Preferred charge times - not working randomly

[Buf_T]

Just completed a call with Ford Battery and charging tech support. They shared there is a known issue with preferred charge times not working for some vehicles and they are working on an OTA update. They recommend to manually plug in and manually start charging until a fix is released. Sharing the info to help others avoid waking up for a trip and finding the truck opted to not charge over night. I have a 2023 Lightning Lariat with about 50,000 miles on it that I’ve owned since new … and Love.
Background - additional info.
- Haven’t knowing changed anything with my charging system or home network for months.
- my truck has been charging the preferred times at two different locations defined in the FordPass app reliability for several months (actually for a couple years).
- all indicating lights were normal when I went to bed last night and the app stated ‘ready to charge’. The battery was at 37% when I went to bed and the same when I woke up. .
- no error messages on truck or app. Lights normal on charger.
- In truck charger app shows the preferred charge time.

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[RickLightning]

This is why I ensure charging for a trip starts before I go to sleep.

 

[Heliian]

First, I would try deleting the locations and remapping your charge times.

 

[TaxmanHog]

While doing these charging scheme updates, (delete & recreate) do it in the truck on the Sync Screen.

BTW what version of Ford App are you running?
BBTW: Welcome to the forum with your first thread/post.

 

[Buf_T]

While doing these charging scheme updates, (delete & recreate) do it in the truck on the Sync Screen.

BTW what version of Ford App are you running?
BBTW: Welcome to the forum with your first thread/post.

@TaxmanHog FordApp v6.10.0. I'll do the delete & recreate back at the homestead. FYI - I'm at my alternative preferred location and the charge started as expected per the schedule.

 

[Adventureboy]

Check the time settings on your truck. A recent update messed mine up and shifted the schedule accordingly. It's happened several times in the last few years.

I've called it out to @Ford Motor Company as a bug that needs to be fixed since we rely on our trucks to charge when we set it. Radio station presets got clobbered as well, but at least that doesn't start your day with low SOC.

 

[djwildstar]

- my truck has been charging the preferred times at two different locations defined in the FordPass app reliability for several months (actually for a couple years).
- all indicating lights were normal when I went to bed last night and the app stated ‘ready to charge’. The battery was at 37% when I went to bed and the same when I woke up. .
- no error messages on truck or app. Lights normal on charger.
- In truck charger app shows the preferred charge time.

I also have a '23 ER Lariat (and also about 50,000 miles on it), and had these same symptoms late last year. Starting in October, the truck would randomly fail to charge overnight. It isn't normally a problem, because I can do two or three commutes back-to-back without charging, but it was strange.

Things came to a head when I was charging for a Christmas road trip -- the truck didn't start charging when scheduled, and the app controls to start charging or change the charge target also had no effect. I eventually went out to the truck, unlocked it, and it started charging. I was able to use the center console to change the charge target to 100% for the trip. Once I'd done all that, the app gave me a notification that the truck had been in "deep sleep" mode.

So what was going on was that my 12V battery was failing. I'd had one of the bad 12V BMS sensors, and I'd been getting sporadic indications of a low battery charge for several months: occasionally I'd get the "old school" chimes on start-up, and randomly get the "system off to save battery" message when turning off the truck.

In this specific case, the truck would go into "deep sleep" to save 12V charge. This shuts down communication with the app. I suspect that the truck is supposed to wake up from deep sleep at the start of scheduled charging times, but that wasn't happening either.

I wound up replacing the 12V battery (during the road trip), and that appears to have fixed the issue. So you may want to have your 12V tested and either charged or replaced as needed. As an alternative, you can just preemptively replace it. I think this is what I'm going to do for both my Lightning and my wife's Mach-E: replace the 12V every 3 years regardless, and not have to worry about it.

 

[Karlo]

My preset charge times do not work. I stayed up until the actual start charge time. It says”waiting to charge”, then at the appropriate time it does start charging but then immediately stops. Never has worked. I bypass all of that now and just plug in before bed and it charges fine. Not worth the hassle

 

[TaxmanHog]

I suspect that the truck is supposed to wake up from deep sleep at the start of scheduled charging times, but that wasn't happening either.

It would be nice if the system was designed to operate autonomously as of last synchronization with the cloud, even IF comm's are knocked out due to LOW POWER preservation / sleep mode.

Assuming that the least energy intensive process module can be kept alive to manage this and a few other functions, DC/DC cycling, Departure Events, Schedule Charging Events.

 

[Adventureboy]

My preset charge times do not work. I stayed up until the actual start charge time. It says”waiting to charge”, then at the appropriate time it does start charging but then immediately stops. Never has worked. I bypass all of that now and just plug in before bed and it charges fine. Not worth the hassle

I'm surprised by this. Mine has worked for 3.5 years - not without a few glitches along the way, but it works like "clockwork", provided updates don't clobber something.

• 2 Updates caused charge profiles corruption 3.5 years - delete and recreate the charge location profiles
• 3 Updates have clobbered the clock, causing charge window timing issues (one just a couple of weeks ago). I now check the time every time I get an update
• I've have not had the issue, but others have had the charge window clobbered by updates in progress. ie, charge window and update window are too close together, not giving the truck time to charge before the update, and the truck doesn't restart charging when the update completes. I wonder if this is a result of the clock getting clobbered. I have my update window set late in my charge window, so charging shouldn't be interrupted most days.

@Ford Motor Company can do better, but I've found the solutions above work predictably.

 

[chl]

I also have a '23 ER Lariat (and also about 50,000 miles on it), and had these same symptoms late last year. Starting in October, the truck would randomly fail to charge overnight. It isn't normally a problem, because I can do two or three commutes back-to-back without charging, but it was strange.

Things came to a head when I was charging for a Christmas road trip -- the truck didn't start charging when scheduled, and the app controls to start charging or change the charge target also had no effect. I eventually went out to the truck, unlocked it, and it started charging. I was able to use the center console to change the charge target to 100% for the trip. Once I'd done all that, the app gave me a notification that the truck had been in "deep sleep" mode.

So what was going on was that my 12V battery was failing. I'd had one of the bad 12V BMS sensors, and I'd been getting sporadic indications of a low battery charge for several months: occasionally I'd get the "old school" chimes on start-up, and randomly get the "system off to save battery" message when turning off the truck.

In this specific case, the truck would go into "deep sleep" to save 12V charge. This shuts down communication with the app. I suspect that the truck is supposed to wake up from deep sleep at the start of scheduled charging times, but that wasn't happening either.

I wound up replacing the 12V battery (during the road trip), and that appears to have fixed the issue. So you may want to have your 12V tested and either charged or replaced as needed. As an alternative, you can just preemptively replace it. I think this is what I'm going to do for both my Lightning and my wife's Mach-E: replace the 12V every 3 years regardless, and not have to worry about it.

Another example of the strange behavior seen when the 12v battery is on it's last legs.

Solution: battery maintainer used daily.

 

[Laphuks]

Just completed a call with Ford Battery and charging tech support. They shared there is a known issue with preferred charge times not working for some vehicles and they are working on an OTA update. They recommend to manually plug in and manually start charging until a fix is released. Sharing the info to help others avoid waking up for a trip and finding the truck opted to not charge over night. I have a 2023 Lightning Lariat with about 50,000 miles on it that I’ve owned since new … and Love.
Background - additional info.
- Haven’t knowing changed anything with my charging system or home network for months.
- my truck has been charging the preferred times at two different locations defined in the FordPass app reliability for several months (actually for a couple years).
- all indicating lights were normal when I went to bed last night and the app stated ‘ready to charge’. The battery was at 37% when I went to bed and the same when I woke up. .
- no error messages on truck or app. Lights normal on charger.
- In truck charger app shows the preferred charge time.

I have the same issue last time, anything with the timer doesn't work. It's the charging station not the truck if your using the ford charge station pro. When I tried using the portable charger on the truck, everything works, no issues at all.

 

[chl]

I have the same issue last time, anything with the timer doesn't work. It's the charging station not the truck if your using the ford charge station pro. When I tried using the portable charger on the truck, everything works, no issues at all.

Maybe it's the charge rate/Amps, a slower lower amp charge with the mobile power cord gives the 12v battery more time to charge more fully.

I use the FCSP at 32A now unless I need a faster charge for some reason.

I never had the timer glitches, but I keep my 12v battery on a maintainer daily when not driving around. I started doing that a while after an OTA 6 months after I got the truck would not install due to a low SOC of the 12v battery.

I did have an update interrupt a charging session because they were set to occur at the same time and the OTA won.

I had at least one update erase my charge settings for home, but those are in the truck, not the FCSP.

The FSCP did lose some "insights" charge history data one time after and update - I had already recorded it - and I can't put my finger on how that happened. The max charge limit setting was also changed, maybe it was an update to the FCSP software or firmware.

It would be nice if when Ford does their update, the old data could be preserved, alas.

The FCSP is just a smart switch really, it takes it's orders from the truck about when to charge and when to stop, the current limit is the only thing that can be set with a limit switch or software using the APP in the FCSP.

So if the truck's timer is messed up, it's not the FCSP's fault, it's the truck.

Now that's not to say the FCSP is without some glitches too - I've had it fault for no apparent reason when is was not even doing anything, maybe a utility glitch? I don't know. But a reset with the house breaker always reset it. Now and then the communication would be lost between the FCSP and the APP, but it always came back after an hour or two. I know folks with the HIS have a lot of trouble with the FCSP and the BlueTooth communications,I'm not in that boat luckily.

Plenty of weird glitches seem to happen when the 12v battery is deeply discharged or on its last legs. That is the truck's 12v battery management's fault. Sometimes it is the fault of some electrical problem in the truck, like a short or a bad component draining the battery.

A lot of things can go wrong in the truck, and they do now and then.
Ghosts in the machine.

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