Insane charging noise

[Holy Driver]

Got my car today and testet 11kW charging.
This ist TOO LOUD.
Really!
It's not hot today, about 18 degree celsius.
With that noise I cannot charge my car during nights.

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[agoldman]

The heat in my garage makes charging sound like a loud lawnmower. Unbelievable fan noise. I thought better to unplug for fear of a fire. When temps are below 90 in garage this doesn't happen. Above 100 and climbing, then all bets are off.

 

[bug1983]

Hi all
So i have my mach e for a week and i just started my first charge at home.
3 phase so guess L2.
After 5 minutes the sound that was initially like a loud fridge now sounds like a air compressor. I mean extremely loud. All the time for 2 hours now and it's just 16 degrees Celsius, 60 F outside.
The front doorlike things are open so must be for cooling.
But with a sound like this I really get angry neighbors. Insane!
Anyone else having this?

Here is it:
https://youtube.com/shorts/Uw9PMAVdF5k?feature=share

Got the same sount in the first day the next day it did stop to charge at all,got a lender vehicle in change and no noice no nothing ,mine still in repair allready for a month ,guys are saying smth wrong with the charging port.

 

[Holy Driver]

This doesn't sound normal. Did same charging @ 11kWh rate produces this sound.

How long did you wait?
Mine startet the terrible noise about 10 minutes after start of charging.

Reducing to 3x 12A (about 8 kWh) seems to help for some.

Yesterday I tested a bit and 3x 14A was also ok.
A bit louder fan noise but a few meter away it's ok.
With 3x 16A it's not working. Far too loud and not acceptable

 

[ODBMongoose]

Like Ford just officially commented in this thread:

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.

So its on their radar. Hope a solutions comes soon

 

[agoldman]

I hope this isn't a dealer visit...

 

[JBA]

Looks like i'm in luck, I just did my first own charge and did 8.22kW in 47min which is 10.55kWh on average without hardly any noise. The ducts did open after about 20min but the fans only turned on on a very low speed.

Outside temps was about 20C so crossing fingers what it will do on 30C but I seem to have margin.

That all being said, Ford my say it's all perfectly normal but the fact that it only involves some vehicles and not all vehicles you can debate what is normal and what is not.

 

[OlyPen]

My first charge (at home 50A Chargepoint Home Flex), charging outside. It was a alarmingly loud, a bit like an electric lawn mower. My two short test charges at a EA 150 stations, not very loud, but fan noise was noticeable. My third and fourth charges were also not very loud. In fact, I barely heard the cooling in the fourth charge at home from 20% remaining, after driving pretty hard for 3 hours. I even had to double check that the front cooling vents opened (they did).

I've noticed that the sound has gotten quieter after charging a few times. I assume there's some algorithm machine learning stuff happening as well where the system is actively monitoring and learning the batteries true temperature curve and anticipating how hard to run the cooling system fan? Still early days with it, though. I charge outdoors and our overnight temps are generally fairly low (50s-ish) which probably helps?

 

[JBA]

So is there a way to reduce the power via in-car settings? On public charging places you can’t choose how much power you get and my neighbors living close to the public charging port all hate me at this point. You can literally hear it from a mile away.

Unfortunately it's not. Would be good if they would just put it in Passapp just as the charge level. How hard can it be...

 

[Terry]

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.

Glad to hear that Ford is listening and is working on a revised calibration to fix this. I didn't spend all that money on my Ford Connected Charger so I could have a charger that would charge at maximum speed only to turn it down.

 

[Holy Driver]

Looks like i'm in luck, I just did my first own charge and did 8.22kW in 47min which is 10.55kWh on average without hardly any noise. The ducts did open after about 20min but the fans only turned on on a very low speed.

Tested it today a bit.

Charging with 13 Ampere, so about 8 kW, the car stays quiet.
When I am raise the ampere to 14A, the car is unpleasantly loud

So what ampere did you use?



Did some videos today

One minute after starting with 11kW (16A)


5 minutes after starting with 11kW


10 minutes after starting with 11kW


I tested it 30 minutes after the last video because I would like to know if the fan is reducing the speed after some time.
But unfortunately not, it stays loud.

I stopped the charging, decreased to 13A and started charging again and the car stays quiet.
I charged 1 1/2 hours and it was ok.

 

[JBA]

Tested it today a bit.

Charging with 13 Ampere, so about 8 kW, the car stays quiet.
When I am raise the ampere to 14A, the car is unpleasantly loud

So what ampere did you use?

I can't adjust the ampere myself unfortunately. I have a hughly expensive new motion advanced charger but it has no software or hardware to manually adjust it. Not sure why this charger should be this expensive (€2800 incl. installation), for me it's worth half at most.

In result I'm not sure what ampere i'm loading but last session did 10.2kWh on average and the one before 10.5Kwh so it must be close to 16A but none of the session produced any (fan) noise at all. Sometimes the fanducts went open but you have to stand close to the car to even hear it and the ducts closed after a few minutes each time. I have what you show/hear in your first video but never get close to what you hear in your 2nd video.

Possibly the voltage at your home is higher than the base 230volt.
Note that 3x16Ax230volt = 11kWh.

If your voltage is 240 or even 250 due to high usages of the net in your neighbourhood you will get > 11kWh load which stresses the ac/dc converter to much.

This might also explain why some vehicle are showing issues and some don't and why on some noticed to have it only on certain 11kWh chargers but not all.

 

[JBA]

I’ve got a friend that also has the same exact MME edition and uses the same charging port and who doesn’t have the issue. So, it’s definitely a per car issue. Not all cars

With same charging port you mean the exact same charger (as in on that exact same spot) as the gray one is charging on in your video with all the noise? If that's the case than voltage issue can be ruled out I guess.

 

[JBA]

Yes

Ok, that makes it clear then. It's a car issue rather than voltage.
Hopefully Ford gives an option in Fordpass to adjust the current or voltage the same way you can adjust the load %.

 

[Timelessblur]

I’ve got a friend that also has the same exact MME edition and uses the same charging port and who doesn’t have the issue. So, it’s definitely a per car issue. Not all cars

Does that include having your friend charge for a few hours or after the batteries are hot.
Just being plugged into the same port at the same amperage is not exactly the same.
For example I plug my car in on a 9.6 Kw charger and sometimes it does not turn the fans on at full power. I might hear them a little later after a hour or 2 of charging all of a sudden hear it kick on to full power then it might go back and be quiet for a little while rise and repeat for a while.
Now when it is nearly a 100F in my garage yeah with in 30 mins or so I will hear it kick on to full power fan and it will sit like that until it finishes charging.

Just noting that it is not just plugging it in but it takes a while. Once your battery/ Inverter get a little warm the entire system kick on harder to keep it cool.

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