Charging Paused note: You Can Only Resume Charge At A Charge Station

[Alexsouthcleveland]

Hey everyone I hope this isn’t a duplicate problem but I didn’t see anything else in the forum. After the last couple of updates (two or three came back to back) I’ve been having lots of issues with my truck not charging. I would plug in as normal it would not charge at all the next morning. I had scheduled charging on from 11pm -8 AM. I deleted the scheduled times and redid them and that fixed the problem. The last couple weeks it’s been charging on the schedule as it’s supposed to. Now seemingly for no reason and no new updates it’s doing the same thing again. So annoying! Is anyone else having this issue? I have scheduled charging just so it will finish charging close to when I’m about to leave for work. But I’m thinking just tell it to charge anytime so I don’t have to worry about all this. Btw I’m using Ford Charge Station pro and although it says it’s at work this is my home charger. Charger was pulsing from blue to green I’ve never seen that before. I had to cut the power and wait 30 seconds for it to reset itself.

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[djwildstar]

The flashing blue/green LED indicates that your Charge Station Pro is locked. When the station is locked, it cannot be used to charge a vehicle. Unlock the station in your FordPass application.

 

[Tony Burgh]

How can I intentionally lock the FCSP?
edit - through software/FordPass

 

[TaxmanHog]

How can I intentionally lock the FCSP?
edit - through software/FordPass

I've never been able to set the access controls on my FCSP.

 

[Tony Burgh]

I've never been able to set the access controls on my FCSP.

Exactly.

 

[hturnerfamily]

if you don't have any 'time of service' lower rates overnight, then yes, just delete any scheduling and let it charge whenever you plug it in.

if you DO have 'time of service' lower rates, like my 1 1/2c p/kwh from here in rural Georgia with Georgia Power, then you absolutely want to resolve the issue.
I struggled at first with scheduling thru the truck/app. It seemed to sometimes work, and other times I would wake up to find it having not. No rhyme or reason, at least that I could tell.

Ford developed the app to allow us the 'schedule' when we want the truck to accept a charge, when at home, but they certainly haven't made it easy, or intuitive.
For instance, Ford defaults to 'Percentage of Charge' you set, rather than allowing you to rather default to 'time Scheduled'... meaning that even if you have it set to charge from 11pm to 7am, my 1 1/2c p/kwh timeframe, it MIGHT start charging at 6pm when I plug it in, because it is reading the SOC of the battery, and seeing how 'long' it will take to reach my 'Percentage' set, and, if needed, will start to charge IMMEDIATELY.
I only want it to start ANY charge at 11pm, unless I tell it otherwise, which I can easily do by pressing 'Charge/Start NOW' on the app, even if the schedule says otherwise.

I eventually found an answer to MY issues. I realized that if Ford wants to 'default' to SOC 'Percentage' as being the primary driver of when the truck allows for charging, I must then set the HOURS within the schedule to allow for that, with a 11pm start in mind:
Here's what I have had to do, and it works - schedule for 11pm to 5pm(that's 18 hours)... so the truck's calculations always have enough 'time' to charge to my Percentage, even if I plug in the truck before 11pm... whether 7pm, 6pm, or 5pm, and no matter the SOC of the battery.
It works, and has worked, flawlessly since.

I do realize though, that since the 'End' time of the schedule is 5pm, the truck may try to charge immediatley if I plug in BEFORE then, so I always wait until 5pm or AFTER, which works easily.
If the truck is NOT fully charged to my Percentage by 7am in the morning, I unplug it manually and stop the charging process. That has worked fine. If I know I need more and am traveling, I may let it keep charging, even into my next 'level' of Georgia Power rates, which is 7cents.
My Georgia Power highest rate, on this 'EV Charging Plan', is 20c p/kwh between 2pm and 7pm.

This may or may not help your situation, since I am using a third-party adjustable 30amp mobile charger, at home, but I'm not sure your PRO Charger is part of the issue, or if it's the settings for charging 'schedule' within the app/truck.

My average daily cost of power, for not only the LIGHTNING, but also my wife's daily driver, a Kia Sorento PHEV, which gets it's small battery charged fully every night, is about $1.75... and that's with an average of 2,500 miles per month, just on my Lightning.
I applaud Georgia Power for offering such a great alternative rate plan versus the 'normal' 13-15c p/kwh residential that probably most folks have. I think this plan would be even more economical for even residential homes WITHOUT any electric vehicles.

I wish, though, Ford would redesign their Charging software to be more intuitive, and the ability for owners to pick whether they want 'PERCENTAGE' to rule, or 'TIME OF SERVICE' to have priority.

 

[hturnerfamily]

also, I know that many/most charge equipment provides for 'Scheduling' charge times, but I don't use any of that with any of my chargers, only the Ford app/truck software.

 

[Alexsouthcleveland]

The flashing blue/green LED indicates that your Charge Station Pro is locked. When the station is locked, it cannot be used to charge a vehicle. Unlock the station in your FordPass application.

That’s great thank you for the chart! No idea how it locked itself but resetting it via the breaker seemed to unlock it. We’re moving and I think I’m just gonna go back to using my Chargepoint home flex charger.

 

[Alexsouthcleveland]

if you don't have any 'time of service' lower rates overnight, then yes, just delete any scheduling and let it charge whenever you plug it in.

if you DO have 'time of service' lower rates, like my 1 1/2c p/kwh from here in rural Georgia with Georgia Power, then you absolutely want to resolve the issue.
I struggled at first with scheduling thru the truck/app. It seemed to sometimes work, and other times I would wake up to find it having not. No rhyme or reason, at least that I could tell.

Wow thanks for the detailed response. It’s crazy to me how hard Ford makes some things. They think they’re dumbing it down but really just making things harder. I wish I had time of use rates here but unfortunately it’s the same rate of about .12 per kWH all the time. My plan is to just have it charge as soon as it plugs in. Plus we’re moving so I’m just going to install my Chargepoint home flex and sell my ford charger.

 

[chl]

if you don't have any 'time of service' lower rates overnight, then yes, just delete any scheduling and let it charge whenever you plug it in.

if you DO have 'time of service' lower rates, like my 1 1/2c p/kwh from here in rural Georgia with Georgia Power, then you absolutely want to resolve the issue.
I struggled at first with scheduling thru the truck/app. It seemed to sometimes work, and other times I would wake up to find it having not. No rhyme or reason, at least that I could tell.

Ford developed the app to allow us the 'schedule' when we want the truck to accept a charge, when at home, but they certainly haven't made it easy, or intuitive.
For instance, Ford defaults to 'Percentage of Charge' you set, rather than allowing you to rather default to 'time Scheduled'... meaning that even if you have it set to charge from 11pm to 7am, my 1 1/2c p/kwh timeframe, it MIGHT start charging at 6pm when I plug it in, because it is reading the SOC of the battery, and seeing how 'long' it will take to reach my 'Percentage' set, and, if needed, will start to charge IMMEDIATELY.
I only want it to start ANY charge at 11pm, unless I tell it otherwise, which I can easily do by pressing 'Charge/Start NOW' on the app, even if the schedule says otherwise.

I eventually found an answer to MY issues. I realized that if Ford wants to 'default' to SOC 'Percentage' as being the primary driver of when the truck allows for charging, I must then set the HOURS within the schedule to allow for that, with a 11pm start in mind:
Here's what I have had to do, and it works - schedule for 11pm to 5pm(that's 18 hours)... so the truck's calculations always have enough 'time' to charge to my Percentage, even if I plug in the truck before 11pm... whether 7pm, 6pm, or 5pm, and no matter the SOC of the battery.
It works, and has worked, flawlessly since.

I do realize though, that since the 'End' time of the schedule is 5pm, the truck may try to charge immediatley if I plug in BEFORE then, so I always wait until 5pm or AFTER, which works easily.
If the truck is NOT fully charged to my Percentage by 7am in the morning, I unplug it manually and stop the charging process. That has worked fine. If I know I need more and am traveling, I may let it keep charging, even into my next 'level' of Georgia Power rates, which is 7cents.
My Georgia Power highest rate, on this 'EV Charging Plan', is 20c p/kwh between 2pm and 7pm.

This may or may not help your situation, since I am using a third-party adjustable 30amp mobile charger, at home, but I'm not sure your PRO Charger is part of the issue, or if it's the settings for charging 'schedule' within the app/truck.

My average daily cost of power, for not only the LIGHTNING, but also my wife's daily driver, a Kia Sorento PHEV, which gets it's small battery charged fully every night, is about $1.75... and that's with an average of 2,500 miles per month, just on my Lightning.
I applaud Georgia Power for offering such a great alternative rate plan versus the 'normal' 13-15c p/kwh residential that probably most folks have. I think this plan would be even more economical for even residential homes WITHOUT any electric vehicles.

I wish, though, Ford would redesign their Charging software to be more intuitive, and the ability for owners to pick whether they want 'PERCENTAGE' to rule, or 'TIME OF SERVICE' to have priority.

WOW, what a hassle, but good you found a workaround.

This may not help any, but my 2012 Nissan Leaf had a different charge menu that works for me.

I can set both the maximum level charge (percentage - either 80% or 100%) AND the start and stop times with my 2012 Nissan Leaf's menu. If I want to have it charge to 100% no matter how long it takes, then I have to set the start time and set an end time long enough to be sure to reach it, e.g., around 8 hours later in my case.

Unlike Ford, the start time is fixed and won't be adjusted based on some charge percentage.
Also the stop time takes precedence over the percent charge, that is even if I don't reach say, the max 80% I set, it will stop at the time I set it to stop at.

Also, if it reaches the set 80% BEFORE the stop time, it will stop charging and not go over, to 90 or 100% for example. So the max charge is the max charge no matter what times I set for start and stop.

Now if I want to charge to less than 80%, which I do to extend battery life, I charge for less time by figuring out how long it will take - my 2012 Leaf won't let me set anything lower than 80% with it's menu.

To fully charge at L2 to 100% from 0% it takes around 7.5 hours (40kwh battery). By trial and error I figured out how long between start and stop times to get it to around 60%. Since I never go below 20% and the charge rate is about 13-14% per hour, about 3 hours is all I need. So I set the start time at 1:30 AM and the end time at 4:30 AM.

I am on a time of day rate as well and between 1 AM and 5 AM is always the lowest, summer or winter. 4.8 cents per kwh in summer and 5.9 per kwh cents in winter, about 1/2 the winter peak rate and 1/3 the summer peak rate.

I set my hot tub cycles to avoid peak rates as well and often run the clothes dryer after 1 AM too.
The savings add up over time.

 

[djwildstar]

I struggled at first with scheduling thru the truck/app. [...] I wish, though, Ford would redesign their Charging software to be more intuitive, and the ability for owners to pick whether they want 'PERCENTAGE' to rule, or 'TIME OF SERVICE' to have priority.

Yes.

Right now, charging is determined by the target state of charge in conjunction with programmed departure times and preferred charging times:

• If you have one or more departure times set, charging starts whenever it needs to so that the truck is at your requested state of charge for departure. So (for example), if you have a target charge of 90% set at home, a departure time of 8am tomorrow, and have a battery at 30% connected to a 5.76kW charger, then charging will start whenever it needs to start (around 4:30pm) so that you have a 90% charge tomorrow at 8am, even if this means that you charge outside of your preferred charge time.
• If you have a preferred charge time window set, then:
  • IF the truck can charge to your target state of charge during the window, then charging starts at the beginning of the preferred charge time window, and stops with the truck gets to your preferred state of charge. For example, if you have a target charge of 90% set at home, an 11pm-7am preferred charge window, and the truck is at 80% on a 5.76kW charger, then the truck will start charging at 11pm and finish when it is at 90% (at about 1:30am).
  • IF the truck can't charge to your target state of charge during the window, then it treats the end of your preferred charging time as a departure time: charging starts whenever it needs to start so that the truck is at your requested state of charge at the end of the time window. So (for example), if you have a target change of 90% set at home, a charging window of 11pm to 7am, and a battery at 30% connected to a 5.76kW charger, then charging will start whenever it needs to start (at about 3:30pm) so that you have a 90% charge at 7am, even if this means that you charge outside of your preferred charge time.

This logic works pretty well for ensuring that the truck is charged when you might want to use it. It doesn't work as well for folks like you and me that have a EV-specific utility rate plan (I'm also on Georgia Power's EV rate), particularly if you have a lower-power charger.

It would be nice to have a third option, specifically to make best use of EV-specific rates for folks with lower-powered chargers and occasional or infrequent use of the vehicle. The vehicle would only charge during the set window, even if it hadn't (yet) reached the target state of charge. For example, a truck that gets driven ~160 miles roughly every other day needs to recharge 80kWh (so from about 30% to 90%). On a 5.7kW charger, this is 15 hours of charging, give or take a half-hour. We don't need the truck at 90% tomorrow morning at 7, but ideally would like to charge from 30% to 60% tonight from 11pm-7am, and from 60% to 90% tomorrow night from 11pm-7am.

This could be done by putting a "Charge ONLY during preferred times" toggle in FordPass.

 

[RidetheLightningSW]

I had the same issue today which is why I searched for this thread. My issue was I did not push the charger adapter all the way in. It looked pushed in but it didn’t click. The charger was flashing orange and the app said Charging Paused. I reinserted the adapter and everything works fine now.

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