Check Outlet light flashing

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Jimboc22

New member
Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
3
Hello,
I just purchased a used 2016 Ford Focus Electric yesterday but I am having an issue I'm not sure I should be concerned about. When I brought it home last night and tried charging the car with the supplied Ford 120V EVSE, the red 'Check Outlet' light on the EVSE started flashing about a half an hour in. I unplugged everything and moved it to another outlet on a different circuit in the garage. I didn't see the red light this time so I went to bed. This morning the red Check Outlet light was flashing again, but this time the red 'Fault' light was also on. I moved the EVSE to a dedicated 20 amp outlet in the laundry room this morning and a short time into the charge, the flashing red Check Outlet came back on. The car appears to still be charging while the Check Outlet light is on, but eventually it stopped when the Fault light came on. I looked at the activity in My Ford Mobile and it shows an External Fault from early this morning but nothing is showing for the fault light that just came on about 20 minutes ago. What could be causing this? Is it the EVSE or something wrong with the car itself? Is it still ok for me to charge while the Check Outlet light is flashing? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks... Jim
 
Stop charging immediately. There was a recall on the Ford 110v charger due to fire hazard. Make sure it has been replaced. Have an electrician check your household circuit for proper set-up. Run Vin # through NHSTA to see if your car was part of recall.

Silver Rabbit

2017 Ford Focus Electric
2017 Honda Clarity Electric
2017 Chevrolet Impala

PS I use a TurboChord.
 
Thanks for the speedy reply Rabbit.

We went on a family outing today running some errands, stopped at a mall that had an open Charge Point charger so we hooked it up and went in for about an hour. The car charged an additional 17 miles without any problems. Got home and figured I would try the Ford EVSE again. It went well for about an hour and a half before the Check Outlet light came on again so I unplugged it. When I unplugged it the plug and the outlet both felt very warm to the touch, much warmer than I was comfortable with. What I am guessing at this point it that the EVSE is generating a lot of heat at the outlet which is causing the Check Outlet light to come on, and when it gets too hot the EVSE trips a fault and stops charging. I guess it's great that it has that safety feature, but now I'm worried how I'm supposed to charge my new car. I've tried three different outlets on three different circuits, all with the same result. The last outlet I tried was a brand new GFCI outlet on a 20 amp circuit dedicated for the laundry room (I unplugged the washer and dryer while charging). It is a 15 amp GFCI receptacle on a 20 amp circuit, but not sure if that matters or not considering the EVSE is rated at 12 amps.

From your suggestion, I ran the VIN through the NHSTA site and nothing came up. The EVSE is a FM58-10B706-AH, which from what I have searched on this forum is not part of the recalled chargers. So it doesn't appear to be a widespread problem.

For now my plan is to call the Ford dealer tomorrow and ask if they will replace the EVSE and see if that fixes the problem. I'm really enjoying this car so far and would really hate to return it if I can't get a consistent charge on it from home. If replacing the EVSE doesn't help, any other thoughts besides calling out an electrician to check my house wiring?
Thanks again... Jim
 
So sorry to hear you are having charging issues. I am glad car charged fine at Charge Point and evse was not an recall item. It is good to know no recalls on the car. For myself, it was an electrician friend, who installed for $75 plus parts. It cost $175 to install the TurboChord, plus cost of charger. It is 3X times faster than 110 plug. It is sad that the one plug did not work. Being able to charge at home is important. Hope you resolve the issue. I truly enjoy the Focus Electric.

It looks like you might need an electrician.

My overall experience with Ford overall positive, but lack experience with electrics. I have had no problems.

Silver Rabbit

2017 Ford Focus Electric
2017 Honda Clarity Electric
2017 Chevrolet Impala
 
Glad to hear you like your Focus Electric. Once I get this issue figured out I'm sure I will too. I was looking at the 2017 but it was $2k more than the 2016 I found and I just couldn't justify the additional cost for 25 extra miles/charge,. My commute to work is 19 miles each way so the 75 miles/charge should be enough for me... I hope. This is all just an experiment for our family anyways. We may go back to a gas vehicle depending on how this all goes.

Since it's Sunday and the dealer service departments were closed I did a little more troubleshooting this morning. I have a Kill-A-Watt meter that I plugged the EVSE into. It showed that it was running 120V at 11.5 amps for about a half an hour until the check outlet light started flashing again. Not really sure what that all means other than it appears to be drawing the correct amount of current, and from what I can tell the outlet it was plugged into is the only outlet on that circuit. I'm looking into electricians next to price out the install of a 240V outlet for a Level2 charger and will have them take a look at the other 120V outlets if I don't get a replacement EVSE from the dealer before then. In the meantime, we are lucky enough to have a Level2 charging station at the library down the street from our house. I'll use that until I can get this home charging situation figured out.
 
I have the same model charger and it is doing the same thing. I have a dedicated 20amp outlet for this. Did you ever figure out what was wrong with it?
 
Outlet rating should not really be a factor as it will only pull 12A Max. If it's saying check outlet, my guess is a neutral/ground impedance issue.

If ground isn't fully connected it creates a greater likelihood of a shock going to ground through something else and some EVSE will test/measure that.

It's also possible for other stuff generating noise on the lines to trigger that detection without there actually being an earth fault, but there's no easy way to isolate that aside from shutting everything else off.

Also possible your EVSE is just failing.
 
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