Ford Charge Station Pro doesn't pay attention to starting times

[KenWal]

I've got my Charge Station Pro hooked up and it works fine for charging my Lightning at 19KW/hr. The issue is that it doesn't seem to be paying attention to the starting time I've set in the Ford Pass App. I've got it setup to charge between 1AM and 7AM nightly, my plan was to hook it up when I got home from work and charge during the wee hours of the morning but be OFF the rest of the time. Two nights ago, I hooked up the truck at 6PM and it started charging immediately instead of waiting until 1AM. I let it go, but I did go into the Ford Pass app and resaved the same time settings. The charger is definitely seeing my phone/Ford Pass App and the internet and acknowledged the times. I connected the truck up again last night at 6pm and it started charging immediately. There is no one home at my house during the day, and I don't want some random person to park in my drive way and charge their battery while we aren't home. I really need the charge time settings to work, anyone have any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

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[Pioneer74]

You can't restrict the time the FCSP charges your truck. That is controlled in your trucks charge settings tab.

 

[KenWal]

I don't think that's true. In the FordPass App on the vehicle>charge settings>preferred charge times>Use preferred charge settings selected>my home charger. Ive got 1AM-7AM set to 85%.

 

[RickLightning]

Here's a possible reason - if the car thinks it cannot hit your target in those 6 hours, it will start early. That's a reality. The way around that would be to lower the target.

 

[Tony Burgh]

I don't think that's true. In the FordPass App on the vehicle>charge settings>preferred charge times>Use preferred charge settings selected>my home charger. Ive got 1AM-7AM set to 85%.

And you’re positive that accesses FCSP which is normally accessed through account/charge station?
Verify AM vs PM.

 

[Maquis]

I don't think that's true. In the FordPass App on the vehicle>charge settings>preferred charge times>Use preferred charge settings selected>my home charger. Ive got 1AM-7AM set to 85%.

That’s the setting for the truck, not the FCSP.

Your problem is either what Rick stated, or the setting you made in FordPass isn’t getting sent to the truck.

 

[TaxmanHog]

So, you have a new installation, possibly you might need to power cycle the EVSE while it's NOT plugged into your truck, do this to implement any recent firmware updates that ALL new installations require. Maybe that will improve the EVSE's communications with the truck, which is in control of the time schedules you set up in FordPass.

Also verify what version of FordPass you have 4.24.2 just came out today.

Make sure the time frame settings cover both weekdays and weekends schedules, set my own time on the first line, and optionally use the second charge time frame just below if needed, my example does not use multiple charging schemes per day.

A side note about the visibility of these controls, for months I could not see all the details because I have a higher font setting on my mobile device to my aging eyesight, reducing the font/zoom to normal defaults made these features visible on screen though I now NEED to use my readers to see it.

Make sure you've selected the "Use preferred charge settings"

 

[KenWal]

That’s the setting for the truck, not the FCSP.

Your problem is either what Rick stated, or the setting you made in FordPass isn’t getting sent to the truck.

I

I've got my Charge Station Pro hooked up and it works fine for charging my Lightning at 19KW/hr. The issue is that it doesn't seem to be paying attention to the starting time I've set in the Ford Pass App. I've got it setup to charge between 1AM and 7AM nightly, my plan was to hook it up when I got home from work and charge during the wee hours of the morning but be OFF the rest of the time. Two nights ago, I hooked up the truck at 6PM and it started charging immediately instead of waiting until 1AM. I let it go, but I did go into the Ford Pass app and resaved the same time settings. The charger is definitely seeing my phone/Ford Pass App and the internet and acknowledged the times. I connected the truck up again last night at 6pm and it started charging immediately. There is no one home at my house during the day, and I don't want some random person to park in my drive way and charge their battery while we aren't home. I really need the charge time settings to work, anyone have any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

OK lots of comments made. Ill try and answer them all in one pass.
(1) What version is my Fordpass App? Answer: Took a while to find but its 4.23.2. I checked at the iphone store and they dont have anything later.
(2) Lots of questions about controlling from the truck or the Ford Charge Station Pro (FSCP). I had the 1AM to 7AM set in the FSCP, there was nothing set in truck.
(3) Did it need to start chargiing early because it thought it needed more time than I gave it: Answer: I was trying to charge from ~45% to ~85% or roughly 50-55KWhrs. I have the FCSP current selector behind the coverplate/bezel set to, position 7, 80Amps. I can actually measure power usage on my house from my Tesla battery app. When the truck is charging it pulls about 19KW which is about right for 240V, 80A circuit. I also have 80Amps set in the Fordpass App. This specific specific charging session should have taken about 3 to complete. I had it set it had 6 hrs.
(4) Do I have trouble seeing the controls because the are so small? Answer: No I can see them fine.
(5) Did the charge setting in Fordpass get sent to the truck? Answer; I don't know but I don't think it has to. I'm thinking that the preferred times set in the fordpass gets passed to the firmware on the FCSP not to the truck. I believe and am hoping that my 1AM-7AM i had set is the only time the FCSP will charge a vehicle, (doesn't matter if its my truck or some other EV). I I hope it works that way, we'll be getting BMW M4 later this year hoping to use the FCSP to charge the BMW.

 

[RickLightning]

I have no experience with a FCSP, nor how it works with FordPass.

But - if you set charging hours in FordPass, or in the vehicle, and then plug in a charger, the vehicle will calculate if it can hit your charge percentage in the window specified. You would think, but you would be wrong, that it's simple math. You have 6 hours set, it needs 3, therefore, no issue. But it's not simple math, it calculates poorly. One way to test it is to lower the charging limit from 85% to 5 points above the current state of charge, then plug in. Since even an idiot system can figure out that 5% of charge is doable in 6 hours, it won't force the issue.

 

[Pioneer74]

(2) Lots of questions about controlling from the truck or the Ford Charge Station Pro (FSCP). I had the 1AM to 7AM set in the FSCP, there was nothing set in truck.

When you set it in the app, you're actually programming the truck through the app. It's always been more reliable to set your times in the truck.

There is no way to restrict the FCSP. I wish there was. I like that I can do it with my Emporia charger.

 

[TaxmanHog]

(5) Did the charge setting in Fordpass get sent to the truck? Answer; I don't know but I don't think it has to. I'm thinking that the preferred times set in the fordpass gets passed to the firmware on the FCSP not to the truck. I believe and am hoping that my 1AM-7AM i had set is the only time the FCSP will charge a vehicle, (doesn't matter if its my truck or some other EV). I I hope it works that way, we'll be getting BMW M4 later this year hoping to use the FCSP to charge the BMW.

The settings you made on the Fordpass are transmitted to the truck, which should follow through with your requests, if you're not seeing them on the SYNC 4 console then there is a communications gap between the truck and your Fordpass app.

The FCSP is dumb, the truck decides what to do, if those preferences are not in the truck, then you can program them on the Sync 4 screen, once done, the truck commands the FCSP to send charging current (On or Off) to the J1772 plug.

 

[Akbrian]

Ford doesn’t understand the KISS principal and is trying/failing at using the FordPass app as the overall solution.

As others have stated the setting in the app and the truck are to control when the vehicle should receive power not when the charger is expected to deliver power. The blue light indicates, charger is ready and will charge whatever is plugged in it doesn’t care/know when to charge. They complicate this by allowing you to control the charging amperage with the app which actually makes a setting change within the FCSP whereas all other changes are vehicle specific. I.e if you limit the output to 30 amps it is limited for anyone that plugs in versu the charger being ready to charge for whatever is plugged in.

I think they are trying to do too much with a really bad application. There is no communication interface between the charger and whatever vehicle is plugged in. Would like to see amount of power and charger availability times set by charger app/software and charging % limits set by vehicle.

 

[KenWal]

OK this is my official "Whoops" statement. I went out and checked the settings under preferred locations and my times and charge levels were there. For giggles I changed the % of charge from 85% to 90% and wala in about 15 seconds it changed on Sync 4. So the FCSP is just a big dumb charger. I guess when we go on vacation or leave home, Ill have to kill power to it at the breaker.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I don't want some random person to park in my drive way and charge their battery while we aren't home.

WOW, do you really think that would happen?

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