On demand preconditioning

[AliRafiee]

Now that the car preconditions the battery when navigating to a DCFC. I wonder if I can get it to precondition if I start the car and set the navigation to a nearby DCFC. Then go upstairs and have some coffee.

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[Triggerhappy007]

That should work.

 

[silverelan]

@Ford Motor Company needs to give us the ability to manually precondition the battery independent of the native nav system.

 

[AKgrampy]

Now that the car preconditions the battery when navigating to a DCFC. I wonder if I can get it to precondition if I start the car and set the navigation to a nearby DCFC. Then go upstairs and have some coffee.

Somebody did a write up on doing just that. Of course the major benefit of normal preconditioning is that it is done on shore power and not draining the HVB.

 

[AliRafiee]

Somebody did a write up on doing just that. Of course the major benefit of normal preconditioning is that it is done on shore power and not draining the HVB.

I did a search on the keyword preconditioning and didn’t find it. What I’m thinking of is weekend trips that I don’t know the exact departure time. Plug in, charge to 100%, precondition this way and go.

 

[AKgrampy]

I did a search on the keyword preconditioning and didn’t find it. What I’m thinking of is weekend trips that I don’t know the exact departure time. Plug in, charge to 100%, precondition this way and go.

Good idea and if I remember correctly that may have been their approach too. But I am not sure the range increase from the conditioning will be greater than the range loss from using the HVB to condition the battery. I believe your best bet, as @MachLee has pointed out, is to precondition in advance even if you do not know exact departure time as battery will retain heat for quite awhile.

 

[dcbr]

I'm confused about preconditioning the battery when charging at home on a level 2 charger if temperatures are cold. First, is it even necessary or is there any advantage to doing it? Then, if so how do I set it up? For example, if my charger is set to charge at 1:00 am. and I plug it in around 8:00 pm , what time should I set the departure time (precondition time)? Or will it heat the battery simply because it is plugged in?

 

[Maquis]

I'm confused about preconditioning the battery when charging at home on a level 2 charger if temperatures are cold. First, is it even necessary or is there any advantage to doing it? Then, if so how do I set it up? For example, if my charger is set to charge at 1:00 am. and I plug it in around 8:00 pm , what time should I set the departure time (precondition time)? Or will it heat the battery simply because it is plugged in?

You only benefit if you need to maximize range for the trip. Set the departure time to the time you plan to depart. That’s why it’s called “Departure time!”

 

[Howard]

OP: If you have a DCFC within 20 miles of your house and select it as a destination in native Nav system with the car fully on, the car will immediately begin heating the battery if it would have done so while actually traveling. I did this last month when our temps in West TN was in single digits to 20F for over a week. I set the charger as a destination, pressed the Go button, and monitored HVB and coolant inlet temperatures via OBDII reader and Car Scanner Pro app. I would let the HVB temperature get to around 68 to 70F and then cancel route and turn off the car. I would let the HVB temp get to 42-45F and then repeat procedure. Each time it took about 15-20 minutes for the heatup to occur so you will need to turn off auto shutdown timer depending on what temp you start at and want to end at. Stopping at 70F kept my coolant inlet temp between 95-100F max. I did this procedure with both of my MMEs. My MMEs are in a non-climate controlled garage. Hope this info helps.

 

[krafty81]

I set dep time once, then turned it off, but it turns itself back on every time I drive. Anyone else seen this?

 

[Howard]

By the way, believe it or not, I actually saw my kwh to empty increase while doing this procedure due to the temperature increase in HVB. Going from 48F to 68F HVB temp, I saw kwh to empty increase 1.6 kwh. Nothing to write home about but if you do this just prior to an impromtu trip, you might not take a big hit. Only thing I didn't try was this procedure with the car plugged into my L2 charger. I'll try that during the next round of testing that I do.

 

[Space_Pony]

I'm confused about preconditioning the battery when charging at home on a level 2 charger if temperatures are cold. First, is it even necessary or is there any advantage to doing it? Then, if so how do I set it up? For example, if my charger is set to charge at 1:00 am. and I plug it in around 8:00 pm , what time should I set the departure time (precondition time)? Or will it heat the battery simply because it is plugged in?

What time do you leave for work? I set my departure time at five minutes before I leave for work.

 

[AKgrampy]

I set dep time once, then turned it off, but it turns itself back on every time I drive. Anyone else seen this?

Did you set it in car or on FordPass? Might it still be set on FP? Just a thought.

 

[krafty81]

Did you set it in car or on FordPass? Might it still be set on FP? Just a thought.

Set in the car. I turn it off every day and, next day, it is back on again. I do not need it.

 

[AKgrampy]

Set in the car. I turn it off every day and, next day, it is back on again. I do not need it.

But is it also set on Ford Pass by any chance?

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