Ford Charge Station Pro Fault - "charging at a reduced rate"

[Ige]

My FCSP has an amber solid light on the right and flashing blue in the middle when charging. The manual notes that this means "charging at a reduced rate". Some points:
-It has worked wonderfully for about a year
-I have the internal dial set at 5 (48 amps) 11i-sh kw
-the reduced rate is 6 kw
-the reduced rate started about 2 weeks ago
-it happens at any state of charge (not only when battery is near full)
-I have never been able to connect the FCSP to my internet despite 4 hours of failed attempts when it was initially installed
-it charges without any problems at public charging stations at full rates
-I've tried flipping the breaker off for 5 minutes to reset it without avail

My plan is to remove the cover and reset the FCSP. I will also try to connect it again to the internet and see if the app has any solutions. If those two things fail I'll call the number on the FCSP manual to get some support - but, I have found that these phone conversations with Ford haven't usually been helpful when I've called for different reasons in the past. Perhaps you folks have had better luck with Ford on the phone?

If you forum friends have any suggestions, I'll be quite grateful.

Thanks!

IGE

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[TaxmanHog]

Is the wiring to your FCSP a limited capacity, ie less than 100 amp breaker with commiserate wire?

 

[Ige]

No. It has a 100 amp breaker with the proper wiring to handle the amperage.

I will say that I bit the bullet and called Ford (number on the FCSP manual) and was pleasantly surprised. He was quite helpful. I was able to finally connect the FCSP to my Wi-Fi and show them that there’s a problem. Unfortunately, my battery was at 80% when he was on the phone and so I have to prove to him that it’s still slow and throwing the “reduced charge rate” fault at a lower state of charge. I’ll do that tomorrow and then they’ll send me a new one.

 

[Pioneer74]

No. It has a 100 amp breaker with the proper wiring to handle the amperage.

I will say that I bit the bullet and called Ford (number on the FCSP manual) and was pleasantly surprised. He was quite helpful. I was able to finally connect the FCSP to my Wi-Fi and show them that there’s a problem. Unfortunately, my battery was at 80% when he was on the phone and so I have to prove to him that it’s still slow and throwing the “reduced charge rate” fault at a lower state of charge. I’ll do that tomorrow and then they’ll send me a new one.

At 80%, the truck is going to charge at full rate on level 2.

 

[TaxmanHog]

No. It has a 100 amp breaker with the proper wiring to handle the amperage.

Have you considered restoring the 80 amp setting just to see if the yellow side bar disappears?
Also check the Fordpass Charge Station settings screen to see if you can adjust the virtual limiter to 80 amps.

Verify that the yellow light goes away, then later adjust the limiter to your prefered lower rate, but understand that seeing the yellow bar is "normal" in this situation.

 

[Ige]

Have you considered restoring the 80 amp setting just to see if the yellow side bar disappears?
Also check the Fordpass Charge Station settings screen to see if you can adjust the virtual limiter to 80 amps.

Verify that the yellow light goes away, then later adjust the limiter to your prefered lower rate, but understand that seeing the yellow bar is "normal" in this situation.

I appreciate the thoughts. When you say "restore the 80 amp setting" are you refering to the setting in the app or the physical dial on the FCSP? The dial has always been at 5 (48 amps) but the max charge current setting in the app was 80 when I finally got the app connected to the FCSP today. Stated differently, the max charge current on the app has never been below 80.

I read in a previous post that you, Taxman, had a similar issue in the past and the problem was that the "max charge current" on the app was set to a lower rate. I don't think that's what is happening here.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I appreciate the thoughts. When you say "restore the 80 amp setting" are you refering to the setting in the app or the physical dial on the FCSP? The dial has always been at 5 (48 amps) but the max charge current setting in the app was 80 when I finally got the app connected to the FCSP today. Stated differently, the max charge current on the app has never been below 80.

I read in a previous post that you, Taxman, had a similar issue in the past and the problem was that the "max charge current" on the app was set to a lower rate. I don't think that's what is happening here.

Great DO NOT change the app, but do increase the POT from 5 to 7 and see if the yellow light goes away, I'm curious if it does, might be a wild goose chase though and the issues you're having are actually heat in the handle, now that the FCSP is connected to the network, you might also get a couple patches that will remedy thermal sensitivity.

Every couple days power cycle your FCSP to implement any firmware updates, also look at the FP App settings for the current version level, post a snap shot of it (sanitize your device name & password) note my version numbers are eff'd up by a prior update, you will see a complete sequence of values

This information can also be seen in the FCSP Setup Application, to see it your mobile device must be connected by wifi to your home network and then you use the utility to logon.

 

[Maquis]

You can cycle power to reset without removing the cover.

 

[Ige]

Great DO NOT change the app, but do increase the POT from 5 to 7 and see if the yellow light goes away, I'm curious if it does, might be a wild goose chase though and the issues you're having are actually heat in the handle, now that the FCSP is connected to the network, you might also get a couple patches that will remedy thermal sensitivity.

Every couple days power cycle your FCSP to implement any firmware updates, also look at the FP App settings for the current version level, post a snap shot of it (sanitize your device name & password) note my version numbers are eff'd up by a prior update, you will see a complete sequence of values

This information can also be seen in the FCSP Setup Application, to see it your mobile device must be connected by wifi to your home network and then you use the utility to logon.

I haven’t had the time to turn the dial from 5-7, yet. Ill probably do that over the weekend and let you know what happens. Here is a screenshot of my software version.

And thank you for taking the time to help troubleshoot this!

 

[TaxmanHog]

I haven’t had the time to turn the dial from 5-7, yet. Ill probably do that over the weekend and let you know what happens. Here is a screenshot of my software version.

And thank you for taking the time to help troubleshoot this!

That is the current highest rev level that I'm aware of

 

[Labs4Lightning]

@Ige

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

CSP installed for 2 year, gets firmware updates. 100 amp circuit, over the past few months it just starts to self de rate itself. Not heat related. Open fordpass app charge will drop to 8.(amber lit on CSP)
check CSP settings in app still set to 80 amps.
i adjust to 48 save, then back to 80 amps, save and goes back to 16, like normal.

odd.

 

[Ige]

@Ige

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

CSP installed for 2 year, gets firmware updates. 100 amp circuit, over the past few months it just starts to self de rate itself. Not heat related. Open fordpass app charge will drop to 8.(amber lit on CSP)
check CSP settings in app still set to 80 amps.
i adjust to 48 save, then back to 80 amps, save and goes back to 16, like normal.

odd.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Ford sent me the following email. The vast majority of these things don’t apply to me but a few do, like having the cord wrapped around the charging station. I’ll post the email here for future readers to use and help troubleshoot.

 

[Ige]

For any future person struggling with this: I ended up changing the internal dial on the physical FCSP from 5 to 6 and now the FCSP charges at full.

Go figure.

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