Home Level 2 Charger Issues

Garbone

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The successful charge was mid day, when panels were producing well.
Are the voltage measurements taken under load? Curious if one of the phases from the utility dips down under load, something like a corroded/bad crimp on the drop at the transformer. Very unlikely.
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Yes. The last time I delt with them they only had hardwired Levitron L2 charging stations. But even if they want they will not be able to install a 240v single phase outlet that would be mimic residential supply. Since dealerships use commercial 3 phase supply the closet they can come it to install a NEMA 14-50 208v outlet. That wont help either. So if the dealer has to really troubleshoot the problem, they have to come to our homes and test. Moreover our dealer is not EV certified so that adds to the problem.
Who is your local dealer?
 
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Who is your local dealer?
Fair Oaks Ford.

I've given them plenty of information about the issue, but it doesn't seem like they do much, if anything, with it. I made an appointment for next week with River View Ford in Oswego, which is the nearest Ford EV certified dealer to Aurora/Naperville, hoping that a smaller dealer will pay more attention to resolving the issue with Ford.
 

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Are the voltage measurements taken under load? Curious if one of the phases from the utility dips down under load, something like a corroded/bad crimp on the drop at the transformer. Very unlikely.
Undervoltage is not likely a problem. The mobile charger will work on a 208V system, so a slightly low 240 won't be a problem.

When the utility technician will only say "within spec" and not tell you the measurements, that's useless. It would be nice if someone up there knew a Com Ed field engineer to discuss with.

It's beginning to sound more and more like the car will not tolerate even slightly high voltages. Hopefully Ford will address this issue promptly.
 
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jparduhn70

jparduhn70

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Undervoltage is not likely a problem. The mobile charger will work on a 208V system, so a slightly low 240 won't be a problem.

When the utility technician will only say "within spec" and not tell you the measurements, that's useless. It would be nice if someone up there knew a Com Ed field engineer to discuss with.

It's beginning to sound more and more like the car will not tolerate even slightly high voltages. Hopefully Ford will address this issue promptly.
I agree that it would be nice for a Ford engineer and ComEd engineering to talk. I saw the instrumentation the ComEd tech was using and saw different numbers like 124, 123, and 128 flashing on the display, but he wasn't interpreting that data for me. Like you say, all we can do is hope that Ford evaluates the data and comes up with a fix pronto.
 


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Great question. Knowing it works at one house and not the other is frustrating. I had ComEd come out again today hoping another tech would give me a more favorable outcome. He measured at the meter and told me it's within specification, so it was pointless. I have an appointment at another dealer next week hoping that they'll actually pursue a resolution. I don't understand why Chevy, Tesla, Hyundai, and Kia have no issues charging on the same grid as me, while Ford is perplexed.
If you are correct with your list of working vehicles I would say the odds of the power supplier fixing the problem may be slim. With the number of people effected and the time frame so far I guess that a couple of us with no charging schedule may be waiting for a while. No scheduling of charging is really becoming a bit of a PITA. Don't want it to 100 and not want to pay twice the price. Went out in the rain last night to unplug it to keep it below 100%. This is not the plug it and forget it I was expecting.

On the up side looked inside this morning and all is bone dry. Guessed right the two hoses each side of the trunk lid are for drainage and completely drain when opened. New to hatchbacks.
 

malba2366

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Whatever happened with the Ford Engineer that someone on here contacted? Did they ever get back to you, or your dealer with a fix?
 

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Fair Oaks Ford.

I've given them plenty of information about the issue, but it doesn't seem like they do much, if anything, with it. I made an appointment for next week with River View Ford in Oswego, which is the nearest Ford EV certified dealer to Aurora/Naperville, hoping that a smaller dealer will pay more attention to resolving the issue with Ford.
My dealer is Wickstrom Ford in Barrington. Over the weekend, I received an email from the owner thanking me for my purchase and if there was any issues that I should contact them. On Tuesday morning I sent a reply that was answered by their General Manager who stated that they made their Service Department aware. Well, I already had done that ! Wednesday morning I heard back from my service contact about trying another mobile charger. Picked it up and of course it failed on 240V but worked on 110V circuit. Also went to neighbor's house and used his plug that he uses for his Chevy Volt and that failed as well.

At least my dealer is keeping excellent documentation about the issue. Also told me they are working closely with Arlington Heights Ford as well. But my perception is that they are just working the process and not doing any escalation (yet) beyond the respective dealership(s) to bring awareness on how many owners are affected.

I agree with the other post about a collaborative effort to troubleshoot the issue with all participants present at the same time. We do it all the time in information technology when multiple software/hardware vendors are involved.
 
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jparduhn70

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Whatever happened with the Ford Engineer that someone on here contacted? Did they ever get back to you, or your dealer with a fix?
@Brademcee is on spring break with his family this week, so he's unavailable. He was communicating directly with Ron Heiser.
 
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I agree with the other post about a collaborative effort to troubleshoot the issue with all participants present at the same time. We do it all the time in information technology when multiple software/hardware vendors are involved.
Like you, I work in IT and when we have a multi-vendor issue, there is a collaborative collective effort among everyone that could potentially be involved. Ford needs to start acting like a technology company rather than a legacy automotive manufacturer. Part of the rub with Tesla is they promote themselves as a software company that happens to make cars, and as a result, the manufacturing quality is lacking at times. In their case, they need to move the other direction than Ford. When that happens, both companies will have a pretty good product.
 

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Like you, I work in IT and when we have a multi-vendor issue, there is a collaborative collective effort among everyone that could potentially be involved. Ford needs to start acting like a technology company rather than a legacy automotive manufacturer. Part of the rub with Tesla is they promote themselves as a software company that happens to make cars, and as a result, the manufacturing quality is lacking at times. In their case, they need to move the other direction than Ford. When that happens, both companies will have a pretty good product.
I have logged an issue with FORD directly and they have created a case for me. They keep telling me that they are working on the problem. All my communications have been with customer service. No one from the FORD engineering team has reached or asked any questions about the issue. I am not sure if they are looking into the problem deep enough to find a solution. As far as my dealer is concerned, they are pathetic. Some of the guys from the service department did not even know the difference between 120v and 240v charging. They just say the usual "It's with Ford and they cannot do anything until FORD fixes the problem". Yet they keep selling more Mach-e every day and the list of frustrated users keeps increasing. How can they sell a car knowing that there is a problem? Like @jparduhn70 , I am also switching to River View ford. I hope they have a little more empathy for us.

Sorry to sound negative... It has been more than a month and I have no resolution. For a 60K car, this is unacceptable.
 

malba2366

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I have logged an issue with FORD directly and they have created a case for me. They keep telling me that they are working on the problem. All my communications have been with customer service. No one from the FORD engineering team has reached or asked any questions about the issue. I am not sure if they are looking into the problem deep enough to find a solution. As far as my dealer is concerned, they are pathetic. Some of the guys from the service department did not even know the difference between 120v and 240v charging. They just say the usual "It's with Ford and they cannot do anything until FORD fixes the problem". Yet they keep selling more Mach-e every day and the list of frustrated users keeps increasing. How can they sell a car knowing that there is a problem? Like @jparduhn70 , I am also switching to River View ford. I hope they have a little more empathy for us.

Sorry to sound negative... It has been more than a month and I have no resolution. For a 60K car, this is unacceptable.
You should drop it off at the dealer, let them fix it and let them know if it is not fixed within 30 days you will be opening a lemon law case....this is a basic function of the vehicle and there is no excuse for it not to be fixed when other EVs are charging in these same locations.
 

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On the advice of another forum member, I started reading this thread over again. I realized something: At my house, I have a whole house power conditioner, surge protector, circuit monitor direct wired on my incoming 240 V power. Within a couple of months after installation, there was a red light on one 120V leg. Thought it was a defective device, but electrician who installed it said it was on the Edison side. Everything still worked inside the house regardless of power side in the panel - because the device was making up the difference and although Edison was only providing 95 V on one leg, all power inside my house was still at 120V per leg. Edison came out a few days later and then spent half a day rewiring an underground transformer that served 4 houses including mine. Voltage went back to where it should be - however, Edison was supplying about 245 V most of the time, but inside my house was always steady at 240 V. OP mentions in first threads seeing 256 V across the two legs. A power regulator might help get the voltage to 240 V. Still doesn't answer the question why other EV brands did not have problems, though.
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