Juicebox 40 does not provide power when departure time is set (or remote start is initiated)

[1stEV]

Pardon me if my thread search was not thorough enough, but I did not see any that exactly answered the question I have.

We took delivery of our MME in January of 2021. I installed a Juicebox 40 in December of 2021, having used the Ford Mobile charger up until then (both at 120V and 240V). When using the Ford Mobile Charger there was never an issue with getting exactly what was expected by setting a departure time with cabin conditioning.
When the car is plugged into the Juicebox, it will not precondition, cabin condition or remote start. I picked the Juicebox because several sources I read said it worked fine with the MME.

I set the Juciebox up using the EV JUICENET app on an Apple phone. I saw that it was only 2* rated, but was having trouble getting the simpler JUICECONFIGURE app to behave and just wanted to get it going. Neither my wife nor I car about all the features of the JUICENET app, we just want to let the FordPass app do it all.
I do not have any schedules set up in the JUICENET app - I want it to simply be a pass-through for the power. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated because my wife is ready to ditch the Juicebox (I don't blame her, it has been cold here) and my experience with their support so far has been similar to any kind of customer support you receive these days.

Can I expect any better result if have the Juicebox forget its initial install/configuration and then redo it with the JUICECONFIGURE app? I am not at all ruling out the possibility that I was impatient or did something wrong with the JUCIECONFIGURE app the first time as I did not find it intuitive. Maybe I am missing something in the FordPass app or maybe I need to make some setting adjustments from the car screen itself??

Thank you in advance for any help.

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[RickMachE]

I use a JuiceBox and find it works perfectly. I suspect that your device has somehow gotten a schedule tied to it. You use the EV JuiceNet app, not the JuiceConfigure app.

I have the Android app, but maybe this will help. When you go into the app, click on the menu bars, then Smart Charging, and verify that nothing is set.

If no schedule is set, then the next thing to check is to see if you limited the charge level for the charger.

If you go to the Smart Charging screen, which shows "added range" in the middle, you might find that you inadvertently set a max charging limit. If the vehicle is at, or above that limit, then the charger isn't going to supply anything no matter whether it's conditioning, starting, or whatever. You'd need to change that limit to 100%.

When the vehicle conditions, it will use battery and then almost immediately start drawing juice from the wall. Mine works fine.

If that doesn't work, you can try and remove the device, then re-add it. You'll have to remove it from the app, turn off the breaker, then turn the breaker back on and add the device back.

Post back if you still can't get it working.

 

[EELinneman]

I have the same EVSE as you do. The pre-conditioning and charging control should be managed through the car itself or the Ford Pass app. Where I live, we have a significant surcharge for using power between 4 and 8 PM every day. I programmed the car to avoid charging between 3 and 9 PM just to be on the safe side. That was all done via the car. With that implemented, the charger is working without flaw. Juicenet is only showing delivered power for me, but that is enough.

Eric

 

[Tim_C]

From your post, it's not clear to me that you've confirmed the JuiceBox is working for basic charging.

What status light do you see with the JuiceBox? From the JuiceBox status light documentation, with the charger plugged in to the car do you see a blinking green light?

I have a JuiceBox 40 plug-in model (purchased late 2020). It initially was having a timeout issue; I submitted a support ticket, and it took a little back-and-forth but Enel-X within a few days mailed me a new unit that has since worked properly. So I am happy with the Enel-X support for JuiceBox.

 

[1stEV]

From your post, it's not clear to me that you've confirmed the JuiceBox is working for basic charging.

What status light do you see with the JuiceBox? From the JuiceBox status light documentation, with the charger plugged in to the car do you see a blinking green light?

I have a JuiceBox 40 plug-in model (purchased late 2020). It initially was having a timeout issue; I submitted a support ticket, and it took a little back-and-forth but Enel-X within a few days mailed me a new unit that has since worked properly. So I am happy with the Enel-X support for JuiceBox.

That is a critical piece of info I left out! The Juicebox works like a champ for basic charging - light does indeed blink green. I will admit that Enel-X support was very quick to get back to me so it is good to know that it could just take a little back and forth.
Patience for 2022 seems like a good goal. In the meantime I will try out the other suggestions.

 

[1stEV]

I use a JuiceBox and find it works perfectly. I suspect that your device has somehow gotten a schedule tied to it. You use the EV JuiceNet app, not the JuiceConfigure app.

I have the Android app, but maybe this will help. When you go into the app, click on the menu bars, then Smart Charging, and verify that nothing is set.

If no schedule is set, then the next thing to check is to see if you limited the charge level for the charger.

If you go to the Smart Charging screen, which shows "added range" in the middle, you might find that you inadvertently set a max charging limit. If the vehicle is at, or above that limit, then the charger isn't going to supply anything no matter whether it's conditioning, starting, or whatever. You'd need to change that limit to 100%.

When the vehicle conditions, it will use battery and then almost immediately start drawing juice from the wall. Mine works fine.

If that doesn't work, you can try and remove the device, then re-add it. You'll have to remove it from the app, turn off the breaker, then turn the breaker back on and add the device back.

Post back if you still can't get it working.

I checked the EV JuiceNet app on my phone - no schedules set, no charge limit set. My wife had the FordPass app charge window set from 10 PM to 6 AM, so I had her change it to 6 AM to 12 AM as a test. The next day the car pre-conditioned perfectly per the scheduled departure. So at least it is working now and since our electric service has no lower rate window options I have no concerns.

I am puzzled by the fact that when using the Ford mobile charger the pre-conditioning worked fine with the 10 PM to 6 AM window set - or so I think. Car is always garaged and the winter had been mild enough to not need pre-conditioning. More investigation is needed - I do see short bursts of charging activity through the day/night which I assume is the car calling to keep the HVB temp above a minumum and/or juice the 12V a bit? It was doing this even with the 10 PM to 6 AM charge schedule (sometimes peaking out at 40A during that time).

It would be nice if Ford would provide some more thorough documentation so those who wanted to read it could understand what is normal for the car. If design "normal" operation is a mystery, there is no way to tell if something is amiss.

Thanks for your responses and help.

 

[RickMachE]

Yes, those bursts are the car calling for power.

Yes, FordPass does odd things, but now you know it's that, not the charger.

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