles from a full charge as yet.......

 

[Dieseldrinker]

I appreciate that external temperature has an impact on the charging capacity and also Mercedes have informed me that the range is calculated on previous driving performance. Although, taking all of this into account my maximum range has dropped off.

When I get the software update that gives me an external temperature gauge I'll let you know!

Up until now I'd only charged on the 13A lead and it was slowly creeping from 14 miles initially up to a maximum of 16 miles so far. I've just started using a Rolec 16A socket at work so time will tell whether that has an impact.