Insane charging noise

[macchiaz-o]

My Ford Connected Charger app slider stops at 30A not 32A. Not sure that makes a big difference but I'm curious if its just me that's getting 30 and not 32? I'm lowering from 48A per this thread to reduce noise and loss.

Mine offers increments of 6 amps as well. It's not just you. It's just how that EVSE is designed.

Coincidentally, the mobile EVSE charger is also 30A. (I think?? It's labelled that way on the 14-50 connector at any rate.)

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[woody]

MME charging with EVSE is loud. Not so with Bolt.
May be good, may be not so good.
Time will tell.

 

[Terry]

My Ford Connected Charger app slider stops at 30A not 32A. Not sure that makes a big difference but I'm curious if its just me that's getting 30 and not 32? I'm lowering from 48A per this thread to reduce noise and loss.

The slider on my app for my FCCS does not stop at 32A so I am using 30A as well, which makes a really big difference in my hot garage here in Florida, it doesn't keep my awake like it did when it was at 48A.

 

[skiingj]

Mine offers increments of 6 amps as well. It's not just you. It's just how that EVSE is designed.

Coincidentally, the mobile EVSE charger is also 30A. (I think?? It's labelled that way on the 14-50 connector at any rate.)

The slider on my app for my FCCS does not stop at 32A so I am using 30A as well, which makes a really big difference in my hot garage here in Florida, it doesn't keep my awake like it did when it was at 48A.

Thank You!

 

[BadgerGreg]

I have a few more 32A charging sessions under my belt, and I can say that the numbers are pretty compelling so far.

On 48A charging (from late April through early June), I consumed a total of 957 kWh and added 839 kWh to my battery, equating to an average loss of 14%. During this period, the loud cooling fan was on each night.

On 32A charging (from early June through today), I consumed a total of 168 kWh and added 155 kWh to my battery, equating to an average loss of 8%.

Bottom line: 32A charging is better in the summer months. Less noise and lower losses. The only drawback is the slower charging time, which means I won't get back to 90% if I start charging at 10%-15%. I'm only going to get about 60%-65% added to the battery this way*, but that's honestly OK in most situations. If I need to get to 100% for a road trip the next day, I'll use 40A or 48A.

* Based on my local utility company's 8-hour overnight charging discount time window (11pm - 7am)

 

[macchiaz-o]

I have a few more 32A charging sessions under my belt, and I can say that the numbers are pretty compelling so far.

On 48A charging (from late April through early June), I consumed a total of 957 kWh and added 839 kWh to my battery, equating to an average loss of 14%. During this period, the loud cooling fan was on each night.

On 32A charging (from early June through today), I consumed a total of 168 kWh and added 155 kWh to my battery, equating to an average loss of 8%.

Bottom line: 32A charging is better in the summer months. Less noise and lower losses. The only drawback is the slower charging time, which means I won't get back to 90% if I start charging at 10%-15%. I'm only going to get about 60%-65% added to the battery this way*, but that's honestly OK in most situations. If I need to get to 100% for a road trip the next day, I'll use 40A or 48A.

* Based on my local utility company's 8-hour overnight charging discount time window (11pm - 7am)

Good info, but let's caveat with YMMV. I had my EVSE set to 30A and the vehicle was still quite loud with the active cooling occurring. This may be moreso an artifact of being in a hot garage (100+ F) than the charging rate.

I don't have raw numbers to do the sort of comparison you did. But a hypothesis would be that charging is less efficient went more effort is needed to control pack/electronics temperatures, regardless of charge rate.

I might further hypothesize that a charge rate of 48A might require fewer kWh from the grid than a charge rate of 24A, when both require the same amount of temperature control techniques, but for roughly half the duration when the charge rate is doubled.

 

[ericNdfw]

I've never been around a Tesla when it's charging on an L2 EVSE other than the relatively low-current (6.6 Kw) public ChargePoint units at the local shopping malls. Does anyone here know if they are anywhere near as loud at the same or higher amperages? If not, then I'd call this a major failing on Ford's part as I doubt it's anything that they can eliminate via an OTA software update.

 

[jlauro]

I've never been around a Tesla when it's charging on an L2 EVSE other than the relatively low-current (6.6 Kw) public ChargePoint units at the local shopping malls. Does anyone here know if they are anywhere near as loud at the same or higher amperages? If not, then I'd call this a major failing on Ford's part as I doubt it's anything that they can eliminate via an OTA software update.

It's highly dependent on temp for Ford, and so I would assume the same for Tesla. Unless you are comparing same temp for Ford and Tesla (or high temp for Telsa), it doesn't mean anything.

Fixing via OTA should certainly be possible or they did not design OTA updates right. However, they would have to tweak some settings, such as either lower the charge rate to decrease the heat buildup (who wants slower charging), or tweak the thresholds that might decrease battery life, etc...

 

[gtin]

As suggested on the forum, I lowered the amperage on my charger app (chargepoint) from a 50 amp breaker to a 40 amp (effectively 32 amp) and the insane noise is now gone.

 

[pt19713]

Charging in my garage with chargepoint charger connected to a 50 amp breaker gets very loud as well. I wasn't expecting this before I bought the car. Not sure if other EVS are the same since this is my first.

The garage tends to amplify the noise with all the fan and pump noise echoing off the concrete and drywall.

Just wait until you do L3 charging next to 4-5 other cars in the summer. The fan noise is hilarious.

 

[BadgerGreg]

As suggested on the forum, I lowered the amperage on my charger app (chargepoint) from a 50 amp breaker to a 40 amp (effectively 32 amp) and the insane noise is now gone.

I recommend monitoring your energy consumption vs. battery charge. Switching to 32A reduced my losses by 40% (from over 14% loss to less than 9% loss). Not a huge difference for any given charging session, but it makes you feel better that you're wasting less electricity.

 

[OlyPen]

11kW is quite fast and pumps a lot of heat into the battery.
Nissan has a much smaller (slower) charger and the only cooling method it has is some airflow over the cells. Pretty hard to make noise when there isn't a radiator fan, pumps or chiller.

And Nissan Leafs are known to overheat when charging and brick up until they cool down. I'll take the cooling fan noise over a bricked car any day.

 

[gtin]

I am sure it is more efficient and cheap at 32 amps. It is hard to tell in the app. Also I think my chargepoint app shows the time spent charging when I unplug the car. I can't believe it would take 16hrs. The charging at the top is at 32amp. It was at about 28% and I charged to 90% standard range.

 

[NoPlanetB]

I've never been around a Tesla when it's charging on an L2 EVSE other than the relatively low-current (6.6 Kw) public ChargePoint units at the local shopping malls. Does anyone here know if they are anywhere near as loud at the same or higher amperages? If not, then I'd call this a major failing on Ford's part as I doubt it's anything that they can eliminate via an OTA software update.

I don't know about Tesla but I have owned a Mercedes B250e (BEV) and a BMW i3s for a total of five years and neither ever made such a crazy noise during charging as my Mach-e sometimes does. Since last summer the i3s has sat in front of the house in the blazing sun (new house, carport not finished) while charging at 11kW - no such noise, ever. In contrast to the Leaf, both of the Mercedes and the BMW do have active cooling. But they do it quietly.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hey Everyone,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We are aware some customers are experiencing high fan speeds/noise during high power L2 charging. Know this is normal operation and perfectly safe. We are actively working to develop a revised calibration to reduce the fan speed/noise during L2 charge events.
In the meantime, Mustang Mach-E owners have found by reducing their L2 charger power to ~8kW (240V @ 32A or equivalent) also reduces the fan noise.
Ford will be releasing more information on a revised fan calibration once we complete testing.
Stay tuned.

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