Value Charge and Go Time Seems Broken

[tkdbrusco]

New FFE owner here. I've read a few posts about this topic and I think I have a pretty good understanding of how it works (or is supposed to) but I still think it is problematic. Here's my experience with the Value Charge and the issues I'm having.

I tried to set it to my low electrical rates M-F 11-7 and weekends all but 3-7PM. And it doesn't seem to work, it just starts right away and lists the start time on the screen as write away as well. I also find it really hard to save changes to the weekend settings. I can edit and save the weekdays, but not the weekend unless I do a master reset on the sync system. I'm not sure what's going on here. I think I have it working now, but the only way I could do it is by doing a master reset and then setting all of the times (weekdays and weekend) to the same thing. I just picked 1AM-7AM because I saw other posts that said it had issues with 12AM or confused weekends and weekdays.

I'm not new to EVs and I know I'm doing everything right. I set it to 240v instead of 120v. I even am aware that it may turn on at first anyways to warm up the battery a bit, which I think is silly, but still. I also noticed that after I did a master restart that the background of the screen was blue instead of black.

I suppose I can just leave it now that the restart and the preset times across all days set to 1-7AM seemed to fix it, I just feel like editing times shouldn't break the system.

Just to clarify with the Go times, if I set a Go time for 7AM but only need 3 hours to charge and my value charge window is 1-7AM, my assumption is that the car will start charging around 4AM?

Also, anyone update to Sync 2.3 yet? I saw that the website had an update available for it.

 

[jmueller065]

New FFE owner here. I've read a few posts about this topic and I think I have a pretty good understanding of how it works (or is supposed to) but I still think it is problematic. Here's my experience with the Value Charge and the issues I'm having.

I tried to set it to my low electrical rates M-F 11-7 and weekends all but 3-7PM. And it doesn't seem to work, it just starts right away and lists the start time on the screen as write away as well. I also find it really hard to save changes to the weekend settings. I can edit and save the weekdays, but not the weekend unless I do a master reset on the sync system. I'm not sure what's going on here. I think I have it working now, but the only way I could do it is by doing a master reset and then setting all of the times (weekdays and weekend) to the same thing. I just picked 1AM-7AM because I saw other posts that said it had issues with 12AM or confused weekends and weekdays.

I'm not new to EVs and I know I'm doing everything right. I set it to 240v instead of 120v. I even am aware that it may turn on at first anyways to warm up the battery a bit, which I think is silly, but still. I also noticed that after I did a master restart that the background of the screen was blue instead of black.

I suppose I can just leave it now that the restart and the preset times across all days set to 1-7AM seemed to fix it, I just feel like editing times shouldn't break the system.

Just to clarify with the Go times, if I set a Go time for 7AM but only need 3 hours to charge and my value charge window is 1-7AM, my assumption is that the car will start charging around 4AM?

Also, anyone update to Sync 2.3 yet? I saw that the website had an update available for it.

You must have a Sync 3 system.

On my FFE with MyFordTouch the value charge setup worked perfectly.

On my C-Max with Sync 3 it doesn't work at all. It worked for about a week when new, and then worked for another week a few months ago when I had my telematics module reflashed due to a recall.

It seems like somewhere in the Sync 3 system a module thinks the value charge/charge now setting is "global" and doesn't switch over when the car senses its in a value charge location. Lately its been a 50/50 chance that it would value charge--even when I had the charging screen up on Sync 3 and it shows that it shouldn't start charging until later...it still starts charging immediately.

My fallback has been to program the default times to what I want the value charge to be at, delete all charge locations and manually switch between value charge and charge now on the default setting. That seems to be the most reliable way to get it to work--and on the C-Max this is a pain because you have to go into the Sync 3 settings screen, swipe to the right and go into the charge settings screen to do that switch. On my FFE when you turned the car off the value charge/charge now switch was on the dash.

As for when the car starts to charge: It will always start charging at the beginning of the value charge window--or earlier if it thinks it won't be fully charged by the start of the Go times.

 

[triangles]

tkdbrusco, What is the Amp. rating on your EVSE? Not sure how different value charging is with sync 3 but with my sync 2 the car always energizes the EVSE for a few minutes when you plug in. However the car doesn't pull any current or at least it's so little that my EVSE still shows 0 Amperes. I'm assuming it is reading the EVSE's Amperage so it can confirm it will be able to complete the charge in the specified window. The only time I've ever had problems is if the car doesn't think it can complete the charge in the specified charge window which results in it defaulting to charge now. Never tried overlapping GO times with value charging. That may be your problem. Maybe try setting your value charge from 1-6am (assuming that is enough time to charge your car) and then set your go time for 7am. IIRC I don't think the GO time will start more than 1/2 hour before the set go time but I am not certain on this.

 

[jmueller065]

I don't think the GO time will start more than 1/2 hour before the set go time but I am not certain on this.

On my FFE with MFT it was 1/2 hour, on my C-Max with Sync 3 its 10 minutes
I really loved the 30 minute go time precondition..left the car nice and toasty. In the C-Max the car is just barely warm at 10 minutes (it is 10 minutes before and 10 minutes after the go time so I've compensated with my go time schedule).

 

[tkdbrusco]

My EVSE is a 32A 240v model.

 

[triangles]

Well then I'm assuming that a 1am to 6am value charge window should be way more than enough time for your to charge assuming you aren't starting with a completely dead HV battery. I would suggest giving what I said in my first reply a try. Value window 1am-6am with your GO time @7am. If that doesn't work then I would think you have the expected charge voltage set wrong @120V but you already said you have it set at 240V so... I've got nothing else.

Edit: I just saw you said your value window starts at 11pm If you set it for 11pm to 6am I see absolutely no reason why it should not work. There would be no potential conflict with a 7am GO time.

 

[jmueller065]

...
Edit: I just saw you said your value window starts at 11pm If you set it for 11pm to 6am I see absolutely no reason why it should not work. There would be no potential conflict with a 7am GO time.

Early versions of MFT had an issue with the charge times set over midnight: It would get confused with a 11pm to 6am time. It only started working for me when I made it start after midnight (this was manually setting up the charge times instead of letting it find your provider and use those).

 

[joeyfraser]

I am able to use Value Charge at home ONLY with the default profile from midnight to 6am.
The feature has never worked with a custom profile.

I use the feature because we have 2 electric car and I prefer to charge my FFE in the night to avoid using more than 80% of our maximum 200 amp on the electricity panel. Our electricity consumption is High in the evening with the heat pump or furnace, our appliances and our Chevy Bolt charging!

 

[jmueller065]

I am able to use Value Charge at home ONLY with the default profile from midnight to 6am.
The feature has never worked with a custom profile.

I use the feature because we have 2 electric car and I prefer to charge my FFE in the night to avoid using more than 80% of our maximum 200 amp on the electricity panel. Our electricity consumption is High in the evening with the heat pump or furnace, our appliances and our Chevy Bolt charging!

Does your bolt have a similar setup? delayed charging?

 

[joeyfraser]

Yes my Bolt has a similar value charge feature with more options and flexibility. However the Bolt does not offer Go Time feature.

 

[tkdbrusco]

Hey Everyone. I got it to work. I had to do a workaround but it works. Here's what I did.

1. I rebooted the sync with a master reset.
2. I set all value times to 1AM - 7AM (as suggested to avoid the midnight issue)
3. Plugged in and noticed that it kicked on for like 5 minutes, then it shut off and waited until 1AM.

I'm still not sure what the go time impacts. Is it only cabin conditioning or will it delay the charge as well.

I find it stupid that I need to reset the whole system or do some silly workaround for midnight to get this to work. I may try the sync 2.3 update and saw what changes.

 

[spirilis]

Hey Everyone. I got it to work. I had to do a workaround but it works. Here's what I did.

1. I rebooted the sync with a master reset.
2. I set all value times to 1AM - 7AM (as suggested to avoid the midnight issue)
3. Plugged in and noticed that it kicked on for like 5 minutes, then it shut off and waited until 1AM.

I'm still not sure what the go time impacts. Is it only cabin conditioning or will it delay the charge as well.

I find it stupid that I need to reset the whole system or do some silly workaround for midnight to get this to work. I may try the sync 2.3 update and saw what changes.

GO Times is predominantly for cabin conditioning, but I think it may override the value times if it believes the car won't be charged in time? Can't confirm the last piece since I never use value charge.

 

[rlsogge]

I have the same problem with my otherwise perfect 2017 FFE. SYNC 3, though updated, through Settings > Charge Settings will not hold weekend Value Charge times.
Dealer had car for a week and could not correct problem. Ford needs to address this problem - I hope before my 3 year warranty runs out

 

[triangles]

Value charging and go times rely on the TCU. Pull the F1 Fuse for a few seconds to "reboot" the TCU. That may help.

 

[doffen]

My 2017 Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid with Sync 3 also has trouble letting me update the time of day used for Value Charge. After some experimentation I've discovered that it prevents me from updating some of the start/finish times if an existing start/finish time for Value Charge is currently ACTIVE. To get around this problem I first disabled Value Charge by selecting Charge Now; then I edited and cleared the weekday and weekend values, saved and exited all the way out of Settings. At this point I was able to go back in to set new start/finish times for weekdays and weekends, save and exit all the way out. Finally, I enable Value Charge and enter Edit mode to confirm that my new times were accepted. It's very finicky, but hopefully others can find some success by trying something similar to this.