Thoughts on the Charge Station Pro...

[FlasherZ]

How did you do the Factory reset?

See here:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...s-on-the-charge-station-pro.11300/post-235436

If you have access to your station via the Ford Charge Station Pro Setup app, you can use it to reset the station to factory initial settings - but because I entered my Wi-Fi password wrong, it disappeared from the network, apparently never to come back. And in that case, you have to use the Big (well, little actually) Red Button(tm).

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[LightningMcqueen]

So I managed to do the reset and get connected to network. Thanks for info.

i don’t need much of a charge but will charge tonight to see what happens.

 

[ExCivilian]

The backup plan is a small fan wired into the 12V supply drawing air out of the enclosure.

If you do this, I suggest running the fan to *draw* the air out rather than push it in.

Then you cover the fan with a dust screen. If you do it as you described you'll create negative pressure in the device and draw dust into it through every crevice.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I've been away so must have missed this conversation. I have two Gen I HPWCs and my 80-AMP TeslaTap Mini will not supply a charge to my Lightning with either charger. They are both on 100-AMP breakers and #3 wiring, and have been fine charging multiple generations of Teslas (they were upgraded when the original Tesla recall happened in 2013). You seem to imply I should down-rate the chargers from the current 80-amp setting and it may work?

 

[Maquis]

See here:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...s-on-the-charge-station-pro.11300/post-235436

If you have access to your station via the Ford Charge Station Pro Setup app, you can use it to reset the station to factory initial settings - but because I entered my Wi-Fi password wrong, it disappeared from the network, apparently never to come back. And in that case, you have to use the Big (well, little actually) Red Button(tm).

 

[Firestop]

Update: it seems the full factory reset allowed me to go through setup again and this time it connected properly.

Observation: after the Charge Station Pro Setup app does its thing, it will prompt to open up the FordPass app so it can register your station with FordPass. You must wait 5 minutes before you can do this step! MOST IMPORTANTLY, if you click "next" too many times (after seeing "ChargePoint not found!") and get a message that you're locked out for 15 minutes, the charge station cannot connect to the web service that is required to tell Ford your FCSP is online - and it won't retry later... or if it does retry later, it will be well over a day later! For me, even a day later, it still told me ChargePoint not found! when I tried to connect it to FordPass. I think someone else said a few days later, he was able to connect it, but I wasn't willing to wait out a few days for the thing to work - that's horrible experience.

If you have entered the wrong Wi-Fi password and are now prevented from connecting to your FCSP using the setup app, you will need to perform a factory reset using the reset button in the FCSP. This procedure is not documented in the manual and I figured it out on my own. Remove the bezel and then cover of the FCSP (9 screws). In the upper left corner is a red button marked "factory reset"... you will need to push and hold that button until the LED's turn white (15-20 seconds for me). Then you will need to cycle the power to the FCSP (I tried waiting for 15 minutes without power-cycling, but the SSID never showed up) and wait 3-5 minutes for the SSID to show up on your phone. You can then use the Ford Charge Station Pro Setup app to set the device up again.

Thank you @FlasherZ for this and your many other posts on this topic! My electrician installed my FCSP today, I connected it to my WiFi through the iApp, and then registered it to my FordPass account through that iApp following your suggestions….it went smooooothly…no issues.

One item of note: He checked the torque on all of the internal connections to verify they were to the manufacture’s specs. He told me they were very tight and that he was unable to achieve the speciied torque because he was afraid he was going to crack/break their attachment to the board. He agreed with other comments seen on this forum that he would have expected a charger moving 80A would be manufactured a little more stout.

He’ll be back in 30 days to check the torque settings…no charge

 

[ryan]

Any problem going with 2 AWG aluminum here? My panels are on the opposite side of the house and Copper isn't cheap...

 

[FlasherZ]

Any problem going with 2 AWG aluminum here? My panels are on the opposite side of the house and Copper isn't cheap...

100 amp circuit requires 1 AWG aluminum for the conductors and 4 AWG for the grounding conductor. Since code requires a disconnect for anything greater than 60 amps, you'd be best placing a 100A rated disconnect or small 2-space or 4-space panel, running the 1 AWG aluminum to it, and then use #3 copper from the disconnect to the FCSP. The FCSP's terminals will not support #1 aluminum (and even #2 copper is a bear to wrestle into them).

My home has CH series panels, so I opted for a simple 2-space CH indoor panel as my disconnect with a 100A breaker. Because it's 2-space, I felt comfortable running only 2 hots + ground, knowing there'd only ever be a 240V circuit on it and no one would be tempted to add a 120V circuit and use ground as neutral.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-C...Lug-Loadcenter-with-Cover-CH2L125SP/300848715

 

[ryan]

100 amp circuit requires 1 AWG aluminum for the conductors and 4 AWG for the grounding conductor.

I thought the FCSP only gets to 80 amp continuous load-- so wouldn't 100amp already be 125%?

The FCSP's terminals will not support #1 aluminum (and even #2 copper is a bear to wrestle into them).

Wow who designed this thing. I'll probably copy your aluminum to disconnect, copper to FCSP idea.

 

[FlasherZ]

I thought the FCSP only gets to 80 amp continuous load-- so wouldn't 100amp already be 125%?

Correct. I was already figuring in the 1.25 continuous load factor on 80A charging.

80A EV load * 1.25 continuous load factor = required ampacity of conductors 100A

Then you go to the table - I have Cerrowire's bookmarked:
https://www.cerrowire.com/products/resources/tables-calculators/ampacity-charts/

You must use the 75 degC column most of the time - while the wires are marked 90 degC, the terminations on receptacles and switchgear and breakers are only rated for 75 degC and you must use that. So you look down the 75 degC column until you find a minimum of 100A, and that occurs at 3 AWG copper or 1 AWG aluminum.

(While this doesn't matter for you, also note that you must use the 60 degC column if you're using NM cable / "Romex"... this means that you can't even use that cool 2/3 cable they have in Canada.)

So - 1 AWG aluminum required.

Wow who designed this thing. I'll probably copy your aluminum to disconnect, copper to FCSP idea.

My run is relatively short so I stuck with copper for the feeder to the 2-space disconnect.

If your inspector looks at everything very closely, you'll need a breaker lock-out device as well (625.42 requires that you be able to lock the breaker in the open / "off" position).
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Eaton-CH-Circuit-Breaker-Padlocking-Device-CHPLCS/202959540

 

[Francis_Landry]

After several attempts, I managed to connect the station to my Wifi and to Ford Pass using the Ford Charge Station Pro app.

However, I have a Solid Amber light appearing instead of the Bright Blue light. In the instyallation guide, the code for the Solid Amber light is: Station has a fault and trouble shooting is required. I tried to reset the station (factory reset using the red button). I pressed for at least 30 seconds, but the light remains Solid Amber.

The customer service (who knows absolutely nothing!!!) tells me that the software version 2.112.64:0.0:0.0:0:0.0 is not up to date and that it is rather the version 2.112.68:0.0:0.0: 0:0.0 which should be installed. They say that the station should update itself once connected to Wifi...it's been 2 days and still nothing.

Has anyone had similar problems? Has anyone managed to have their terminal replaced?

 

[Firestop]

Mine took about 5 days to update to the latest version after installing….mine did so without notification, so I had to keep checking through my connected FordPass app…….

 

[Francis_Landry]

Did you have the solid Amber Light?

 

[Maverick87r]

Still struggling to get the update or even try to find it via the charge station pro app. On v64 and was overheating so went down to 60 amps and unable to change. I tried the red button with a power cycle but then just goes back to blue.

 

[PiMatrix]

Mine took about 5 days to update to the latest version after installing….mine did so without notification, so I had to keep checking through my connected FordPass app…….

Seems like a bad interface. Software should always have an update section to allow you to pull the latest version. And of course there should be a notification the update occurred and a link to what changed. And a report button to report issues back to developers real time. Come on Ford, this is pretty basic stuff and not hard to do and should be designed in from the outset. Quality of your software heavily dependent on closing the feedback loop from your customers

Is anyone beyond Ford social media damage control department reading these boards? Would be nice to hear from a Ford engineer now and then! This forum is your early adopters and their experience will have big effect on future reputation. “One happy customer… “

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