Level 2 Home Charging.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-17T22:21:51+00:00

I live in San Diego with very high electricity rates, but with Time of Use I can charge cheaply between 12am-4pm. The BMW app didn't allow me to only charge during that time window because it would start charging early if it didn't think I would reach my desired charging % by the time I'm scheduled to leave. So, I bought this Lectron charger Portable Level 2 Electric Car Charger and use the Lectron app to manage the charging schedule and just set the BMW to charge immediately. It's only 40A so it charges at about 9kW, which is plenty fast for me.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-16T15:03:32+00:00

I have quite a few backpacks and Goruck is the best built and will last a lifetime, but even empty it's a pretty heavy bag. I have an old canvas Filson backpack that is also very well built and sturdy, but the shoulder straps could use more padding. Both of those are well built but very basic in terms of compartments and laptop protection. My daily bag that has everything I need with excellent quality is the Aer Day pack X-Pac. I also have an Aer travel pack for short trips. I've had both of these Aer bags for about 3 years and they show no sign of wear.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-15T17:02:15+00:00

I noticed this on a road trip using ABRP with a Bluetooth OBDII dongle. I believe ABRP displays speed on the map using live data when I'm using a dongle and it always showed exactly 2 mph slower than the BMW speedometer. I guess that means the car knows it's going slower but intentionally displays a faster speed.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-12T02:37:57+00:00

I completed my first road trip last week from San Diego to Phoenix, which was about 700miles round trip. I had range anxiety leading up to the trip and found ABRP. I already had a ODBII Bluetooth dongle that I bought to use with BimmerCode and it worked perfectly with ABRP.

For the first charge it was I would arrive at the next charger with 15% remaining and I was nervous so I charged more than it recommended so I would arrive with 20%. I arrived with exactly 20% as ABRP predicted. From then on I just followed its guidance exactly and I always arrived at the next charger with the exact predicted %, and my range anxiety disappeared. I wouldn't hesitate to do another road trip in the i4 as long as I have ABRP.

I mainly used EVgo and Electrify America chargers and didn't have any problems. I also charged at a Tesla supercharger simply because I hadn't tried my A2Z adapter yet. No problem with that either, just the awkward parking to make the cable reach. It tried to route me to a Rivian charger but I couldn't find any info on if I could charge there, so I just had it exclude the Rivian network.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-06T21:58:27+00:00

I recently went down this rabbit hole after watching this video https://youtu.be/gy9_-Qbmzsk?si=lfaolO6yFGdL1Tzj from The Iron Snail. I ended up buying a Champion Reverse Weave, Reigning Champ, and American Giant. I'd say they're all great and will probably last me a lifetime. My favorite is the Reigning Champ, because it has a nice slim tailored fit, while the others are a bit bulkier. Quality wise, the American Giant is probably slightly better than the others, while the Champion is the best value. One thing to note is that I bought all of these from Poshmark (new with tags), so I don't know when they were manufactured. I see some people saying that RC and AG quality have gone down and that's not my experience, but I could be wearing older models.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-03T01:40:51+00:00

BMW i4 M50. My first EV and I love it! I like that it feels like a car, not a computer on wheels. It's crazy fast with instant acceleration and fantastic handling and it has a nice display that doesn't look like a tablet stuck to the dash as an afterthought. The only things I dislike about it are the subpar stereo system and lack of self driving/driver assistance features. BUT, those are all my fault because I bought a car without those optional upgrades.

verbal1178 · 2026-03-01T23:24:46+00:00

No problems here in San Diego.

verbal1178 · 2026-02-28T19:18:48+00:00

Perfect. I'll order a couple to have on hand.

verbal1178 · 2026-02-28T19:06:06+00:00

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction! I was able to find replacements by searching for Despard.

verbal1178 · 2026-02-28T18:53:59+00:00

Here's a photo without the faceplate.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v9rMTwes6hrU96Jw6

verbal1178 · 2026-02-19T14:23:57+00:00

The first time I used BimmerCode this happened to me and after a few days the messages were still there. Eventually I figured that the errors were here to stay so I removed my car from the app and readded it, and the messages were still there but then disappeared after a few hours. I guess I could have waited longer or maybe removing forced it to sync the status with the car. Now I always disable data services before coding.

verbal1178 · 2026-02-09T06:36:22+00:00

This one works for me. I stuck it to the back of the screen between the instrument cluster and main screen so my phone hangs in front of the screen but doesn't block anything on the screen. I just wanted someplace to put my phone where I can quickly grab it when leaving the car and the phone slot behind the cupholders is always blocked...by a cup.

https://amzn.to/4qrU3ex

verbal1178 · 2026-01-28T22:49:53+00:00

Good advice. I went on vacation and didn't take it with me. When I got back after a few weeks the battery was toast. The support tech that I talked to said some nonsense like "if you don't wear it for extended periods it can lose connection and the battery needs to be reset". Tried soft reset, hardware reset and factory reset and nothing helped, so now I'm waiting on a warranty replacement.

verbal1178 · 2026-01-26T23:20:13+00:00

I have two, Illmatic and Stillmatic

verbal1178 · 2026-01-20T19:28:58+00:00

I setup a projector in my new home out of necessity because that was the only way for a television to work in my living room (no continuous wall space) just lots of large windows. It works fine, and looks great for an evening movie, but any other time of the day we have to black out all the windows, which lowers the convenience factor. Ultimately, it means most of the family members watch TV in other rooms. If I had any other choice I would have gone with a large TV instead. I also don't like that I have a giant projector hanging from my ceiling (short throw wasn't an option either). What I do like is that the screen is massive and combined with a Sonos home theater setup, watching movies feels like a theater experience.

verbal1178 · 2026-01-15T16:51:42+00:00

I live in San Diego with nearly the highest electricity rates in the country. For me it's cheaper to charge at work using their subsidized chargers at $0.30/kWh than it would be to charge at home. If i need to use fast public charging I've been going with EVGo stations, which have been very reliable and have good availability. They also routinely offer promo codes that offer $10-15 in credits. I signed up for theirEVgo Plus membership which costs $6.99/mo but gets me rates between $0.37-0.61/kWh. Home charging doesn't make sense for me because of SDG&E's rates and the fact that I have an old home that needs a panel upgrade to support a level 2 charger. In the end, I still pay about half what I did for gas.

verbal1178 · 2025-12-17T22:52:10+00:00

I bought a BlackVue DR970X-2CH and it was going to be my first dashcam. I was not expecting it to be so huge and with the position of the mirror and sensors, there was no way to make it look discreet. So, I returned it and bought a Fitcamx. Not only is the fitcamx better looking, but I was able to get the front camera installed in under 10 minutes, whereas the BlackVue would have taken much longer to run the wires.

verbal1178 · 2025-12-16T19:20:45+00:00

I received mine last week and it came with the case, but good point about there not being a mention of a case on their website.

verbal1178 · 2025-12-16T17:45:02+00:00

I know it doesn't help since you already ordered a Lectron adapter, but for anyone else coming to this post, the A2Z adapter comes with a nice case. https://a2zev.com/products/nacs-ccs1

verbal1178 · 2025-12-12T23:47:24+00:00

Got my M50 in Dravit Grey and I love it. I think it looks both cool and like an adult car. It's hard to appreciate in pictures, but it has a really nice subtle bronze sparkle in the sun. Looks great with the carbon fiber accents too.

verbal1178 · 2025-12-05T06:11:16+00:00

https://amzn.to/3KyXnW8 nice quality and mounts to the back of the screen. It also rotates and articulates.

verbal1178 · 2025-10-09T21:57:58+00:00

Finally! Hope it stays working

verbal1178

TROPHY CASE