How to set max charge to ANY percent

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gpsman

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
524
Hey guys and gals-

A guy with handle "News Coulomb" on YouTube described a work around to set your max battery charge to pretty much whatever you want it to be within the range of 40% to 100%.

There is a setting for "priority charge to 40%". This will always bring you from whatever you are at to a consistent 40% starting point, then pause.

Also turn on "charge during off peak only".

Once you know (though experimentation) how many hours it takes with YOUR plug to get from 40% to your desired SOC.....
Simply define your "off peak time of day" for precisely that length of time. Then your Bolt will stop charging.

BRILLIANT! I knew there had to be a built in way to do this! :D

Example: After three experiments, you found out it takes 6h 30 minutes to charge at home from 40% to 80%.

As long as you always deplete to below 40%, "priority charge" to exactly 40%.
Then define "off peak" as midnight to 6:30am.
Turn on charge "off peak only".

D-O-N-E

Brilliant and really pretty easy if you have a routine.

-John ( 3 days of Bolt ownership and 3 days of continuous grin) :mrgreen:
 
I love it! It's so simple yet so clever. Thanks for sharing!

Does the Bolt have an easy charging override button? My Leaf has a prominent button on the dash. If I push it, it ignores those settings and charges immediately to 100%.
 
So is doing the above compatible with Hilltop Reserve mode? That would give you a back up maximum of ~88%, in the event you plug in initially with over 40%.

Cheers, Wayne
 
Yeah, I saw that. Seems like too much work for too little benefit. I usually end the day above 40%, but sometimes under. Life is too short to waste it micromanaging charge limits to reduce long-term battery anxiety in exchange for a little added daily range anxiety. I just pretend I live at the top of a hill, charge to 87% every night, and don't worry about it.
 
phil0909 said:
Yeah, I saw that. Seems like too much work for too little benefit. I usually end the day above 40%, but sometimes under. Life is too short to waste it micromanaging charge limits to reduce long-term battery anxiety in exchange for a little added daily range anxiety. I just pretend I live at the top of a hill, charge to 87% every night, and don't worry about it.

You may regret this in a few years. Take the best possible care of your battery.

Three years ago on the Ford Focus forum, people were saying the same sort of thing...the battery is liquid cooled, Ford did a great job of designing it, I'm not gonna worry. It was a mistake.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
I love it! It's so simple yet so clever. Thanks for sharing!

Does the Bolt have an easy charging override button? My Leaf has a prominent button on the dash. If I push it, it ignores those settings and charges immediately to 100%.
Yes it does. You click a "Temporary Override" tab, then click "Charge Immediately" and that's it.
 
I believe one owner had been at a dealer with a factory engineer was training the service mechanics. He had asked the question about the battery being full. He engineer said it doesn't charge to 100%. The barrier is a little bigger than 60 kw. So that it would never charge to full and ( I am guessing) never go to 0 either. I wish I could find the post but I haven't had any luck. With the good job they did on the Volt battery I honk they thought of these things designing the Bolt.
 
michael said:
You may regret this in a few years. Take the best possible care of your battery.

Perhaps, but I doubt it. I set my nighttime charge to finish at 7AM when I leave on my 42-mile commute, which brings the battery quickly down to a bit under 70%. GM does not seem to have provided relevant battery care/charging guidance, and from what I can tell, this may be pretty close to optimal anyway - my battery spends very little time anywhere close to a full charge, and has enough juice every morning to prevent range anxiety and avoid the need to discharge to much below 25%. I'm a firm believer in the 80-20 rule. This approach requires no monitoring, and the battery should be just fine. If it's not, there's a decent 8-year/100k mile warranty, and if there's still a problem, I should be able to find an even better car in a few years. Life is short - enjoy it! :mrgreen:
 
CGameProgrammer said:
GetOffYourGas said:
I love it! It's so simple yet so clever. Thanks for sharing!

Does the Bolt have an easy charging override button? My Leaf has a prominent button on the dash. If I push it, it ignores those settings and charges immediately to 100%.
Yes it does. You click a "Temporary Override" tab, then click "Charge Immediately" and that's it.

It's good that they have it, but unfortunately that it is buried under a touch screen tab. I guess you won't use it on a Bolt nearly as often as I do on my Leaf, so it's not really a big deal.
 
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