Value Charge Question

[davideos]

ended up having to remove my car completely by doing a factory reset and then add it again to fix the problem

I've got the same issue. I have 2 "Home" profiles and I cannot do anything with them. Fortunately, my value charging still works. And since it still works and others are having problems with it, I wanted to ask if anyone else who did the reset was successful in getting the value charge to work...who had it working before?

I don't want to do the reset and find that I cannot get it to work anymore....that would be bad. But it does bug me that it cannot be adjusted...or if one day it will wig-out on me.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Shelly]

After the reset I was able to set everything up and had no problems. However I lost all my accumulated data.

Not that big a deal for me as I have only had the car for a little over a month.

 

[davideos]

Thanks. I think others are still having problems with it. I think I'll give it some more time for Ford to work the kinks out. As I mentioned, it is still working so I don't have to fix it. Thanks for the feedback. I think I'd have a good chance of success if I were to try it.

I did call Ford and that's what they recommended, but that was just in their flowchart for fixing issues. The person I spoke to on the phone had no idea of the issue or what the real problem was.

 

[hcsharp]

Based on Ford's advice I deleted our car, did a system reset, and then went back on the site and added the car back on again. Many settings lost in the car at that point. Then about a week later they moved the site and everything is broken again. It won't even let me log on! Tried having my pwd emailed to me using "forgot password?" link but it says there's no account associated with my email. Called tech support again and they said "someone will contact you in 2 to 5 days after they resolve the issue." She said lots of people were calling with the same issue. Naturally nobody ever called me back. I'm getting ready to call the dealer and ask them to go to bat for me. Ford has the most incompetent IT dept I've ever experienced.

 

[jmueller065]

Ford has the most incompetent IT dept I've ever experienced.

Except that they don't: Remember unplugged's conversation with the marketing manager. Both websites were outsourced. It would appear that Ford has been using the "most incompetent bidder" approach to vendor selection. That, or "you get what you pay for" when selecting "lowest bidder".
So instead of consolidating the two websites (BEV & PHEV) to the most functional one, they consolidated them to the least functional one!

 

[davideos]

It seems that they were trying to minimize effort and resources by consolodating to one site...however, having broken it and making many people unhappy, they'd have done much better to just leave it the way it was.

The website is nice to poke around when I'm bored, but honestly, there are only 2 things I use.
1) Vehicle state of charge. When I plug in at work, I like to know when the car will be done charging. I like to use the mobile app to check when charging will be done...although, the car gives a good estimate when I park.
2) Value charging. Big mistake to make value charging attached to the website. The car almost has the capability to enter the information manually...why make it website dependant? Agreed, it is simpler to set it all up with a mouse, keyboard, and a 24" screen, but please let me do it from the car.

I do see "go times" being a value to others, but I don't have a schedule that allows me to use it effectively.

 

[WattsUp]

there are only 2 things I use.
1) Vehicle state of charge.
2) Value charging.

Yes, those are among the most useful features of MFM. Remote unlock/lock could be a lifesaver too... too bad its a crap shoot whether it feels like working or not.

Big mistake to make value charging attached to the website. The car almost has the capability to enter the information manually...why make it website dependant?

It didn't used to... but now almost does. I'm not sure it's a "big mistake" -- having both would be great. But, it is clear that the current implementation behaves poorly.

Also... does anyone else find conspicuously absent the ability say "charge now" or "value charge" inside the car through SYNC voice commands? Or, even "set go time 7 AM".

 

[jmueller065]

Also... does anyone else find conspicuously absent the ability say "charge now" or "value charge" inside the car through SYNC voice commands? Or, even "set go time 7 AM".

There are a lot of "BEV" inconsistencies in the MyFord Touch on the car. One I find quite annoying is the "Will you charge at this destination?" question when programming a navigation route:
- Why isn't this a voice question when you are programming a route via voice?
- This also should just default to "yes" and not ever ask the question: The changes in the display when you answer yes are more valuable when you are NOT going to charge at the destination anyway! LOL

Another example is the BEV/PHEV "page" showing the setup or energy flow. There is no voice command to show that page (you can show other pages like "Navigation" "show map").

 

[unplugged]

One I find quite annoying is the "Will you charge at this destination?" question when programming a navigation route:

Even more annoying is why does it ask you if you "will charge at this destination" when you select "HOME"? Why can't the car know when you head "HOME" you are going to charge there?

 

[davideos]

Even more annoying is why does it ask you if you "will charge at this destination" when you select "HOME"?

I used to think of it that way. And it would be nice if you could optionally add charging data about a particular destination, like "HOME". But in reality, the question should be saying "Would you like to see all the surplus miles you are estimated to have when you get to your destination?

Make it a mode selection on the nav screen instead of a question that cannot be answered using SYNC. That's what I find annoying the most. I can enter all the destination information by voice, but in the end, I have to press a stinking button!...but still, no big deal.

 

[Hocus Focus]

I will be away for a few weeks and I wanted to leave my car charged about half way while I am gone so I manually set the value charge for only one hour 12am-1am on 120v and selected value charge from the car, but it starts charging when I plug in any other time. There are no GO times set.

Is this normal? Does the car always try to get to 100%?

I also would like to set GO times during the hottest part of the day to run TMS while I'm gone. I'm not sure that this will work with the value charge strategy to keep battery discharged because the MFM HELP section implies that the car will try and get to 100% charge in time for the GO times. Does anyone have any insight on how this might work or have any suggestions for workarounds?

 

[hybridbear]

I will be away for a few weeks and I wanted to leave my car charged about half way while I am gone so I manually set the value charge for only one hour 12am-1am on 120v and selected value charge from the car, but it starts charging when I plug in any other time. There are no GO times set.

Is this normal? Does the car always try to get to 100%?

I also would like to set GO times during the hottest part of the day to run TMS while I'm gone. I'm not sure that this will work with the value charge strategy to keep battery discharged because the MFM HELP section implies that the car will try and get to 100% charge in time for the GO times. Does anyone have any insight on how this might work or have any suggestions for workarounds?

If you set Go Times the car will charge to 100% before the Go Time. If it's plugged in the TMS will work as needed.

Try setting value charge for $ from 1:00-2:00 am and $$$$$ for all other times and delete all Go Times. Starting at midnight has sometimes caused glitches. The car does try to get to 100% and it might override your value charge programming.

 

[jmueller065]

If you want to leave your HVB 1/2 charged while you are away:

• Discharge the HVB to the level you want
  Park somewhere shady (or in a garage)
  Disconnect the 12V battery

That is what is recommended in the owner's manual. Yes the TMS won't run in this condition but high-temps aren't that damaging to a 1/2 charged battery anyway.

Currently there is no way to leave it plugged in and 1/2 charged. If you setup a value charge it will charge to full (even outside the value charge). If you setup a value charge + a go time it will ensure that it is 100% charged before the Go time.

If you look at how you setup a manual value charge on the web: You tell MFM the times when the electricity prices are higher and when they are lower. No where in that setup screen does it say "Don't charge at these times". Its more of a suggestion. Thus the car will attempt to use the lowest cost charge time, but if it can't get to 100% using the lowest cost it will expand the charge time to use some higher cost times.

 

[EVA]

I'm pretty sure at 110V value charge doesn't work. If I recall, the car wants to charge to 100%, and figures out how long that will take. At 110V that will take longer than you've scheduled, so the car starts charging immediately, no matter what you set.

I think the key was 110V charging. With 220V it is completely different.

Follow the owner's manual like JMueller quoted. That is always the most prudent approach.

 

[WattsUp]

I'm pretty sure at 110V value charge doesn't work. If I recall, the car wants to charge to 100%, and figures out how long that will take. At 110V that will take longer than you've scheduled, so the car starts charging immediately, no matter what you set.

I believe it will work properly if the estimated amount of time needed to charge is very short (e.g., battery only somewhat discharged). But, yes, most of the time (e.g., battery significantly discharged) it will always take much longer to charge on L1 than the scheduled "value period", so the charging always starts immediately.

 

[Hocus Focus]

Thanks for all the great responses! Something in the software hiccupped when I deleted my go times and value charge profile that I set up for this experiment and I needed to do a system reset AND delete the MFM account to get it "working" again so no progress on the just trying different settings to see if I can make it work. I have some time this weekend to try one more thing I thought of. I will try setting up my JuiceBox 220v to only charge for a short period and run remote start occasionally and see how that works out. If I can't get that to work one more time I'll do what JMueller (and Ford) recommends with the disconnect 12v battery at mid-charge. Anyone have a recommendation for a good car cover?

 

[EVA]

I'm pretty sure at 110V value charge doesn't work. If I recall, the car wants to charge to 100%, and figures out how long that will take. At 110V that will take longer than you've scheduled, so the car starts charging immediately, no matter what you set.

I believe it will work properly if the estimated amount of time needed to charge is very short (e.g., battery only somewhat discharged). But, yes, most of the time (e.g., battery significantly discharged) it will always take much longer to charge on L1 than the scheduled "value period", so the charging always starts immediately.

Thank you for the correction WattsUp. Of course you are absolutely correct. I can see how somebody could misunderstand.

 

[Hocus Focus]

It didn't work because the juicebox did not cut off the power at the end of the JB's window.

I set FFE at 64% SOC to "charge now" and JuiceBox to charge from 2000-2100 at 8Amps (FFE disconnects and sends a charging fault activity notification at anything less than 5A). JB came on and a few seconds later FFE starts to charge at about 6Amps. So far so good, but when the JB charge window ended an hour later at 2100, it did not shut off and FFE continued to charge. There were no GoTimes scheduled, just for a control run. I lowered the JB amperage below 5A and FFE stopped charging. JB displayed it would begin charging in 1378 minutes, or about 23 hours later at the start of the next window.

I double checked that I had the correct times set for JB charge window and then I reset the clock back a few minutes before 2100 cut off time and reran the test twice more. Each time it recognized it was in the window to start and did, but again both times did not stop charging. I waited between 2 and 5 minutes after the JB cutoff window just to make sure there wasn't a delay. Then I tried a remote start and stop, but JB and FFE kept charging.

Why didn't JB cut off at the end of the charge window?

I reset the clock a third time and set FFE to value charge. When JB ticked over to value charge window, MFMobile displayed "waiting to charge," as expected, and did not charge.

I noted that the charge times on the rt dash and MyFordMobile displayed reasonable charge complete times (0241, or about 5 hours), but the leaf page on MyFordTouch did not correct for approximate charging time on 240v estimate (still read about 1.2 hours).

This may have worked if JB would cut off charging at the end of the window. Any other thoughts?

 

[MCbayarea]

I read it at few other forums and concluded that value charge is not working the way it should work. It is strange, unreliable , and unpredictable.
I know the electricity bills might go high especially if you are in plan like my plan ( EVA plan from PGE - cheap electricity form 11-7AM)

I just bought a low tech solution for $15. I bought a off the shelf PLUG IN Timer form my local hardware store. It is working great. You just have to plug it in before the Level 1 charger and it the job ( ON and OFF at certain times).
Now I am in default mode ( not value charge mode)

This is what i bought: Intermatic TN311 15 Amp Heavy Duty Grounded Timer ( this is mechanical timer) . There are more sophisticated Digital Plug In Timer.

If you consider this options, please make sure that "TIMER" has heavy duty ratings i.e. 120V, 15 Amp and close to 1800 Watts.

I wish ford could have fixed such a simple problem for FFE users..

 

[jmueller065]

I wish ford could have fixed such a simple problem for FFE users..

Two thoughts:

• They may not consider it a problem, and
  Its far from the only software bug in the FFE! (and MyFordTouch)

Ford may not consider this an issue because the thought most likely is that 99% of the FFE owners will get a Level 2 EVSE for home. The car is simply not practical using only Level 1 charging (and/or only public charging) for most people. This has been borne out by a select few users around here.

This thread already points out more bugs than the Level 1 value charge issue (namely the popup "Will you be charging?" question that can't be answered by voice--and isn't asked by voice).