20 amps @ 120v

[wighty]

The 12A limit sucks. Was hoping to use my 3rd party EVSE to pull 24A out of TT-30 plugs at camp sites this summer.

Yeah I think I might've been one of the first on this forum to try that which ended up getting several others to confirm that the 120v was limited by the truck to 12 amps. I ended up returning that portable charger I bought because of that and it really limits my willingness to bring the truck on camping trips.

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[biers]

Yeah I think I might've been one of the first on this forum to try that which ended up getting several others to confirm that the 120v was limited by the truck to 12 amps. I ended up returning that portable charger I bought because of that and it really limits my willingness to bring the truck on camping trips.

Guess I’ll have to add two pole breakers and some wire to my kit.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Being able to charge at 16A on a 20A circuit is more useful than you'd think. You actually get more charge into your vehicle than a 33% increase (12A to 16A) since the vehicle has to run cooling pumps, a computer, etc. All that housekeeping uses power (in the 400W range) when charging. So you actually end up with a 40%+ increase in charge rate when charging at 16A versus 12A.

The Ford mobile charger isn't great for a number of reasons, but the worst feature of the Lighting/charger combo is that you can't set the charge amps, either increase or decrease. This matters when trying to charge from a 30A/240V dryer receptacle. You can't do it with the Ford mobile charger/Lighting combo because the vehicle would try to charge at 32A instead of the safe 24A on such a circuit.

There are better mobile chargers out there. This page lists three good options and there are many others out there.

 

[cwstnsko]

Unless there is some hardware limitation, the truck should be changed to negotiate the charging rate on 120V, at least up to 24A, to account for using TT-30 at campgrounds, but as many others have said currently it does not.
I still carry an adjustable travel EVSE with all the adapters to plug into TT-30 since it seems like I’m just as likely to use it to charge another EV as I am to use it to charge my truck, and the other EVs may be able to take advantage of the amperage that the truck will not.

 

[ctuan13]

Yeah finding out about this ridiculously low 120V power limit is very very disappointing. There are countless scenarios in which having the ability to take in more power from a higher output 120V source could potentially be a lifesaver. The campsite/rv park was mentioned before, but also what about charging the truck in an emergency from a generator or 20A wall circuit.

As mentioned before with the amount of energy taken up with coolant pumps, heaters etc if it's really cold outside, then in all likelihood the battery won't charge at all on only a 12A input. And it's just especially ridiculous, because it doesn't have to be this way.

@Ford Motor Company fix this in an update, please.

 

[fedie0007]

Uggh, I wish I would have found this thread before I wasted so much time and money on adapters trying to figure out why I couldn't get my evse to charge faster than 11 amps.

Has anyone tried or know if it is possible to create an adapter that would change a TT30 plug into something that would deliver 240v at 15 amps? Can you just split the one hot in the TT30 into two hots and operate them at half the amps?

My evse has a 14-50 plug and it gives me the ability to set the amps at anything between 6 and 40 amps. The math seems simple that I could split the 30a @ 120v into 15a @ 240v and just set my evse for 12a. In that case it would only be drawing 24a right?
If possible, one could also do this for a 20a outlet and set the evse to use 8a @240v.

 

[pc500]

You might be able to boost 120v 24 amp to 240v 12 amp. Find a up-voltage transformer. They exist.

Things like this and the inability to have any dialogue or communications channels ford @Ford Motor Company to provide meaningful owner driven feedback is really frustrating me with the product.

Every past EV I charged at 16 amps (and 24 amps at campsites). Now I need a 240v campsite.

 

[COrocket]

Ford could also fix this mess by offering 20 and 30 amp adapters for a wider variety of outlets. It’s still annoying to have to use an adapter to go from a 6-50 outlet to the 14-50 plug.

120V/16A charging is easy on a tesla mobile cord because Tesla offers about 8 different pigtails for any modern NEMA outlet you could find in a house. It’s also much safer since the plug has thermal sensors to prevent outlet overheating which doesn’t work as well when you are using adapters.

 

[Maquis]

Uggh, I wish I would have found this thread before I wasted so much time and money on adapters trying to figure out why I couldn't get my evse to charge faster than 11 amps.

Has anyone tried or know if it is possible to create an adapter that would change a TT30 plug into something that would deliver 240v at 15 amps? Can you just split the one hot in the TT30 into two hots and operate them at half the amps?

My evse has a 14-50 plug and it gives me the ability to set the amps at anything between 6 and 40 amps. The math seems simple that I could split the 30a @ 120v into 15a @ 240v and just set my evse for 12a. In that case it would only be drawing 24a right?
If possible, one could also do this for a 20a outlet and set the evse to use 8a @240v.

No - a TT30 is 120V only.

 

[Heliian]

Ford could also fix this mess by offering 20 and 30 amp adapters for a wider variety of outlets.

The Ford mobile cord is 32a 240v, you need a 40a circuit minimum, there is no need for 20 and 30a adapters.

You can buy another evse that does it all and you can buy all the adapters.

 

[regentscholar]

I wonder if this 120V 12 amp limitation on the truck end is actually a hardware limit instead of a software enforced limitation. The pack voltage is 400V so the onboard AC to DC converter boosting from 120V might have only been designed & validated in the hardware to boost the input at maximum of 12 amps... I too just tried to charge with a NEMA 5-20 outlet and my (non-Ford) EVSE and only got 12 amps instead of 16 amps. Bummer. At least I also have a 240V 48A EVSE at home but higher 120V power options when out traveling would have been a nice option in the back pocket.

 

[Bugsy151]

Uggh, I wish I would have found this thread before I wasted so much time and money on adapters trying to figure out why I couldn't get my evse to charge faster than 11 amps.

Has anyone tried or know if it is possible to create an adapter that would change a TT30 plug into something that would deliver 240v at 15 amps? Can you just split the one hot in the TT30 into two hots and operate them at half the amps?

My evse has a 14-50 plug and it gives me the ability to set the amps at anything between 6 and 40 amps. The math seems simple that I could split the 30a @ 120v into 15a @ 240v and just set my evse for 12a. In that case it would only be drawing 24a right?
If possible, one could also do this for a 20a outlet and set the evse to use 8a @240v.

It is possible but many obstacles stand in your way. As mentioned by @pc500 you can find a 3kW step up converter that will take 120vac to 240vac. Several are on flea bay for around $100. That being said, I still haven't found one that makes me feel warm inside with the thought of trying to pump 24 amps into it at 120 volts. They all seem rated for 15 to 20 amps, which would get you the advertised 3kW only if you were stepping the voltage down from 240 to 120. I would want to open one up and make certain that there are the appropriate 10 or 12 gauge wires with the right insulation to handle a continuous 24 amp load. Then, the 15 amp connector on the outside of the housing needs replaced with a 30 amp connector.

Sounds like lots of work, but very doable. However, there's more to tackle which could be even harder to solve.

The EVSE you're using will need to be set to 12 amps. For anyone trying to replicate your work, EVSE's that can do that are out there. Oddly enough, the Ford Charge Station Pro will do this. They will need to read lots of descriptions and reviews to feel comfortable that it will do it though. I did find one for about $140 on Amazon.

You'll then need to do some serious DIY wiring to get it all to work together. At the end of the day, you'll still be running a risk though. The step up converter is not 100 percent efficient. Maybe 80 percent. That means that you'll be pulling a solid 30 amps from the TT-30, which it can do but isn't rated to do for long continuous loads. To safely address this, you'd need to set your EVSE to go lower than 12 amps. If we're looking at the SAE J-1772 spec, the next stated charging rate is 9.6 amps, delivering a whopping 2.3 kW. It's still way better than the 1.3 kW you get at 11 amps @ 120vac.

Yes, it's doable, but there's a fairly steep mountain to climb to get there. Good luck, as I'm in the same situation where TT-30 is all that many campgrounds offer. The best I can send along that will help slightly and not set you back a mountain of work is this.

As measured with a $5,000 Fluke power analyzer, my Ford EVSE will deliver 11.1 amps @ 120vac to the truck. That's 1.3 kW. My Keruida EVSE, set to 16 amps and fed 120 volts (through some very questionable Jerry rigging) will actually send 11.5 amps to the truck. Note that when set higher, the truck refused to charge. Setting it to 16 was critical in making it work at all. This tells me that the Ford EVSE is limiting the current at 11 amps and the onboard charger has a slightly higher internal limit about 3 percent higher. While not an earth shattering difference, it's a useful amount of energy that will shorten an excruciating long charge time by an amount that can be minimally appreciated but not at all useful when you really need miles added on quickly. If you're camping for a week, you'll see the difference. If you're stranded somewhere, it won't make a bit of difference.

Again, good luck. Post any updates you have that may shed more optimistic light on the topic. Maybe the internal current limit is slightly different from truck to truck. Who knows, maybe your's tops out at 12.5 amps.

 

[V8Nissan]

I have the escape phev. I found out this limitation the hard way after buying a 16 amp capable 120v EVSE. I bypassed it by using a transformer with a European plug adjustable amperage EVSE. Ill link the parts. Note that the voltage converter has to be oversized by a decent margin and even at 5000 watts mine became extremely hot. I added a hole and a 120v computer cooling fan ran from the outlet on the converter and have used mine for over a year at work with no issues.


ROCKSTONE POWER 5000 Watt Voltage Converter Transformer - Heavy Duty Step Up/Down AC 110V/120V/220V/240V Power Converter - Circuit Breaker Protection – DC 5V USB Port - CE Certified [3-Year Warranty] https://a.co/d/6enVL3Q

VORSPRUNG® Rapid EV Charger Type 1 (ONLY) Portable - 5 Metre 13A with Controllable Digital Screen (UK Plug 3 pin), 6/8/10/13A 3.3kW, Rapid Electric Vehicle Portable Charging Cable (Type 1) - 5M (UK) https://amzn.eu/d/04E1G48

Just set the EVSE to 8 amps 220v and you'll charge drawing 16 amps of 120v. Don't forget I'd highly suggest adding a cooling fan to case to avoid a transformer meltdown/failure.

Drawing 16 amps is a game changer vs the 11 amp factory charger. My 10kwh battery charges in 6.5 hours instead of 11.5. It's the difference between 2mph charge and 5-6mph

 

[Adventureboy]

Thought - Why doesn't Ford let you select the power the truck requests in the charge settings? In the case above, selecting a 20A circuit on 120V, the truck would safely draw 16 Amps and would blow a 15 amp beaker but charge fine on a 20 amp - this may still be dangerous with the 120v Level 1 charging due to the ability to push extension cords beyond their limits as mentioned above.

It does, however, make very good sense to be able to limit the charge to 24A on 240v to be able to safely use a 30A circuit - which the Ford Mobile Charger cannot do at the moment.

 

[Grease Lightning]

Yes, 16A is possible on a 20A circuit.

For L1, I have a Duosida aftermarket travel charger that has a NEMA 5-20 that prevents being plugged into a common household 5-15.

The Duosida does draw 16A and does charge about 40% faster than the 12A version.

I can attest to the faster charge as we used that during the first year of my wife's PHEV.

Half my house has the 20A circuit shown below w/ corresponding 20A breakers:

The reason for the limitation is because of posts like this. That is the NEMA 6-20r and is supported to be a up to 240v 20 amp circuit which the Lightning charges properly at 16 amps or 3.8 kW. Unless properly labeled, a user could inadvertently plug in a lower or higher voltage appliance to the outlet.

This thread being about 120v, you typically use the NEMA 5-20R to safely use 16 amps continuous. While the NEC allows a NEMA 5-15r to be used on a 20 amp circuit in dwellings.

While it does suck to only get 1.4 kW on a trickle charge, the use of the NEMA 5-15p and the 12 amp limitation keeps people alive and reduces lawsuits from unknowing people messing up. So I can accept the lawyers position.

Working in building safety, Ford likely made the right call, particularly if you are visiting a place you are not familiar with.

If you need to charge faster and you own the place, you can upgrade to 240V and likely a 40 amp outlet.

If you own an AirbNB, please add a 40 amp circuit and a NEMA 14-50r for your travelers.

While I have slow charged my Lightning, all rentals need to plan for EVs