How to adjust charge rate amp draw?

[Lightningstrikesthrice]

Hi. New to forum. Searching threads for this info but can’t find and need to charge at home quickly(ish) asap…

Thanks in advance for help.

With my Tesla Model 3 I charged at home with a Gen 1 Tesla wall unit. Before I put that in I used a 240v plug to a dryer outlet. When I did that I lowered the Tesla draw to 30A from 40A so I didn’t fry the house wiring. Worked great.

While waiting for my Ford wall unit from Sunrun…. I will install it as soon as I can…

I ordered a Teslatap (3rd parts company not Tesla) adaptor from Tesla plug female to male CCS. Because the lightning is drawing 80A it is popping the 60A breaker. The Tesla wall unit (Gen1) is not designed to allow 80A draw.

Looking through the ford menus on app and truck I don’t see a way to lower the current draw. Is this possible? Where? Have latest software updates on app and truck.

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[flyin525]

Its not possible on the truck, like with Tesla. It is possible to adjust it on the Ford Charge Station Pro that you are waiting on having installed.

Also note, its not available to change on your mobile charger - only the FCSP.

 

[Lightningstrikesthrice]

Thanks for the quick reply. Ford if you are reading this thread this is a good real world EV feature that is a needed update….

 

[RickLightning]

Thanks for the quick reply. Ford if you are reading this thread this is a good real world EV feature that is a needed update….

Been discussed for years. Can't be adjusted in the Mach-E either.

 

[Heliian]

The Tesla wall unit (Gen1) is not designed to allow 80A draw

The truck is only going to draw what the charger can provide. It's a 40a charger you say, it's only pulling 40a. Your 30a dryer circuit breaker can't handle 40a and shouldn't have a 30a continuous load either.

The solution is an evse that has variable amperage adjustment so you can set the limits properly.

The Ford charge station pro has internal hard settings and app based slider for setting below whatever its hard-wired to. It's max is 80a.

 

[Maquis]

Been discussed for years. Can't be adjusted in the Mach-E either.

Yep, basically 2 options. Buy an adjustable EVSE or an EV that’s not a Ford.

I know, there are others that can’t be adjusted either….but still.

 

[ZSC100]

Yep, I've had a Bolt for 2+yrs and also can't do it there. Stupid AF, it's so easy for the manufacturers to give this capability. It's a few simple CAN PIDs to the on board charger. Just crazy that we as customers don't have the ability to ask/demand these kind of simple features.

 

[DiveMan911]

Thanks for the quick reply. Ford if you are reading this thread this is a good real world EV feature that is a needed update….

Been discussed for years. Can't be adjusted in the Mach-E either.

You may need speak up a bit for those in the back of the room (talking about you @Ford Motor Company).

 

[Karlos]

Hi. New to forum. Searching threads for this info but can’t find and need to charge at home quickly(ish) asap…

Thanks in advance for help.

With my Tesla Model 3 I charged at home with a Gen 1 Tesla wall unit. Before I put that in I used a 240v plug to a dryer outlet. When I did that I lowered the Tesla draw to 30A from 40A so I didn’t fry the house wiring. Worked great.

While waiting for my Ford wall unit from Sunrun…. I will install it as soon as I can…

I ordered a Teslatap (3rd parts company not Tesla) adaptor from Tesla plug female to male CCS. Because the lightning is drawing 80A it is popping the 60A breaker. The Tesla wall unit (Gen1) is not designed to allow 80A draw.

Looking through the ford menus on app and truck I don’t see a way to lower the current draw. Is this possible? Where? Have latest software updates on app and truck.

Another option would be an adjustable EVSE charger such as this one - I bot one last fall & use it quite a bit at home. It's adjustable from 10 to 40 Amps.

https://www.amproad.ca/products/ifl...97Yz88zvADNhGbQHdRILtCPDC7yaGVyoaAgvkEALw_wcB

 

[Adventureboy]

I have this EVSE: https://ev-chargers.com/adjustable-...=6-8-12-24-32-40-amp&attribute_pa_length=32ft
It was a bit more expensive than the Amproad (my 2nd choice) but was available with a longer cord for the toughter-to-reach places. It works at 8 amps on 120v and is adjustable from 6, 8, 12, 24, 32 and 40 amps on 240V. I use the 24 amp setting weekly on a 30 amp marine supply where the Ford Mobile Charger won't work.
Yes FORD should include a soft charger limit in the onboard chargers. (by the way, this would be REALLY EASY since the charger already communicates with the EVSE to know how much it can ask for and then asks for the full amount tapering off while topping up. Making this into a configurable limit variable would be REALLY simple). This would solve MOST problems folks have charging on limited circuits. While they are at it, they should include coordinated charging between multiple EVs so if you have 2 (or more) EVs charging at the same time, they can coordinate the limits between themselves as they charge.

 

[Monkey]

I ordered a Teslatap (3rd parts company not Tesla) adaptor from Tesla plug female to male CCS. Because the lightning is drawing 80A it is popping the 60A breaker. The Tesla wall unit (Gen1) is not designed to allow 80A draw.

The Tesla Gen-1 HPWC is in fact designed to charge up to 80A when installed on a 100A circuit. I have a Gen-1 myself. So, this is your problem right here, and also your solution. Turn off your breaker and open up your Tesla wall charger, then configure it for the proper circuit size and charge rate. Being on a 60A circuit, you can set it as such and then the Gen-1 wall charger will not exceed a charge rate of 48A to your truck.

You may want to consider replacing your breaker if you've made several attempts to charge and it has been popped. Some of these breakers take a pretty good hit with an over-amp fault and it wears them down quickly. It's also a great time to swap it out with a GFCI breaker, which is now required by NEC on all EVSE direct-wire installs.

Here is the manual for your wall charger:
Gen-1 HPWC

DIP switch settings for your circuit size/charge rate are on page 15.

Also wanted to say that while Tesla gives you some flexibility to adjust charge rate in the car, it's actually not meant to be used or trusted for regular use to keep from overloading a circuit. Your charger should be on an appropriate sized circuit and it is actually the EVSE or EV charge station/unit that sets the maximum charge rate, not your vehicle. If the vehicle is capable of requesting a lower rate or slowing from the maximum available, then it can or will, but the process is a continuous negotiation while charging where the EVSE tells the vehicle what is available and the vehicle takes what it wants to from that.

 

[Lightningstrikesthrice]

Thank you all for the replies. Very grateful for the forum and you all.

Problem seems to have been addressed. Monkey….I actually have a gen 2 charger. I was incorrect about gen 1.

Using this manual:

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default...nstallation_manual_80A_en_US.pdf?201612081439

I adjusted the setting down to position “8” for 40 amps from where it was set at position “d” for 80 amps.

Go licensed electricians who set it up on a 50 A breaker!

I will investigate what wire size they used and maybe add a larger breaker and adjust back up. For now it is happily charging at 8kw which is just fine for now. Thanks all!

 

[Monkey]

Thank you all for the replies. Very grateful for the forum and you all.

Problem seems to have been addressed. Monkey….I actually have a gen 2 charger. I was incorrect about gen 1.

I'm continuously amazed at how many electricians just don't "get it" when it comes to EV's and charging and how many can't be bothered to RTFM.

Gen 2 Tesla chargers are the best and still capable of up to 80A charging. Tesla still sells them through their commercial sales department as they're the go-to for their destination charger units. Their Gen 3 units are limited to a 60A circuit/48 charge rate and need Wi-Fi connectivity to do load sharing and such and those units tend to be a bit finicky at times.

It would be nice if they ran proper gauge and type of wire that would allow you to up-size your breaker. I see too many of these installations that get done with 6 AWG, and often times it's NM-B / Romex, so you're limited to a 50A circuit. If it's 6 AWG and THHN / THWN, then it can support a 60A breaker, possibly a 75A breaker if the wire run is short enough. For this charger application, you're limited to whatever load and distance the wire is rated for at 90°C. Your feed wires have a blue jacket and I can't see what they are, but I'm thinking 6 gauge THHN, since they're not in a color-coded bundle. The ground wire looks a bit small to support anything over a 50 to 60 Amp circuit. You can probably up your breaker to a 60A. It doesn't sound like much, but that's a 20% boost and makes a big difference charging something like the Lightning. If you can't tell definitively what the wires are, I would get an electrician to have a look. Probably not the same guy who installed it.

 

[Bigbuckhunter71]

Im looking to control total amperage draw.
Does anybody know how to set amperage draw in the truck and not in the charger.
You would think there would be a way to tell the battery in the truck/display to only draw these amount of amps.
Sernio # 1 WORKS PERFECT
I can plug in my portable 120v (adapter)charger to a 20amp circuit and it will only draw 12 amps
Serino 2 WORKS PERFERCT
I can plug in my portable 240v (adapter) charger to a 50amp (dryer outlet) and it will draw 32amps
This is the ISSUE
SERNIO 3
I plug in extension cord #1 (10 gauge) to a 20amp 120volt (A.phase) dedicated outlet
I plug in extension cord #2 (10 gauge) to a 20amp 120volt (B phase)dedicated outlet
Than get a pigtail to make the 240 volts ,plug into the portable charger at 240 volt.
HERE IT COMES READY!
The charger know pulls 32amps on each leg of my 20amp 120v A and B phase ( THE BREAKER TRIPS)THANK GOD)) extention cords.
There should a way to tell the truck to only pull 16amps at 240 volts from the charger so the house breakers don't over load.
I'm a union election so I do have half a clue what I'm taking about,some times!
Thank you and please help,I plan on doing a lot of camping and charging at campgrounds this summer.

 

[hturnerfamily]

My two youngest son's Chevy BOLTS can vary the charge amperage, within the car, from 8amps to 12amps, either 120v or 240v, and my wife's '22 Kia Sorento PHEV can vary the amperage, 'Low, Mid, HIGH' draw(8amp, 12amp, 16amps), but the LIGHTNING was not designed, at least not yet, to allow any variations of charge amperage via the TRUCK, itself, ONLY thru the EVSE that you are using.

Could Ford provide this via a software update? Possibly, but it may also be a 'hardware' configuration that prevents it, such as the type of CONVERTER within the truck, etc.

I like the idea of the vehicle being able to control the Amperage, yes, but, regardless, it's either the Vehicle, or the EVSE, that makes that decision - you have to either have a vehicle that does it, or an EVSE that does it.

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