My Travels With Marlin (GB FE)

[Illinibird]

No reason. I was too timid. Might think about it now that someone has shown us how — out I might just wait to see if there’sa dash cam mode in the first OTA update.

Good reasons. I know I'm hoping for an OTA update to allow us to do this too (along with being able to electronically unlock the frunk). I had to tap into the 12 volt leads back in 2003 when those models came out because they had Home Link garage door openers and the 2002 models didn't.

Sponsored

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Also performed a frunkectomy to make more room. As posted elsewhere, the pop pins are easy to remove and reinstall. Once the divider is out you’ll see the holes were a hasty change, with mildly sloppy drill jobs, covered nicely by the pins.

Good place for wet, salty gear.

Perfect for the Kona coast and doing coral reef surveys Mark.

 

[horsiedad]

A while back in some thread, I think it was @methorian who asked for pictures of my dash cam installation. The one I was given for Christmas had a really short USB-B cable and a long 12v plug cable. Here are the shots with the 12v installed.

That was me that asked. Thanks.

 

[generaltso]

I might just wait to see if there’sa dash cam mode in the first OTA update.

There might be one in an OTA update eventually, but I highly doubt it will be in the first one.

 

[dbsb3233]

Also performed a frunkectomy to make more room. As posted elsewhere, the pop pins are easy to remove and reinstall. Once the divider is out you’ll see the holes were a hasty change, with mildly sloppy drill jobs, covered nicely by the pins.

So do the pins just pop right out, prying on the head with a screwdriver?

 

[ChasingCoral]

So do the pins just pop right out, prying on the head with a screwdriver?

Yes. With the right tools I’m sure it’s easier but I did it with the screwdriver on my Swiss Army Knife.

 

[JellyBelly]

So do the pins just pop right out, prying on the head with a screwdriver?

It looks like I need to take out the frunk panels/covers a couple of times just to get used to how to remove these panels to access the cord or battery points when I need to. And carry a screw driver set in the car.

 

[ChasingCoral]

So do the pins just pop right out, prying on the head with a screwdriver?

For instructions see
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-remove-mach-e-frunk-divider-diy-writeup.3953/

 

[JellyBelly]

10 March:
Two more charging sessions at the same EA station (charger #02) in Naples mentioned twice above. Good news: P&C worked fine to start sessions both times. Bad news: you need to baby sit these things.

1. On the way up to Fort Myers I stopped in for a zap & dash as I wasn't sure I'd have quite enough to get back after meeting folks at the Fort Myers Brewing Company. P&C initiated fine, went inside Walmart, checked the app and it said it would be almost 2 hours to 80%. Went back out to the charger and found it had leveled off at 30kW. I ended the session, plugged it in again. It worked well, running right up to 110kW. Not spectacular but it would do.

2. On the way back to Marco I stopped in for a full 80% charge. P&C worked fine and ran right up to 150kW. After a few kWh the session abruptly ended. Again, I unplugged and reconnected. New session went right up to 150kW and followed the standard charging curve to 80% when I ended the session.

So it seems P&C is really unpredictable (even with team Ford helping) in that it may work or not and the charge rate seems to be station dependent. I am wondering aloud if its just related to the App itself (of course it is - with out P&C it seems to work). I have yet to try P&C - will try t do it this week.

 

[JellyBelly]

I found the unlock all our driver door option in the remote-open but where in the myriad menus did you find that option for PaaK/fob?

Not for PAAK but with fob double press opens other doors for other fords?

 

[JellyBelly]

Also posted in a new thread about Paak requiring cell service:
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/paak-seems-to-require-cellular-service.4231/

Lots of folks on the Forum are indicating that PaaK isn’t ready for prime time. While many folks have indicated they were giving up on it. I’ve gone all-in on Paak and normally leave my fob at home. For this trip to Florida I brought the fob but carried it in the glove compartment wrapped in two faraday bags so Marlin wouldn’t “see” it. Once we got here to Marco I left it in the condo in a suitcase. That means when the 5 March Everglades incidents cropped up, I had no fob to fall back on. It’s now back in the glove box due to the Everglades Incidents below.

General issues:
Sometimes Marlin sees the phone, sometimes he doesn’t. My iPhone 12Pro may be working better for recognition to unlock than my wife’s iPhone 7. However, that may just be because I'm driving most of the time. Unlocking the driver’s door is the most reliable, lift gate second, passenger door the least. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if PaaK is working on the passenger door at all. Often we’ll have to wake up the phone and start or activate the app to get it to work. Sometimes we have to press unlock on the app. Sometimes we have to resort to the key pad to open the car. The phone really needs to be sitting on the charging pad to start the car. Starting almost never works with the phone in a back pocket. Walk-away lock has become unreliable, too. It often works great — probably most of the time. Sometimes it doesn’t. That’s not reliable for locking a vehicle in a city.

The Everglades Incidents:
PaaK failed miserably and consistently when there was no cell coverage. Many parts of the Everglades have absolutely no cell signal. This is true of many big National Parks. First, PaaK wouldn’t work at all at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. It would neither open the doors, nor start the car, even if the phone was connected to the USB. The app would not start on the phone since it couldn’t connect to the mothership (won't get past the first Ford splash screen). We had to use the door and start backup codes. Once in Miami for the charge at the Miami International Mall PaaK was working fine. Then we entered the Park through the main entrance. Once a short distance past the Visitor Center, we had no cell signal again. The rest of the day in Everglades National Park, PaaK would not open doors or start the car. Every hike, every boardwalk, etc., we had to use the door and start codes. If I left Marlin on and got out to the pictures, the security system would require a key to put the car into drive. Since the PaaK wasn’t working, that meant waiting for a minute for the passcode prompt to appear and then entering the start code again -- every, single time.

If you're going to be out of cell phone coverage, I recommend you have your fob with you as a backup.

Thanks for the heads up (at least for me )- just catching up slowly on this thread - its my evening night cap read (in a good way) very surprising that its cell service dependent - if you remember the lincoln pamphlet on the PAAK - it mentions nothing about cell service and thats the only Ford document close to explaining how PAAK works.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Methinks the Mach E relies strongly on communication with the mothership. When we got in this morning to drive to church the clock had not changed time to DST. It switched on its own later once we were out in the open.

We learned that after I had to type in the door code to enter and the backup start code to start up. Here in Marco we're parked in a first floor parking garage, fully enclosed but with open concrete decorative "windows". I'm suspecting it blocks ATT enough that the Mach E can't phone home.

So, PaaK failed but this time the Ford Pass app was fine. I even closed and re-opened the app on the phone. Nothing. I'm now wondering if the issue with PaaK and cell signal is at the car end.

PaaK worked fine when we came back to the car after the church service. Marlin was in an open parking lot with plenty of signal.

 

[ChasingCoral]

10 March:
Two more charging sessions at the same EA station (charger #02) in Naples mentioned twice above. Good news: P&C worked fine to start sessions both times. Bad news: you need to baby sit these things.

1. On the way up to Fort Myers I stopped in for a zap & dash as I wasn't sure I'd have quite enough to get back after meeting folks at the Fort Myers Brewing Company. P&C initiated fine, went inside Walmart, checked the app and it said it would be almost 2 hours to 80%. Went back out to the charger and found it had leveled off at 30kW. I ended the session, plugged it in again. It worked well, running right up to 110kW. Not spectacular but it would do.

2. On the way back to Marco I stopped in for a full 80% charge. P&C worked fine and ran right up to 150kW. After a few kWh the session abruptly ended. Again, I unplugged and reconnected. New session went right up to 150kW and followed the standard charging curve to 80% when I ended the session.

Another Plug & Charge today at the same Naples station. When I arrived at the EA station a Bolt was in the more reliable of the 350kW spots (#2, boo). When I asked why he didn't charge at the 150, he said he didn't want to block the only CHAdeMO -- fair enough but I showed him there was a 150 only at the other end. I popped into the other 350kW that hadn't gone over 30kW the other day (#3). I tried it using P&C and again couldn't get over 30-35kW.

I moved to one the 150kW to give that a try. P&C started up great, peaked at around 125 (rather than the 150 I get on the 350kW chargers). However, after reaching about 140kWh it quit -- Charging Station Error. However, this seems different from what happened before. The CCS handle and handle-end of the cable were hot to the touch -- not good! I disconnected and tried the other cable on the same charger - no issue. This one actually peaked around 130 and stayed there about 4 minutes (perhaps twice as long as the 150kW peak on a 350 kW charger).

While I was charging, a third BEV arrived -- a Porsche Taycan Turbo (white). Three out of four stalls occupied.

He'd only owned his Taycan a couple of weeks and didn't seem real knowledgeable. I warned him about the slow charge. He hooked up and only reached 60-65kW. Although he called EA, he chose not to disconnect for them to reset and limped along at ~60kW until I left.

Back to my session: overall the 150kW charging curve seemed almost identical to the 350kW charging curve after the initial zap. While the initial zap is limited to 125-130kW, it's a bit slower. However, my second session after the fault was about twice as long at 130 as the 250kW chargers gave me at 150kW. This makes me think the charging at a 150kW EA charger may not be any slower in a zap-and-dash or a 10-80% charge if the 125 is held for twice as long as the 150.

I'm afraid this will be my last P&C test for a while. I'm down to 2kWh on the Ford wallet and don't feel like paying 41¢/kWh to charge. I'll be testing using the EA app for a while until I get my second free 250kWh (in April?).

Here's the video of the charging session:

 

[ChasingCoral]

You may recall that when they installed the 21B02 software patch on Marlin they installed an enhanced diagnostics package with an ability for me to record an audio file to report issues when needed. When I had some of the issues with chargers and PaaK in the last week I tried to make reports but it didn’t work. It turns out when they did a master test as part of recalibrating the new PDU, it seems to have killed the token that made this system work.

Today I’m visiting Tamiami Ford in Naples where they were reinstalling that token and subsequent diagnostics. It’s quite the operation, involving lots of computer and electronic diagnostic equipment, service foreman Jodie, FSE Jamie, working on the phone with Ford Engineering. Since it didn’t require being in a regular bay, they did it at the L2 charger and I was able to peek in on the operation.

 

[RonTCat]

You may recall that when they installed the 21B02 software patch on Marlin they installed an enhanced diagnostics package with an ability for me to record an audio file to report issues when needed. When I had some of the issues with chargers and PaaK in the last week I tried to make reports but it didn’t work. It turns out when they did a master test as part of recalibrating the new PDU, it seems to have killed the token that made this system work.

Today I’m visiting Tamiami Ford in Naples where they after reinstalling that token and doing some other software updates. It’s quite the operation, involving lots of computer and electronic diagnostic equipment, service foreman Jodie, FSE Jamie, working on the phone with Ford Engineering. Since it didn’t require being in a regular bay, they did it at the L2 charger and I was able to peek in on the operation.

Normally use Vector, MyCanic, or Puma OBDII tools. Those red boxes are prolly one of those.

Sponsored