[BenevolentPotato]

hey folks, long time lurker, first time poster. (I post a lot in the subreddit, though. But I wasn't able to get an answer over there.)

I recently moved, and right now I have to do 120v charging. It's a rental property with a detached garage, so it's out of the question for now to get 240 run to my spot.

the issue that I've been having recently is that my Volt (2017 Premier) just refuses to acknowledge that I've arrived at home. when I plug in, it defaults to 8A, and I have to reset the home location every single time. one time I did actually pull in and it remembered it was at home, but then it went right back to saying "away" every time I pull in the garage. every single time, I go into settings and hit "update home location," and every single time, it says away when I get home.

I took a photo of my GPS coordinates in the Onstar nav system the last four times it said I was away, and I plotted them all on google maps. they're all right on top of my garage a few feet away from each other. So it's not a GPS issue - it knows exactly where I am.

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here's some other factors that may or may not be relevant:

- for a while, the garage was wired incorrectly, and was actually wired to my neighbor's panel, on the same circuit as an air conditioner. so it was having charging faults for a while. I hoped this was the reason for the issues. However, the wiring has been redone, and there are no more charging faults - but the home/away problem still occurs.

- I do not pay for Onstar. However, the car still knows its location within the built-in nav system (even if I can't actually use the navigation), so I don't think that should affect location based charging (and it did correctly realize I was at home one time, so I don't think this is it).

- I was thinking that maybe it only checks like, every ten minutes whether it's at home, but one time I plugged in and left it charging all night without realizing it was at 8A and it never switched to home mode. However, in hindsight, maybe this was when the electric faults were happening, so maybe the power went off and back on and that reset it somehow? does anyone know anything else about this?

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anybody know what could be happening here? anybody had this experience? I really don't want to have to set up a dealer visit, since the dealers here in Ohio have zero interest in working with Volts.

 

[obermd]

I have the same issue with the home location. The problem is when the car can't see four GPS satellites it forgets it's at home. It takes three satellites to pinpoint on the ground and the fourth to verify the elevation of the car.

For your 240V circuit, consider putting in a 20 amp three wire circuit. See if the landlord will let you convert the 20 amp 110 (hot, neutral, ground) to a 220 (hot, hot, ground) circuit. This will require minimal rewiring in the circuit box (new dual pole breaker) and a new outlet to prevent someone from plugging in a 110 v plug. It's also easy to undo when you leave.

 

[BenevolentPotato]

I've thought about putting in a three wire circuit, but there's two issues - one, the garage is on the same circuit as my den (it's a 20A circuit, and the only other thing on the circuit is my laptop, a monitor, and a router), so it may require more than a bit of rework. and two, I'm planning on putting a workbench out there, and I'll need 120 to run my tools (the current plan is to just unplug the car while I'm working). I'm thinking I might eventually ask my landlord if I can either hire an electrician or run the line myself (I put in a 240 circuit at my parents' place before I moved out), but it's a detached garage, so it could get tricky and/or expensive with exterior wall penetrations and underground wiring. I guess worst case scenario I'll just have to live that gen 1 life and set the limit every time.

I also had a harebrained scheme that involved running an outdoor rated 240V extension cord from my dryer plug, out my dryer vent, and into the back door of the garage, and I'm still not entirely convinced it's a totally bad idea.

 

[FI Spyder]

You don't want to do anything against code or your (and your landlord's) fire insurance will be invalid.

 

[BenevolentPotato]

True. I'm now convinced it's a bad idea.

 

[Manitoba Keith]

Can you set "Home" while in the garage? How about setting it just outside the garage? I did that with mine and it works great in the garage.
Crazy thought! Might try backing into the garage. Doubt it will work but it might be worth a try.

 

[JuneBug]

Does the garage have a metal roof? That might block the GPS signal.

 

[BenevolentPotato]

Can you set "Home" while in the garage? How about setting it just outside the garage? I did that with mine and it works great in the garage.
Crazy thought! Might try backing into the garage. Doubt it will work but it might be worth a try.

Setting it outside the garage worked! I actually set it just barely outside the garage and it didn't work, but setting it a little farther out, it's known I was home for the last several days.

Thanks!

 

[Manitoba Keith]

Glad it worked for you. I think I set mine about 7' away from the door & it picks up about 20' away from the gargae.
Hope it "sticks" for you.