FCSP on less than 220v (208)

[Ajjra]

I’m in New York City where the residential voltage is 208, rather than 240 or 220. Has anyone installed a Ford Charge Station Pro on 208 volt service? I’m curious to hear your experiences if any worth noting.

Thanks!

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[Blochead21]

Looks like it supports 208v from the spec sheet below on pg21.

https://content.fordpro.com/content...ord-Charge-Station-Pro-Installation-Guide.pdf

I’m more surprised NYC is actually 208 and not 240.

 

[Maquis]

It will function, but the charge rate will be reduced proportional to the voltage.

Any building fed by 3 phase (apartment buildings, for example) will have 208V instead of 240V.

 

[Calvin H-C]

208 V is mainly used with multi-dwelling services. Instead of using a transformer on a single phase that had a 240 V secondary with a centre-tap for the neutral, a 3-phase transformer with a wye-connected secondary is used with the common point in the middle of the wye being the neutral. Each residence gets two lines alternating (1 & 2, then 2 & 3, then 3 & 1, and so on). Line-to-neutral is still 120 V, but line-to-line is only 208 V for reasons that require trigonometry to make it more boring than this already is.

With few exceptions, high-power items can operate on either 240 or 208. The only noticeable effect is that since the voltage is about 13% lower, you get 13% less power. Vehicle charging will take 13% longer for the same current draw than if it were to operate on 240 V. The same thing applies to an electric clothes dryer and the self-cleaning cycle on an electric oven.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I’m more surprised NYC is actually 208 and not 240.

208V is the voltage you get with 3-phase transformers from line to line. Still 120V line to neutral. Areas with dense housing, large buildings or commercial loads will be on a 3-phase network. Or a really big house!
Most single phase 240V equipment will be rated 208/240. The amps they pull will be different though.

EDIT: I guess it takes me longer to type on the stupid iPad than @Maquis or @Calvin H-C. What they said.

 

[Ajjra]

Thank you for all the responses. I anticipated the longer charging time and understand the math on the produced power of volts times amps.

I was concerned about any resistance issues or anything running hotter as a result of the reduced voltage. I’m not an electrician though I will be having one install the FCSP.

I‘ve read about a number of troubles with the FCSP on the forums and was wondering if perhaps it was the result of reduced voltage.

This was helpful, thank you..

 

[Calvin H-C]

I was concerned about any resistance issues or anything running hotter as a result of the reduced voltage.

Since the current draw is the same, any heating of the cabling would be the same, which should be within allowable limits given that the circuit should be wired with the correct gauge cable as per code.

However, to get a bit technical, even though the resistance of the cable would have the same voltage drop because the current is the same, that drop is a tiny bit more as a percentage of 208 than for 240. Nothing really to worry about: a 2-volt drop is almost 1% of 208 but only 0.8% of 240.

Given that there's already 13% less power on the lower voltage, the extra 0.2% less power is negligible.

 

[Stalemate]

Just chiming in to say the Ford Mobile Charger works great on 208v. Not quite as fast as 240v of course, but otherwise fine.

 

[Heliian]

As per the install guide:

It will work just fine on 208v

The maximum power advertised is at 240v 80a (19.2kw). At 208v 80a you'll get 16.6kw max.

My house puts out about 220v and I'm set to 48a, so I get just over 10kw.

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