• Welcome to the BMW Scooter Forums. Member registration disables ads and allows you to post and share. Register Here.

Charging basics 101

G

ghostrider4

Active member
Joined
Jul 9, 2023
Messages
114
Location
Florida
Visit site
Looked at the printed manual…to make sure I do this right can someone please advise correct steps to follow?
  • Steps to charge at home
  • Steps to charge at Level 2 charging station
My guess is the CE04 charging port on the bike is a J1722 (if not I have no clue what it is).

Per BMW Epower section of owners manual, page 111, it says to turn on Standby Mode then set the charge current. Does the CE04 not auto default to a base charging level?
It says to then go into the menu (settings/vehicle settings/charging settings/charg/curr(ent) limit.
What current limit is one to use for home charging 110v?
What current limit is one to use for home charging 220v?
What current limit is one to use for a Level 2 charge station?

If a Level 2 station offers different charge rate options which should one select? The CE04 does not offer DC fast charging.
Other info…
Probably missing a few points but this is a start as I have never owed nor changed a EV before. I know to wait until it is below 80% to do a charge for any amount of time and best to not let it get below 20% without charging (or so it seems).
Thank you
 
Hey @ghostrider4 -

Charging is mostly easier than you are making it out to be: plug the J1772 cable into the bike & turn the bike off.

The only weird thing about the CE 04 is that it may come from the factory configured with a 10A charging limit. My guess is that BMW is afraid that someone's first experience with the bike is to blow a fuse. The first thing to do before charging the bike is to crank it up to the maximum current (30A for the QuickCharge option, 16A otherwise) and let the bike negotiate with the charging cable (often called an "EVSE") for the appropriate current (amps). The only time you might need to manually set the amperage limit on the bike is if you are charging off of a misconfigured electrical system or adapter configuration.

My advice for home charging is: start with the included charging cable & see if it's good enough. If not, you can get a hard-wired charger or a NEMA 14-50 (50A @ 220V) outlet. If the new Tesla Universal Wall Connector (https://shop.tesla.com/product/universal-wall-connector) been available a year ago, I would have likely gone for it, but instead opted for an electrician to install an external NEMA 14-50 outlet (about $1000 to install, depending on your home setup). That new Tesla wall connector looks really nice as it has support for both Tesla & J1772 ends and can charge at 48A (normal corded EVSEs can only charge at 32A). The CE 04 can only draw 30A, so either approach is equivalent. As far as I'm concerned, 48A is only important if you get a battery large enough that it can't be charged overnight with anything less: like 90kWh or more, as in a Hummer.

My wife has a Tesla Model Y - she charges it overnight with the Tesla Mobile Connector @ 32A, and if my CE 04 ever starts to run low, I just steal the charging cable for an hour to charge the bike up with.
 
Last edited:
Bumping this thread again. We just got a Tesla Y for my wife and I had their wall charger installed. I purchased a Tesla to J1772 adapter and tried the Tesla charger for the first time vs the factory wall charger that came with the bike. I had the bike sitting idle for a couple of weeks and had not charged it from my previous commute so I was only at 40% charge so I figured, what a better time to try out the Tesla charger than this morning. I set the bike to 30A charging rate, vs the 6a that it's usually on, and plugged into the Tesla charger and indeed, the bike charged up to 70% in a matter of 30ish minutes. Enough for me to get through the day. At any rate, my question, for those of you that have used Tesla home/destination chargers, do you find the the battery drains much faster than with the overnight bmw charger?
Thank you.
 
jorgebri60 said:
Bumping this thread again. We just got a Tesla Y for my wife and I had their wall charger installed. I purchased a Tesla to J1772 adapter and tried the Tesla charger for the first time vs the factory wall charger that came with the bike. I had the bike sitting idle for a couple of weeks and had not charged it from my previous commute so I was only at 40% charge so I figured, what a better time to try out the Tesla charger than this morning. I set the bike to 30A charging rate, vs the 6a that it's usually on, and plugged into the Tesla charger and indeed, the bike charged up to 70% in a matter of 30ish minutes. Enough for me to get through the day. At any rate, my question, for those of you that have used Tesla home/destination chargers, do you find the the battery drains much faster than with the overnight bmw charger?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
I find exactly the same battery consumption after having charged with the tesla at 30amp or the 120v at 6amp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top