REALLY loud when charging

Maquis

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Staying below 10kWh (=230V x 14A x 3phase) results in no or minimum noise even if you charge directly after a 100km drive in 21 degrees Centigrade (70F ).
Point of clarification....230V x 14A x 1.73 is only about 5.5KW.....far below 10KW!
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ADDZ71

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Just to clarify the fan and cooling systems come on for the inverter (AC/DC) at high power delivery rates. Not for the batteries although in some instances it could be for the batteries. As pointed out in another thread there are heat losses in the conversion step require the inverter to be cooled. When you are going DC to DC the input power is much higher with a much smaller cooling response from the car. Here is the power ratings by charging type:

120V AC/16A - 2 kW minimal noise
240V AC/32A - 7.7 kW minimal noise
240V AC/42A - 10.0 kW for me this is where the fan noise kicks in at 90F
360 DC / 333A - 120 kW DC fast charging
 

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Should be pointed out that the heat losses increase non-linearly as you increase amps. At 110 v the heat loss is similar to 300-400 amps. About you hair dryer. At 40-48 amps, it was posted earlier that the head loss is approaching 14% or 1500 watts to 2000 watts!! This is approaching a toaster oven.

I really really don't want Ford to lower the cooling system in my car. I want the car car to do what it has to to cool itself never mind the noise. I hope whatever fix comes is toggleable so I can remain on a 'normal' cooling schedule.
 

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It could be just me, but it seems that the RWD SR version (EU) doesn't exhibit this behaviour?

I can charge my RWD SR with 11.1kW on my home L2 charger and it is completely silent most of the time. A fan kicks in every now and then, but only for about 15 minutes and it's never been louder that your average home use cooling fan.

So maybe the loud charging noise has something to do with the charger in MME's with the ER battery capacity? Perhaps the charger is set at a strickter overheating safety setting because of the longer charging times involved with the large battery?
 

Waps61

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Point of clarification....230V x 14A x 1.73 is only about 5.5KW.....far below 10KW!
Well on my calculator 3 x 14 x 230 = 9,7 kWh. So where is the 1.73 coming from?

@Creaky; I have a RWD SR making noise like hell on 11kWh, so ER or SR does not seem to make the difference
 


Carsinmyblood

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My wife's car only made this much noise once, the first or second time she plugged it in at home.

We took it on a 1,700 mile/one week trip last week. It never make this noise whether at a CCS or a J1772 overnight (twice).

There are two charging configurations, 240v AC and CCS DC. I'm beginning to think the on-board charger/converter (used only on 240v AC) needs the cooling more than the battery.

Cramming 200 miles worth of charge at a CCS in 40 or so minutes has GOT to cause more heat that an overnight at 240V AC.... but the 240 is the only time we've heard this. And despite now 20+ slow charger connections, it's only happened once.
 

Carsinmyblood

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We'll soon have a post that reads:

My car was making so much noise in the parking lot, someone unplugged it and left a note saying they thought my car was going to burst into flames.

".....Sorry about the fire department's overreaction, but hey, the carpets will dry if you leave the windo... oh, yea. Sorry about the windows. You have insurance, right?"
 

theo1000

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Cramming 200 miles worth of charge at a CCS in 40 or so minutes has GOT to cause more heat that an overnight at 240V AC.... but the 240 is the only time we've heard this. And despite now 20+ slow charger connections, it's only happened once.
It is likely the AC charging heats the electronics a lot more. If you stand by the CCS charger you can hear the fans and compressor run to to cool the DCFC electronics. On AC the same has to happen inside the car using the cars fans and compressors. Also on AC the car tends to be plugged in long term, causing even more heating. So max cooling demand at the car maybe the 40-48 amp AC.
 

pottslaw

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I had the same issue, but moving it down to 32A usually works for me on a hot day.
That said, I like the flexibility to move it back to 48A if I need it to charge a little faster than normal knowing that it will sound like a fan boat (as someone described it earlier).
Dialing back the charging rate on the EVSE isn't always the solution. If it is hot enough here in Phoenix, the cooling fans will kick in at a loud roar when the MME is plugged in even before the car starts charging at a scheduled time later in the day.
 

Waps61

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Due to the phase angle between phases, you must use vector math. It ends up being the square root of 3, which is 1.73.
Here is a detailed explanation.
You must compare apples with apples, so if you take the phase shift of 120 degrees into account you also have to use the 400 Volt (the max amplitude between 2 shifted phases instead of 230V. So 3^1/2*400*16A=11kWh but in short you can take 3*230*16=11kWh. Either way around :)
 

AzCoronaDog

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I am in AZ, and at this time of year, my garage temp is routinely over 100 degrees at 11pm when my MME starts charging. At the 40A max of my Juice Box wall charger at these temps, the fans and pump are going full speed and very, very noisy. I live on acreage and my garage is well insulated, so no complaints from neighbors or (most importantly!) the wife about the noise from inside the house.
However, I did dial the charger back to 32A and now it is a whole lot quieter. On hot nights, it runs the fans, but in a much quieter way. We have had some rain and cooler nights, and no fans ran at all, very quiet indeed.
At 32A, it charges back my wife's long commute usage in under 4 hours, so I may even dial it back some more to be a little more gentle on the battery.
I did not originally think I needed an EVSE with configurable amperage, but now I know it is a feature I would not do without.
 

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If PaaK was reliable, and the app wasn't such a
My wife's car only made this much noise once, the first or second time she plugged it in at home.

We took it on a 1,700 mile/one week trip last week. It never make this noise whether at a CCS or a J1772 overnight (twice).

There are two charging configurations, 240v AC and CCS DC. I'm beginning to think the on-board charger/converter (used only on 240v AC) needs the cooling more than the battery.

Cramming 200 miles worth of charge at a CCS in 40 or so minutes has GOT to cause more heat that an overnight at 240V AC.... but the 240 is the only time we've heard this. And despite now 20+ slow charger connections, it's only happened once.

The issue is indeed due to an overheating (or overactive sensor) of the AC/DC invertor.
CCS bypasses the ac/dc invertor as CCS is DC which is the same as the batterypack in the MME so the invertor is not used.

Turns out that every car new or old production can have this issue which makes it very strange. Same with the bad bose sound, a lot of complaints about bad quality which also seem to affect old and new build. Hopefully both issues are soon to be solved.
 

mattbostonmache

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Are there any videos of a Mach E and a Model Y charging in similar conditions to compare charging sound levels?
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