2024 Mach E AC home charging issues

[Pipcecil]

I have reached out the Lectron and they have been extremely responsive to trouble shoot and have given me suggestions to help rule out culprits. Lectron is one of the highly recommended adapters and many Mach E people use them.

Those NACS connecters always get pretty warm. When charging for a long time they build up much more heat than I ever felt on a native J1772. I do have a history with a old Model S (80 amp) and a Model Y (48 amp) and know how warm it gets when charging for a long period. None of the Tesla's had any problems with the heat. Maybe because of the communication it receives to and from the car?

Because it already gets pretty warm, it most likely wouldn't take much to push it over. And the Mach E could just be playing it super safe. And who knows how that signal is being blocked, it could be caught in a feedback loop building up heat.

Food for random thought: When I first charged the mach e using the adapter, I got a fault error from the car saying something was wrong with the EVSE, but never again. The EVSE did NOT show any of sign of a fault on its light system, it was just sitting in neutral ready-to-charge mode. Additionally, the EVSE does not show any heat warnings which should show up as well. Maybe because its not receiving feedback?

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[Pipcecil]

( My surprise at this thread is someone being 'driven crazy' by a 4 percent deviation. They must lead a very calm life otherwise.... )

Eh, I like numbers and technical things, plus problem solving. This is actually a happy place for me ! Also, if the car is detecting something wrong, there could be something wrong elsewhere. I don't mess with electrical problems. If something is going wrong that could mean a house fire from an imbedded issue. EVs are great at finding bad electrical problems!

Randomly, I 100% wish I had a calm life. Single dad to a toddler is not what I call calm, more "controlled chaos"

 

[Clockwork]

I made a similar post here:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/why-did-ford-choose-11kw-charging-for-level-2.38418/

That resulted in 4 laugh reactions, people telling me there wasn't a difference and I just didn't understand what what I was observing (and/or it had to be sone other variance), or some saying that it is possible that is just how it is.

 

[bbulkow]

If you want to get technical, it can never be "wrong" for someone to say they are "surprised" (or not surprised). Feelings can't be wrong
But joking aside, I haven't looked up data to see what's "normal", I'm really just quoting my own DIY electrical experience: Depending on where you live, whether downtown Chicago, or the suburbs, in a small town, or in a rural location, ANSI doesn't mean much. And your electric utility will likely laugh at you if you quote ANSI to them -- especially if they're your only option for electric service.
But much more importantly, your wiring at home will differ immensely. In my 1940s home I might have 95 Volt differential on some outlets instead of the nominal "110V" one would assume. Heck, I've measured 30V on a poorly grounded neutral line. In a new home in a new suburb you might actually see close to 120V. But then if you pull a lot of amps and let the wire get warm, your measurement will change quite a bit on the same outlet. Welcome to electricity.
And I agree about the 4%. But people get excited and really into it, who am I to judge.

Different strokes, i guess.

My house is 49, and the old wiring is the least substandard thing about the house. Really fat good quality copper. Plugs in my house are kinda poor, they get replaced as a matter of course when we are doing work nearby. Just about all the plugs are later than the 80's now.

We only recently converted to breakers from fuses in our main box, the ev drove that change. Happy about it.

If i saw 95 volts on a socket, i would def put it on the investigation list. I have never seen our supply that low, our part of the grid seems pretty on the money normally.

 

[Pipcecil]

My house is 49, and the old wiring is the least substandard thing about the house. Really fat good quality copper. Plugs in my house are kinda poor, they get replaced as a matter of course when we are doing work nearby. Just about all the plugs are later than the 80's now.

I have a very old house (1924), but had the house completely rewired with a new panel, all new plugs, and brought up to current codes and standards; I even got those new fancy arc breakers that are now required. That old knob & tube wiring was so unsafe.

So I do know my wiring shouldn't be the problem. Unless the electricians did bad work...

 

[zvez]

Breathe.

Enjoy your car.
It's fine.
And don't let the forum steal the honeymoon. It can last months with one of these.

honeymoon won't last even a week if he comes to any of the forums/fb groups frequently! ?

 

[Snakebitten]

Yeah, I admit it was a bit of a shock to the system when I first came to celebrate. Although I had dabbled here a little bit before the impulse acquisition.

But I made it through the orientation/hazing period and figured out there were plenty of folks here having parallel experiences with their Mach-E.

Awesome vehicle for so many reasons. I honestly didn't expect it to become the dominant daily that it has become. I'm blessed to have other toys that are not getting their share of mileage.

 

[medriver]

Charging with J1772 is hilariously simple and charging can be achieved without a microcontroller. Boiled down the charger announces it's capacity, your car receives this message and sets it to this current or less hopefully and says send it, contactors close. (There is a tad bit more about the ground and if detecting your plugged in, etc)

It's entirely up to you car to pull what the evse says, it just opens and closes it's contactors. Granted some chargers build in some monitoring afaik they just modify their capacity signal to your car (not the current) if they detect some condition they don't like, but this is beyond the absolutely frightening simplicity that the system operates on.

Your car is welcome to also set itself to less current if it detects some sort of condition it doesn't like ac-dc converter or plug temp or battery voltage or in the case of other cars just turning down the current on its interface.

Hope this helps.

 

[Pipcecil]

I honestly admit this has been one of my more favorite EVs I have owned throughout the years. Especially coming from a Tesla Model Y that poor craftmanship/refinement, uncomfortable ride, and constantly needing repairs. Plus the ride is so smooth.

All cars have their quirks and issues. Nothing is ever perfect, but I have had to weather some pretty crappy stuff on other vehicles: >30% battery capacity loss in 3 years, complete HV battery failure in 3 years, complete onboard charger failure in 2 years, constantly dead 12v, HV batteries so likely to catch fire the company recommends not to charge above 80%, dont discharge below 20%, only charge outside your house, and oh, move the car to the curb afterwards because its not safe next to your house.....

FUN TIMES!

 

[dabig]

I have a 2 year old Mach-E with 38,000 miles on it and my home charger just went out. I thought it was covered under a 3 year warranty but now Ford is saying that since I'm over 36,000 I have to buy a new one...WHATTTTT!!!! I love my car but this is outrageous!!!! I keep reading about how chargers are failing left and right...when is Ford going to recall this POS!!!

 

[Mach-Lee]

When flipping the switch to non-tesla on the gen 1 & 3, it stops the EVSE from sending Tesla's high frequency handshake and instead sends the standard J1772 protocol through the signal pin to indicate the amps being supplied. Since mine is still transmitting the Tesla handshake, the noise is being stopped by the adapter (instead of faulting the charger - smart adapter!) but the block of the noise must be causing the Tesla NACS connector to overheat (it gets very hot using the adapter) causing the drop in charging.

Luckily that same DIP switch 2 that is in the Gen 1 HPWC is in the Gen 2 except it isn't labeled or advertised and the HPWC manual just says "this should always be up." Sneaky Tesla. I will flip that tonight or tomorrow and see if I have the same overheating issues and the drop in kw while charging.

The #2 DIP switch just sets the communication mode, Tesla SW-CAN or J1772 mode. That setting will not cause the adapter to overheat. The data signals don't carry any power and will not cause an overheat. And the Lectron adapter is straight through, it will not block any signals, they will go all the way through to the car.

If the adapter is hot to the touch, that is almost 100% the likely cause of your 7 kW derate. It means you have a bad connection where it's hot. The car or EVSE is throttling the power so things don't melt. I would recommend replacing the adapter/cord on the EVSE so that doesn't happen anymore.

 

[Space_Pony]

I have a 2 year old Mach-E with 38,000 miles on it and my home charger just went out. I thought it was covered under a 3 year warranty but now Ford is saying that since I'm over 36,000 I have to buy a new one...WHATTTTT!!!! I love my car but this is outrageous!!!! I keep reading about how chargers are failing left and right...when is Ford going to recall this POS!!!

My car came with a Mobile Charger and I was told that this charger was for occasional charging at mobile locations. I didn't think it was designed for constant home charging. I use an Autel Maxicharger hardwired in my garage. I doubt they would recall something called a MOBILE charger that is being used in a way they don't recommend.

 

[Tampamike]

I have a 2 year old Mach-E with 38,000 miles on it and my home charger just went out. I thought it was covered under a 3 year warranty but now Ford is saying that since I'm over 36,000 I have to buy a new one...WHATTTTT!!!! I love my car but this is outrageous!!!! I keep reading about how chargers are failing left and right...when is Ford going to recall this POS!!!

If this is a serious post (I have my doubts) …

Warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. They’re all like that since, like maybe, the Model T.

If the charger just is slow, I.e., the yellow light comes on and off while charging, it will still charge. Mine did that and I used it for months before I got a new one.

 

[dabig]

If this is a serious post (I have my doubts) …

Warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. They’re all like that since, like maybe, the Model T.

If the charger just is slow, I.e., the yellow light comes on and off while charging, it will still charge. Mine did that and I used it for months before I got a new one.

Serious post??? They told me it was a 3 year warranty on the charger, never mentioned 36,000 miles...it's not a car, it's a charger.

 

[Tampamike]

Serious post??? They told me it was a 3 year warranty on the charger, never mentioned 36,000 miles...it's not a car, it's a charger.

Ok, you’re serious. I don’t believe there’s a separate warranty for the charger that came with the car. It falls under the general warranty for everything else on the car. If you want to fight them over it, look in your warranty book. There’s a procedure for contacting the BBB and starting a claim. I’ve done it for a dispute over my panoramic roof and what looked like stress cracking. It’s easy. It’s done all on-line and with e-mail. It’s also fairly quick. Give it a shot - nothing to lose. And don’t sweat it too much. Stuff happens.

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