Charge pro station yellow light after only 30 mins of charge

[TaxmanHog]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Tasmanjog, where is that screen? Does the Charge Station Pro have software that I should download? How? Or is the software on my truck or on line or on the Ford Pass?

Power off the FCSP at the circuit breaker, the process is automated, but it's not clear if the version of firmware is the issue for you, how long has your FCSP been in operation?

BTW my version number is uniquely corrupted but i know that I've had several updates one was the thermal issue.

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[Zprime29]

OK I think I understand. Because, when I charge my MachE the Charge Pro does not fail, and the MachE charges at a lower rate than the Lightning. I guess I have no choice but to reduce the charge rate to 60 amps during the summer or air condition my garage.

I'm looking at insulating my garage to see of that gives me enough buffer. I also use it as my workshop so would need nice anyways.

 

[johnnyonetime]

I set mine to 64A when it started getting warm in Florida. Still puts out 17kW/hr which works fine for me.

 

[BSull]

I have the same issue here near Phoenix, AZ. If the temp in the garage is near 100 or over, which is pretty much every day this time of year when I plug in and the truck / evse are first communicating the evse led will show blue pulsing with yellow solid on the right side, then when they figure out the truck can reach desired charge state, usually 85% the evse will stop pulsing and go solid blue with no yellow until scheduled charge time.

I have my fcsp derated to 48Amps in Ford Pass since that is usually sufficient for my needs. I have added 50kWh or 36% in a little over 3 hours. My charge window is six hours long for the EV rate so theoretically I could add around 69 kWh in the allocated 6 hours at 48Amps.

I agree that Siemens and Ford should have designed the FCSP to operate in any environment it was likely to experience but that sometimes is financially impractical with today's electronics. Hardened / not off the shelf electronics are typically custom designed and that makes them not cheap.

 

[Charles Juedemann]

Bsull, that is not what happened to me. Mine charged for a while, then went to yellow. I have tried to load the software to the Pro station but it will not work for me. Maybe I am doing something wrong. The past few days have been cooler here and I have not had the problem.

 

[Bokenator]

I had the same issue, with it tripping during the summer at the 80A charging rate. Garage temp was north of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Like many of the posters on this thread, I noticed the cord from the Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) to the truck was physically hot a couple of times I caught it right after it tripped. Not burn you hot, but hot enough that it made me paranoid about burning down my house in the middle of the night when everybody was asleep. I installed the recommended gauge wire during the install (believe it is 3-gauge?), but even that would still be warm to the touch in the basement which was a cool 72 degrees Fahrenheit, but not as hot as the wire running from the FCSP to the truck in the garage. As a result I de-rated my FCSP down to 48A via hardware, and also reduced the max charge rate via software to avoid confusion. It fixed the problem. Here is a pic I stole from the forum showing the innards of the FCSP. The arrow is pointing to the location of the hardware cap:

Here is a pic from the manual showing how to set it up for whatever you feel is appropriate for your use case:

As I set mine up for 48 amps, the arrow is pointing at the 5. This worked for me. Truck would charge completely overnight and not trip, even during hot Georgia summer nights in a heat sink of a garage.

 

[chl]

You should double check all the connections. Loose connections will cause it to trip the overheat mode.

Yes, the wires feeding the CSP from your service panel have to be #3 and torqued to 60 in-lbs, the ground #6 torqued to 35 in-lbs.

If you are going to re-tighten them yourself, be sure the power to the CSP is OFF!

If you don't feel confident to DIY, get the installer back to tighten them.

 

[chl]

I had the same issue, with it tripping during the summer at the 80A charging rate. Garage temp was north of 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Like many of the posters on this thread, I noticed the cord from the Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) to the truck was physically hot a couple of times I caught it right after it tripped. Not burn you hot, but hot enough that it made me paranoid about burning down my house in the middle of the night when everybody was asleep. I installed the recommended gauge wire during the install (believe it is 3-gauge?), but even that would still be warm to the touch in the basement which was a cool 72 degrees Fahrenheit, but not as hot as the wire running from the FCSP to the truck in the garage. As a result I de-rated my FCSP down to 48A via hardware, and also reduced the max charge rate via software to avoid confusion. It fixed the problem. Here is a pic I stole from the forum showing the innards of the FCSP. The arrow is pointing to the location of the hardware cap:

Here is a pic from the manual showing how to set it up for whatever you feel is appropriate for your use case:

As I set mine up for 48 amps, the arrow is pointing at the 5. This worked for me. Truck would charge completely overnight and not trip, even during hot Georgia summer nights in a heat sink of a garage.

And 48A (my limit anyway with the SR battery) you'll stress your battery less than at 80A.
Over time it makes a difference in longevity, if it matters to you.

 

[chl]

It’s in FordPass. Go to “Energy”, then scroll down under “Advanced” you’ll find “Charge Station.”

With my software version, I have no problems at 80A.

IF you were able to add the CSP to FordPass - I never was able always got a "ChargeStation Not Found" error message, like so many other posters...alas.

 

[chl]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Tasmanjog, where is that screen? Does the Carge Station Pro have software that I should download? How? Or is the software on my truck or on line or on the Ford Pass? As for lowering the amp charge rate, that is not acceptable. If Ford makes a charger for 80 amps, it should handle 80 amps. If not, then Ford should say 60 amps. Period. As for cable bunching, my cable is flat across a concrete floor.

If the CSP is connected to your home wifi it is supposed to be able to get updates by itself. I have never seen one however which MIGHT be because my install software stalled at the last step to add the CSP to FordPass, always got a 'ChargeStation Not Found" error. From checking other's versions, I don't have the most recent, but it charges the truck at 48A (the SR limit), so that's enough for me.

 

[Charles Juedemann]

I started this thread and there are many good suggestions. Here are my thoughts. If Ford made the charge station pro to operate at 80 amps, it should operate at 80 amps. Period. Next, each installation is different so I can understand some minor problems, but the charge pro should operate at 80 amps.
I am not disappointed at all with my Lightning. In fact, I love it. It is the best EV truck on the market today and runs perfectly. But is is frustrating that the charge pro has these problems.
I will end with this. I do believe heat is the problem with my charge pro, but like I said it should be designed to operate at the stated current in 105 f ambient temperature, as many places are that warm in the summer.
Here is what is great about the Lightning (Larriat) and why I will buy another. 1) It meets all my requirements for a light truck, both with power and range. 2) It is built much better than the Tesla. 3) It will carry 5 full grown people comfortably. 4) Mine has 17 K miles with no issues at all. 5) It is comfortable and trouble free. 6) I love the frunk space but I forget things I left in there. 7) The price was right.