Accidental cold soak -7

[TMND]

Apparently the mobile connector doesn’t work on 110 below 0. Got home late after a 1000 mile road trip. Plugged into the 110 at the house. Woke up to charging fault, connector had orange light. Tried replugging to no avail. Started it up and this is what I got.

plugged into 220 at work and charging here.

Sponsored

 

[The Weatherman]

well that’s not good!

 

[SmoothJ]

Due to the needed coolant pumps and heating elements, it couldn’t keep up with limited power or needed power.

 

[TMND]

So you NEED 220 ?!?! I figured I’d charge at work on 220 and just keep conditioned at home on 110. Says it works to -30 wth

 

[SmoothJ]

So you NEED 220 ?!?! I figured I’d charge at work on 220 and just keep conditioned at home on 110. Says it works to -30 wth

You don't need 220, however with it below 0 it might have needed a bit more than the EVSE could provide or the EVSE just crapped out. At home, just to precondition the battery for departure on a cool day (mid 30s) takes nearly 3 kWh. I could only theorize what it would take for negative temps.

All I can say is to try it again somehow and see what happens.

 

[Zprime29]

Its more likely that the problem here is the poor mobile EVSE. While the slower charging rate may not be able to keep up, it should still be supplying power.

 

[Magendi]

Think of it this way: the most you can do with a standard 110 outlet is run a hair dryer or a small space heater. Imagine trying to keep an 1800 lb battery pack warm in sub-zero temps (keeping in mind it wants to be like 70-80 degrees) with a hair dryer. That’s a big ask for not that much electricity, let alone having enough power left over to charge the battery.
I agree though, the mobile EVSE should have been able to keep providing some current to at least keep the battery above ambient but I doubt it would have been able to keep it warm enough to charge in any meaningful way.
Even in perfect conditions with zero power spent on heating or cooling the battery pack, a 110V 15A circuit would take like 6 days to charge the ER battery pack from empty to full. They hold a lot of juice. Like trying to fill a swimming pool with your hose.

 

[TMND]

And that’s fine. I’m not looking for a charge at home, 110 painfully slow no matter what the temperature is. That’s why I use the 220 at work and I have a 48 amp charger arriving tomorrow as a permanent station. I’ve already had issues with this mobile connector cutting my charge rate to half the rate went on 220 never got more than 1.3 on 110 but again just looking for it to keep things from cold soaking entirely overnight. I’m sure this will be in the garbage soon and will replace it with a aftermarket mobile connector.

I’ll post a review of the 48 amp station soon

 

[TaxmanHog]

L1 doesn't have the capacity to keep the battery warm & charge, if the PTC were activated, you would end up with less SOC than your started with, I think the strategy is to NOT start the PTC in such conditions.

The FMC has been provens by several members to be intolerant to sub-freezing / sub-zero temperatures, some EVSE's failed permanently while many [most] recovered by warming them up, you could take a shot at getting it replaced under your 3/36 warranty.

 

[TMND]

L1 doesn't have the capacity to keep the battery warm & charge, if the PTC were activated, you would end up with less SOC than your started with, I think the strategy is to NOT start the PTC in such conditions.

The FMC has been provens by several members to be intolerant to sub-freezing / sub-zero temperatures, some EVSE's failed permanently while many [most] recovered by warming them up, you could take a shot at getting it replaced under your 3/36 warranty.

Even now on the 220, I charged it 6.7 for an hour and now it’s cut in half. The truck has been to the dealership once for this issue even though I told them I tested the cable on multiple outlets. They instead replaced the charging port on the truck. Glad to have a new one, but the charger was left undisturbed in the backseat the entire week they had my vehicle and now after calling them on it nobody’s returned my call I hate dealing with dealerships.
On the bright side UPS informed me just now that my 48 amp charger arrives today

 

[TaxmanHog]

I recall your prior report, agreed that the QC of dealer service is suffering severely, if nothing else should be the cause to terminate franchises en masse

 

[invertedspear]

Even now on the 220, I charged it 6.7 for an hour and now it’s cut in half. The truck has been to the dealership once for this issue even though I told them I tested the cable on multiple outlets. They instead replaced the charging port on the truck. Glad to have a new one, but the charger was left undisturbed in the backseat the entire week they had my vehicle and now after calling them on it nobody’s returned my call I hate dealing with dealerships.
On the bright side UPS informed me just now that my 48 amp charger arrives today

Ford service is clearly not competent on dealing with their included EVSE. When I had an issue with the one that came with my MME they didn't even recognize the NEMA 14-50 plug, so they couldn't duplicate the overheating issue that only occurred on 220v. They just charged the car and said "works for us".

The message is clear. No one should by EVSE from Ford. Demand it be removed and credited if it's already on the window sticker.

Overall you might spend a little more, but I highly recommend buying a Tesla Mobile Connector, and the NACS adapters from A2Z. In the end you'll have a quality EVSE, and all the adapters you need to connect to Superchargers and Destination chargers.

 

[TMND]

I was just gonna get a rando off Amazon and roll the dice, but I really like your idea of the Tesla one and having access to destination chargers if that actually works. I didn’t have any luck using my NAC super charger adapter on a destination charger.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I didn’t have any luck using my NAC super charger adapter on a destination charger.

The Fast charger adapter is wired differently than the L1/L2 Nacs adapter.

 

[Ragman]

Apparently the mobile connector doesn’t work on 110 below 0. Got home late after a 1000 mile road trip. Plugged into the 110 at the house. Woke up to charging fault, connector had orange light. Tried replugging to no avail. Started it up and this is what I got.

plugged into 220 at work and charging here.

It works below 0 right down to -35 (tested last winter) its -20C outside at the moment and it trickles away.

The orange light of death when I get it usually is the 110 adaptor isnt clicked fully into the power supply or your gfci needs to be reset its partially tripped.