Ford lightning not charging? Vehicle charging fault error message?

[mitchskis]

Has anyone had any issues with charging their truck at a public charger? My mobile charger works fine when I plug in at home, but when I tried charging at a level 2 charger at work, I'm getting the solid amber lights on the charge indicator next to the charge port and an error message that there is a "Vehicle charging fault"? Simultaneously, I'm getting a "Service vehicle soon" message as well, but this disappears once I stop trying to charge at this particular charger. Has anyone run into this issue or has any ideas on what's causing this issue? I'm hoping someone might have ideas on how to troubleshoot?

 

[SmoothJ]

Is this known to be a good public charger? How are the connectors on the J1772 connector itself?

 

[mitchskis]

Is this known to be a good public charger? How are the connectors on the J1772 connector itself?

Yes, EV owners at work don't seem to have any issues. I believe it was a standard J1772 connector

 

[Stlww18]

I’d try and find another public charger to test before I took any action with the truck. TFL had a video with their powerboost where the ford system actually detected a ground fault they didn’t even know was their. Might be a broken or miswired charger. Since other EVs don’t have intelligent power maybe they can’t detect the fault? Just a theory

 

[SmoothJ]

Yes, EV owners at work don't seem to have any issues. I believe it was a standard J1772 connector

I don’t have the vehicle yet, but I can surmise it could be related to a ground on the EVSE.

 

[mitchskis]

I don’t have the vehicle yet, but I can surmise it could be related to a ground on the EVSE.

There are actually two separate chargers, both didn't work for me for some reason? I might take some photos of the chargers tomorrow to give a better idea.

 

[SmoothJ]

I’d try and find another public charger to test before I took any action with the truck. TFL had a video with their powerboost where the ford system actually detected a ground fault they didn’t even know was their. Might be a broken or miswired charger. Since other EVs don’t have intelligent power maybe they can’t detect the fault? Just a theory

There are actually two separate chargers, both didn't work for me for some reason? I might take some photos of the chargers tomorrow to give a better idea.

I agree with @Stlww18. I know FMC is very sensitive when it comes to certain things. Does anyone that charges have a Mach-E?

 

[Stlww18]

There are actually two separate chargers, both didn't work for me for some reason? I might take some photos of the chargers tomorrow to give a better idea.

If one was wired improperly at install, I’d imagine both would be.

it could 100% be a truck issue. I’d just try a different location (well rated on PlugShare) before I started digging in on the truck side

 

[mitchskis]

That’s a good point. Yes, I know in the past a coworker of mine charged his Mach-e. I planned on trying another public charger to see if the issue persist. Since the issue happened at both chargers I’m worried it’s going to be an issue at others.

 

[jerock]

On a L1 charger on my volt I had a circuit that had a neutral ond hot wire reversed on a connection wired in my house. It would not charge on that circuit. I had to trace out a juction box where the wiring needed corrected. Worked great after that. It'd been that way for years.

 

[Mike G]

There is an OBCC update available for Lightnings. That module controls charging.

If you DM me your VIN I'll check and see if it's in your update list, pretty sure though that everybody is supposed to get that. Dealer tech will do for free. Warranty.

Also, was this at an EVGo Fatboy charger by any chance?

Best,

Mike

 

[FlasherZ]

I have seen certain public chargers do this on other vehicles, and in my experience it had to do with the pilot signal sent to the vehicles when it was part of a local group of chargers that were balancing how much current they allowed cars to draw. Certain pilot duty cycles on J1772 are considered "impossible" by some EV's and they just error out.

(I had a Tesla 1st-gen wall connector go out-of-spec and cause no end to issues for me along those same lines until I replaced it...)

 

[tls]

I have seen certain public chargers do this on other vehicles, and in my experience it had to do with the pilot signal sent to the vehicles when it was part of a local group of chargers that were balancing how much current they allowed cars to draw. Certain pilot duty cycles on J1772 are considered "impossible" by some EV's and they just error out.

(I had a Tesla 1st-gen wall connector go out-of-spec and cause no end to issues for me along those same lines until I replaced it...)

Interesting. I've found two chargers so far where my Lightning can't charge: a Sematech J1772 charger in a bank of 8 in a public parking garage - it threw some interesting diagnostics I don't know how to interpret, pic attached - and a Gen1 Tesla HPWC, set to 80A, which unlike my pair of Gen2s at home, will not charge the Lightning via my 80A TeslaTap Mini. What's it mean when you say the HPWC "went out of spec"?

 

[FlasherZ]

Interesting. I've found two chargers so far where my Lightning can't charge: a Sematech J1772 charger in a bank of 8 in a public parking garage - it threw some interesting diagnostics I don't know how to interpret, pic attached - and a Gen1 Tesla HPWC, set to 80A, which unlike my pair of Gen2s at home, will not charge the Lightning via my 80A TeslaTap Mini. What's it mean when you say the HPWC "went out of spec"?

To advertise 51-80A, the EVSE sends the 1 kHz pilot signal at a duty cycle of (I / 2.5)+64 percent, where I = current (amps). For 80A, this is supposed to be a duty cycle of 96% for the pilot signal. My EVSE's duty cycle was all over the place between 92-96% and the car just refused to charge as a result.

Now, I also have an 80A TeslaTap that I bought. To test it, I attempted to charge my Tesla with the J1772 adapter. Plugging the TeslaTap into the first-gen HPWC turned it from green to red, 7 flashes. Plugging it into my second-gen HPWC just caused the HPWC to be ignored by the car. I had to send the TeslaTap back. Report from the returns center was that the "bypass circuit" was broken / not working. Sounds like yours is working on your 2nd gen HPWC though... so not sure what to tell you there. Once I get my TeslaTap replaced, my Model S would charge via both gen 1 & gen 2 HPWC's through the TeslaTap and the J1772 adapter.

When I get the Lightning I expect to charge via my HPWC, we'll see if I experience the same problems. Might have to swap garage bays with my wife for a while until FCSP gets here.

 

[tls]

Interesting. My TeslaTap is an 80A Mini, and I see exactly the same symptom on the Gen1 charger that you described.

I also have an 80A JDapter Stub which I leave on one of my 2 gen2 chargers at home - and it occurs to me that because the JDapter is sitting right there, I may not have tried the TT since I rewired the gen2 units' branch circuit and upped them from 56A to 80A. I'll try it when I'm home later this week and see what happens. At 56A the TTMini worked fine on the Gen2 units.

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