Lightning Charging Limit Problem

[Firestop]

I think I'm finding some of the reasons:

on 'Schedule Charge' settings, you provide a 'window' of time, such as mine at 11pm to 7am, the lowest cost GA POWER timeframe, and usually enough to bring the battery charge up to 90%(which you can also set differently)...

BUT... here's the kicker: if you plug in and expect it to simply WAIT until 11pm, you might find it starting to charge immediately, instead. I've found the culprit by playing around with the PERCENTAGE of Charge setting. Rather than using 90%, I chose 50%. It SOLVED the problem. The truck is plugged in, and it is NOT charging, and the app says it is 'waiting to charge' via the schedule.

O.k., but why does this happen? Why can't I tell it that I might normally want a final charge of 90%, yet if there are not enough 'hours' between 11pm and 7am to accomplish that, it simply starts at 11pm and gets as much as it can to 7am... but, NO, it does not. The system calculates how much you need, and, REGARDLESS of your HOURS for Charge setting, it may start IMMEDIATELY.

I DON'T LIKE THAT.

If I want the truck to charge immediately, then I already have a way to tell it to do just THAT.... I don't want a 'schedule' and yet have it OVERRIDE that and charge on it's own.

So, in the end, at least until FORD sends an OTA of other options, you must WAIT to plug in your truck at 11pm, yourself, if you only want it to start charging then, if the battery would have otherwise been too 'low' for the 'Schedule' hours to charge it to the 'Percentage' you chose.
OR, you must CHANGE your 'Schedule hours' ending hour to compensate for the time, and then UNPLUG it yourself, at 7am, etc. Crazy.. It SHould NOT be This complicated!

Well, you confirmed what I suspected…the % Charge Goal is an unoveridable priority over the Scheduled Hours….thanks for your testing!

Based on this, the user must be know the output rate of their charger, calculate the kWh that can be delivered during their designated charge window, convert that to a percentage of their total usable battery capacity, and then subtract that their set % SoC to be achieved.

Having done all of that, if you plug-in to charge below that calculated %, you’re going to need to be charging outside your desinated window to achieve your set % goal. Then, as @hturnerfamily correctly states, manually reconfigure you software settings as needed…..

Oh, I forgot….that is what software is supposed to be designed to do for us @Ford Motor Company

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[Pioneer74]

Well, you confirmed what I suspected…the % Charge Goal is an unoveridable priority over the Scheduled Hours….thanks for your testing!

Based on this, the user must be know the output rate of their charger, calculate the kWh that can be delivered during their designated charge window, convert that to a percentage of their total usable battery capacity, and then subtract that their set % SoC to be achieved.

Having done all of that, if you plug-in to charge below that calculated %, you’re going to need to be charging outside your desinated window to achieve your set % goal. Then, as @hturnerfamily correctly states, manually reconfigure you software settings as needed…..

Oh, I forgot….that is what software is supposed to be designed to do for us @Ford Motor Company

Or you could use a 3rd party smart charger with a defined charge window and set your truck to charge when plugged in.

 

[Firestop]

Or you could use a 3rd party smart charger with a defined charge window and set your truck to charge when plugged in.

Yep, your correct….I thought about that….but then again, I already paid good money to @Ford Motor Company for two chargers along with a truck.

The problem is, I wasn’t aware none of them together were going to behave very “smartly” when charging my truck and, not purchasing those chargers when configuring my truck for purchase, was an option.

The silly part of this issue is it should be solvable by a software adjustment…..but, then again….maybe not……

 

[RickLightning]

This issue arises when the truck thinks that it NEEDS to override your own schedule because you are asking it to charge to a certain percentage, within the scheduled hours, EVEN if the truck has to start EARLY. Sometimes MANY MANY hours early.
I don't want it to do that, I simply want it to charge within the scheduled hours NO MATTER whether the truck thinks it can reach the charge percentage, or not.

Essentially, I'd like the ability to just tell the truck to use the scheduled hours to charge, NO MATTER WHAT LEVEL it reaches. I can control, on a one-off basis, if I think I need it to charge sooner, or later, myself.

This has been an issue since at least 2018. Don't look for a fix anytime soon.

 

[RickLightning]

Or you could use a 3rd party smart charger with a defined charge window and set your truck to charge when plugged in.

I have the charger and the vehicle set to my off peak hours. Problem solved.

 

[Pioneer74]

The silly part of this issue is it should be solvable by a software adjustment…..but, then again….maybe not……

I wholeheartedly agree. Ford is way too slow on software updates, and it seems they are not listening to customer feedback since this has been a problem with the Mach-E since birth. I don't even have my truck yet and I'm already thinking about selling my Charge Station Pro and getting another Emporia charger.

 

[VTbuckeye]

I will go with the smart EVSE. As long as it behaves better than my xc90 phev. The xc90 will often fall asleep prior to the charging window and then fail to charge overnight when the evse becomes active. Actually sometimes it will charge and other times it won't. All that I need to do is unlock it or open a door as I take the dog out before bed so but sometimes I forget. The best part about the smart EVSE is that it came from the electric company and saves just over $0.04 per kWh and it offsets the non-bypassable items on our net metered solar bill.

 

[broncoaz]

I set the limit in the FordPass App to 85%. It still charged to 100% using the FCSP.

I set the limit on my truck screen to 90% at home all the time. When the truck hits 90% the Lectron 40 amp charger switches to a standby mode, waiting for the truck to ask for more. If I hit the Charge to 100% button on Fordpass it asks for more charge and the Lectron cranks back up. On the first charge I setting a single time 85% max on the truck and it didn't shut off properly, the Lectron kept trying to forcefeed the truck resulting in battery charging to 92%. The truck only needed about 15 kWh, but the charger said it delivered 39.7 kWh, I don't know what happened to the extra 24.7 kWh. It only happened the one time.

I am upgrading to a 48 amp ChargePoint Home Flex this week.

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