C350e owners club

[spookie321]

I'd get some hooks on the wall to hold that brick - that's a fair bit of weight to be hanging off the 13a plug, last thing you want is a problem on a high current draw circuit.

Cracking idea.

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[derekthetree]

Uh oh, got the red battery malfunction error... Perhaps that will push me up the queue! It's saying consult workshop and don't change gear, but still seemed to drive OK. Anybody else had this one?

 

[JP350e]

Uh oh, got the red battery malfunction error... Perhaps that will push me up the queue! It's saying consult workshop and don't change gear, but still seemed to drive OK. Anybody else had this one?

Oh no! Yes, I had that a few times. I contacted Mercedes assist and they said if it still drives just ignore it and get it booked in to be looked at.

Just out of curiosity, have you taken a look at the charge port pins to see if they look corroded at all? That was apparently the cause of my problems..

 

[derekthetree]

Oh no! Yes, I had that a few times. I contacted Mercedes assist and they said if it still drives just ignore it and get it booked in to be looked at.

Just out of curiosity, have you taken a look at the charge port pins to see if they look corroded at all? That was apparently the cause of my problems..

Yeah not good. It still drives OK, seemingly charges up and discharges on the move. I'll ring the garage tomorrow and check if they can get me in this week.

I did actually check them after it wasn't charging after your reporting on here. They look OK, could you see rust on yours?

 

[JP350e]

Yeah not good. It still drives OK, seemingly charges up and discharges on the move. I'll ring the garage tomorrow and check if they can get me in this week.

I did actually check them after it wasn't charging after your reporting on here. They look OK, could you see rust on yours?

It sounds exactly like my problems.. I never looked in the charge port as I didn't have the car back in between the garage discovering the problem and eventually fixing it.

I hope they manage to fix it quickly for you!

 

[JP350e]

As we're sharing pictures of our charge point installations, here's mine. My wife has a Nissan Leaf (fully electric car) so we had the Rolec pod fitted a year or so ago - it's a socket version rather than tethered cable so either of us can use it. If she's charging the leaf, I use the 13a charger.

 

[Blackarrow]

Has anyone else been told that they need an earthing strip fitted with their Rolec charger? None of the photos I've seen posted on this or other threads show an unsightly earthing strip and my house is only 5 years old (similar vintage to many of the houses shown here). The charger will be fitted in the car port (undercover) and only 2 metres from the house feed and fuse box. The guy doing the survey didn't do any tests of my house's electrics and I was told that he would need to drill down 1 metre into my drive! This was all arranged via Rolec. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

 

[JP350e]

Has anyone else been told that they need an earthing strip fitted with their Rolec charger? None of the photos I've seen posted on this or other threads show an unsightly earthing strip and my house is only 5 years old (similar vintage to many of the houses shown here). The charger will be fitted in the car port (undercover) and only 2 metres from the house feed and fuse box. The guy doing the survey didn't do any tests of my house's electrics and I was told that he would need to drill down 1 metre into my drive! This was all arranged via Rolec. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Yes, I had to have one fitted. My charger is on the garage which is remote from the garage - had to have around 10m of armoured cable buried in the garden and an earth spike into the ground at the side of the garage. It's on the garden side so it was just a case of hammering it into the ground for me.

 

[Hicksy]

I was going to have my Rolec fitted outside the garage but then the engineer started talking about an earthing strip (costs extra), then he noticed a metal-cased outside light that was above where the Rolec was going to go which would need replacing with a plastic version (costs extra)... I got the picture.

Had it fitted inside the garage and plan to run the cable out to the car when needed under the garage door. That should have put the price back to £195 but I was then invoiced an additional "registration charge" of £15. No real idea what that was for, will phone them up for an explanation given that the rest of you seem not to have been hit with that one. Someone is making an overly healthy margin in this process.

 

[Dieseldrinker]

Has anyone else been told that they need an earthing strip fitted with their Rolec charger? None of the photos I've seen posted on this or other threads show an unsightly earthing strip and my house is only 5 years old (similar vintage to many of the houses shown here). The charger will be fitted in the car port (undercover) and only 2 metres from the house feed and fuse box. The guy doing the survey didn't do any tests of my house's electrics and I was told that he would need to drill down 1 metre into my drive! This was all arranged via Rolec. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

That all sounds a bit strange to me. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere with an agricultural earth supply the earth on your house supply should be perfectly adequate, especially if your house is only about 5 years old.

I'm part way through installing my own Rolec socket and have installed the socket and the armoured cable and just have to get the cable into the house and connect up next weekend. None of the info that came with the socket says anything about any special earthing requirement.

 

[Benzmanc]

That all sounds a bit strange to me. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere with an agricultural earth supply the earth on your house supply should be perfectly adequate, especially if your house is only about 5 years old.

I'm part way through installing my own Rolec socket and have installed the socket and the armoured cable and just have to get the cable into the house and connect up next weekend. None of the info that came with the socket says anything about any special earthing requirement.

i suspect something similar along the lines of 'you need a new aerial to get digital tv' is at work here

 

[Bewva]

Sounds like a big con to me and the installers will be getting overpaid as its a fairly unregulated grant. I think I will opt for the £20 Screwfix outside socket as above.
Is it right that the grant ends in March?

 

[JP350e]

That all sounds a bit strange to me. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere with an agricultural earth supply the earth on your house supply should be perfectly adequate, especially if your house is only about 5 years old.

I'm part way through installing my own Rolec socket and have installed the socket and the armoured cable and just have to get the cable into the house and connect up next weekend. None of the info that came with the socket says anything about any special earthing requirement.

It's wiring regulations, not sure of the specifics but it would be worth checking if you know anyone qualified. At the end of the day, you're dealing with high voltage outside, possibly in the rain. For the few pounds the earth post costs it's better safe then sorry!

 

[mbboyracer]

Sounds like a big con to me and the installers will be getting overpaid as its a fairly unregulated grant. I think I will opt for the £20 Screwfix outside socket as above.
Is it right that the grant ends in March?

A good topic that I'll expand on, but first:

No, I've read that the Maximum Grant drops from £700 to £500 on 1st April.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...omecharge-scheme-guidance-installers-2016.pdf

With that change, I think that the requirement for three years' monitoring also goes. At the moment the amount paid (directly to the installer) is 75% of the total cost up to the max of £700. So you can see where the motivation comes from for a dealer to pump up the cost.

This looks much like it has been a "cash cow" for the industry; one installer I tried kept adding to the requirements so that the final estimate was £500 for me to pay and included two-weeks domestic consumption monitoring on a circuit that was remote from the intended charge-point circuit and not connected to it at all beyond the meter. The £500 would have been on top of the amount I've already paid for my builder's electrician to install the cable and CU for the dedicated circuit. Clearly a no-go situation.

The other contractor has either left the planet or gone ski-ing. He thought that OLEV would object to the cemented-in sturdy wooden post. He wanted to insert a metal post (earthing? he didn't mention a reason). I e-mailed OLEV twice for clarification but they do not reply.

And all this is for a charge point that I do not strictly need! So it looks as though I'll let the grant go, get the car, use the Mode 2 brick; decide if I need a Charge-Point and if so, fit myself, and get my builders electrician to come and check it for £50.

 

[RatCatcher]

Hi all - I'm trying to work out best placement for my charger at home and have a (possibly silly) question. I understand that the connectors are watertight but is there any need to keep the mode selection box on the cable covered or is that waterproof too?

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[Dieseldrinker]

Problems charging.

Company had a Rolec socket fitted in the car park yesterday so I'm trying the charging using the mode 3 cable for the first time but having problems.

I've got the car hooked up using the mode 3 cable and the socket led goes solid blue, indicating it's ready to charge, the socket locks to the car, but I can't get the charging to start. It's not set for timed charging and previously using the mode 2 cable charging starts straight away.

Mystery solved. The electrician that installed it has been back and found that there was a loose wire at the controller in the socket which connects to the CP pin. This meant that the controller in the socket was unable to communicate with the car to tell each other to start charging.

After installing my own Rolec socket this weekend, there's an electronic controller inside the box which operates a contactor to supply the power to the socket (or tethered lead) once it acknowledges that the car is connected. I guess on the smartcard versions these also have an input from a smartcard or key reader. Quite a clever bit of kit which is why they're probably so expensive.

Anyway I will be checking that all the connections are tight on mine before I use it!

 

[derekthetree]

So update, after the battery malfunction warning light yesterday, rang local garage and they advised not to drive it...

So call to lease company, one nice AA man whose computer wouldn't talk to the car, a drive to the garage and I'm now c350e-less . Twiddling thumbs awaiting a diagnosis...

 

[Bewva]

A mate at work has just been quoted £480 for his charger installation. He's told them to shove it. He recons the installation is inside his garage about 3m from his consumer unit and requires an additional single CU installing.

 

[paulhx]

Rolec 32a tethered unit installed today and we are officially up and running. Here's hoping the 99mpg displayed since trip reset this afternoon continues!

 

[C350e Jan 2016]

Heater booster problem....?