Is my Ford charger cooked?

[mkhuffman]

The Ford supplied EVSE overheats easily. Mine worked for about six months and then it overheated and never worked properly after that. I was able to get it to mostly work by keeping it cool.

If you have one that works, great. But IMO it will fail eventually especially if used in a hot ambient environment. Get something else before it fails and you have no way to charge the car.

It's a POS. (That's a technical term.)

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[Maui]

Grizzl-e

This is the advice I took… I also went with the non-smart solution. Did this in the summer when the ford charger was constantly stopping do to what I assume was the heat. No problems since. Very happy with the purchase. $379 all in.

 

[randomvoice]

Grizzl-e, ChargePoint, or, Emporia. https://amzn.to/3MebuAG

Hey a follow up in case you knew.

The Grizzl-E charger is on sale but what option is better - The Classic or Smart? Price is the same for both on Amazon (300 bucks). It seems the Classic is 'dumb' while Smart has Wifi connectivity but from reviews, it is panned for that. Can the smart function as a 'dumb' charger if the features aren't important or is there a risk that the thing won't work if the app loses support?

 

[RickMachE]

Hey a follow up in case you knew.

The Grizzl-E charger is on sale but what option is better - The Classic or Smart? Price is the same for both on Amazon (300 bucks). It seems the Classic is 'dumb' while Smart has Wifi connectivity but from reviews, it is panned for that. Can the smart function as a 'dumb' charger if the features aren't important or is there a risk that the thing won't work if the app loses support?

You'd have to ask a Grizzl-E owner that, or download the manual and read it. Many are settable without an app, but not all.

 

[Discwizard70]

It's nice to have a smart charger, but it's really just conveniences. You can almost get the same functionality by using a dumb charger and the Ford app. It's just a preference when it comes to it.

 

[Fremont Kid]

The Ford supplied EVSE overheats easily. Mine worked for about six months and then it overheated and never worked properly after that. I was able to get it to mostly work by keeping it cool.

If you have one that works, great. But IMO it will fail eventually especially if used in a hot ambient environment. Get something else before it fails and you have no way to charge the car.

It's a POS. (That's a technical term.)

Exactly the reason I bought the Lectron. It has been reliable.

 

[RickMachE]

It's nice to have a smart charger, but it's really just conveniences. You can almost get the same functionality by using a dumb charger and the Ford app. It's just a preference when it comes to it.

In my reply above, I missed 2 things and your post reminded me.

1) If you want to guarantee your vehicle can't charge during peak hours, an intelligent charger can prevent that. This would include departure times and remote starts. Set the hours in the intelligent charger, and then you have to override it if you want a remote start to use house current during peak hours.

2) Some of us want to know how much money we spend charging. Or, conversely, we want to allocate our EV charging costs to the EV, and the rest to our house (if you track expenses).

Therefore, one needs to know kWh used, and possible time of day used. FordPass is inherently inaccurate, or simply wrong many times. It may, or may not, save a session. And, it reports kWh net to vehicle, not from your wall, which is what your electric bill represents.

Intelligent chargers report and track energy usage. Some let you connect to your electric company's rates, and show you actual costs, some let you put in your cost and compute it, and some simply track a session.

With my JuiceBox chargers no longer connected to JuiceBox, I replaced the boards with OpenEVSE, which does many of the functions I want. I now capture each session to allocate costs, and even with its reporting I discovered inaccuracies in some fields, so capturing sessions is the most comprehensive.

 

[EasyPass]

After 4+ years of trouble free service with the Ford Mobile Charger I purchased the below unit and put the Ford one in the trunk. The Ford EVSE never gave any problems other than throttled throughput when it got hot. The new one works just as well and didn't cost an arm & leg.

 

[Space_Pony]

It's nice to have a smart charger, but it's really just conveniences. You can almost get the same functionality by using a dumb charger and the Ford app. It's just a preference when it comes to it.

I like to be able to review your charging and see if it slowed down at any time during the charging cycle. It's also nice to review the running cost of charging your EV.

 

[Discwizard70]

I like to be able to review your charging and see if it slowed down at any time during the charging cycle. It's also nice to review the running cost of charging your EV.

That's a good point too. I actually overlooked that, I am spoiled with having a separate meter for my EV, so it being the only use is easy to track for me., so I really didn't consider that as a needed option.

 

[Mach-E GT PE Jim]

The Amber flashing lights are when it was plugged in and it is trying to charge.

Just tried charging at a nearby Chargepoint and it worked. The Ford charger makes 3-4 clicking sound as soon as I connect it to the car. I'll check the lights in a bit since I'm out now but def seems like a charger issue.

I even tried a standard 110 outlet and with the charger and get the same behavior.

For now, I've ordered a temporary charger off Amazon. I also have a Ford appointment at my dealer on Tuesday at 9am so hoping they still replace it even though the warranty just ended (wishful thinking I know). Any recommendations for a long term charger?

I really like my Autel charger, they have a big selection too.

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