How to lock charger?

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rustybones

rustybones

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The car will not lock the charger connector to its port if the plug end is attached to a 110v household outlet, meaning anyone can unplug my car by just pressing the release button on the coupler.

Sorry if this has been asked before but is there anyway to lock the connector to the port?
 
Option to lock should be in the charge settings in the infotainment display.

Unless… the behavior is different from 240v?
 
Thanks for reminding me to remove the original L1 unit from my boot basement. I can’t foresee an occasion that I might need it. When I go down to the garage I’ll test the parameters.
 
Per the manual, the SE only locks the plug in place when the vehicle is locked and the car is charging. At 100% SoC the plug should unlock even when the SE is locked. It seems the SE is a bit unusual for a BEV by allowing arbitrary removal of the plug during charging, which personally I like.
 
I ran an experiment with my SE today, it definitely locked the cable during charging when the SE was locked (I plugged in cable first, then locked the SE). When it got to 100% SoC the cable was unlocked and I could remove it while the SE was still locked.

There is an option in the charging settings to enable/disable unlocking of the plug.

sesetcharging.webp


This was Level 2, I have no reason to doubt Level 1 is any different. DCFC shouldn't be different either, since the locking latch is on the top of the J1772 plug, although maybe some (all?) DCFC chargers don't have latches. I happen to live close to an Electrify America location, so I might be able to test DCFC locking.
 
But on mine, DC locks while it’s charging, even with the doors unlocked, until charging is stopped — it’s unlikely I’ll ever DC charge to 100% unless I have a couple of hours to spare one morning at that free 24 kW BMW dealership ChargePoint station.
 
I ran the DCFC charge experiment today, and it definitely locked the handle during charge while the SE was locked. I inserted the Electrify America cable, locked the SE, and then was unable to remove the cable. I then started the charge session. When the SE reached 100% SoC I was able to remove the cable with SE still locked. I can't say how much of the locking was done by the EA charger and how much by the SE, but the SE certainly let me remove it when done charging. Further testing would be needed, such as ending the charge session before 100% SoC and see if the SE lets the cable be removed.

eadcfc.webp


I thought it shouldn't take long to charge from 97% SoC to 100% SoC, but I was so wrong! It took 20 minutes to add 3% SoC, because the charge rate started at a meager 13 kW but dropped to 3 kW for the last 1% SoC. That's only marginally better than Level 1 charging.
 
Sorry to bump this thread more than three weeks later, but I just went out to my car that had been plugged in overnight and probably finished charging around 9 PM, and the cable was still locked as long as the doors were locked. As soon as I unlocked the doors, the cable was able to be removed. I do believe the checkbox in the settings is unchecked.
 
SameGuy said:
Sorry to bump this thread more than three weeks later, but I just went out to my car that had been plugged in overnight and probably finished charging around 9 PM, and the cable was still locked as long as the doors were locked. As soon as I unlocked the doors, the cable was able to be removed. I do believe the checkbox in the settings is unchecked.
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There's no better reason to bump a thread than to provide additional valuable information. Thanks!
 
I must be confused. When I charge my SE and lock the doors, the cable cannot be removed. Once the charging is done, I unlock the car and remove the cable. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Why would you want the cable to be locked when the doors are unlocked?
 
revorg said:
I must be confused. When I charge my SE and lock the doors, the cable cannot be removed. Once the charging is done, I unlock the car and remove the cable. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be? Why would you want the cable to be locked when the doors are unlocked?
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I think the question was whether the SE unlocks the cable when charging is complete even if the doors are locked.
 
Teddydogno1 said:
We level 2 charge our SE almost every night and it is charged to 100% well before we use it in the morning. The cable stays locked until the doors are unlocked.

Rob
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I couldn't find any setting that unlocks the cable if the doors are locked. I don't know if Bimmercode could change it.
 
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Once I charge SE in garage I never lock a car I can remove plug any time during charging but J1772 is mechanical lock with spring to correctly engage a charging port prevent from arc if you not plug fully and I don’t see any practical reason to play with Bimmercode to disengage that function.if someone don’t like a function bc you have to press a baton on top of J1772 to remove a plug just cut a tip of J1772 with hacksaw and you can remove plug freely if car is lock or unlock all the time.
 
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Rexsio said:
I don’t see any practical reason to play with Bimmercode to disengage that function
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It only makes sense in a public charging situation. To be as considerate as possible, one would naturally want to surrender the plug as soon as your SE was fully charged. If a locked SE would unlock the charging handle when charging was complete, you could go to dinner and leave a note telling other anxious EV drivers it's OK to unplug your SE when the charging port LED stopped flashing.
 
I will test this further. I never DC charge to 100%, so I can’t really say from experience. I just know the charge cable is always locked on when I decide to quite charging.

The day I bought the SE I attempted to DC charge at an EA station. The cable appeared to be locked on which I thought was EA, but turned out it was the SE. I called EA and they assured me that their charger is incapable of locking the charge cable. That function is always up to the BEV.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
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