Ford Connected Charge Station installation - DIY instructions writeup

[Indy Mike]

Hmm. Tried again after posting and I was finally able to connect and see the About page. I'm at software version 1.2.2 and firmware version 1.058.

You’re saying it’s ok to pair my phone to the station again. I do not see an “About” but only the ability to setup my station and it’s already set up.

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[Indy Mike]

You’re saying it’s ok to pair my phone to the station again. I do not see an “About” but only the ability to setup my station and it’s already set up.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Yes that's what you want to see. Go ahead and pair again @Indy Mike.

 

[MElectrix]

According to my sources... once a new Ford EVSE is installed (such as the Ford Connected Charge Station) it will "check in". This queues the system if there are updates... but it can take a day before the update pushes to your EVSE. Sometimes a reboot of the EVSE will push the system to send the update sooner.

Mine did get the update within a day (as expected). If more than a day goes by without an update then it's probably time to wonder why it did not happen.

I know of two bugs in the charge station... software version 1.2.2 is the most updated version and should prevent both bugs.

 

[MElectrix]

According to my sources... once a new Ford EVSE is installed (such as the Ford Connected Charge Station) it will "check in". This queues the system if there are updates... but it can take a day before the update pushes to your EVSE. Sometimes a reboot of the EVSE will push the system to send the update sooner.

Mine did get the update within a day (as expected). If more than a day goes by without an update then it's probably time to wonder why it did not happen.

I know of two bugs in the charge station... software version 1.2.2 is the most updated version and should prevent both bugs.

 

[MElectrix]

So would y’all recommend the Ford charger or no? I’ve another on order, but the Ford version is less expensive…

 

[TheVirtualTim]

So would y’all recommend the Ford charger or no? I’ve another on order, but the Ford version is less expensive…

I've been very happy with mine. It's probably easier to get than going with some of the others. Right now EVSE's like ChargePoint seem to be in short-supply back-order status. It's not just Ford owners who would be buying those ... any EV owner might be buying those. And while there's no reason a Ford EVSE can't charge any EV with a J1772 port, they are only sold through Ford dealers ... which means pretty much *only* Mustang Mach-E owners would be buying them and that's a more limited number of buyers. Hence ... they aren't hard to get (or being sold at a significant mark-up) like some of the others.

The Ford Charger doesn't come as a plug-in unit ... it requires direct-wiring (although I suppose you could change it pretty easily). You can software control the charging rate ... but you can also set the charging rate via internal DIP switches. Normally you'd set the DIP switches to match 80% of the breaker capacity. If you want to reduce the rate below that you could use the app. But the DIP switches would ensure that someone can't just use the app to crank up the charge rate above whatever your circuit can handle.

You can remote lock/unlock it via the app. "Locking" it isn't a physical lock ... it just means it will refuse to start charging. That's meant for install locations where others can access it without your permission.

The one thing it doesn't do ... is power sharing. For example... many (most?) EnelX JuiceBox chargers allow you to install two EVSE's on the *same* circuit (for two-car families). The chargers talk to each other via WiFi to determine if the other is actively charging. If only one is charging then it gets to use the full amperage. But if both are charging, they share the amperage to avoid overloading the circuit. As soon as one car completes its charge ... the other charger goes up to full amperage to finish the remaining car charge. That's a nice feature if you think you'll have two EV's someday ... but don't have enough capacity in your garage.

 

[MElectrix]

I've been very happy with mine. It's probably easier to get than going with some of the others. Right now EVSE's like ChargePoint seem to be in short-supply back-order status. It's not just Ford owners who would be buying those ... any EV owner might be buying those. And while there's no reason a Ford EVSE can't charge any EV with a J1772 port, they are only sold through Ford dealers ... which means pretty much *only* Mustang Mach-E owners would be buying them and that's a more limited number of buyers. Hence ... they aren't hard to get (or being sold at a significant mark-up) like some of the others.

The Ford Charger doesn't come as a plug-in unit ... it requires direct-wiring (although I suppose you could change it pretty easily). You can software control the charging rate ... but you can also set the charging rate via internal DIP switches. Normally you'd set the DIP switches to match 80% of the breaker capacity. If you want to reduce the rate below that you could use the app. But the DIP switches would ensure that someone can't just use the app to crank up the charge rate above whatever your circuit can handle.

You can remote lock/unlock it via the app. "Locking" it isn't a physical lock ... it just means it will refuse to start charging. That's meant for install locations where others can access it without your permission.

The one thing it doesn't do ... is power sharing. For example... many (most?) EnelX JuiceBox chargers allow you to install two EVSE's on the *same* circuit (for two-car families). The chargers talk to each other via WiFi to determine if the other is actively charging. If only one is charging then it gets to use the full amperage. But if both are charging, they share the amperage to avoid overloading the circuit. As soon as one car completes its charge ... the other charger goes up to full amperage to finish the remaining car charge. That's a nice feature if you think you'll have two EV's someday ... but don't have enough capacity in your garage.

That helps! Thanks. My ChsrgePoint just arrived. I’ll use now that I know the Ford has to be direct wired. I also just discovered the charger with the car has a changeable plug to 220! Found it in the trunk. That will be handy for travel, RV parks etc. Thanks Mach E videos in YouTube.

 

[shark]

OP I hope you don't mind me adding to your thread, but I think I have some useful information and I didn't want to create a new one. I just received my back-ordered FCCS from the dealer yesterday and got it mounted on the wall last night. I can confirm that the misleading dip switch instructions on the circuit board are STILL there at this point. Here are a couple pics in case anyone is wondering what it looks like with surface mount conduit. I ran 3/4" Schedule 40 PVC to a double-gang PVC junction box, then transitioned to 3/4" liquid-tight flexible conduit up to the FCCS. I will wire it to a NEMA 14-50 outlet with pigtails so that I can switch to the mobile charger at 40 amps in case the FCCS ever goes down. I have a porte-cochere house layout and the garage that will house the Mach-E is separated from the one with the electrical panel by about 40ft so the real challenge of this will be to dig an 18" deep trench between the two to run conduit. This also required hole-saw drilling through the brick wall on the outside of each garage. Running 3 6AWG THHN + a 10AWG ground through 3/4" conduit can be quite a challenge so I am using a conduit body with a removable cover at each change of direction. Pulling this bundle through a 90 degree elbow would be nearly impossible.

 

[Maquis]

I have a porte-cochere house layout and the garage that will house the Mach-E is separated from the one with the electrical panel by about 40ft so the real challenge of this will be to dig an 18" deep trench between the two to run conduit. This also required hole-saw drilling through the brick wall on the outside of each garage. Running 3 6AWG THHN + a 10AWG ground through 3/4" conduit can be quite a challenge so I am using a conduit body with a removable cover at each change of direction. Pulling this bundle through a 90 degree elbow would be nearly impossible.

If you can run metal conduit (RMC or IMC, not EMT), you only need 6" burial depth.
Technically, it's against code to bury conduit bodies (required to be accessible per 314.29) but it's done all the time.

 

[shark]

If you can run metal conduit (RMC or IMC, not EMT), you only need 6" burial depth.
Technically, it's against code to bury conduit bodies (required to be accessible per 314.29) but it's done all the time.

I was planning on using a sweep elbow to turn up/down at either end. All the conduit bodies are above ground. I will check into metal conduit as a 6" trench would be SO much less work. How would I transition from the RMC/IMC to the PVC conduit body that I have on the inside?

 

[Maquis]

I was planning on using a sweep elbow to turn up/down at either end. All the conduit bodies are above ground. I will check into metal conduit as a 6" trench would be SO much less work. How would I transition from the RMC/IMC to the PVC conduit body that I have on the inside?

You can get a PVC fitting with female threads to socket weld.

 

[Cimelli]

Now that I've done the install once (it took 3 hours), I could install one much faster. Note that part of my "install" was carpentry work to trim out the wall panel where I planned to install it.

You will need:

A Torx T6 bit screwdriver (very tiny) for the clamps that hold the charging cable in place.

A Torx T25 bit screwdriver for all the Torx screws that hold the weather cover (not the cosmetic cover) in place. That cover is held on with just 3 screws when you pull it out of the box ... but the rest of the screws are in a bag. When you put the cover back on you'll use all of them.

Most people probably already have the rest of the tools (tape measure, pliers, screwdrivers, allen wrench, etc.) I've bolded the Torx sizes because it's less common for someone to just have those on-hand ... pick 'em up if you don't own them.


But it really is as basic as:

1. Shut off the supply power at the breaker to make sure nothing is live during the install.

2. Decide how you want to route the supply power to the EVSE (either up through the bottom or in from the back). You'll need to cut out one of the bottom tabs if coming up from the bottom. You'll need to drill out one of the access ports on the back if bringing power in from the back.

3. Mount the metal mounting bracket.

4. Insert the charging cord through that spring whip (a bit of a fuss because the wires like to get caught on the spring), connect to the lugs and tighten. It is easiest to do this when the charger is NOT yet mounted on the wall. There's a clamp that holds the charging cord in place and that clamp takes a very tiny Torx 6 (T6) screwdriver. It's easiest to do this with the charger laying down on a table rather than hanging on the wall.

5. Mount the charger on the mounting bracket. Two screws lock it onto the mount.

6. Route the 240v supply power in and tighten the lugs.

7. Set the DIP switches. D5 must be set to '0' (off). D1 through D4 can be set based on the amperage limits. If using the full 48 amps then D1 is set to '1' (on) and the position of D2, D3, and D4 don't actually matter. If using less than 48 amps (D1 is '0' / off) then D2, D3, and D4 *do* matter and the table tells you what to set.

EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE: There is some confusion over the DIP switch settings. The labels indicating the 1 vs. 0 on the green board are correct. The labeling on the red DIP switch block is incorrect.

NEW EDIT: IMPORTANT NOTE: Ford recently gave me new information on the DIP switch settings. These EVSEs are made for Ford by Webasto in Germany (that's probably pretty common knowledge as soon as you open it and see the Webasto name on everything). HOWEVER ... Ford had numerous complaints on the DIP switch settings not working and pressed Webasto to please validate those settings. Webasto finally validated the settings that the DIP switch settings on the switch BLOCK are correct... NOT the silk-screening on the green printed circuit board. So basically the opposite of the photo I have here. It took Ford some time to get them to do this. I'm told the new batch of EVSE's is having the silk-screened instructions removed and only the numbers on the switch block will be used.

I will try to get time to open up on my EVSE and get a new photo with it correctly configured. In the meantime, PLEASE follow the settings on the DIP switch block and ignore the circuit board. (Humorous side story... during a phone call the Ford engineer was having a call with the Webasto engineers in Germany ... when the Webasto engineer asserted that "yes ... 0 means ON" ... IN WHAT UNIVERSE does anyone think that 0 means ON??? Is this a common German thing?)

Any invalid configuration of DIP switches will result in the EVSE defaulting to 48 amps.

In the photo below, the DIP switches are correctly configured to allow for 48 amp charging (circuit breaker should be 60 amp to use this setting.)

8. The front panel LED lights connect to a wire harness ... that wire is currently taped to the inside of the cover. Remove the tape and plug in the wire harness (figure 12 in the front of the manual shows the location). The plug is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way.)

9. Do a final inspection on all those wires secured on all the lugs ... make sure they are all pretty tight. If you have 4-wire (for NEMA 14-50) make sure you cap & tuck the 'Neutral' wire away (it isn't used).

10. Put the inside cover on (the weather-sealed cover)... and all those Torx 25 screws (I think there are 10 of them)

11. There two plugs that close off any un-used access holes on the bottom.

12. Don't put the cosmetic cover on (yet). Instead, download and launch the FordChargeStation setup app. (This is NOT the Ford Pass app)

13. Turn on the power at the breaker (Smoke test! Do not let the smoke out of the box. Smoke must remain inside the box for proper function of the charger.)

14. Follow the instructions in the phone setup app. The reason you left the cosmetic cover off is because the app is going to ask you to key in an access code ... printed on a sticker on the weather-cover (so you'll want to be able to see that). Same code is also on a sticker on the front of the user's guide (but not the install guide).

15. After you key in all the info, select your WiFi network, etc. it will offer to configure the Ford Pass app with all this ... and auto-launches Ford Pass. At this point the charger will show up in Ford Pass.

I got a message that it was successful ... but for roughly the first ... 15 minutes (not exactly sure how long ... but it was a while) the Ford Pass app complained that the charger was not connected to the server. (Possibly some delays on the server-side of the configuration. Possibly it was doing a software update??). But this eventually went away on it's own and it's been great ever since.

16. Put the cosmetic cover on.

Oh... and mount the holster/cable-holder.

17. Take photos and post here!

18. Drink beer (or beverage of choice)

Nice write up thank you… Can I ask did you do anything additional with the control cable within the unit? I’ve been advised to add a cat 5 data cable from the wallbox to modbus to monitor the load. Do you think this is this required or project specific?
Ford instructions are useless and mention nothing on this but I found instructions for the webasto units and it states the control cable with a red box around the data connections but doesn’t say what they are used for. ?‍
I’ve also been advised and ordered a separate ev pme distribution and fault detection to be extra safe on the drawing load and tripping other rcds maybe the advisor is being to careful as I think many here and just wiring the 3 core direct to a rcd? ?

 

[shark]

A few more updates on my install. I've got the wire bundle run all the way to my panel in the 1-car garage and all the way to my FCCS. In my install I am adding a 14-50 outlet in addition to the hardwired charger just in case it goes tits-up at some point and I need to use the mobile charger. I'd like to say that working with 6AWG wire is a total PITA. In order to create 3-way pigtails so that I could attach the outlet, I picked up some "split bolts" from Lowes. These are basically bolts with a hollow channel in the middle and a nut on the other end to cinch it all down. These are more compact than a wingnut, assuming you could even find one large enough for these wires and still force them into the box. I cut the wires down as short as I could and still be able to attach everything and wrapped up the split bolts with electrical tape. Then it took a good bit of pushing, pulling, and tweaking the wire bundles until I could get the outlet and the cover in place - it was a struggle but I got it done. Next I'll document installing the new breaker and making all the connections inside the panel.

 

[shark]

Here is the work in the panel. This is definitely the easiest part of the install. I shut down the PC and the PS4 in the house and then turned off the main. The 6AWG common attaches to the common busbar on the left, ground to the ground busbar on the right, and both the red and black leads go to the 60AMP double-pole breaker. It doesn't matter which hot goes where on either end, it will work fine either way. Of course my handwriting for the new breaker is the only one in the whole panel that is legible. What is it with electricians and their terrible handwriting?