Setting up daily charging times and preconditioning

[teach42]

Finally got my charger installed in the garage and looking to set everything up correctly. It's a Wallbox Pulsar Plus 48a. Could use some help to make sure these settings all look right?

1) In the Wallbox app, I have the schedule set to 1:00am to 5:00am.
2) In Sync, I set it up Target Charge Level to 85%
3) In FordPass, I set Departure Time for 5:35AM weekdays.

If I leave the house at 5:35-5:40am, does that all look right? Is that all I need to do to precondition the battery? And will that do it correctly, even with the Wallbox app schedule stopping at 5am? Or do I need to extend that to 6:00am? And is 85% optimal to balance off range and battery life? I drive about 44 miles round trip for my commute.

Thanks for any feedback!

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[tonytaylor53]

I set mine up almost identically, but you do need to set your wallbox to charge until after you leave. As I understand it, the car will only precondition the battery (useful in your climate) when plugged into the charger. Off charge, it will only condition the cabin and that's going to eat some range unnecessarily. When I leave in the morning, I make sure to hold the latch until i hear the relays click off in my charger before i pull the plug. The car is supposed to stop current draw quick enough that you could just snatch it out but I'm not going to test that function 7 days a week.

I see all the debates about target charge level and I also settled on 85%. That keeps me out of the single jail bar for most of my commute. If I need to charge to 100 for a trip I put my charger in 'always on' mode, and hit 'charge now' on the main screen of the app. Changing target charge in the app could accomplish the same thing i guess but you have to remember to change it back. All that to say- if I'm going on a trip, charging from 80 to 100 would take nearly two hours. 85 to 100 is an hour and a half or so which is about the time it takes to drink my coffee and load up for the trip.

 

[teach42]

I set mine up almost identically, but you do need to set your wallbox to charge until after you leave. As I understand it, the car will only precondition the battery (useful in your climate) when plugged into the charger. Off charge, it will only condition the cabin and that's going to eat some range unnecessarily. When I leave in the morning, I make sure to hold the latch until i hear the relays click off in my charger before i pull the plug. The car is supposed to stop current draw quick enough that you could just snatch it out but I'm not going to test that function 7 days a week.

I see all the debates about target charge level and I also settled on 85%. That keeps me out of the single jail bar for most of my commute. If I need to charge to 100 for a trip I put my charger in 'always on' mode, and hit 'charge now' on the main screen of the app. Changing target charge in the app could accomplish the same thing i guess but you have to remember to change it back. All that to say- if I'm going on a trip, charging from 80 to 100 would take nearly two hours. 85 to 100 is an hour and a half or so which is about the time it takes to drink my coffee and load up for the trip.

Thank you! That sounds great. Just one question.... 'single jail bar'??? Wassat?

 

[RickMachE]

Finally got my charger installed in the garage and looking to set everything up correctly. It's a Wallbox Pulsar Plus 48a. Could use some help to make sure these settings all look right?

1) In the Wallbox app, I have the schedule set to 1:00am to 5:00am.
2) In Sync, I set it up Target Charge Level to 85%
3) In FordPass, I set Departure Time for 5:35AM weekdays.

If I leave the house at 5:35-5:40am, does that all look right? Is that all I need to do to precondition the battery? And will that do it correctly, even with the Wallbox app schedule stopping at 5am? Or do I need to extend that to 6:00am? And is 85% optimal to balance off range and battery life? I drive about 44 miles round trip for my commute.

Thanks for any feedback!

Think of a lightswitch. The Wallbox is a lightswitch. You've turned it off at 5AM. Will it supply power to the vehicle at 5:01AM? No, it will not.

If you want to run the scenario you describe, you have two choices.

1) Set the Wallbox schedule to 1AM to 6AM.

or

2) Turn off the schedule in the Wallbox totally. Set Sync to charge from 1AM to 5AM.

Note that Ford recommends 90%, not 85%. If you have an SR battery with LFP technology, charge to 100% monthly I believe is the recommendation.

Depending on your usage, 4 hours may not be enough time. 48 x 240 x 93% (for 7% loss) = 10.7kW. That's 15% per hour for the SR battery, and 12% for the ER battery. Depends on your usage.

I set mine up almost identically, but you do need to set your wallbox to charge until after you leave. As I understand it, the car will only precondition the battery (useful in your climate) when plugged into the charger. Off charge, it will only condition the cabin and that's going to eat some range unnecessarily. When I leave in the morning, I make sure to hold the latch until i hear the relays click off in my charger before i pull the plug. The car is supposed to stop current draw quick enough that you could just snatch it out but I'm not going to test that function 7 days a week.

I see all the debates about target charge level and I also settled on 85%. That keeps me out of the single jail bar for most of my commute. If I need to charge to 100 for a trip I put my charger in 'always on' mode, and hit 'charge now' on the main screen of the app. Changing target charge in the app could accomplish the same thing i guess but you have to remember to change it back. All that to say- if I'm going on a trip, charging from 80 to 100 would take nearly two hours. 85 to 100 is an hour and a half or so which is about the time it takes to drink my coffee and load up for the trip.

There is zero need to do your latch process, simply push the button and unplug.

No debate on charge level - Ford recommends 90%.

For a trip, simply change the charge level in FordPass to 100% before you go to bed.

 

[teach42]

2) Turn off the schedule in the Wallbox totally. Set Sync to charge from 1AM to 5AM.

Note that Ford recommends 90%, not 85%. If you have an SR battery with LFP technology, charge to 100% monthly I believe is the recommendation.

No debate on charge level - Ford recommends 90%.

Ok, so I'll up it from 85% to 90% then. And what you're saying about the Wallbox timing makes sense. So I can leave the schedule OFF on the Wallbox entirely, and let the car decide when to stop and start charging.

And just in case it changes anything, it's a 2021 GT.

 

[RickMachE]

Ok, so I'll up it from 85% to 90% then. And what you're saying about the Wallbox timing makes sense. So I can leave the schedule OFF on the Wallbox entirely, and let the car decide when to stop and start charging.

And just in case it changes anything, it's a 2021 GT.

The only thing to understand is that IF you do as described, it's going to pull power up to your departure time, if that matters from a rate perspective. And, on very cold days, it will sip power here and there.

When my JuiceBox chargers worked, I set them for the same hours as my rate plan, 7PM to 11AM 5 days a week, 24 hours weekends. If I had a departure outside those hours that I wanted to precondition (never), I could simply override the JuiceBox setting.

 

[teach42]

The only thing to understand is that IF you do as described, it's going to pull power up to your departure time, if that matters from a rate perspective. And, on very cold days, it will sip power here and there.

When my JuiceBox chargers worked, I set them for the same hours as my rate plan, 7PM to 11AM 5 days a week, 24 hours weekends. If I had a departure outside those hours that I wanted to precondition (never), I could simply override the JuiceBox setting.

Can you just clarify one thing for me? You mentioned preconditioning outisde of those hours.... I'm still a bit hazy on preconditioning. How do you precondition a la cart? Is it simply turning on the climate in advance of leaving? I haven't seen a 'precondition' button or setting anywhere that I can recall.

 

[tonytaylor53]

No debate on charge level - Ford recommends 90%.

Ford's goals are different than my goals.

For a trip, simply change the charge level in FordPass to 100% before you go to bed.

and remember to change it back next week when you get home so it doesn't sit for 3 days at 100% because you forgot.

Thank you! That sounds great. Just one question.... 'single jail bar'??? Wassat?

The power meter in the lower left of the speedometer display- reduced power limit is shown by small grey bars on the right of the scale. There are many reasons for them to show up, but higher state of charge and a warmer battery temperature allow full power. Below 75% and/or 50 degrees F outside, I always show one bar, sometimes more when lower and colder. Can I tell a difference on the stock all season tires? Probably not but that Honda Odyssey beside me at the red light is out for blood and I can't take any chances.

 

[RickMachE]

Can you just clarify one thing for me? You mentioned preconditioning outisde of those hours.... I'm still a bit hazy on preconditioning. How do you precondition a la cart? Is it simply turning on the climate in advance of leaving? I haven't seen a 'precondition' button or setting anywhere that I can recall.

You set a departure time while plugged in to 240v.

 

[teach42]

You set a departure time while plugged in to 240v.

Great. That's what I thought, but just wasn't sure if that did both Climate and preconditioning.

Thank you!

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