[harker81]

I've ordered the Lariat (build date 8/29/22) that comes with the Charge Station Pro and in a recent conversation with my electrician, he mentioned that upgrading my electrical service may not be worthwhile (I don't plan on using the backup option at this point given the truly ridiculous price that Sunrun quoted me). Thus, I am thinking of either a) selling the Pro and simply putting in a Ford Charge Station 40 amp and upgrading at some future date or b) installing the Pro but only connecting it to a 50 amp or so circuit.

Is the latter option possible? Can you connect the Pro to less that 80 amps? Also, what is the resale market like if I choose Option a?

Thanks for any ideas you may have.

 

[Leaf to Lightning : )]

or you could use the included Ford Mobile Charger which will charge easily and just fine at 30amps on a Nema14-50 4-prong outlet.

the Pro can be dialed down to amperage that fits many situations, but it sounds like using that charger is really overkill for your needs...

 

[FM_Jack]

Is the latter option possible? Can you connect the Pro to less that 80 amps?

Thanks for any ideas you may have.

Yes. Yes.

 

[Voltz]

b) installing the Pro but only connecting it to a 50 amp or so circuit.
Thanks for any ideas you may have.

Bird in the hand thoughts here, unless the Charge Station Pro is too big or too ugly, or other reasons you don't want it. The CSP promises to play nicely in the future with Ford Pass app and you would have one app to monitor your truck and charging. It's a decent feature that you get from the box you have in hand. The app is reported as buggy and frustrating. Maybe they'll fix it.

Selling CSP and getting another is a hassle. If you buy the Ford Connected Charge Station, it doesn't leave much of a $$$ spread between selling one EVSE and buying another, especially in a sales tax state.

You said '50 Amp or so' circuit, which sounds like you need to have some electrical work done. For the 'so' part: CSP has to be hard-wired, so ask your electrician if your electrical service can support a 60 A circuit. The cost would probably be almost the same. Downrate the Ford CSP to 48A and it's probably the happy medium of electrician cost and having good charging capability. Of course, it will work just fine hard-wiring the CSP on a 50A circuit for 40A charging.

 

[CDT]

I would caution against using the provided cable if you think you will be charging the battery from a low percentage. These bigger batteries take quite some time using cables like the one provided. I was surprised when it took from 10 PM to 6 AM to go from 30 to 80% in my wife’s EQS.

 

[renelopez50]

Bird in the hand thoughts here, unless the Charge Station Pro is too big or too ugly, or other reasons you don't want it. The CSP promises to play nicely in the future with Ford Pass app and you would have one app to monitor your truck and charging. It's a decent feature that you get from the box you have in hand. The app is reported as buggy and frustrating. Maybe they'll fix it.

Selling CSP and getting another is a hassle. If you buy the Ford Connected Charge Station, it doesn't leave much of a $$$ spread between selling one EVSE and buying another, especially in a sales tax state.

You said '50 Amp or so' circuit, which sounds like you need to have some electrical work done. For the 'so' part: CSP has to be hard-wired, so ask your electrician if your electrical service can support a 60 A circuit. The cost would probably be almost the same. Downrate the Ford CSP to 48A and it's probably the happy medium of electrician cost and having good charging capability. Of course, it will work just fine hard-wiring the CSP on a 50A circuit for 40A charging.

I agree with hard-wiring the CSP to 50A circuit. My question is, can I remove the existing Nema 14-50 receptacle that I charge my Tesla Model 3 and use those same wires to connect the CSP but adjust it down to 40 amp output for charging? Any ideas?

 

[FM_Jack]

I agree with hard-wiring the CSP to 50A circuit. My question is, can I remove the existing Nema 14-50 receptacle that I charge my Tesla Model 3 and use those same wires to connect the CSP but adjust it down to 40 amp output for charging? Any ideas?

Yes, just use a licensed Electrician to do it.

FYI, if you were just using a mobile charger, the circuit breaker may need to be replaced because the CSP is a breaker.

 

[robatumd]

OP

any details you can share on the Sunrun quote?I called them but they wouldn’t talk to me as I don’t have a build date yet.

 

[Flash]

I just did that exact thing. Disconnected the 14-50 plug and ran it to the CSP. Had to change the current setting to #4, which will max use 40amp. It seems to charge. But the app sucks complete ass. No updates, no way to limit charging that I can tell, and for the last few hours, I am still unable to get the CSP to connect to my wifi and stay connected long enough to link it with the ford pass app. This has been a really frustrating experience.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Remember that the CSP is an entirely new product and has probably seen a lot less testing than the truck. We're the guinea pigs on that product.

I'm just hoping they are more reliable in long-term use than the Ford Mobile Chargers. The Mach E community has found those are really best left for emergency use. Lots of people who use them full-time are having issues now.

 

[renelopez50]

I just did that exact thing. Disconnected the 14-50 plug and ran it to the CSP. Had to change the current setting to #4, which will max use 40amp. It seems to charge. But the app sucks complete ass. No updates, no way to limit charging that I can tell, and for the last few hours, I am still unable to get the CSP to connect to my wifi and stay connected long enough to link it with the ford pass app. This has been a really frustrating experience.

Thanks for your response! Did you cap off the neutral wire that was being used on the NEMA 14-50 appication?

I'm not sure what FM-Jack is referring to. How can the CSP be a circuit breaker? I was hoping that an electrician could help out with a better answer. But I do appreciate his interest.

 

[btreece]

Thanks for your response! Did you cap off the neutral wire that was being used on the NEMA 14-50 appication?

I'm not sure what FM-Jack is referring to. How can the CSP be a circuit breaker? I was hoping that an electrician could help out with a better answer. But I do appreciate his interest.

I think what FM-Jack is referring to is that the FCSP has GFCI built in. You do not want to use a GFCI breaker with the FCSP or the 2 will fight each other.

 

[FM_Jack]

I think what FM-Jack is referring to is that the FCSP has GFCI built in. You do not want to use a GFCI breaker with the FCSP or the 2 will fight each other.

And that's something I'm going to have to do when I finally decide to install the CSP because I have a 100amp line that my mobile charger plugs into.

 

[Flash]

"Did you cap off the neutral wire that was being used on the NEMA 14-50 appication?"

Yes, the Neutral is capped and in the charger near the bottom (out of the way)

 

[harker81]

Thanks for all of your replies. Looks like I can put 60 amps in our vacation house and possibly the 100 amps in the primary residence to install the Charge Station Pro. That said, I wonder if the Ford app will allow two different charging stations for one vehicle as the JuiceBox reviews say this is a problem with their app. Also, any thoughts on the Ford Connected Charge Station versus the ChargePoint CPH50 for the 60 amp house? While I would love to have everything integrated in the Ford app, I'm not sure this is feasible as per my comment above. Also, there may be advantages to having the ChargePoint account when traveling. Thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[NVevf150]

Thanks for all of your replies. Looks like I can put 60 amps in our vacation house and possibly the 100 amps in the primary residence to install the Charge Station Pro. That said, I wonder if the Ford app will allow two different charging stations for one vehicle as the JuiceBox reviews say this is a problem with their app. Also, any thoughts on the Ford Connected Charge Station versus the ChargePoint CPH50 for the 60 amp house? While I would love to have everything integrated in the Ford app, I'm not sure this is feasible as per my comment above. Also, there may be advantages to having the ChargePoint account when traveling. Thoughts would be much appreciated.

It appears you can add multiple charging locations, and you could install the FCSP in primary residence, and get a 14-50 plug in the vacation house and use the mobile charger there to keep it all in the ford app. You can easily ramp down the FCSP power in the settings via app, and mechanically on the CSP itself also

 

[dlectruk]

If you install the Charge Station Pro and the light is bright blue it is on and ready to charge ( just installed one today on a 60 amp circuit to charge at 48 amps) the Ford Pass app shows the truck is charging even though the Charger app isn't talking to anyone. So if you have two chargers at two locations and the light is blue (on and ready to charge) plug it in, it is not going to refuse to charge whatever it is plugged into.

 

[jcarollo]

I am going to install the CSP at my vacation home in the UP of Michigan. I currently have an 80 amp subpanel in my garage, but plan to add a dedicated 100am circuit from the house once the ground unfreezes in the spring. Can I temporarily run a 50 amp circuit off of the subpanel in my garage and downgrade the CSP to 48 amps, or do I need to go lower to 40 or 32?

 

[KElkhorn]

I am going to install the CSP at my vacation home in the UP of Michigan. I currently have an 80 amp subpanel in my garage, but plan to add a dedicated 100am circuit from the house once the ground unfreezes in the spring. Can I temporarily run a 50 amp circuit off of the subpanel in my garage and downgrade the CSP to 48 amps, or do I need to go lower to 40 or 32?

you would need to go to 40 if you are using a 50 Amp breaker. (Breaker needs to be 125% of continuous load)