Sounds when charging

[mbia]

This afternoon I was charging my MME...

First, I should highlight its below freezing outside here in Iowa and my garage temp is around 30 degrees as a result. When I arrived home from the dealer and powered off the car, the center display read something to the effect of it's cold plug in vehicle.

I plugged in using my Chargepoint Home Flex. The charge ring illuminated. The car showed as actively charging in both the car display and in apps (Ford Pass and Chargepoint). While charging, there was a low humming sound. Later, a louder fan-like noise was heard - it was coming from the garage and it was the car. I unplugged the car and the fan noise stopped.

I'm new to this, searched the forums and couldn't find any answers. My question is are these sounds normal?

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. I am loving the car! After snow stopped and sun came out, I took it out and have driven about 82 miles in it today.

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[Cobra95Kev]

It is very cold too here in Kansas. We got the same message when turning car off and plugged it in. Mine has a little hum to it also when charging. I presume this is normal. I told my wife that this is probably about the worst week you could ever pick to be introduced to your first BEV.
Loving the car though,
Fun to drive!
Kevin C.

 

[JamieGeek]

Yes its normal. In cold temps the car is going to try to warm the battery a little and if it gets too warm then the fan will turn on.

 

[mbia]

Yes its normal. In cold temps the car is going to try to warm the battery a little and if it gets too warm then the fan will turn on.

Thank you @JamieGeek.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Noises while charging is normal. It can open or close the louvres, run fans, use the battery warmers, etc. to regulate the battery temp during charging.

Also, it Isn't good to try to charge batteries in freezing temps ... so the car will pull power from the charger to run the battery warmers for a while before it really starts charging. This can leave you thinking something went wrong when you see it's clearly pulling power from the charger ... but the car isn't actually charging. It's all part of the process of trying to extend the lifetime of the batteries.

 

[mbia]

Noises while charging is normal. It can open or close the louvres, run fans, use the battery warmers, etc. to regulate the battery temp during charging.

Thanks @TheVirtualTim. This past year with the forum’s help I have learned so much, but I realize there is still much for me to learn. Glad to learn this is normal.

 

[prdude]

This afternoon I was charging my MME...

First, I should highlight its below freezing outside here in Iowa and my garage temp is around 30 degrees as a result. When I arrived home from the dealer and powered off the car, the center display read something to the effect of it's cold plug in vehicle.

I plugged in using my Chargepoint Home Flex. The charge ring illuminated. The car showed as actively charging in both the car display and in apps (Ford Pass and Chargepoint). While charging, there was a low humming sound. Later, a louder fan-like noise was heard - it was coming from the garage and it was the car. I unplugged the car and the fan noise stopped.

I'm new to this, searched the forums and couldn't find any answers. My question is are these sounds normal?

Thanks in advance for any help.

P.S. I am loving the car! After snow stopped and sun came out, I took it out and have driven about 82 miles in it today.

based on your description of a low humming noise, it was probably one of the coolant pumps. The charging electronic modules can also sometimes make noises, but they would be much higher pitched

 

[BDC]

I just got my MME yesterday (hurray! love it so far) and plugged it in last night before bed. While in bed my wife and I noticed a hum that was loud enough to be disturbing. Turns out it was the MME charging downstairs on the other side of the house. It was probably 50F last night? But warmer in the garage. SoC was around 80%, charging at around 10kw. I am not a stranger to BEVs/PHEVs - we own a Chevy Volt, my previous car was a Fiat 500e, and we have rented a Tesla Model 3 that we charged in the same location. While all of those cars have made noises, they were intermittent, and have never been this loud. I can't find my decibel meter at the moment, but attached is a shot from Spectroid app on my phone. Do other people have a continues, fairly loud, humming noise while charging at those rates? I have not heard a review mention it, but this seems abnormal.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I unplugged last night so we could sleep, plugged it in this morning and the noise persists, now at about 93% SoC.

 

[prdude]

I just got my MME yesterday (hurray! love it so far) and plugged it in last night before bed. While in bed my wife and I noticed a hum that was loud enough to be disturbing. Turns out it was the MME charging downstairs on the other side of the house. It was probably 50F last night? But warmer in the garage. SoC was around 80%, charging at around 10kw. I am not a stranger to BEVs/PHEVs - we own a Chevy Volt, my previous car was a Fiat 500e, and we have rented a Tesla Model 3 that we charged in the same location. While all of those cars have made noises, they were intermittent, and have never been this loud. I can't find my decibel meter at the moment, but attached is a shot from Spectroid app on my phone. Do other people have a continues, fairly loud, humming noise while charging at those rates? I have not heard a review mention it, but this seems abnormal.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I unplugged last night so we could sleep, plugged it in this morning and the noise persists, now at about 93% SoC.

I assume you were on a Level 2 charger .... I haven't yet done any level 2 charging in a garage (only in the open at a public station). Were you outside your vehicle when you made this recording?

 

[BDC]

I assume you were on a Level 2 charger .... I haven't yet done any level 2 charging in a garage (only in the open at a public station). Were you outside your vehicle when you made this recording?

L2, yes. I was outside the car maybe 2 feet away. It sounded like a pump, so maybe the cooling system was running. At some point the sound started to oscillate and the vents opened, so I assume that is the fan running, then they closed and the constant sound returned until charging completed. I wonder if this is a rate of charge issue - it was pulling over 9kw, I might try ramping down the rate. Maybe the cooling starts at a specific rate.

 

[Brussam]

For us we used the 240 volt mobile charger with no indication of sounds. Then we had a ChargePoint charger installed set for 48 amps. That night at 9:00 PM, the scheduled time, the MME woke my wife up in the bedroom next to the garage. The cooling system was making the noise. We disconnected the charger.

The next day I tried the ChargePoint again and after a several minutes the cooling system came on for about 20 minutes and then stopped.

My observations. The first two nights were much cooler. The night with the big noise the garage had been opened all day during the charger installation and the day had been rather hot. The next day, the garage was cooler because of the AC. I think temperature had more to do with it than the extra 8 amps.

 

[prdude]

For us we used the 240 volt mobile charger with no indication of sounds. Then we had a ChargePoint charger installed set for 48 amps. That night at 9:00 PM, the scheduled time, the MME woke my wife up in the bedroom next to the garage. The cooling system was making the noise. We disconnected the charger.

The next day I tried the ChargePoint again and after a several minutes the cooling system came on for about 20 minutes and then stopped.

My observations. The first two nights were much cooler. The night with the big noise the garage had been opened all day during the charger installation and the day had been rather hot. The next day, the garage was cooler because of the AC. I think temperature had more to do with it than the extra 8 amps.

you may want to have your dealer check and confirm that the coolant pump isn't grounded out to the body or something. They could also compare the noise from your vehicle while on L2 charging to another MME .... hopefully, they don't give you the ole' "they all do that" response!

 

[SnBGC]

For us we used the 240 volt mobile charger with no indication of sounds. Then we had a ChargePoint charger installed set for 48 amps. That night at 9:00 PM, the scheduled time, the MME woke my wife up in the bedroom next to the garage. The cooling system was making the noise. We disconnected the charger.

The next day I tried the ChargePoint again and after a several minutes the cooling system came on for about 20 minutes and then stopped.

My observations. The first two nights were much cooler. The night with the big noise the garage had been opened all day during the charger installation and the day had been rather hot. The next day, the garage was cooler because of the AC. I think temperature had more to do with it than the extra 8 amps.

If I remember correctly.....the 240v mobile charger that comes with the car is 32 amps max. The ChargePoint is 50A max but the MME can only take 48A, so that should be what gets delivered (providing the circuit is capable). When the Mach-E is charging at 48 amps, it is drawing 50% more power compared to 32 amps. The more power, the more heat is created. The car will turn on the coolant pumps to regulate the temp of the battery and if that isn't effective enough then the A/C compressor will come on and the coolant will be chilled before it flows through the battery pack.

As you get deeper into the summer there in TX.....it's very likely you are going to hear the cooling system come on even when your car isn't charging (providing it is plugged in).

The sounds you are hearing sound like completely normal operation for what you are doing.

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