[North America] - this is getting embarrassing - Porsche nerfing/neutering the PMCC via OTA update?

[W1NGE]

I just got my car back from the dealer, where they had It for a software update for the car. Took them a week and a half. And they had also asked, without explanation, for me to give them the PMCC too. And my PMCC did indeed get the dreaded update, and is now hamstrung to the 20 amp charging max. And I didn't even get a sticker (!). So I figured out how to change the max rate back to 40 amps, as has been discussed here. But I don't see how to disable It going to sleep. It does revert back to 20 amps after sleeping. How do I disable auto-sleep?

Logon to your PMCC via the web interface (userid and password in the white envelope that was attached) and disable there. Alternatively, navigate the menus on the touch panel - it should be there too.

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[Dave T]

Logon to your PMCC via the web interface (userid and password in the white envelope that was attached) and disable there. Alternatively, navigate the menus on the touch panel - it should be there too.

Thanks. I thought it might be in the web interface, but I can't find that white envelope. I looked in the menus on the touch panel and can't find it anywhere. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think it's there.

 

[Scandinavian]

Thanks. I thought it might be in the web interface, but I can't find that white envelope. I looked in the menus on the touch panel and can't find it anywhere. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't think it's there.

Have you looked for the envelope in one of the manuals for the charger.? That is where I found mine

 

[daveo4EV]

I just got my car back from the dealer, where they had It for a software update for the car. Took them a week and a half. And they had also asked, without explanation, for me to give them the PMCC too. And my PMCC did indeed get the dreaded update, and is now hamstrung to the 20 amp charging max. And I didn't even get a sticker (!). So I figured out how to change the max rate back to 40 amps, as has been discussed here. But I don't see how to disable It going to sleep. It does revert back to 20 amps after sleeping. How do I disable auto-sleep?

you have to gain access to the webinterface to disable sleep - you'll have to find the piece of paper that came with the unit to have the access passwords to access the unit's webportal

but even after disabling sleep it will still revert to 20 amps if it loses power - so even after all that hassel you'll still be left with the unit reverting to 20 amps.

the best option in my opinion is to get another EVSE and simply store the PMCC unit

we are all disappointed with Porsche in this particular space and the North American PMCC unit has been less than stellar since I started using it in July of 2020

get another EVSE for $200-$800 (or more) and be happy - there are lots of great choices and you can still love your Taycan.

at the end of the day the PMCC is just a poorlyl implemented EVSE - and easily replaced with an high quality alternative - focusing on it is like paying a lot of atttention to the USB brick that charges your phone - it's the phone you purchased, not the USB brick - if you don't like the brick - get another alternative USB brick.

EVSE's are supposed to be generic and vehicle agnostic - lots and lots of choices out there for some fuss-free relaible EVSE's that will happily charge your Taycan and any other north american EV/Hybrid that happens to grace your driveway.

 

[Scotty]

		you've entered the black hole, nothing will ever come of your letter. Mistake people make is when emailing PCNA add that you must receive a response within 7 business days. You still won’t get a response but its good to have the record of no response. I then filed my CAP-Motors arbitration case on Monday and received a response from PCNA 2 days later Thank you for being a Porsche customer. Our hope is to resolve the matter and continue to serve you as a valued customer Thank you for providing your responses and the additional documentation. We will begin evaluating the case and will contact you once we have completed our investigation or need any further information. Should you have any questions, you may contact me or the Porsche Pre-Litigation Manager, (i deleted contact info) I then submitted a Discovery and motion to compel PCNA witness. As Ralph Nader once stated: “When do corporations begin to lose their crediability? They fought Social Security, Medicare, auto safety. They fought every social movement in this country” ”Regulators and Legislatures don’t wake up until some plaintiff gets a lawyer to dig out the cover ups and the incriminating information about a safety defect..” Stay Tuned more to come….

 

[Dave T]

you have to gain access to the webinterface to disable sleep - you'll have to find the piece of paper that came with the unit to have the access passwords to access the unit's webportal

but even after disabling sleep it will still revert to 20 amps if it loses power - so even after all that hassel you'll still be left with the unit reverting to 20 amps.

the best option in my opinion is to get another EVSE and simply store the PMCC unit

we are all disappointed with Porsche in this particular space and the North American PMCC unit has been less than stellar since I started using it in July of 2020

get another EVSE for $200-$800 (or more) and be happy - there are lots of great choices and you can still love your Taycan.

at the end of the day the PMCC is just a poorlyl implemented EVSE - and easily replaced with an high quality alternative - focusing on it is like paying a lot of atttention to the USB brick that charges your phone - it's the phone you purchased, not the USB brick - if you don't like the brick - get another alternative USB brick.

EVSE's are supposed to be generic and vehicle agnostic - lots and lots of choices out there for some fuss-free relaible EVSE's that will happily charge your Taycan and any other north american EV/Hybrid that happens to grace your driveway.

Good to hear that you decided to move on with your life and stop stressing over this. Right now, it would be the least amount of hassle to just keep my PMCC. I don't really lose power in my house. And it's a pretty expensive USB brick to replace - it cost more than my phone!

 

[Jhenson29]

So I guess you prefer electrocution over a fire then.

Safety first.

 

[snstevens]

Good to hear that you decided to move on with your life and stop stressing over this. Right now, it would be the least amount of hassle to just keep my PMCC. I don't really lose power in my house. And it's a pretty expensive USB brick to replace - it cost more than my phone!

I think this thread has been critical to getting us all aware of the PMCC issue. I appreciate that OP and others kept updating it with the latest facts. This allowed me to understand how I could work around the SW upgrade, and still safely charge my 4s.

I'm still working the Porsche NA connection I established a few weeks ago (recall my letter to the President of Porsche NA got a response and I've requested an update in 2 weeks from 10/17). I know the amount of money I need to spend to replace the PMCC is not a lot (especially given the cost of a Taycan) but to me that's not the point.

I'm personally not going to be satisfied until Porsche NA provides some sort of compensation or provides a real fix to the PMCC so it works safely at 9.6KW. I'm not stressing over it, but that doesn't mean I'm not pissed off by the stupidity of this whole thing.

 

[TycanNewHampshire]

Mine goes to 24kW and it must have got the update via web. Currently it defaults to 12kW every time I plug in the car and I just have to wait for it to connect, then go into 'adapt charging current' (second screen down on the settings) and dial it back up to 24kW every session.

I have changed the settings in the app and in the charger when not connected in the car and it stays.....until I plug the car in and the 'cloud' icon connects it back to the internet. I think there will need to be a release from the back end from Porsche or choose to not have it connected to your network, as it seems to get a signal to retard it by 50% after every internet connection and it searches for an update.

It isn't the end of the world, but is surly an inconvenience to say the least! Not to mention I have forgot a few times and even when it sets to 12kW as the default it seem to only ramp up to about 2.6kW!!!! I woke up one day and I didn't even get to 80% from a starting charge in the mid-50's.

My thoughts go back to the other thread of the old guys explaining the dangers of the electrical housings. IF..IF Porsche knows about a safety issue that they think they need to mitigate by reducing the load capacity, I would hope that they recall the entire unit vs. changing the default to a lower setting that you can manually crank back up. Something doesn't seem to add up. It is either a problem, or it is not. Changing the default with being able to put it back up just seems like an exercise in futility and only causes unhappiness and frustration, IMO. I don't get it.

 

[whitex]

Mine goes to 24kW and it must have got the update via web. Currently it defaults to 12kW every time I plug in the car and I just have to wait for it to connect, then go into 'adapt charging current' (second screen down on the settings) and dial it back up to 24kW every session.

I have changed the settings in the app and in the charger when not connected in the car and it stays.....until I plug the car in and the 'cloud' icon connects it back to the internet. I think there will need to be a release from the back end from Porsche or choose to not have it connected to your network, as it seems to get a signal to retard it by 50% after every internet connection and it searches for an update.

It isn't the end of the world, but is surly an inconvenience to say the least! Not to mention I have forgot a few times and even when it sets to 12kW as the default it seem to only ramp up to about 2.6kW!!!! I woke up one day and I didn't even get to 80% from a starting charge in the mid-50's.

My thoughts go back to the other thread of the old guys explaining the dangers of the electrical housings. IF..IF Porsche knows about a safety issue that they think they need to mitigate by reducing the load capacity, I would hope that they recall the entire unit vs. changing the default to a lower setting that you can manually crank back up. Something doesn't seem to add up. It is either a problem, or it is not. Changing the default with being able to put it back up just seems like an exercise in futility and only causes unhappiness and frustration, IMO. I don't get it.

If your charger dials back to 2.6KW, you might have a wiring issue. I don't have a Taycan yet, but all the Teslas for example ramp up charging current slowly and watch the voltage. If the voltage drops too much, they conclude there is a high resistance somewhere in the path (which would start generating a lot of heat if they go full current) so they throttle the max charge rate. If it was me I would double check the end-to-end wiring, perhaps turn on max current and use a FLIR to see what is heating up. Common points of high resistance are the wall receptacle, or any junctions, including wire to breaker connection which may be lose, etc.

PS> Taycans in the USA cannot accept 24KW, max is 19.2KW (80A x 240V) is the max, so you are reading something incorrectly somewhere.

 

[Archimedes]

Plugged into my $600 JuiceBox 40 last night and the car charged overnight. I unplugged it in the morning.

 

[Scotty]

Plugged into my $600 JuiceBox 40 last night and the car charged overnight. I unplugged it in the morning.

Can you please post a photo of the front and back of the juice box so we can see the warning stickers/labels. Also please look at the supply cable( cable that connects to the outlet and take a picture of the wire gauge. It should be stamped somewhere on the cable. This would be most helpful for my upcoming arbitration hearing.

 

[Archimedes]

Can you please post a photo of the front and back of the juice box so we can see the warning stickers/labels. Also please look at the supply cable( cable that connects to the outlet and take a picture of the wire gauge. It should be stamped somewhere on the cable. This would be most helpful for my upcoming arbitration hearing.

There are no warning labels on it. Mine's hardwired, so no cable to outlet. IIRC we did 6 gauge wire.

 

[Mike V]

MusTart is cheap and a fine solution to the issue. I even managed a field-expedient re-use of the Porsche mounting device. As a bonus, it only takes a few seconds to start charging:

 

[daveo4EV]

Porsche silence on this issue is deafening - they've pulled the update - birdies are telling me they know they have a problem…but I'm sure it's just a matter of time while Porsche comes to the realization they either need to "fix" all the PMC+/PMCC North American units (Audi also?) or buy them back

either way it's not going to be cheap…and it's a big mistake for something so essential - they've shipped these with all Taycan's and Prosche Hybrid's - lots of units.

I'm still waiting to find out what Porsche is going to tell me to do with my existing units

and what are they doing with new car deliveries - delivering units with 50% charging capacity - that's a great 1st weekend experience with your new $150k EV…{sigh}

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