Charging Issues

[runnotwalk]

The charger that came with the car is failing.   The car either isn't charging, or the battery doesn't take a full charge.   When plugging in the charger, there is a delay then a loud "POP"   the light starts flashing on the charger and then the car begins to charge.  

 

It's unfortunate that the car was put in production before it was ready.   Shame on Ford for returning to their old ways of getting a product in the market then fixing it.

[murphy]

When plugging in the charger, there is a delay then a loud "POP"   the light starts flashing on the charger and then the car begins to charge.  

 

That's the way it is supposed to work.  The "pop" is a big relay being activated.  The car itself controls charging.  The "charger" is just a power source that the car charging system can control.

[runnotwalk]

Thanks for the comment.   The "POP" sound only started after the charger failed to charge the car.   Three days later when the car came back from the dealer, the charger started making the "POP" sound.   It never made the sound before and the car was charging fine.  

 

Your comment about the car controlling the charging is great information.   So something is wrong with the car because it's not charging to full.  Something changed with the 110/120 charger because it never popped before there was the failure.   It's time to go back to the dealer again.....

[pluggedin]

Thanks for the comment.   The "POP" sound only started after the charger failed to charge the car.   Three days later when the car came back from the dealer, the charger started making the "POP" sound.   It never made the sound before and the car was charging fine.  

 

Your comment about the car controlling the charging is great information.   So something is wrong with the car because it's not charging to full.  Something changed with the 110/120 charger because it never popped before there was the failure.   It's time to go back to the dealer again.....

If the green light on the charger is on before you plug it into the car, the charger should be okay. I copied and pasted the following from the Owners Manual, make sure you are following these procedures.

 

CHARGING THE HIGH

VOLTAGE BATTERY

CHARGING THE HIGH-VOLTAGE

BATTERY (ENERGI VEHICLES)

WARNINGS

Do not use the 120-volt convenience

cord with extension cord or adapter.

In Canada, do not use the 120-volt

convenience cord in commercial

garages.

This equipment has arcing or

sparking parts that should not be

exposed to flammable vapors. This

equipment should be located at least 18

inches (80 millimeters) above the floor.

Charging Equipment

E78097

Your vehicle comes equipped with a

standard 120-volt convenience cord

located in the floor compartment behind

the driver’s seat.

Note: The 120–volt convenience cord

allows you to charge the high-voltage

battery in your own garage using a standard

120-volt household outlet. Using the

standard 120-volt convenience cord takes

up to 10 hours to completely charge from

an empty battery.

E145429

Ford recommends upgrading to the

optional 240-volt charging station for

faster more efficient charging. Use of a

240-volt charging station will take

approximately 3–4 hours to fully charge a

empty battery.

170

High Voltage Battery

Note: Your electrical source must meet

certain requirements for the high-voltage

batteries to charge. The AC outlet must be

a three-prong 110-120 volt AC outlet that is

properly grounded, 15–20 amps (or greater),

and in good condition. The line also must

be dedicated, which means that no other

appliances should be connected to the

same circuit. If a dedicated circuit is not

used, the circuit breaker could trip or open.

If a dedicated circuit is not available, contact

a licensed professional electrician for proper

installation.

Make sure that the 120–volt convenience

cord is completely unwound before

charging. Always plug the cord into the AC

outlet before connecting the charging

coupler into the vehicle’s charge port

receptacle. The 120–volt convenience cord

inline control box has three indicator lights

that represent the charging status; power,

charge and fault.

Power (green light)— this indicator lights

up when the cord is plugged into the AC

wall outlet.

Charge (green light)— indicates status

of charging:

• No light means the cord is not

connected to the vehicle.

• Blinking light means that the charging

is in process.

• Solid light means that the vehicle is

connected but not charging.

Fault (red triangle light)— Lights up in

case of a detected failure. No charging is

possible:

• Blinking red triangle light – means that

the 120–volt convenience cord is trying

to reset the failure and could restart

the charging cycle.

• Solid red triangle light – means that

the fault is permanent. The cord needs

to be unplugged and re-plugged to

reset the fault. If the fault persists,

contact your authorized dealer.

Charge Port

The charge port is located between the

front left side door and front left wheel

well. There is an indentation located on

the charge port door that allows you to

press to open and press to close the door.

E144779

Note: Do not force the charge port door

open or closed. Forcing the door open or

closed will damage the charge port.

The light ring located around the charge

port indicates the charge status of your

batteries while connected to a charge

station or convenience cord. The charge

port light ring is divided into four quadrants

that inform you of the charge status.

There is a cord acknowledgment feature

that will be activated when a charge cycle

is initiated. The four light quadrants will

each individually flash clockwise starting

with the top right light and ending with the

top left, two full times confirming a

charging coupler has been detected.

171

High Voltage Battery

Different sequences of the light ring will

represent the status of the charge.

You can use your keyfob to view the

vehicles charge status at any time by

pressing the unlock button. The light ring

will light up the corresponding quadrant(s)

so that the current state of the vehicles

charge can be determined. If the charge is

below 25 percent the light ring will not

illuminate. Don’t forget to press the lock

button on your keyfob to re-lock the

vehicle.

Charging

Note: The vehicle must be in P (Park) to

charge.

To charge your high-voltage battery:

1. Put the vehicle in P (Park) and power

down the vehicle.

2. Press the indentation located on the

charge port door and the door will

rotate open.

3. Plug the charging coupler into the

vehicles charge port receptacle and

make sure the button clicks confirming

that it is completely engaged.

E144780

4. Verify that the cord acknowledgment

feature activates. This indicates the

beginning of a normal charge cycle.

5. If using a 240–volt charging station,

follow the instructions on the charge

station to begin the charging process.

When charging, the light ring will display

how far along the charge is:

• When the top right quadrant is pulsing

the charge is between 0-25 percent.

• When the top right quadrant is solidly

lit and the bottom right quadrant is

pulsing the charge is between 25-50

percent.

• When both right side quadrants are

solidly lit and the bottom left quadrant

is pulsing the charge is between 50-75

percent.

• When three quadrants are solidly lit

and the top left quadrant is pulsing the

charge is between 75-100 percent.

• When the entire ring is solidly lit, the

charge is complete.

Note: The illuminated ring will shut off one

minute after reaching a full charge.

Note: If a vehicle charging system fault is

detected at any point in a charge cycle the

entire light ring will flash continuously for

one minute and then shut off. If this

happens unplug, and then re-plug the

charging coupler into the charge port

receptacle. If the problem persists contact

your authorized dealer if a charge fault is

detected.

Disconnecting the Charging Coupler

Note: Do not pull the wall plug from the

wall while the vehicle is charging. Doing so

may damage the outlet and the cord.

1. Press the button on the charging

coupler.

2. While holding the button, remove the

charging coupler from the vehicle’s

charge port receptacle.

High Voltage Battery

E144781

3. Close the charge port door by pressing

the indentation on the charge port

door. Continue pressing the indentation

while the door rotates counter

clockwise and closes.

 

[runnotwalk]

Thanks for taking the time for the post.   I read the manual.   It must be a defective car and / or a defective charger.   I guess I have the dubious honor of not only being the first energi titanium on the road  in NJ, but also the first defective one.   The dealer said that ford is reporting failures with the chargers already.  It's a shame.   Back to the dealer again.

[pluggedin]

Thanks for taking the time for the post.   I read the manual.   It must be a defective car and / or a defective charger.   I guess I have the dubious honor of not only being the first energi titanium on the road  in NJ, but also the first defective one.   The dealer said that ford is reporting failures with the chargers already.  It's a shame.   Back to the dealer again.

You are welcome. Sorry you are having such a bad time with charging your car. So far, you do seem to be the only one with the problem, or the only one posting the problem anyway.

 

So, a little more info, if you will. When you plug the charger in and hear your pop, does a red light show on the charger? A green light? No light? If you have a red light the charger is defective or you have a fault in your wiring. If the light is red try plugging the charger into an outlet somewhere else in the house and not on the same circuit/breaker you have been using to see if you still get a red light.

 

If there is a green light on the charger, pop or not, the charger should be working. But you say the car is not being charged. If your charger is working the light ring should be active on the car once you plug the charger into the charge port of the car. If the light ring is not active then there is something wrong with the car, not the charger.

 

It will take 7-10 hours for the car to charge completely using the 120V charger that came with the car, but I'm certain you know that. The car is a rolling computer so I am very surprised that there isn't some sort of message on one of the screens that will tell you what is happening, or in your case, what is not happening.

 

I am assuming you are able to drive the car in hybrid mode since you haven't mentioned having the car towed. Let us know when you find out what was wrong.

Edited April 23, 2013 at 12:23 AM by pluggedin

[TX NRG]

Here's another thread with some that have sporadic charging problems and things they've tried to overcome them. No mention of a pop when plugging in.

 

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/691-stopped-charging-after-1-week/

[Scooter80]

I don't ever recall hearing any noise from the included 120v charge cord. From the car itself, perhaps, but not the cord. Certainly not a loud pop though.

Now, my 240v charger does pop and hum and it IS normal.

[pluggedin]

When I plugged my L2 charger into the car last night I heard a loud thunk, or pop, come from the charger. I've heard that before though and the car has always charged.

[mczajka]

I guess anything is possible here. But to eliminate the guess work, when I had my level 2 installed, I went with a master electrician in the Washington, DC area who installs residential and commercial EVSE's for a living and who is a member of EVA/DC (www.evadc.org). His name is Sean Ryan and I would gladly give you his contact info. if you email me at mark@mdvolt.org (for a level 2 install). He actually had a suitcase with a test port with some electronics that he could test the level 2 on before I plugged the unit into my car for the first time. I was fortunate to also have a 110V outlet near my panel, but he installed a new one on a new 20 amp circuit (with nothing else running off of it), for those cases where I might need to use the level 1.

 

So, for anyone reading this who has a car on order, it might be worth the effort to have an electrician look at your panel/outlets and make sure everything is up to code and dedicated. When the master electrician opened my panel, he discovered a screw missing from my house's main ground (a thick wire inserted into a metal hole was missing a screw). He fixed it for me.

 

I also don't intend to keep things plugged in during a lightning storm.

[FusionEnergi]

The Energi for some reason did not charge on Monday evening, this caused us to use the engine for a small portion of our trip on Tuesday. I had unplugged the car and the charger showed no error. I replugged the vehicle in and the charging began. If I would have had time I would have waited for a full charge, but I needed to go. I was not worried or concerned since it could have been driver error. Plus this allowed us to see how the vehicle functions in Hybrid mode. We watched the battery slowly drain to 0. Once we got home we charged the Energi back up and decided to keep an eye out to make sure this didn't happen again.

 

Well this afternoon (Firday April 26th) when we arrived home we went to plug in the vehicle, but the car would not charge. We reconnected several times. Turned the breaker off and back on twice, then reconnect. Still no charge!

The Leviton clycled properly and was showing green. The ring was not lighting up nor the pop sound heard from the box. We then placed the plug on the ground and opened the door. I opened the MyFord app and turned the value charge On and then back Off. Plugged the car back in and we got a charge. Yeah! I was just about to get out the supplied plug from the trunk and try it out. Now we need to find out why and make sure this doesn't not continue to happen. I will be going to the shop Tuesday to bring this up. 

Edited April 26, 2013 at 11:51 PM by FusionEnergi

[larryh]

I would make sure that what is displayed in the hybrid settings on the touch screen in the car for charge settings matches what is shown by MyFord Mobile.  I'm not sure what happens when they are out of sync.  I don't know if MyFord Mobile will reset the car back to the settings made in the MyFord Mobile application or MyFord Mobile will accept the new settings made on the touch screen.  If I want to the car to charge immediately and it doesn't, I usually go to the touch screen charge settings and select value charge and then charge now.  I make sure that the touch screen says that charging is active.  I notice many times that the display says charging when value times is selected and it should be waiting until night to charge, and vice versa, it says waiting to charge when charge now is selected.  To get it to do what I want, I select the opposite setting and then the correct setting.  That usually clears the problem.  You might have a wait a while for it to respond though.

Edited April 27, 2013 at 12:11 AM by larryh

[FusionEnergi]

Great advice, I will keep that in mind and hope to never have it happen again!

[larryh]

I fixed my post above after you read it.

[GRAYTAG]

I am having issues with charging with the 120v charger as I have only had the Fusion Energi  about

3 weeks now and I charge it on average 10 hours a night and the dash mileage indecates I can only travel 17 mile on a full charge now. When I got the car it started at 21 miles. How come the miles are reducing my distance to travel now.

 

Any one know why? 

 

Or can someone Advise me how to correct this?

 

Thank you

[Russael]

Questions!  Are you doing mostly freeway (or say speeds greater than 50MPH) travel?  Do you pre-condition your car and then leave climate on and going while on the road?  Do you use a lot of accessories, such as stereo, lights, etc? Reason I ask is because *everything* on this car is electric.  The more stuff you use (ESPECIALLY the climate) the less life you'll get from the battery.  The heater itself is 5kw.  If you ran the heater by itself and didn't drive, you'd kill the battery in just over an hour.  Not sure how much current the air conditioner draws.

 

The other thing is driving habits.  If you're getting great regen scores, then you're good at stopping, but if you're mashing the pedal at every intersection because you're diggin the acceleration... well. :)

 

Lastly... you could always take it to the dealership and have them do some tests on the battery to see if you indeed have a defective charger or battery pack.

Edited May 14, 2013 at 07:04 PM by Russael

[murphy]

I am having issues with charging with the 120v charger as I have only had the Fusion Energi  about

3 weeks now and I charge it on average 10 hours a night and the dash mileage indecates I can only travel 17 mile on a full charge now. When I got the car it started at 21 miles. How come the miles are reducing my distance to travel now.

 

Any one know why? 

 

Or can someone Advise me how to correct this?

 

Thank you

The range is an estimate based on how the car has been driven previously.  The longer it monitors your driving habits the more accurate it should become.

 

That said my car, after charging on 240 volts or 120 volts, says 25 miles.  If the heater comes on when the car is turned on that instantly drops to 20 miles.  As stated the heater can draw up to 5 KW.  This is why pre-conditioning the car before you leave is so important.  I don't have the numbers on the Air conditioner yet (it was 32 degrees when I got up this morning) but I expect it to have a similar need for power.

 

Turn your climate control off and see what the range estimate changes to.

[runnotwalk]

Here's my update - sorry for the length, I'll try to cover all of the open questions/comments.

 

My car is charged overnight with the charger provided by the dealer.   The car is showing flexible mileage on the battery.   It goes anywhere from 17 to 24 miles.

 

I don't precondition the car before driving because I'm not putting on the A/C or Heat or Headlights.

 

The battery drops significantly by the time I reach the end of the street (.5 miles)

 

My distance capacity is become less with each day.  I used to be able to drive to/from work each way with 2 miles left on the battery.   Now I'm depleting the battery 6 - 8 miles BEFORE the end of my trip.

 

Yesterday I turned the car on and the car had a melt down.

 

The Light around the "D" on the dashboard started flashing and I received an error message on the dashboard to stop.   The car put the car into neutral and I pulled over.   There is a red Triangle with an exclamation point in the middle of it.

 

I turned off the car and turned it back on (rebooted it)

 

I started driving, the car was sluggish, and then couldn't go faster than 2 miles/hour.   The gas engine couldn't come on.

 

I was on the side of the road using bluetooth and the display flashed an error message - electrical system failure -shutting down and all of the power in the car went immediately dead

 

I had it towed to the dealer and of course, they couldn't find anything wrong with the car - no codes etc.

 

I'm concerned that the battery is going to spontaneously combust - it's time to have it towed from the dealer to my house to sit on the side of the road.   

[Russael]

Wow... that's nuts.  I'd let the dealership keep it until they can replicate the problem, even if it takes a week.  Still, if the whole car freaked out like that and shut everything down, they BETTER find something wrong with it.  That's not reasonable at all.

[larryh]

Although I had several issues with my Energi at first, the dealer "reset" (similar to a reboot?) my car and now things are starting to settle down. My commute is 100 miles per day. I start off with a full charge and run in EV Later for the first 24 miles because it's flat and the hybid gets better mileage on a long flat drive (about 50mpg). After droppping off my carpooler, I drive another 23 miles to work in the EV+ mode. When I get to work, I plug in to my Level 1 charger and recharge until lunch. The lunch trip is purely EV and takes up about 8 miles which I recharge before going home in the same modes. My average MPG right now over 1700 miles is an astonishing 97.6. This blows away the myth about the car not being viable for longer commutes. If you can charge at work or a nearby station, this is truly the car for the 100 mile commute. On the weekends, we charge with the level 2 and we use no gas at all for the entire weekend. So, based on the numbers, my commute mileage is around 83mpg and the weekend mileage is 999.9 MPGe.

For my money, the Energi far outweighs the Hybrid in both MPG and cost with all of the tax advantages and rebates.

 

I would ask the dealer to make sure that the car has the latest software that controls the battery and engine systems installed and to reset the system to restore the car to its original state when it was manufactured in case any of the data the car has stored is corrupted.  That would at least help decide if the problem is with the software or hardware.  See the above post.

Edited May 16, 2013 at 09:50 PM by larryh