120V Charging in Cold

[mefly2]

OP:

1.2 kwh for us gave us about 2-3 miles per hour recharging on 120vac with the Ford mobile charger.
For our lifestyle, that worked just fine until the temperatures dropped considerably / unseasonably cold even for Montana. We didn't need the preconditioning or extremely warm cabin earlier in the winter.

Now we are still using the Ford mobile charger (actually not a charger per se but that is what it is generally called) but it works much more efficiently / quickly connected to 220vac... and more peace of mind for both the wife and me. We had no problems settting departure times on 120vac but - since the truck was garaged- likely didn't press the battery or interior heaters into use.
We received the FCSP but so far - at least- the mobile is all we have needed and we put the pro up for sale. Enjoy your lightning journey ! My El Engr training started back in 1966; so I am still on a new learning curve...

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[TaxmanHog]

Regarding the operation of the FMC

 

[TaxmanHog]

Regarding the FCSP

 

[WattTruck]

Thanks all. @mefly2 appreciate the experience. Do you think other than the cabin heating and pre conditioning it would have worked in that cold? Or did you perhaps notice if it was still charging but just not keeping up with the heating load? I am trying to figure out if it will ever not work at all. But if it charged down to -22F (albeit slowly I know) at least I’d know when I could count on it and not.

It typically stays above 0 in my garage. But I’m also curious about perhaps plugging in at something like a workplace.

 

[RickLightning]

People have reported them stopping working at temps higher than -22. 10F comes to mind as I recall. A point made was it was sitting on the frozen ground.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/ford-mobile-charger-not-working-in-cold.13985/

 

[Calvin H-C]

There are overheads in charging that will use some of the power available before any of it can actually get to the battery.

With a 120 volt EVSE designed for a 15 amp circuit, the absolute maximum power it can draw is 1440 watts. That's because code limits loads to 80% of the overcurrent protection, so 12 amps. At 120 volts, this is 1440 watts. Many 120 volt EVSEs draw a little less, so 1100-1200 is more typical. It doesn't matter if you are using a 20 A circuit. If the unit is designed to work on a 15 A circuit, it must be limited for that.

Some if this will be lost to overheads such as the rectifier that changes AC to DC (probably less than about 20 watts) and even with warmer temperatures the coolant circulation pump will likely need to run. In the cold, the vehicle will want to keep the battery warmer than the ambient temperature so a few hundred watts will go to that. To keep things simple, let's say 600 watts is needed just for that. With 1200 watts coming in, only 600 are left to charge the battery. In warmer weather, the overhead will likely be under 100 watts, so 1100 of the 1200 goes to the battery.

If you had a 240 volt EVSE, that 600 watt overhead is less significant. If it's a 32 A unit, it delivers up to 7680 watts, leaving just over 7000 for the battery. If it's a 48 A unit, it delivers up to 11,520 watts, leaving nearly 11k for the battery. At these levels, cabin warming and battery reconditioning can occur while still providing a decent amount of power for the battery.

One other thing: even if you get practically nothing to the battery from 120 volt charging, there may be some benefits from keeping it plugged in with such a unit when it's very cold just to keep the battery a little warmer than the surroundings. Both our Lightning and our Focus Electric display a message when it's below a couple of degrees above 0C (32F) recommending keeping it plugged in even if not charging.

 

[Tom Jensen]

Thanks guys. Alright so with 120V sounds like warming, preconditioning, and preheating the cabin are lost if I’m reading right. You can still drive without all this though right?

However would it still charge at the same rate in really cold subzero F conditions?

I am guessing it would charge at that 1200 watt rate and then when / if fully charged go to standby since it wouldn’t be doing any warming or preconditioning?

Thanks!

 

[mb0220]

I recently stayed at a cabin for a ski trip weekend. There was no EVSE, but I was able to plug in to the 110v overnight. The distance from the cabin to the skiing location was about 20 miles, so we drove about 40 miles round trip every day. Temps were at about 0F. The overnight charging definitely did not keep up with our use, but it softened the blow enough that I only needed to stop at a DCFC once to get back to 80%.

Side note: truck did GREAT even in deep snow, which was nice because I did not want to shovel the driveway. It was also wonderful to have a truck with a canopy for skiing. So nice to be able to just toss all the gear in the back, and also being able to sit on the tailgate to get ready. For my next trip I bought electric boot heaters so I'll use ProPower to warm them up while we drive!

 

[WattTruck]

@mb0220 Sounds like good news to me, if I’m reading right it was still charging at 0F (but not keeping up due to distance and cabin heat I’m guessing). If it’s still charging down to zero that’s well on the road to getting close to what I’d need (rarely might have to / want to charge lower) but I guess per specs -22F is the limit.

@Calvin H-C does 120V indeed heat the battery in cold? I had thought that was only on 240 but could be mistaken.

 

[RickLightning]

@mb0220 Sounds like good news to me, if I’m reading right it was still charging at 0F (but not keeping up due to distance and cabin heat I’m guessing). If it’s still charging down to zero that’s well on the road to getting close to what I’d need (rarely might have to / want to charge lower) but I guess per specs -22F is the limit.

@Calvin H-C does 120V indeed heat the battery in cold? I had thought that was only on 240 but could be mistaken.

Note the words "a little warmer than the surroundings". No, it does not precondition the battery like it does on 240v, to 60F or so. It MAY keep it above freezing.

 

[Shawnson]

Hey guys,

Looking at the possibility of getting a Lightning and had some questions on 120V charging. My understanding is you’re looking at 1-2 miles or range per hour of charging here which actually would work well most of the time for my purposes.

However I was curious how things are affected by cold (below 0F temps). Does charging slow down at those temps? If so curious by how much?

Secondly, at those temps even when fully charged and left plugged in, would power still be fed to the truck for battery warming or preconditioning etc.? If so, curious to learn how many watts that would be and if that would be going on constantly or intermittently etc. so I can determine approximate cost there. Thank you!

At those temperatures you will get an orange light on mobile charger (using 120V) and it will continue to fault after unplugging it and plugging it back in every 15 minutes or so.

 

[WattTruck]

Thanks @Shawnson - have you found 0F to be about the limit? Have one account of successfully charging at 0F so maybe that’s the lowest it will go? Appreciate everyone’s input.

 

[Calvin H-C]

Note the words "a little warmer than the surroundings". No, it does not precondition the battery like it does on 240v, to 60F or so. It MAY keep it above freezing.

Exactly what I was going to say.

My experience with our FFE (six full winters so far with occasional use of the 120 V EVSE) is exactly this. Ford has not maintained some features and functions they had with the FFE in the Lightning, so how this is now implemented might vary.

I have noticed that the "you should plug in" message when shutting off is different in the Lightning in two ways:
1) It seems to only appear at a colder temperature - haven't noted the threshold, but noticed the FFE displaying it when the Lightning didn't.
2) I recall the Lightning only displaying it when shutting off. You only have to move the shifter to Park when it's cold in the FFE to get the message (more annoying - glad to see this gone in the Lightning).

 

[mb0220]

At those temperatures you will get an orange light on mobile charger (using 120V) and it will continue to fault after unplugging it and plugging it back in every 15 minutes or so.

Would this effect be mitigated if you could keep the "box" of the charger inside the garage?

 

[mb0220]

@mb0220 Sounds like good news to me, if I’m reading right it was still charging at 0F (but not keeping up due to distance and cabin heat I’m guessing). If it’s still charging down to zero that’s well on the road to getting close to what I’d need (rarely might have to / want to charge lower) but I guess per specs -22F is the limit.

@Calvin H-C does 120V indeed heat the battery in cold? I had thought that was only on 240 but could be mistaken.

I should point out I was NOT using the mobile power cord provided by Ford. I knew it had trouble with cold temps so I brought another set as backup and that's what I ended up using at the cabin.

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