High-pitched "Electrical Whine"

DBC

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I can hear it, but you've put the phone next to the area so that doesn't tell much about what it would sound like when seated. The sound would drop off with the square of the inverse, which would be apparent with a decibel meter. Best would be to find another MME and compare.

Not sure if the fact that others haven't reported this is meaningful. If there is any ambient this sound would be masked. So not likely to be heard in a showroom or on the road or shooting a video with the windows open.

My guess is that it's normal. Electric vehicles have a lot of whines. Definitely not as loud as what you'd hear from the traction motor. But best to rule out it being a symptom of something significant.
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JoeSmoeFromIDontKnow

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Oh that whine is nasty! This is what his recording looks like as a spectrum:

Ford Mustang Mach-E High-pitched "Electrical Whine" Nois
 

dbsb3233

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I’ll be honest — this is one of the things that scares me the most about vehicles that are more computers than mechanical. Over time and through the many bumps on the road, are the components of EVs designed to sustain those jolts? I suppose one can argue that electrical components are more resilient than mechanical (fewer moving parts), but all it takes is one bad capacitor to throw the user experience in a tailspin.

Maybe I’m overthinking this.
Yep. And could eat away at the purported "BEVs have almost no maintenance costs" claim. Computer components tend to break down faster. Then throw them into rattling vehicles that range from ice-cold to sweaty hot, and that lifespan could get even shorter.
 

highland58

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Oh that whine is nasty! This is what his recording looks like as a spectrum:

Noise.PNG
As somebody said, it is probably a square wave, which would have lots of harmonics, which the above indicates.
 

DaveRuns

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I'm led to believe it's the backlight of that screen as well. Did some further "testing" and here's the results....



Texted the video to my salesperson today. He confirmed that he can hear it from the video and will get with the sales manager and service manager Monday to discuss.

If anyone has connections with Ford's EV team/service it might help. This will all be new territory for my dealership for sure...
I think people should start tweeting at Mr. Farley with any issues with the Mach-E. Who knows if it'll make a difference, but if enough people make some 'noise' (pun intended), maybe it'll help.
 


CHeil402

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I'm led to believe it's the backlight of that screen as well. Did some further "testing" and here's the results....



Texted the video to my salesperson today. He confirmed that he can hear it from the video and will get with the sales manager and service manager Monday to discuss.

If anyone has connections with Ford's EV team/service it might help. This will all be new territory for my dealership for sure...
If it changes in intensity when you adjust the screen brightness, it's probably because they control the brightness with PWM control. Likely caused by a loose solder joint. A replacement screen driver should fix it.
 

generaltso

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I think people should start tweeting at Mr. Farley with any issues with the Mach-E. Who knows if it'll make a difference, but if enough people make some 'noise' (pun intended), maybe it'll help.
Before the dealer‘s even had a chance to look at it?
 

DaveRuns

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Before the dealer‘s even had a chance to look at it?
Yes, absolutely. Even if the dealers can fix the issue, I would think it's important for the CEO of the company to be aware of them. It's not a conviction of the dealers per se, it's information and data points for the head of the company.
 
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I've just found out that another local dealer (not mine) had their FCTP unit delivered the same day as mine, per FordTracker. I will be reaching out to them tomorrow to see if I can stop by to compare.
 

ClaudeMach-E

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Yes - It's common for cheaper LED drivers to emit this same sort of hum, especially if they're of the dimmable variety and put on a dimmer switch. We get this complaint at my workplace (work for an electrical supply distributor).

I actually have some older Philips LEDs in my kitchen that will do this at certain dimming points, though not quite as loudly as my Mach-E's screen....
I had change the ceiling light in my kitchen and bought a LED fixture which says dimmable on the box. So we bought a pack of regular mechanical resistive type dimmers for $14 that where on sale. But they didn't worked at all. Finally we find out that for that type of LED lighting we had to by a $40 electronic dimmer and that works perfectly fine. And yes the other dimmers are installed else where in the house.
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