methorian

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I believe they used to force you to add a card. There are several old reviews on amazon that mention its not able to be skipped. But you definitely can skip it now. Looks like they pay attention to customer feedback.
Ah - I've only recently created a Chargepoint account/used the app, but I know I initially skipped adding payment info.
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Bdunn

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How much is your electrician charging? I had a guy come out today and quoted $1600. And that was just for the electrical run to the location. Not including the charger. The run is 12 foot from my electrical panel. $1600 is a whole lot of money for 13 feet of wire, and some conduit and a breaker.
My electrician charged me $600 for a 40 foot run of #6 copper which included the outles and 50 amp breaker. Another $100 to actually install the charger when it arrived.
 

methorian

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Forgot to post this the other day but got the unit installed and is working flawlessly (fingers crossed) so far!

Ford Mustang Mach-E My Ford Connected Charge Station arrived! 1612717753971
While I personally don't have issue with it, I'm not sure having the unit on a 14-50 plug is acceptable per it's installation instructions... ;-)

Assuming the switches were set to limit it's output to 40A?
 

eltonlin

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While I personally don't have issue with it, I'm not sure having the unit on a 14-50 plug is acceptable per it's installation instructions... ;-)

Assuming the switches were set to limit it's output to 40A?
Yeah I had the same thought - wasn't this supposed to be hardwired unit?

Also, the 14-50 cable seems a bit long - thought they had to max at 1-1.5 feet?
 


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SAVAGE

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Yeah I had the same thought - wasn't this supposed to be hardwired unit?

Also, the 14-50 cable seems a bit long - thought they had to max at 1-1.5 feet?
The cord is #6 wire which has a 60 amp rating and is on a 60 amp circuit. I opted to put in an outlet and a plug on this unit (versus hard wiring) in the event of the unit dying. At least that way, I can still use the 240 plug EVSE that came with the car or purchase a completely different EVSE.
 

generaltso

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The cord is #6 wire which has a 60 amp rating and is on a 60 amp circuit. I opted to put in an outlet and a plug on this unit (versus hard wiring) in the event of the unit dying. At least that way, I can still use the 240 plug EVSE that came with the car or purchase a completely different EVSE.
It‘s a 60A breaker with a 14-50 outlet? That’s not allowed by code. A 14-60 outlet would be okay, but then you would need an adapter to plug in the EVSE that came with the car. Are you sure it’s not a 14-60 outlet?
 

TheVirtualTim

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Forgot to post this the other day but got the unit installed and is working flawlessly (fingers crossed) so far!

Ford Mustang Mach-E My Ford Connected Charge Station arrived! 1612717753971
Keep an eye on the blue light when you go out to your garage.

Mine failed (solid red LED bar ... even when car isn't connected). It was fine when I plugged the car in and went to bed. When I came out in the morning it was red.

We opened a ticket ... I'll call on Monday.
 

guyofthesky

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You can use any charger with a J1772 plug (which is the industry standard for just about all new cars apart from Tesla).

The car comes with a Ford "Mobile Charger" ... which plugs into either a NEMA 14-50 wall plug (what a newer house with an electric dryer or electric range would use) ... and it also has basic 120v outlet (but it can only pull 12 amps with the assumption that it's a 15 amp circuit and at that rate you only get about 3 miles of range per hour on a 120v outlet ... but it does technically work.)

Most people will keep the mobile charger in the back of the car and put a wall-mounted charger in their garage or driveway. Many (most?) wall-mounted chargers are designed for exposure to weather ... outdoor installs wont hurt them; they can take the snow & rain.

Chargers come in various capacity sizes (amperage ratings). The Mach-E is able to use up to 48 amps (@ 240v AC). There are some chargers which exceed 48 amps (not many ... but they do exist) but there's no point since the car wont use any more than 48 amps.

There are pretty basic chargers that cost less. There are nicer models that can join your home WiFi and have an app that lets you monitor usage, charging times, etc. The chargers often include Bluetooth ... but they only use Bluetooth as a temporary thing to get through the configuration (because it's easy to get it to talk to their app on your phone via Bluetooth). The apps then configure the charger to use your home WiFi and other settings (such as maximum charging rate, etc.)

The Ford Connected Charger supports Bluetooth (for configuration) and WiFi. It does monitor your charging (so you can view your charging history ... something you can't do with a basic charger). It also allows you to remotely lock & unlock the charger (it does not physically lock the charging plug to the holster ... it simply disables charging). So if you have to install a charger in outdoors in a shared area (e.g. Condo parking garages, etc.) you can prevent other people from charging their cars on your bill.

The Ford Connected Charger uses a separate 'setup' app to configure the charger ... but then it adds the charger to your Ford Pass app. So there's a slight convenience in that you see and control everything via your Ford Pass app (although launching a separate app isn't really a big deal.)

I also have a ChargePoint Home Flex charger (it can do up to 50 amps ... but again the car wont use more than 48). It was much easier to install and configure than the Ford Connected Charger (they make it REALLY easy). It *also* uses Bluetooth to configure and joins your home WiFi and logs all your charging sessions ... but you use the ChargePoint app to control it (this is the *same* ChargePoint app that is used to charge at any of their public network of chargers). One nuance ... they *require* that you create a ChargePoint account and enter a credit card number for billing. They DO NOT charge your credit card when you charge at home ... but the only way to control their charger is via their app and you cannot use their app without an account and you cannot create an account without a credit card. Not a big deal to me ... but I can see how some people might not like that.

A charger that plugs into a NEMA 14-50 outlet cannot draw more than 40 amps continuously (it's unsafe ... the outlet isn't rated for it).

If you want 48 amp charging rates then it has to be hard-wired. All the manufacturers will tell you to hire an electrician to do a hard-wire install.

LASTLY... the reason I bought the ChargePoint (after I already bought the Ford Connected Charger) is because I had the garage pre-wired for a second car and THEN discovered that my local energy utility had a $500 rebate *if* I bought a charger from one of the two vendors on their approved list (those were ChargePoint and Enel X brands). So I got a $700 ChargePoint which was $650 on sale at Amazon ... then a $500 rebate ... making it a $150. Since I would need to buy a second charger eventually ... may as well get it for $150.
Excellent summary. Thanks!
 

guyofthesky

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The cord is #6 wire which has a 60 amp rating and is on a 60 amp circuit. I opted to put in an outlet and a plug on this unit (versus hard wiring) in the event of the unit dying. At least that way, I can still use the 240 plug EVSE that came with the car or purchase a completely different EVSE.
Another advantage of having an outlet is that you can unplug it to reset it. One of my JB chargers will sometimes malfunction, and starts beeping endlessly. You can just unplug it for a few seconds to fix it. Otherwise, you have to go to the breaker box. The other one never does this...
 

Maquis

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The cord is #6 wire which has a 60 amp rating and is on a 60 amp circuit. I opted to put in an outlet and a plug on this unit (versus hard wiring) in the event of the unit dying. At least that way, I can still use the 240 plug EVSE that came with the car or purchase a completely different EVSE.
It‘s a 60A breaker with a 14-50 outlet? That’s not allowed by code. A 14-60 outlet would be okay, but then you would need an adapter to plug in the EVSE that came with the car. Are you sure it’s not a 14-60 outlet?
Also, I've never seen any #6 portable cord rated more than 55A.
 

TheVirtualTim

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I'm assuming you didn't have the Chargepoint app installed before getting your home Flex.
Correct. I did not have the app until it was time to setup the ChargePoint EVSE.

The IRS had a program set to expire on Dec 31, 2020... which allowed for a tax credit of 30% of the cost of equipment plus installation of EV charging equipment ... to a maximum of $1000.

The rules of the program are that the equipment had to be installed and "in service" (able to charge an EV) before the program expired at midnight 12/31/2020.

I'll spare the full story ... but when I learned that there was doubt that my EVSE (Ford Connected Charge Station) would not be shipping for arrival before the end of 2020... I ordered the ChargePoint because I needed to have a charging solution "in service" before the end of the year to qualify for the tax credit.

So "at that time" I believe the software required that I enter a credit card. (To be fair ... I had seen several reviews that built my expectation that it *was* required. So it's possible my version of the ChargePoint setup app would have allowed me to 'skip' the credit card (I don't recall seeing that as an option)).

The recent federal budget for 2021 included an extension of the tax credit program (but I could not have known that back then).

It's good that the credit card info is no longer required... because it was just mildly off-putting that equipment I "own" and powered electricity I pay the local utility to use ... was demanding that I supply a credit card number as a condition of the charger being usable.
 

TheVirtualTim

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BTW, should you experience any issues with the Ford Connected Charge Station...

I had a bit of a confusing experience with support. Initially my attempts to contact support directly at Ford resulted in the agent telling me I had to get support via my dealer. My dealer was thoroughly confused (they aren't electricians and this isn't a car).

I connected the @Ford Twitter account (privately) and within a few minutes they responded back telling me that there is a special support number for this charger:

[Edit: Ford reached out to let me know the support number is going to change. Please send a private Tweet to the @Ford account and they'll provide the correct number.]

That team worked through the issues and eventually added in the folks from Webasto (the supplier who builds this charger). Once I had the correct phone number and was connected to the experts at Webasto ... they were great to work with.

They are working the case but set the expectation that they will likely need to replace the charger.

The Ford warranty does offer to reimburse for labor charges as well.
 
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TheVirtualTim

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BTW, should you experience any issues with the Ford Connected Charge Station...

[Edit: The support phone number is expected to change shortly. Please send a tweet to @Ford to get the updated phone number.]
Quick update.

Ford (corporate) reached out to me today. Turns out I am the first person to need a warranty replacement. They're monitoring my case to make sure everything goes smoothly (and potentially find ways to improve).

They issued an RMA number.
The dealer will arrange to have a replacement charger.
I'll have my current (defective) charger removed, take it to the dealer.
They'll swap it.
I'll have my electrician wire the replacement in.

This sounds simple enough ... but my other half did mention that this turns into TWO trips for an electrician -- and it is difficult to schedule their time.

So I'll suggest that perhaps a cross-ship could be done ... e.g. I leave a deposit and pick up the new charger. The electrician can then remove the old charger and install the new charger in just one visit ... and then take the old charger back to the dealer (e.g. the following day, etc.).
 
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1pt21Gigawatts

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Forgot to post this the other day but got the unit installed and is working flawlessly (fingers crossed) so far!

Ford Mustang Mach-E My Ford Connected Charge Station arrived! 1612717753971
How’d you pop out the hole for the cable? Does it look ok?
 
 




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