[Lou C]

I have used my 80A Charge Station Pro (CSP) twice since its installation.

Last night, the CSP was supposed to charge my Lightning between midnight and 6:00 AM. The desired charge level was 80%. The starting charge level was 40%.

The CSP began charging at midnight, but kicked off at 1:50 AM (less than two hours of charging). The Ford Pass app showed the following this morning:
Total charge added: 20%
Est distance added: 66 miles
Total charge time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.

When I checked the CSP in the garage this morning, it was displaying an amber indicator. Once I turned the CSP’s circuit breaker off/on, the blue LEDs returned to the face of the CSP.

I have read that the “amber LED situation” has been experienced by numerous Lightning/CSP owners. I also saw the “State of Charge” YouTube interview with Darren Palmer (1 August 2022) where he admitted that there is an overheating problem with the CSP. He said that the CSP’s original design parameters were set a bit too sensitive. Mr. Palmer stated that a fix was forthcoming, but to my knowledge, this fix has not yet been issued to Lightning/CSP owners.

Can anyone provide more current information? Thank you.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

I have used my 80A Charge Station Pro (CSP) twice since its installation.

Last night, the CSP was supposed to charge my Lightning between midnight and 6:00 AM. The desired charge level was 80%. The starting charge level was 40%.

The CSP began charging at midnight, but kicked off at 1:50 AM (less than two hours of charging). The Ford Pass app showed the following this morning:
Total charge added: 20%
Est distance added: 66 miles
Total charge time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.

When I checked the CSP in the garage this morning, it was displaying an amber indicator. Once I turned the CSP’s circuit breaker off/on, the blue LEDs returned to the face of the CSP.

I have read that the “amber LED situation” has been experienced by numerous Lightning/CSP owners. I also saw the “State of Charge” YouTube interview with Darren Palmer (1 August 2022) where he admitted that there is an overheating problem with the CSP. He said that the CSP’s original design parameters were set a bit too sensitive. Mr. Palmer stated that a fix was forthcoming, but to my knowledge, this fix has not yet been issued to Lightning/CSP owners.

Can anyone provide more current information? Thank you.

Lou, sounded like there was going to be a firmware update for CSP to fix it. Anyone know how Ford does that or if it has been pushed out yet?

 

[BK1]

Are you able to adjust/lower the amperage on the fly? And is anyone reporting the problem using a lower amperage, either through the ability to lower it on the fly or using a lower amp circuit (e.g. their old 60 amp setup for the Tesla wall charger).
My Tesla wall charger overheats when I run it at the full 48 amps (on a 60 amp circuit) so I typically dial it down a bit and have no problems.

 

[HellBoy]

Adjust it down to 60A instead of 80A - you should be okay for now if this is temperature related...assuming this is a software issue and not a hardware one.

 

[SteelTerp87]

Adjust it down to 60A instead of 80A - you should be okay for now if this is temperature related...assuming this is a software issue and not a hardware one.

Everyone also needs to keep in mind that the unit requires copper wiring, not aluminum. Copper can handle the heat of the 80AMP.

 

[patameus]

Make sure your wire terminals are properly torqued. I'm an HVACR tech, this accounts for an unreasonable number of problems in our industry. Residential air conditioners are the largest current demand in 90% of homes, 20A-40A constant current draw is commonly seen and this level of power consumption will find crappy electrical work quickly.

As soon as Ford announced the 80A breaker ~60A constant load of their charger, I knew we'd have overheating circuit problems. I believe the only actual way to ensure that your wiring terminals are properly torqued is to do it yourself, but if you had an electrician install your charger, you need to have them back out to observe the system charging the vehicle at full tilt.

Without actual tools, you're looking for heat near an electrical terminal. In a simple system, that's going to be the breaker itself, and the wiring terminals for the charger. If either of these things feels warm at all, you have a problem.

Ideally, you or an electrician will have access to an insulated variable torque screwdriver (mine's made by Wiha, it cost $300, yes that's pricey). All electrical terminals (breakers/disconnects/whatever) will have the required torque value printed on the body of the device. For wires up to 4 AWG the required torque is usually 40-50 in/lb depending on the device manufacturer. If you absolutely cannot get access to a tool of this sort, 40-50 in/lb applied through a screwdriver is roughly as hard as you can turn a screwdriver while also using your weight to press the screwdriver bit into the screw.

Also, your wiring run to your charger is likely 6 or 4 AWG stranded, you're going to want to properly crimp the strands of the wire into a ferrule. I haven't gotten my charger yet so I don't know what type of wiring terminals it has. Certain connections don't necessarily require use of ferrules, but they are always better to use than not.

Make sure the breaker that supplies the charger is properly lubricated on the back where it sets onto the mains bus with a dielectric grease. Make sure all aluminum wires have NoAlOx or similar applied, and that any and all components of the system are designed for Cu/Al (copper or aluminum) wiring. You can always use copper, with aluminum there are some extra checks to make.

There will be a lot of electricians who will roll their eyes at this, but each of the considerations I mentioned are necessary for wiring in a switch or outlet if you want to do it properly. If you don't wire a switch in properly, it could last 10 years or more without problems. Switches usually handle less than an amp, this charger can draw 65. If you do a crappy job installing a 65A load, you'll have problems straight out of the gate.

 

[SteelTerp87]

Make sure your wire terminals are properly torqued. I'm an HVACR tech, this accounts for an unreasonable number of problems in our industry. Residential air conditioners are the largest current demand in 90% of homes, 20A-40A constant current draw is commonly seen and this level of power consumption will find crappy electrical work quickly.

As soon as Ford announced the 80A breaker ~60A constant load of their charger, I knew we'd have overheating circuit problems.

It is an 80AMP charger so you need a 100AMP dedicated circuit with 2AWG copper wire

 

[patameus]

It is an 80AMP charger so you need a 100AMP dedicated circuit with 2AWG copper wire

I haven't gotten my truck or charger yet, so I haven't looked through the manual. Does it spec out 2 AWG wire, or are you just going by rule of thumb?

You can run a 100A service on 4 AWG (copper) so long as it's shorter than 30 total feet and the equipment can handle a 10% voltage drop from the source. You'd need to know the mains voltage coming in to the house, and the lowest permissible voltage of the charger. So long as mains voltage is more than 10% above the lowest allowable voltage, 4 AWG is fine.

 

[SteelTerp87]

I haven't gotten my truck or charger yet, so I haven't looked through the manual. Does it spec out 2 AWG wire, or are you just going by rule of thumb?

You can run a 100A service on 4 AWG (copper) so long as it's shorter than 30 total feet and the equipment can handle a 10% voltage drop from the source. You'd need to know the mains voltage coming in to the house, and the lowest permissible voltage of the charger. So long as mains voltage is more than 10% above the lowest allowable voltage, 4 AWG is fine.

Manual does spec it out and I watched this video where the guy ran into this exact issue. He mentions the manual needing 2AWG Copper and then shows how that is the fix. You can fast forward much of the video.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

Manual does spec it out and I watched this video where the guy ran into this exact issue. He mentions the manual needing 2AWG Copper and then shows how that is the fix. You can fast forward much of the video.

Of course, all I'm thinking of is why the hell doesn't he use his garage? I'd never put it outside in a thousand years, particularly in a cold climate.

 

[SteelTerp87]

Of course, all I'm thinking of is why the hell doesn't he use his garage? I'd never put it outside in a thousand years, particularly in a cold climate.

I SAID THE SAME THING! ANd right by the front door. So stupid.

 

[HellBoy]

Of course, all I'm thinking of is why the hell doesn't he use his garage? I'd never put it outside in a thousand years, particularly in a cold climate.

what's the big deal?

 

[patameus]

Manual does spec it out and I watched this video where the guy ran into this exact issue. He mentions the manual needing 2AWG Copper and then shows how that is the fix. You can fast forward much of the video.

So, if you go to 14:27 in the linked video, you can see the page of the manual where it specs out 3AWG copper rated at 90C or higher. Potatoes v. potatoes, but you could run 4 AWG with no problem. The manual specs 3, so run 3 or 2 or 1 if you're a madman.

If you watch the beginning of the video you can see a couple things. He mentions that they ran aluminum wire, then decides that this is the problem. It isn't actually. The problem (and it's hard to be deadly accurate here without physically putting my hands on the wire) is that they appear to have run the wrong size of wire. With aluminum wire, you need to size it two full steps higher than copper wire for the same application. If they had wired this up with the correct size aluminum wire, it would have been 0 AWG. 0 AWG wire is very thick and likely wouldn't have fit in the lugs provided in the charger.

So, the overheating was due AT LEAST to the fact that they used a wire that looks to be fully four sized too small. It seems like the charger has pretty sensitive temperature sensors monitoring the incoming lugs. It's then reasonable to assume that anyone who fails to run the proper wire, torque the terminals down correctly, or has a weak terminal or joint anywhere in the branch circuit serving their charger will have problems.

The bright side is anyone paying attention will be able to solve this problem quickly. If you have a problem with your charger tripping due to high temp, check your terminal torque and wire size.

Case in point, if you watch the whole video, he ends up dialing the max speed of the charger down to 60A max as it kept overheating at the 65A setting. I'd want to see someone put a torque device of some sort on those terminals to verify that A) the electricians properly tightened their terminals, and that B) The factory lugs were also done properly. Also, they should really be using ferrules, but I digress.

All the more reason to handle this work as a DIY job. The fact that this guy hired electricians who didn't RTFM on an appliance with it's own 100A branch circuit tells you all you need to know.

 

[Simsonic]

So, if you go to 14:27 in the linked video, you can see the page of the manual where it specs out 3AWG copper rated at 90C or higher. Potatoes v. potatoes, but you could run 4 AWG with no problem. The manual specs 3, so run 3 or 2 or 1 if you're a madman.

If you watch the beginning of the video you can see a couple things. He mentions that they ran aluminum wire, then decides that this is the problem. It isn't actually. The problem (and it's hard to be deadly accurate here without physically putting my hands on the wire) is that they appear to have run the wrong size of wire. With aluminum wire, you need to size it two full steps higher than copper wire for the same application. If they had wired this up with the correct size aluminum wire, it would have been 0 AWG. 0 AWG wire is very thick and likely wouldn't have fit in the lugs provided in the charger.

So, the overheating was due AT LEAST to the fact that they used a wire that looks to be fully four sized too small. It seems like the charger has pretty sensitive temperature sensors monitoring the incoming lugs. It's then reasonable to assume that anyone who fails to run the proper wire, torque the terminals down correctly, or has a weak terminal or joint anywhere in the branch circuit serving their charger will have problems.

The bright side is anyone paying attention will be able to solve this problem quickly. If you have a problem with your charger tripping due to high temp, check your terminal torque and wire size.

Case in point, if you watch the whole video, he ends up dialing the max speed of the charger down to 60A max as it kept overheating at the 65A setting. I'd want to see someone put a torque device of some sort on those terminals to verify that A) the electricians properly tightened their terminals, and that B) The factory lugs were also done properly. Also, they should really be using ferrules, but I digress.

All the more reason to handle this work as a DIY job. The fact that this guy hired electricians who didn't RTFM on an appliance with it's own 100A branch circuit tells you all you need to know.

I have zero experience and don't feel comfortable DIYing this. I have an electrician coming to do this, and I have an older house where they are going to add a sub-panel in my garage. A 100A circuit is not possible because that would require way too much money to dig up a new power line to my street. So I will have to settle for (which is fine) either a:
1) 60A circuit for 48A charging
2) 50A circuit with an installed NEMA 14-50 Receptacle for 40A charging

Do you have any suggestions on what I should tell the electrician (and look for) when they do the install?

 

[renelopez50]

I have zero experience and don't feel comfortable DIYing this. I have an electrician coming to do this, and I have an older house where they are going to add a sub-panel in my garage. A 100A circuit is not possible because that would require way too much money to dig up a new power line to my street. So I will have to settle for (which is fine) either a:
1) 60A circuit for 48A charging
2) 50A circuit with an installed NEMA 14-50 Receptacle for 40A charging

Do you have any suggestions on what I should tell the electrician (and look for) when they do the install?

Hey Simsonic,
How would you do the option below?
2) 50A circuit with an installed NEMA 14-50 Receptacle for 40A charging
I didn't think the Charge Station Pro could be wired to plug into a 14-50 receptacle. If it can that would save a lot of money. Please advise.

 

[Simsonic]

Hey Simsonic,
How would you do the option below?
2) 50A circuit with an installed NEMA 14-50 Receptacle for 40A charging
I didn't think the Charge Station Pro could be wired to plug into a 14-50 receptacle. If it can that would save a lot of money. Please advise.

Someone posted in another thread that it could be done, but I don't think so.

I think I'll just go with the 60A circuit for 48A charging

 

[patameus]

I have zero experience and don't feel comfortable DIYing this. I have an electrician coming to do this, and I have an older house where they are going to add a sub-panel in my garage. A 100A circuit is not possible because that would require way too much money to dig up a new power line to my street. So I will have to settle for (which is fine) either a:
1) 60A circuit for 48A charging
2) 50A circuit with an installed NEMA 14-50 Receptacle for 40A charging

Do you have any suggestions on what I should tell the electrician (and look for) when they do the install?

My phone number is 916.956.7591. I respond better to text, we can set up a time to speak on the phone. There are lots of details, better to speak in person.

 

[Simsonic]

Thank you Pat! You are a great resource of knowledge. I appreciate your time.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

So, is have the firmware upgrade helped folks actually use this product at 80 amps? Or are folks still forced to set it lower?

 

[zweare]

Manual does spec it out and I watched this video where the guy ran into this exact issue. He mentions the manual needing 2AWG Copper and then shows how that is the fix. You can fast forward much of the video.

Actually I have the manual and it say 3 AWG