Anybody seeing this problem, with using departure times ??

[2023MachE_MB]

So recently i went out in the morning, and smelt electrical burning... not sure if it was in the environment or my car, but checked my level 2 charger, cables, wirning, and everything was ok. So i decided to start eliminating items.

i live in Manitoba, Canada, its been -25 to - 30 Celsius... so i decided to start using my departure times more.

NOW... here is the problem i am seeing " AND this didnt happen earlier " !!!!

If my car in NOT plugged in, no problem, it turns itself on and gets ready... and conditions it self all on battery, which is fine as range isnt an issue, and i have indoor parking at work... ( sits outside at home ) .

Now the problem becomes when i plug my car in... it will charge to 90%, supposed to shut off right... NOT ANYMORE!!! so.. i get a message your car has reached its target charge... Great... i open the app, it states its at 89% and instead of what it used to say "charge complete" it says something like "preconditioning vehicle for departure" and it sucks a constant 20amps from the charger ALL NIGHT... and never seems to shut off (is it keeping the batteries warm all night with 20 amps, and not doing anything else??? seems excessive amount of current to keep batteries warm ). Now if the charge completes at 8-9pm, and my next departure time is 6:35am the next day.... WHY is it hogging 20 AMPS constantly ALL night... i understand it coming on 15 min prior to my departure " WHICH IT USED TO " but now.... nope... so i have shut off my departure times... as that is the only way i can seem to get it to act properly, by charging and completing, and manually starting the car prior to leaving...

This constant 20 amp draw, all night doing nothing, lead to some electrical burning smell... assuming it was coming from the car....

Any suggestions?

Again if i leave departure times off, i dont see this, also currently when charging it seems to be normal charge times, no burning smells ect..

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[dalola]

Are you also charging at 20A? What is the circuit you are charging from rated for?

 

[ChasingCoral]

It sounds like at -25°C the car has determined it needs to run the preconditioning at a high level all night to make sure the battery is at the optimal temperature at the time of departure.

Sounds like something @Mach-Lee should be able to answer.

 

[AZBill]

Is your charger hard wired or plugged in? I ask this because I had a 14-50 plug melt, and I had smelled electrical burning a few days prior to having it visibly melt down. The cause was a loose screw/wire inside the plug. So if you have a plug, take the cover off and look for issues.

That does not necessarily explain the 20 amp draw, I assume you are seeing that in the charger app.

 

[2023MachE_MB]

it is a plug NEMA 14-50, everything there is ok, no melt, no heat, no smell. i understand the preconditioning the battery, and as per Mach-Lees threads, -25C should take 2 to 1.2 hrs to heat battery between 4-6Kwh... to 26C.... not run constantly no?

it seems within the last week, it just drawing a constant 20 AMPs weather its charging or NOT... AFTER a charge... only if i have departure times enabled.

sorry didn't see first question, yes i charge at 20 AMps, my circuit is rated for 40.. i dont have any charging issues, until this smell... that was coming from the car... i am guessing it was the battery heater.... just staying on constantly, which would also be concerning

 

[dalola]

Definitely seems like an issue with the car. Might try an electrical reboot, if you haven't already. Otherwise, maybe a warranty call is in order.

 

[flapjake314]

you are saying it is spending all night preconditioning, but you haven't shown evidence for this other than it drew power all night. it could be charging, then preconditioning, resulting in 100% utilization of the 20A, but only part of the time devoted to preconditioning for example.

what % charge did you start the night at? what time did charging start? this will help determine when charging should have stopped...

next, how do you know it is drawing 20A all night, does your charger have an app that shows usage? or are you using a "dumb" charger and just reading on fordpass that there is 20A draw?

finally, i'll note the heater is 5 or 7kw, whereas your 20A setup seems to be lower than that. it's possible the car is compensating for that and extending the time (and then doing it wrong or something)

 

[JoanS]

Check the actual breaker. Is the breaker very hot to the touch? If so this might be the issue and you will need to get an electrician to change it out. This happened to me with a faulty breaker.

 

[2023MachE_MB]

i am an electrician, charger, wiring, breaker, everything is fine. My charger has a smart App, not relying on the cars app... it is pulling 19.8 amps, constantly even verified with an clamp on Amp meter. below is Mach-Lee's posted chart, regardless of 4-5kwh or even 3kwh... at -25C, 3to2 hrs to get to battery temp of 26C... not 10 hrs plus constant.

doesnt matter if the battery is 80% or 85% or 50% when the charger is applied. we arent charged peak charging rates... so it starts charging ( and yes, because of weather charge times are extended which also isnt a problem ).

The Blue light on the car stays on all night ( as per camera video ) where when its done charging, always goes out. When preconditioning was starting it would go back on to blue as using the charger. usually i plug the car in around 5pm and "charging" is complete by 8 or 9pm... but instead of reaching target battery charge %, it stay 1% low... aka 89% and then goes in to a preconditioning mode.... and just draws a constant continual 20 amps... and the car never hits the 90% charged.

 

[flapjake314]

maybe just as a test check how early it starts preconditioning?

like if you plugged it in at noon full charge, presumably preconditioning doesn't start, and then see which it activates...

 

[Mach-Lee]

What it might be doing is heating the battery after charging completes. There is currently a bug in the software that prevents battery heating during level 2 charging. It may only start heating after charging is complete. Since you have it limited to 20A, that may take an additional 2 hours after charging is complete. State of charge may change slightly as the battery heats up.

Try giving it 2 hours to run after charging finishes.

 

[Progress]

The 2 times I preconditioned my car recently I had the same thing happen, but not as dramatically because I plugged in the car just a few hours before my scheduled departure time. Both times I was going on trips that I wanted a 100% charge, and both times the car reported that it had charged to 99%, even though there had been plenty of time to finish the charge. I ended up leaving 15 minutes and 30 minutes after the set departure time, and both times I could hear fans going as if it were still conditioning the battery. The temperature was only about 50 degrees F, so there should not have been any problem with the car reaching a good temperature. The second time I adjusted the "charge to" amount to 90%, and then Ford Pass gave the message that the car had reached its full charge. However, I could still hear the fans running. I don't know how long the car would have continued to condition the battery if I had not stopped it when I did.

 

[dalola]

For what it's worth, I charge at 16A, with a leave time set, and it's always finished & ready on time every time, nothing unusual going on. Seems like you have some kind of an issue with your car.

 

[2023MachE_MB]

i will run a more indepth test this weekend. only supposed to -18,-19 this weekend.

i will plug it in saturday morning... hopefully not much required to fully charge. then throught out the day, i will monitor current draw and charging.

now my departure time will be monday morning at 6:35 am... if it goes into the "preconditioning for departure" early saturday.... and doesnt time out then..... i will shut it off saturday night.... something is up


And right.. until this monday... it has never acted like this... its been cold, it has always charged and shut off, and reached target charge, then in the morning, for my departure time, has conditioned itself....

Over the air updates are 100% OFF, since the bricking incident that left my front end destroyed by the dealer...

 

[Adventureboy]

The power needs to be going somewhere so you are right to be concerned. Just to be sure, you may want to rule out low coolant. I suspect it is ok if your cabin heat is working but its a good thing to rule out.
Also, is your car in a garage or outside? Outside in -25°C might require a fair bit of power to maintain the battery temp for your departure times.

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