Issues charging at home with universal cable from Skoda - red buttons (plug, house and car)

[georgeistratero]

Hi guys,
I tried to search for similar problems but didn't find any solution so I have a question: why isn't the charging process working at home. I have an universal charging cable (plus console) from the Skoda dealer and when I follow all procedures in the vehicle's manual the console lights turn red (plug button, house and car) and it doesn't charge the car.
Can't seem to find the solution so please help if any of you had similar issues?!
Thank you!

[Ken3966]

Does the car charge on a slow charger elsewhere using the cable that came with car?
There are two charging methods; fast charging with DC chargers, slow with AC .
Either can be faulty but the other still works.

[ComicGeek]

Have you tried leaving it plugged in for a while? Modern chargers have a random delayed start, by which they will started charging anywhere between 0 and 30 minutes or so after plugging in. My Enyaq always shows a red light upon plugging in, but then turns green and starts charging if I override the delayed start or just wait for it.

If you're getting a red light, and then just unplugging, just leave it in for a while.

[Gints]

I had that problem because there was no ground wire connected to the contact

[Walter Eagle]

Modern chargers have a random delayed start

What?! Why!?

[Lorttrol]

Modern chargers have a random delayed start

What?! Why!?

To help reduce the load on the national grid. If all the thousands of cars out there all charged at the same time there would be a massive draw on the grid and it wouldnt be able to cope. Random delays allow the grid to gradualy fluctuate up and down when needed. Newer chargers can also communicate with your eletric provider so your cheap rate starts when your car charges.

[Walter Eagle]

Modern chargers have a random delayed start

What?! Why!?

To help reduce the load on the national grid. If all the thousands of cars out there all charged at the same time there would be a massive draw on the grid and it wouldnt be able to cope. Random delays allow the grid to gradualy fluctuate up and down when needed. Newer chargers can also communicate with your eletric provider so your cheap rate starts when your car charges.

So ... if I plug my car in to charge at, say, 5:04pm and the charger sticks in a random, say, 17 minute delay, and you plug your car in to charge at 05:12pm and your charger sticks in a random delay of say, 9 minutes, we both kick off charging at precisely the same time. How does that help the grid? Would we (or the grid) have been better off separated by 8 minutes? Next thing my washing-machine, tumble-dryer, dishwasher and oven will be randomly delaying themselves.

I've honestly never encountered a charger - domestic or commercial - that delayed charging randomly. Does that just mean I've never used a modern one?

And the whole concept of chargers communicating with electricity suppliers is definitely not random. It is monitored, measured and controlled.

[Lorttrol]

What?! Why!?

To help reduce the load on the national grid. If all the thousands of cars out there all charged at the same time there would be a massive draw on the grid and it wouldnt be able to cope. Random delays allow the grid to gradualy fluctuate up and down when needed. Newer chargers can also communicate with your eletric provider so your cheap rate starts when your car charges.

So ... if I plug my car in to charge at, say, 5:04pm and the charger sticks in a random, say, 17 minute delay, and you plug your car in to charge at 05:12pm and your charger sticks in a random delay of say, 9 minutes, we both kick off charging at precisely the same time. How does that help the grid? Would we (or the grid) have been better off separated by 8 minutes? Next thing my washing-machine, tumble-dryer, dishwasher and oven will be randomly delaying themselves.

I've honestly never encountered a charger - domestic or commercial - that delayed charging randomly. Does that just mean I've never used a modern one?

And the whole concept of chargers communicating with electricity suppliers is definitely not random. It is monitored, measured and controlled.

The issue is that if everyones cars start charging at 11:30 pm it causes a massive draw on the grid which could cause a problem. If they all stop charging at the same time it can also cause problems. We're talking about half a million cars in the UK at the moment, if they all go on charge at the same time its going to cause problems. The odd coinicidence of two peoples cars starting their charges at the same time is not going to cause a problem. I beleive these rules only effect home EV chargers and not commercial installations or superchargers as they tend to have their own large grid connections and be backed up by battery too.

At the moment the grid cannot keep up with current expansions. New housing estates going up everywhere, record number of EVs being sold, going for green electricity. In East Anglia they want to install 180km of pylons to get green energy from the offshore wind farms into london. The current plyons cannot carry that amount of power.

The delays are part of the latest version of charger rules that the UK government have introduced. At the moment they are voluntry and you can skip these countdowns but moving farward they are likely to remove that capability.

The idea being with all these smart devices is that they can decide when to run, thus saving you money by not starting their cycles until your cheap rate has kicked in. With variable tarrifs you'll be able to set them to only run when it costs less than Xp per KW for example. Overnight there is the chance to go negative too, where the grid will pay you to take away excess electrcity. With the smart charging infrastructure you may be getting paid to charge your car etc overnight at certian times.

At the end of the day its a numbers game. Some people cant/wont want to know all the details or keep an eye on the costs etc. They will just want to plug in and go and not worry or think about these things. Me I love it so I try to keep on top of these things. I run an IT company so have a keen interest in the tech too.

[Walter Eagle]

if everyones cars start charging at 11:30 pm

If they all stop charging at the same time

if they all go on charge at the same time

Well, yes, yes and yes. But I really can't see these three conditions being met.
If we take the half-million EVs you mention, what are the probabilities governing the start times and durations of their charging periods? I genuinely don't know. There may indeed be a general long-term pattern but I'd suspect it's not precise and specific. Adding a random time factor on top of this could just as well serve to produce coincidences of starting that were not there to begin with.

You mention IT. This delay is not like CSMA/CD. In that case we do have an identical starting time for two events. Holding off for two randomly generated delays ensures that the coincidence doesn't repeat.

Out of interest, does your domestic charger randomly delay charging? Mine doesn't, and it's only a year old. Is this delay issue only emerging now and is it being enforced by legislation? I've not come across it before, so I'm genuinely interested in understanding what the future holds.

[CrowSysE243]

I think that the issue is that without the random delay everybody on the same EV tariff could be starting the charge simultaneously. It is not a problem with Intelligent Octopus since Octopus controls the charging.
The regulations were formulated in 2021 but did not come into effect until 30th June 2022. I think the only change since then has been strengthening their cyber security requirements. You can read the regulations at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2021/9780348228434 with summary information at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/regulations ... rge-points. The relevant part is near the end where the summary states
Charge points must also:
...
allow for a randomised delay function