The car charges slower than planned: Helios asks the Alfen charger for more current, but the car stays stuck at a lower value (for example always 10 A). The cause is a setting in the charger's own configuration, which you check and change with ACE Service Installer.
How to recognise it
The car charges at a fixed current that does not follow the plan, for example always 10 A (about 2.3 kW on a single-phase charger) while Helios planned more.
When Helios asks for less than that value, the charger follows. When it asks for more, the charger stops at that value.
Live charger values keep arriving in the installer portal and in the Helios app. If they stopped, Helios lost control of the charger: that is a different problem, check the Helios device and the network first.
đ For support with Modbus access. Alfen register 1206 Actual_Applied_Max_Current is lower than 1210 Modbus_Server_Max_Current, while 1214 Setpoint_Accounted_For = 1. The charger accepts the command from Helios, but a limit in its own configuration is lower.
Why it happens
The charger always applies the lowest of all its limits: the command from Helios, the station and socket maximum, the load-balancing limits and the imbalance limit. Several of these are set in ACE and are not visible from Helios. If one of them is lower than what Helios asks, the car never gets more.
Step 1: Connect to the charger with ACE Service Installer
On site: connect your laptop to the same network as the charger, start ACE Service Installer, log in with your Alfen account and connect to the charger.
Remote (3L support only): see Remote access to an Alfen charger for ACE Service Installer via NetBird.
Step 2: Check these settings
Write down every value before you change anything.
Setting in ACE | What to look for |
Maximum Imbalance Current (A) | Check this first. On a single-phase connection all current flows on one phase, so the charger counts all of it as imbalance and never goes above this value. Found on a test site: 10 A, so the car never charged faster than 10 A. |
Connector / socket: max current | lower than what the socket and cable can carry (for example 10 A instead of 16 A) |
Load balancing: data source | should be "Energy Management System" (Modbus), so Helios steers. Another source adds its own limit |
Load balancing: max installation current per phase | lower than what Helios asks |
Load balancing: safe current | the current the charger uses when Helios stops steering. If the car is stuck exactly at this value, check first that Helios still controls the charger |
Step 3: Correct the setting
Change one setting at a time.
Maximum Imbalance Current on a single-phase connection: set it to at least the maximum current of the socket (for example 16 A), within what the grid connection and the local grid rules allow.
Save. Saving can restart the charger and end the charging session; warn the customer if a car is charging.
Step 4: Check the result
The car's charging current rises to what Helios plans (visible in the installer portal and in the Helios app).
With Modbus access: register 1206 rises to the value in 1210.
Note the old and the new value in the ticket.
Still not working?
The current does not change: unplug and replug the car, or check the next setting in the table.
Live charger values stopped: Helios lost control of the charger. Escalate to support with the site name and the time it started.