Yo! I picked up my Clarity Touring on Friday, and we drove it home on Gas since the dealers don’t seem to keep the Clarity charged. When I got it home, I plugged it into the wall and the power light on the charging block came on. However, the “charge” light would not light up. I decided to leave it alone for a couple of hours. Then, I came back out to find that there was no more charge in the battery than when I left it. I fiddled with it more, testing out different plugs in my garage. Then, once, the charge light kicked on... I was excited... So I turned my car around and backed it into the garage so I could charge from that outlet. Plugged in the car again and no charge light. At this point, I’m pulling my hair out. I finally resort to reading the manual... I read the paper that comes with the charging cable. I read the part of the manual that has to do with charging... There is nothing there that describes my issue. I’m super frustrated because I saw it charge for a second, so I know it can do it! Finally, sweaty from sitting in my hot garage, trying to find out what’s wrong, I decide to sit in the car and see if there is some setting in the car that needs to flip. On the steering wheel, there is a way to get to a “Vehicle Settings” menu, which has only one option. “Charge Control Timer”. Of course, I go in there and find that the timer is turned on and set to charge the car to FULL, but to only start at midnight. I turn that off, and magically, the car starts to charge. Turns out, I happen to be staring at the charging block right as the clock struck midnight, which is why I saw it work for a second and then it didn’t work again. The better way for Honda to do this would have been a window instead of a “START TIME”. “Start charging any time the car is plugged in between midnight 8AM.” As an example. I’m pretty sure this is part of why the dealer didn’t keep the car charged. I don’t know who set that to on, but I just turned it off for now. I understand why you would have this feature, but I do wish there was information on it in the “Charging” section of the manual at least. I thought I would post here in case anyone else was having this particular charging issue. Sent from my iPad using Inside EVs
You can override the charge timer by pressing and holding the "plug door" button on the key. I have my charge timer set for midnight to 6:00 AM - the time when my rates are lowest. That way I can get home, plug in the car, and know that it will start charging when the rates are low. I just need to remember to press the button on the key when I'm outside that time block. There's a green LED on the car near the charge port - it will be on solid while charging, and will blink when you're plugged in but waiting for the timer. That said, I agree that the timer function could be a lot smarter. Four years ago I had a Ford C-MAX Energi, and it allowed you to set timers tied to a location. The car knew that when I plugged in at home it should wait for lower rates, but when I plugged in anywhere else it would charge immediately.
