FFE won't charge on some outlets at business building

I've got a weird FFE charging issue that seems like some sort of business building ground fault problem, and I'm wondering if anyone else has seen something similar.

There are some 110V and 208V outlets in a section of our business building where I can't get my 2013 FFE to charge. It won't charge from the 110V outlets using my factory equipped 110V charger. And it won't charge using my "Panasonic EVSE Upgrade" charger at 208V. The weird thing is that both of these chargers will work with my FFE if I plug them in at other parts of the building.

I'm guessing that my FFE is refusing to charge because it's sensitive to some type of minor ground fault. We tried to test the offending 110V outlets for a ground fault with a normal 110V ground fault tester, but it says the outlets are Ok. The voltages look Ok when measured with a meter. Our building is on a multi-phase power feed, and that's why the high voltage outlets are at 208V instead of the residential 220V level.

It just doesn't make sense that these same chargers work fine with the FFE in other parts of the building (which all come from the same big power feed to the building). Both of these chargers work fine with the FFE at home too. And, I have a different 220V, 32A charger at home that works fine. My FFE will also charge fine from various public chargers.

I'm probably one of the few people out there that is actually allowed to use his own chargers at work, so I might be alone with this problem, but I thought I might as well ask if anyone else has seen anything like this?

Do you have any "Value Charge" charging profile(s) enabled?

Depending on your location, the FFE may select a charging profile that will either "Charge Now" or "Value Charge" (possibly now, but more often sometime later).

So, one explanation here might be that same/all of those "business building" locations you're having trouble with are triggering the selection of a "Value Charge" profile -- and so the car may not charge immediately when you plug it in.

Check to see if you have any profiles that may be affecting charging behavior. And, check the car itself... it indicates the charging profile behavior on the right-hand dash when you turn off the ignition. If you expect to be charging when you plug in, make sure the dash says "Charge Now".

On the other hand, is the car actually reporting a charge fault? Or, is the EVSE indicating that there is some wiring problem?

The charging station or cord has ground fault detection. So if a ground fault is detected the charging station should indicate a fault. When the car is plugged in does the drives display indicate that it is? On the charging station do any of the power lights come on?
If you are parking in a parking structure, the GPS may not be able to get satalite signal. With out this signal the car can't tell it's position. This could cause problems with the value charging system that uses location to determine when to charge.

Can you be specific as to which device you used to check for ground faults? Some are merely indicators that the three wires are hooked up correctly. There may actually be a ground fault current that trips the EVSE. Or there may be excessive resistance in the ground return line.


This type of device, for example

http://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Outlet-Tester/dp/B000RUL2UU/ref=pd_sim_sbs_469_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=12PN8JQ9DDJEC6JE4C7K&dpID=51mLOd%2BDHqL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_

checks for incorrect wiring and allows you to introduce a ground fault to test the outlet, but it doesn't measure ground current nor does it measure resistance to ground. This kind of instrument does

http://www.amazon.com/Extech-382252-Ground-Resistance-Tester/dp/B00390G3YA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_328_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TNPD1F0NYY1G9WAQQ28&dpID=41VWYEK8A9L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_


My guess is you have a subtle defect in the building wiring as you say.

An FFE charges just fine at 208 V, I do it all the time with a Turbo Cord plugged into a "220" outlet at work....and of course it works at 240 V in a "220" outlet a home.

My understanding is that a EVSE will sense a fault if (among other things):

1. Ground current is detected (because the current through the two phases is unequal) or
2. Excessive resistance to ground is detected

jeffand said:

The charging station or cord has ground fault detection. So if a ground fault is detected the charging station should indicate a fault. When the car is plugged in does the drives display indicate that it is? On the charging station do any of the power lights come on?
If you are parking in a parking structure, the GPS may not be able to get satalite signal. With out this signal the car can't tell it's position. This could cause problems with the value charging system that uses location to determine when to charge.

Click to expand...

According to what Ford told me, the charging system uses cellular location rather than GPS for this reason. I know, I'm skeptical too but they were very specific and insistent that this is the case.

michael said:

According to what Ford told me, the charging system uses cellular location rather than GPS for this reason. I know, I'm skeptical too but they were very specific and insistent that this is the case.

Click to expand...

I think, at this point, we're just throwing a lot of confusing information at the OP.

In my view, there are two basic issues to check:

• Configuration: Is the Value Charge feature simply preventing his car from charging immediately? If so, use the dash control to force Charge Now and see if that resolves the issue each time. If so, problem solved... and then maybe we can figure out why Value Charge is being selected unexpectedly.
  
• Electrical: Is there a fault occurring in the location's wiring, the EVSE, or the car? If so, then we can try to isolate which system is failing. (Presumably, it is not the car since it charges okay at other locations.)

Have we determined whether the basic problem is configuration or electrical yet?

Sorry that I haven't responded yet, but this is the first chance I've had to try some of the posted suggestions and to respond.

Unfortunately, the building electrical guy is out today, so I don't know what he used to check for a ground fault. I'll let you know when I find out.

FYI: The FFE is always out in the open next to the building regardless of which outlets I've been using (good or bad). So if GPS happens to be involved, then that shouldn't be an issue.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but while I was having these problems, I'm pretty sure both the 110V and the 208V chargers showed green lights like everything was happy and fine with the chargers.

I don't have any Value Charge profiles set up on my mobile App (unless they're hidden somehow). And, I'm pretty sure I've never set up any Profiles on the App or on the FFE. The FFE setup menu says it's set to "Charge Now". If any Value Charge profiles got set on the car, I didn't do it. However, I'll have to read up on how to check if any are set up somehow.

Now here's the real kicker, I just tried to re-create the original problems and report to you guys on the state of the "Charge Now" indicator on the dash (or any other indicators), and now I can't get the problems with either charger to happen again today. So, since the building electrical guy is out today, I can't ask him yet if they fixed or changed something. I'll report on the forum in the next day or two when he's back in the office. I hope he did fix or change something, or this is going to be tough to troubleshoot if the problem is coming and going like that. Anyway, thanks for your help so far.

Sounds to me it was 100% a building electrical problem. Likely a ground fault that the charger saw. The J1772 standard is extremely ground fault sensitive. I generally charge 240/30a at my work on the chargers, but sometimes rude ICE cars park there and I can't charge. So then I'll do the 120v from an extension cord. If it rains this will not work. The GFCI generally won't trip at the building plug unless it rains really hard, but the charger will trip and will not let you charge.

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Sam