Insane charging noise

[ODBMongoose]

Can you experiment with the dip switches. snGBC says there are (3) levels. Maybe the mid level is more acceptable if you can find the line for that.

I think the compressor noise will become a real issue in EU as so many cars are charged on the street. If enough of a stink is raised in EU the manufacturers will do something about the compressor noise.

These are my options....

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[RetiredDP]

Ok people. Update:
Thanks so much for all your feedback. Really appreciated as you can imagine that in cases like these, you can get very depressed.
So what I did was this. In the dipswitches of my 3 phase charging station I lowered the amperes from 16 to 10. Thats the lowest it can provide. Started charging and tadaaaaa. Silence. Its been charging for 40 mins now and its close to silent. Yes, the fan doors are open and you can subtly hear a silent fan turning but other than that, really great.
Of course, its a real problem I cant charge fast at home and it takes about 11 hours now. So im really curious to what Fords going to say. You cant sell a car in Holland where most people have 3 phase 16 amps connections and make noise that wakes up a block of 4 houses. Its really just way too loud. For now, this is a good temp solution but Im really afraid Fords going to say its factory spec and so all Dutch customers cant charge fast at home. Then they missed to whole damn point of driving electric.

Keep you posted

Try building a sound barrier...make a 2"x2"x3'x2' L-shaped frame of wood, and drape the following on the frame:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G10EYX6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

It's "mass loaded vinyl", and deadens sound well. Attach with cap screws+washers, because the MLV is pretty heavy. Drape it over the frame so it forms a loose double-wall of MLV. Curve the vinyl under the car a meter's-worth to catch sound reflecting off the tarmac. You could add a layer of Sonex-style acoustic foam on top of the MLV to help some with the higher frequencies (MLV is good for medium and low frequencies):

https://www.amazon.com/HEMRLY-Self-...18272&pd_rd_wg=yeB6t&pd_rd_i=B08XW9NRC5&psc=1

Highest frequencies are absorbed well by Sonex, but it's much thicker and costly.

 

[SnBGC]

On a related note, does anyone know what the energy draw of these different cooling systems are?

It literally sounds like there is quite a bit going on with the active cooling. I wonder if it would be worthwhile from an energy use/cost standpoint to try and charge when it is coolest in the summer, or if the energy draw from the active cooling is relatively insignificant even if the cooling fans are going full-speed.

I would have to look it up again but about 5 amps with the pumps, another 5-40 amps with the fan and 40 amps with the compressor/chiller.

 

[SnBGC]

Can you experiment with the dip switches. snGBC says there are (3) levels. Maybe the mid level is more acceptable if you can find the line for that.

I think the compressor noise will become a real issue in EU as so many cars are charged on the street. If enough of a stink is raised in EU the manufacturers will do something about the compressor noise.

The three levels I referenced are related to cooling strategies in the car. Nothing to do with the EVSE. Sorry for not being more clear there.

 

[SnBGC]

Can you experiment with the dip switches. snGBC says there are (3) levels. Maybe the mid level is more acceptable if you can find the line for that.

I think the compressor noise will become a real issue in EU as so many cars are charged on the street. If enough of a stink is raised in EU the manufacturers will do something about the compressor noise.

I think a reasonable solution would be for Ford to allow the user to set the charge speed from the driver's seat. Maybe via upcoming OTA.

The best way to do that is to set a Departure Time and the car will determine what charge speed is required to be fully charged prior to that time. No reason to charge at 11 kW for 3 hours when charging at 6 kW for 6 hours will accomplish the same task.

We already get a message that tells us when the car will be done charging. If Ford just added a slider or radio controls for adjusting the charge speed then we can see what effect on completion time is associated with each of the charge rate choices.

I can see how something like that would be very useful.

I actually moved my car last night to charge on my 32A EVSE vs the 48A because I didn't need my car to fully charge in 4 hours when doing it 7 hours was just fine with me.

 

[Marcel]

Ok people. Update:
Thanks so much for all your feedback. Really appreciated as you can imagine that in cases like these, you can get very depressed.
So what I did was this. In the dipswitches of my 3 phase charging station I lowered the amperes from 16 to 10. Thats the lowest it can provide. Started charging and tadaaaaa. Silence. Its been charging for 40 mins now and its close to silent. Yes, the fan doors are open and you can subtly hear a silent fan turning but other than that, really great.
Of course, its a real problem I cant charge fast at home and it takes about 11 hours now. So im really curious to what Fords going to say. You cant sell a car in Holland where most people have 3 phase 16 amps connections and make noise that wakes up a block of 4 houses. Its really just way too loud. For now, this is a good temp solution but Im really afraid Fords going to say its factory spec and so all Dutch customers cant charge fast at home. Then they missed to whole damn point of driving electric.

Keep you posted

For now a good solution most days you won't need the car in these 11 hours and/of it doesn't have to be full.

It must be something with your car/software, mine is always charging 3 phase at 11kW and no noise. I have heard more people charge at 11kW without the loud noise.

 

[jlauro]

I would have to look it up again but about 5 amps with the pumps, another 5-40 amps with the fan and 40 amps with the compressor/chiller.

I had it on a 115V 15amp, and it was going loud, so it doesn't require 40 amps to run the chiller... If it took 40amps to run the chiller, that means if you didn't have a 48 amp chiller, no energy would be going to the battery., so what would the point of that be? It is more related to the temperature of the battery and ambient temperature. The AMPs you are pushing heats up the battery, but if it's cold enough it should not need the chiller and the chiller obviously doesn't take more than 15 amps to run or the battery would be draining faster than it charges.

 

[jlauro]

I think a reasonable solution would be for Ford to allow the user to set the charge speed from the driver's seat. Maybe via upcoming OTA.

A better way would be to allow the user to pick a max noise level setting, or a minimum and maximum next charge % for departure time. Why set your charging speed low when 90% of the time it charge relatively noise free. Let it only slow down when needed instead of crippling it 100% of the time.

 

[SnBGC]

I had it on a 115V 15amp, and it was going loud, so it doesn't require 40 amps to run the chiller... If it took 40amps to run the chiller, that means if you didn't have a 48 amp chiller, no energy would be going to the battery., so what would the point of that be? It is more related to the temperature of the battery and ambient temperature. The AMPs you are pushing heats up the battery, but if it's cold enough it should not need the chiller and the chiller obviously doesn't take more than 15 amps to run or the battery would be draining faster than it charges.

I was talking DC....
Going by the size of the fuses in the car.

 

[SnBGC]

A better way would be to allow the user to pick a max noise level setting, or a minimum and maximum next charge % for departure time. Why set your charging speed low when 90% of the time it charge relatively noise free. Let it only slow down when needed instead of crippling it 100% of the time.

Not sure what you mean by crippling it. I have 10,000 miles on the car already. Doesn't seem crippled to me. ???

 

[jlauro]

Not sure what you mean by crippling it. I have 10,000 miles on the car already. Doesn't seem crippled to me. ???

It would be crippling the max charge rate so it never charged at a faster rate even if the temperature was cool enough to do so.

 

[SnBGC]

It would be crippling the max charge rate so it never charged at a faster rate even if the temperature was cool enough to do so.

You say that like it is a bad thing. Truth is we should always charge at the slowest rate possible to meet our needs. People insist on thinking faster is better without taking into consideration what they are doing to their battery.

The facts are that faster charge rates mean more heat. Plain and simple. 48A charge rate will always generate the most heat. I have yet to charge my car at 48A and NOT also have the compressor come on. On Friday night it charged at 48A for 6 hours and the compressor ran the entire time as far as I can tell. Well, the fan was running pretty fast at least..... I checked a few times through out the night and it was outside humming along each time. 32A is about the maximum charge rate this car can accept without going into the higher cooling strategy.

 

[BadgerGreg]

Im not super technical, so by lowering ampere in my electrical system in my home , this should reduce the cooling need in the cars system, right? So this means also that when im charging at a fast charger next to the highway I have the same insane noise?

Yes - although you don't need to modify your hardware at all; it can be software-driven. I confirmed this tonight by modifying my EVSE app settings to tell it I'm on a 40A circuit (although I'm on a 60A circuit). This reduces the charging to 32A (80% of the circuit's amperage limit). The loud fan noise is no longer there. I'm going to leave my settings here unless I need a faster charge, which most nights isn't necessary.

As far as DC fast charging is concerned, I don't remember hearing that noise while fast charging. I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm assuming it has something to do with the fact that the power converter generates more heat when converting AC to DC. When you fast charge, you don't have that conversion to deal with, and perhaps less heat as a result.

I'll be curious to see if my charging losses are lower with the reduced amperage (32A vs. 48A). I normally see up to a 15% loss when charging at 48A; I hope I might reduce that a bit if the cooling fan isn't on for several hours. If that turns out to be true, there may be a good reason for many MME owners to default to a lower amperage to reduce noise, charging losses, and unneeded wear and tear on the cooling system.

 

[idkhow]

Hoping this helps someone

Unmodified Tesla Wall Charger with a TeslaTap Mini - full amps, charges the car from 40% to 100% in around 3.5 hours.

Roughly same cooling noise I hear while DC fast charging. Level 1, at 1 mile per hour doesn't have much of a noise.

TeslaTap's are great. Used one at a casino tonight to charge up before home. They're out of stock now but the slightly larger and half as cheap Lectron one is in.

Tesla Destination Charging at a Casino:

 

[ODBMongoose]

For now a good solution most days you won't need the car in these 11 hours and/of it doesn't have to be full.

It must be something with your car/software, mine is always charging 3 phase at 11kW and no noise. I have heard more people charge at 11kW without the loud noise.

Thats strange indeed. Its a shame Im no technician. Just called the dealer and (of course) they say its comform spec but they agreed it is very loud. They said there is little they can do about it right now with the limited info they have from Ford on this issue. They are going to report to Ford Netherlands. Just to be sure I also informed the lease company as technically, its their car.

But I just wonder why some cares have this noise when charging 3 phase 11Kw and some dont. You'd say there is a difference in cooling/ software between builds

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