Value Charge Not Working

[seethatdotca]

I have my value charge setup for 7pm to 7am. It's cold out and the car warns me to leave it plugged in. Does the car override the value charge schedule?It's currently not stopping the charging at 7am for some reason.

 

[Anti_Climax]

The car is the only part that actually uses the value charge settings, so it's either not honoring them in the first place or it only avoids "starting" the charge outside that window.

Only recommendation I can make is to clear them completely and set again. If your charger itself supports a schedule you should set it there instead.

 

[seethatdotca]

Yah I tried resetting several times. Even tried deleting MyFordMobile account and start over. I read on other forums that people were having the same issue with their Ford cars (PEVs). This sucks.

 

[Anti_Climax]

Not to minimize the impact - I know it sucks that it doesn't work right - but what's the difference in power cost for your peak/off-peak?

Are you charging with the 120V cord? Also, you may be having a problem with GPS/location. The car tracks where you charge and if these are not associating to your current location for some reason it can misbehave. But you said you created a totally new account so there shouldn't be many in there. Still might be a good idea to check.

 

[seethatdotca]

Yes I'm currently charging with the 120v cable. I don't have the 240v charger yet.

Off peak rates: $0.08 / kWh
On peak rates: $0.17 / kWh

 

[Anti_Climax]

Okay so the 120V setting is correct below. I do wonder if it actually enforces those times for 120V - since that travel cord is usually a last resort.

Which model of the travel cord do you have? I wouldn't want to spend an extra $1.50 a day for charging either ($4 instead of $2.50), let's see what we can do.

 

[seethatdotca]

Travel cord

FoMoCo: FM58-10B706-AJ

 

[Anti_Climax]

Alright, so I believe that model has been recalled and replaced with a new one. I was going to keep mine and Ford snuck it out when I brought it for something else. Not sure what the ford part # is but the OEM model on mine is CC-C-L2-13-300-B, with the CC being ClipperCreek.

If you get one of those cords (Ford should literally have them on hand to swap as needed) you can actually hook it to 240V with an adapter - the guts are a legitimate 240V EVSE that has been setup to just 'carry on' when it sees 120V instead of freaking out and throwing an error like most 240V units would. Some of those original Ford travel cords would work on 240V as well but they had many revisions and not all were spec'd to that level.

I mention this because I am not sure if it actually enforces value charge times for the travel cord as it pulls a max of like 1.4kW

If I'm not mistaken the car actually won't run battery cooling when connected to 120V because it would potentially drain the battery any time the EVSE couldn't supply enough power for the AC compressor, and other times it would basically not be able to charge with the extra load offsetting anything coming in.

The heating does not pull as much - it maxes at 900W for the battery heater, but that means the travel charger is going to be giving your battery almost no charge when it needs those heaters. So I do believe it simply does not do any battery conditioning (heating or cooling) on 120V. Again because that cord is a last resort type device and that extra load would make it nearly useless for charging. Sorry I didn't remember this earlier - mine has been up on jackstands in the garage for most of the year :/

If you can get the replacement cord and adapt to a 240V plug, the car would treat it as a proper EVSE (albeit only putting out 2.5-2.8kW). It is not a solution that is "up to code" as it requires you to at some point have a 120V receptacle that is actually at 240V. In that vein I usually make the 240V adapter as short as possible and try to connect directly to it so it's not some random dangling socket that can get mixed up. You can also wire a legit 240V 15A plug on the charger and adapt to that, but I feel like that's overkill for most.

So the summary is - it may not honor those times on 120V, it also may not honor them if the location data isn't interpreted right, and plugging it in on 120V isn't actually satisfying the prompt to plug in and heat the battery - aside from the bit of warming from the charging itself.

 

[seethatdotca]

Do you have any information on the charger recall? Ford bulletin or something cause the Carfax came back as no outstanding recalls required.

 

[Anti_Climax]

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2018/08/22/ford-issues-two-safety-recalls-in-north-america.html

Yours may be newer than that and have the newer type of cord. The actual change was putting a thermistor in the 120V plug so it could shut of if it was getting too hot and avoid damaging anything.

It looks like @cecil-t had that same model and was able to run it at 240V http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4206&start=40 and I believe that another part of that thread confirmed that the plug has the thermistor already. If the part with the 120V plug has "2 C 22AWG" or similar stamped into the jacket, it already has the thermistor and isn't under recall.

 

[seethatdotca]

I just called the dealer and they verified the car's VIN and mine is not affected by the recall.

 

[Anti_Climax]

So, knowing that model has been used on 240V, you have the opportunity to increase your charging speed and allow the car to run battery conditioning if it chooses. Faster charging may also allow you to finish charging before you hit peak hours again and may also trigger proper enforcement of value charge times - but I can't guarantee that. Making an adapter can be pretty simple. Most plug types have a screw terminal version where you can open it up, clamp down wires and it back together, but the specifics would depend on the type of 240V plug it would use.

That, of course, assumes you have access to 240V and want to use it. I know that the manual tells you not to use an extension cord BUT that is there because most people do not know how to properly size one. If you have a proper 16A rated extension cord it would work fine for your 12A charging, though you still want it to be as short as possible. Real heavy duty extension cords can be expensive (lots of copper) but can handle a lot more than this.

Something like this has 12AWG copper rated for 15A https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lighting-and-electrical/extension-cords-and-power-strips/extension-cords/3009024

A good rule of thumb for extension cords is to make sure the number stamped on the jacket is the same as the device you're using or lower (it's reverse, smaller AWG numbers are thicker wire) and to go to the next larger size if you have to go more than like 50ft.

 

[seethatdotca]

This is the 240v outlet I have in my garage. It's hooked up to a 40amp breaker.

 

[Anti_Climax]

Easy enough, you you might want a little pigtail if you can't flip that outlet over

https://www.amazon.com/Power-6-50P-50Amps-Heavy-duty-Universal/dp/B08DFQ7JN9

 

[seethatdotca]

I'm a bit lost as to what I need to do exactly. Cut the 120v charger cable and attach the 6-50 pigtail from Amazon? Then plug that directly into my 240v outlet?

 

[Anti_Climax]

No. You'd take that Amazon plug (or one like it, a store like Home Depot will have them) and put a regular 120V socket like this on the other end using a little bit of 12AWG wire.

https://www.amazon.com/NEMA-5-15R-Replacement-Connector-Assembly/dp/B077GFKX45

You just have to make sure you never plug anything else into that adapter. You could modify the plug on the charger itself but it would be more involved than just splicing the plug on.

 

[Heima]

To help remind me that I have 240 at the receptacle, and not 120 as you would think, I used a bright orange-red connector from Home Depot.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-15-Amp-125-Volt-3-Wire-Connector-Orange-R51-515CV-0OR/205165516
This was for a step up transformer used to power foreign appliances.

 

[seethatdotca]

Oh I think I understand now.

Use a male 6-50 plug and female 5-15 plug and join them with 12AWG cable.

Interesting.

 

[Anti_Climax]

While it can add up, having a selection of adapters can be quite worthwhile - especially if you have a portable L2 charger.



From top left:
50A J1772 cord
J1772 Plug to NEMA L14-30r
NEMA L14-30 extension
J1772 Receptacle to NEMA L14-30p (and spare twist lock 14-30s)
Tesla Receptacle to J1772 plug (TeslaTap)
Ford 120V/12A convenience cord (rebadged Clipper Creek EVSE)
NEMA 14-50p pigtail
NEMA 14-30p pigtail
NEMA 10-30p pigtail
NEMA 5-15r to L5-15p
NEMA L5-15r to 5-15p
More spare twist lock 14-30s
NEMA TT-30p to 5-15r
NEMA 6-50p pigtail
Spare 3C 12AWG sections with WAGO lever nuts



Grab square and hex ferrule crimper sets and some WAGO 832 series pluggable terminal blocks and there's not much you can't do.

I should note that the NEMA plugs that have J1772 hardware on the other end have the pilot wire carried through on the ground pin - which means I can use a real 4 wire L14-30 extension to extend the J1772 side of my charger if needed (or use that J1772 receptacle to extend an existing charger connection). When I put all that together, I can plug my car in 8-10 spaces away from an existing charger or I can otherwise use pretty much any 120V or 240V down to literal bare wires.

 

[seethatdotca]

That's all too complicated for me. lol I'll concentrate on one for now.

6-50 plug:

https://www.amazon.ca/Eaton-S42-SP-Commercial-250-Volt-6-50-NEMA/dp/B000VL6X22/ref=pd_day0fbt_1/133-9439057-9168013?pd_rd_w=6kKiW&pf_rd_p=acc65436-fc4e-45ed-98e6-1cea96557795&pf_rd_r=GTJTHM4788F43WW042JC&pd_rd_r=cf809cbb-1a54-46e5-b410-8ca10d27c1bf&pd_rd_wg=IqKkc&pd_rd_i=B000VL6X22&psc=1

The description in there says to use minimum 10 AWG wire.

Wire:

https://www.amazon.ca/Southwire-28829021-SIMpull-residential-electrical/dp/B000BQO9X2/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=electrical%2B10%2Bawg%2Bwire&qid=1638387521&sr=8-13&th=1

5-15 plug

https://www.amazon.ca/Leviton-515CV-Grounding-Outlet-Yellow/dp/B000H5WHMW/ref=sr_1_19?keywords=15+Amp+125-Volt+3-Wire+female&qid=1638387714&sr=8-19

Does all that sound right?