Portable charger limitations?

[2wheeltraveler]

Plugged into my Nema 14-50 plug (direct) at home and it works, as well as the basic 110 adapter. When I’ve tried to charge at a camp site on a 30amp pedestal it wouldn’t come on and it also wouldn’t charge off 2 generators in parallel.

the only thing I can think of is it somehow doesn’t like the adapter I have to use to change the plug type.

Another lightning owner next to our camp site had the same issue.

Anyone know why this would be? Charging at camp is very necessary when towing.

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[Lime Green]

What adapter did you use to plug it into a 30 Amp? What sort of 30 Amp outlet? Most RV pedestals have an R32U / TT-30 for a 30A receptacle, which is 120V. You won't get the mobile charger to activate if it has the 240V 14-50 plug attached and you connect it to a 120V outlet via adapter. There are a lot of crazy adapters out there in the RV world that technically don't comply with the NEC, but people use them to make their campers and generators work together in ways they shouldn't.

Technically, you could have the 20A plug attachment on your mobile charger and then connect it to the 30A outlet with a TT-30(M) to 5-20(F) adapter and it should work. But it would not pull any more juice than if you just plugged into a regular 20A outlet. And you run the risk of surging more than 20A into the mobile charger that way, which it should handle, but will cause it to throw an error. And could potentially be bad for the plug attachment and adapter.

There are TT-30 plug attachments out there for the Tesla mobile chargers from third parties. I actually bought one way back when, thinking it might be good to have if I had to grab a charge at a camp site or RV center. ...Never ended up using it. Perhaps someone out there makes one for the Ford mobile charger? It would still be slow, but a bit better than the 20A plug adapter that's included.

Generators in parallel. Not a great idea for this... What were you outputting from the generators and how (which plugs/adapter) were you using to connect the mobile charger?

 

[Lime Green]

...Just adding some more here. I think the Ford mobile charger is pretty limited. AFAIK, It only draws 32A in 240V mode with the 14-50 attachment and only 12 or 15 Amps with the 20A attachment.

Looks like people in the Mach E forums are saying the Ford mobile unit is a waste of time and to buy the Tesla one or other one out there that fits your needs. The Tesla one is OK, but I liked their first-get better than 2nd as it would allow up to 40 Amps. Their 2nd gen, current model, only goes up to 32A. But in either case there are TT-30 adapters for it from third parties. Of course you need a Tesla to J1772 adapter to plug into the truck's charge port with that solution.

...Or keep with what you've got and only go to camp sites that have a 240V outlet.

 

[cwstnsko]

Plugged into my Nema 14-50 plug (direct) at home and it works, as well as the basic 110 adapter. When I’ve tried to charge at a camp site on a 30amp pedestal it wouldn’t come on and it also wouldn’t charge off 2 generators in parallel.

the only thing I can think of is it somehow doesn’t like the adapter I have to use to change the plug type.

Another lightning owner next to our camp site had the same issue.

Anyone know why this would be? Charging at camp is very necessary when towing.

The TT-30 to 14-50 adapters that they sell for RVs do not work for EV charging since they connect the same 120V hot wire to both hots in the 14-50 giving 0V hot to hot on the 14-50. You can make an adapter that is wired for EV charging, but with the Ford Mobile EVSE, you will almost certainly get the same charging rate as if you just used the 120V 5-15 pigtail. Even with an adjustable rate EVSE, it is possible that you will still get the slow charging rate, depending on how the truck is designed to respond to 120V input.
Paralleled generators typically used with RVs are used to boost output current, but are generally still 120V, so all of the same limitations apply as the TT-30, but they may also need a neutral-ground bond plug in one of the generator outlets to get the EVSE to even power on without a ground fault

 

[TechTutor]

The TFL truck guys had the same issue when they took their Lightning to Alaska. Try looking on YouTube as they did a good job explaining this.

 

[hturnerfamily]

Plugged into my Nema 14-50 plug (direct) at home and it works, as well as the basic 110 adapter. When I’ve tried to charge at a camp site on a 30amp pedestal it wouldn’t come on and it also wouldn’t charge off 2 generators in parallel.

the only thing I can think of is it somehow doesn’t like the adapter I have to use to change the plug type.

Another lightning owner next to our camp site had the same issue.

Anyone know why this would be? Charging at camp is very necessary when towing.

this is all dependent on what you mean by "wouldn't charge"...
: does the Ford Mobile charger module power on?
: what 'type' of "adapter" are you referring to?


- campground 30amp outlets are 120v power, not 240v power, so certainly the Ford Mobile charger's own 'adapter' for 240v Nema 14-50 4-prong male plug will NOT work, no matter what of your own adapter you are using to plug into that campground outlet.
- if you are trying to use it's 120v 3-prong male plug, with your own 30amp to 15amp 'adapter', this adapter will have to provide the 120v power to the correct 'leg' of power that the Ford's adapter is wired to. This can be confusing since you are dealing with several 'wiring schemes' from different manufacturers.

I've found no issues with charging at campgrounds, but here's my experience, the first of which is UNIQUE:
A) Black Rock Mountain State Park, in far NE Georgia, the highest Georgia state park campground, has a unique power setup at each site: TWO 30amp outlets, along with the typical 20amp 'household' outlets. I'm not sure why, but it is what it is, and I made use of it with my DUAL ADAPTER: 30/30 120v to Nema 14-50 240v... and it then provided me 240v power to charge overnight. I used the 20amp outlet to power my small camper, especially since I didn't need any great 120v power for air conditioning or heating. This is very unique in the camping world, but it worked.

B) Cloudland Canyon State Park, in far NW Georgia... which has the more typical 'full hookup' 50amp, 30amp, and 20amp panel. I pulled the truck from the 50amp 240v outlet, and at the same time used the proPower onboard to power my camper from the bed's 20amp outlet, keeping the truck 'ON' all thru the night. While I did have access to the 30amp and 20amp power from the panel, I used the truck, instead, because the position of the truck and camper and the length from the panel would have required more extension cords - it was just simpler and easier to use the truck's bed outlet.

NOTE: while I do keep a 30amp to 15amp adapter, for the very infrequent need to access a campground's 30amp outlet, if that is the only option, it's likely that using this might result in the same outcome that you've seen: the adapter's wiring has to be on the same 'leg'/side as the outlet's wiring. If you use a plug in 'circuit tester', you might find that the campground outlet has the neutral and hot reversed. If that's the case, the Ford Mobile charger won't work. EV Chargers are VERY specific to how they sense the wiring to be correct - while many other devices and appliances, and even your camper, would work with that 'backward' wiring, the charger will not.

 

[RickLightning]

If you use the Ford Mobile Charger on a 30amp circuit, you are overloading the circuit. Likely pop the breaker, or heat up the wires and possibly cause a fire.

 

[2wheeltraveler]

I used the Camco version of this adapter

Ot makes sense that the issue is 120v vs 240, I hadn’t even considered that the RV outlet was 120V. Is it safe to assume that all campground 30Amp outlets are 120 and 50amp outlets are 250? That would be an easy way to determine what you’re getting into without having to call them.

Curious about the dual adapter, would that work with dual 20 amp 120v outlets to improve charging speed?

Definitely a challenge overall considering the drain when towing and the need to put a lot of energy back which the 20amp outlets just can’t do… I had to drive 100 miles round trip to the nearest “fast“ charger (advertised as 50kw but throttled to 29) and charge for 2.5 hours to 90% so could get the trailer back to the same spot and do it again on the way home. Overall this trip included 3 charges totaling 7.5 hours.

On the upside, the camper is REALLY clean on the inside and I caught up on some netflix shows while I waited for it to charge ;-)

 

[Amps]

makes sense that the issue is 120v vs 240, I hadn’t even considered that the RV outlet was 120V. Is it safe to assume that all campground 30Amp outlets are 120 and 50amp outlets are 250

It's safe to assume 50A campground hookups are 240V, but 240V receptacles range from 15-50Amps.

As another poster mentioned, there's a way to take advantage of TT-30 receptacles. You should have a good knowledge of what you are doing. I've never had to use TT-30 receptacles, but carry two adapters, one TT-30P to 4x 5-20R and the Parkworld below. Since the Lightning does not allow L2 charging amperage input control like Tesla, you will have to use (buy) a mobile charger set to draw ≤ 24A. Ford's won't do it.

I would not campground/private 240V charge/travel in a Lightning without a 40A mobile EVSE with a large degree of adjustability. Too many times you run into circuits that cannot handle their rating (see TFL's Alaska videos). I would've been stranded up the wrong high mountain creek in the middle of nowhere on Thanksgiving without being able to throttle back to 16A on a 50A 14-50 circuit. The hot 50A breaker was the weak link at 32A and 40A.

Your link didn't work for me. Here's a TT-30 EVSE adapter. You should prominently tag it as "EV CHARGING ONLY":

https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-885378-Adapter-TT-30P-14-50R/dp/B07G2MT4T6/

This was the only 40A adjustable output EVSE I could find at a decent price ($305, if you watch for sales):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NPF2CL8/

This one is $700, but even more adjustable:

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Portable-Charging-Outdoors-Certified/dp/B0B4PGMHK9

 

[Firestop]

One thing to remember about 120V charging regardless of your circuit’s provided amperage: The Lightning is only going to accept ~117V/11A (as previously tested by Forum members).…unless Ford does/has done an OTA lately……….

 

[2wheeltraveler]

One thing to remember about 120V charging regardless of your circuit’s provided amperage: The Lightning is only going to accept ~117V/11A (as previously tested by Forum members).…unless Ford does/has done an OTA lately……….

Good to know, and thanks to everyone for the tips/info!

Do you by chance have a link to that testing that was done, would be a good read but my search skills are failing me....

 

[Firestop]

Good to know, and thanks to everyone for the tips/info!

Do you by chance have a link to that testing that was done, would be a good read but my search skills are failing me....

Here is a link to a thread on the topic that was started earlier this year that cover the issue you should find interesting….

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/portable-evse-amps-over-110v-120v.11370/

 

[Pod]

Okay so for 30amp hookup I’m gonna need:

14-50 NeMA to TT-30 EV adapter
mobile charger that draws down to 24amps
Ford Mobile charger will NOT work, right?

What mobile charger should I buy? Is there one that won’t break the bank?

 

[Jim Lewis]

If you use the Ford Mobile Charger on a 30amp circuit, you are overloading the circuit. Likely pop the breaker, or heat up the wires and possibly cause a fire.

So, the ability to draw less current, then, is restricted to the Ford Charge Station Pro and the Ford Connected Charge Station and is done through the box mounted to the wall for each charger? It's not regulated in the FordPass app by telling the truck how much current to draw? That's too bad, as having that capability in the Ford Mobile Charger would be nice.

Edit_Update: Just for laughs, I asked Microsoft's new Bing/ChatGPT assistant about regulating the current draw during charging. According to the ChatGPT answer, current draw by the truck can be regulated on the truck touchscreen, too, but maybe that's the truck talking to the FCSP or the FCCS box, but not the Mobile Charger?

Bing/ChatGTP answer:

That's a great choice. The Ford F-150 Lightning is a powerful and versatile electric truck. According to my search results⁵,⁶, you can adjust the current draw settings on your truck by accessing the vehicle drawer on the 15.5-inch touchscreen²,⁶. You can also set up a charging schedule and preferences using the FordPass app⁵. Do you have any other questions about your truck or charger?

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2/27/2023(1) F-150 Lightning Charging Frequently Asked Questions - Ford Motor Company. https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...ightning-charging-frequently-asked-questions/ Accessed 2/27/2023.
(2) Change These F150 Lightning Settings Right Away - My Top 9 Settings. Accessed 2/27/2023.
(3) F-150 Lightning Drive Modes - Ford Motor Company. https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...-series-features/f-150-lightning-drive-modes/ Accessed 2/27/2023.
(4) 2022 Ford F-150® Lightning™ Electric Truck | Technology Features. https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/features/technology/ Accessed 2/27/2023.
(5) How to turn on / off Daytime Running Lights on Ford F-150 - WheelsJoint.com. https://www.wheelsjoint.com/how-to-turn-on-off-daytime-running-lights-on-ford-f-150/ Accessed 2/27/2023.
(6) 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Owner Manuals. https://www.ford.com/support/vehicle/f150-lightning/2022/owner-manuals/ Accessed 2/27/2023.

 

[RickLightning]

Okay so for 30amp hookup I’m gonna need:

14-50 NeMA to TT-30 EV adapter
mobile charger that draws down to 24amps
Ford Mobile charger will NOT work, right?

What mobile charger should I buy? Is there one that won’t break the bank?

Splitvolt is popular - https://amzn.to/3Z35mwU

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