troylikesbikes Posted August 19, 2016 at 03:42 AM Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 at 03:42 AM Knowing that long term battery health is related to how we treat them, and that staging is probably better than just one single bottom to top charge, and that the less time the car spends sitting around with the HVB at 100%, I have developed the following routine and thought I would share it. Wife uses the car as EV around town to commute (I do not, I use it on the highway, all ICE, 1000 miles in a day). Her normal commute, to and from, a run to a fast food joint for lunch, and when she brings the car home at the end of a normal day it has about 10% remaining. Good, don't drain the battery all the way either. So I use the myford mobile profile and a manual override to charge the car over 3 distinct periods. The way the myford works, you can really do only 2 charging periods, needing the other 3 to bracket the on/off periods during the night. The profile is high price 12:00AM to 1AM to stop charging, charges from 1AM to 3AM, high price profile from 3AM to 6AM, and charges from 6AM to 10AM, then high price profile from 10AM to Midnight. So 5 charge periods on myford mobile, 3 high price profiles bracketing the two I really want to charge. Wife leaves for work at 7:30. So total charging during the nightly schedule is about 3-1/2 hours. So when wife comes home, I kick over from value profile to charge now, and check the full charged time. Myford nicely tells me when my profile will fully charge the car, usually some time AFTER the wife is expected to leave for work, and the difference between that time and her leaving for work is how long I leave the override of the profile run. An hour or two before bedtime does it. Then the car sits till 1AM, charges for 2 hours, shuts off for 3 hours, then kicks on again to top off the car. Car usually finishes charging right before or right after the wife leaves, and I can adjust that by just choosing how long to charge the night before. Hopefully this all matters long term. If not, it was fun playing around with it. Car is at 47K, dropped in a new 12V a month ago just to be on the safe side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphy Posted August 19, 2016 at 09:22 AM Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 at 09:22 AM When the HVB indicates 0 it is not at actual 0. It still has about 1.5 kWh for the hybrid mode plus whatever they reserved for battery protection. The battery can not be taken too low. The engine will charge it before that can happen. Driving with the battery indicating 0 is a valid mode. That is the hybrid mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted August 19, 2016 at 10:35 AM Report Share Posted August 19, 2016 at 10:35 AM You want to delay charging until the last possible minute and then use the car immediately after charging completes. Charging the car any sooner than necessary will result in greater HVB degradation. Ideally, you would want to use a 240 V charger and start charging the car at 5:30 am so the car is ready at 7:30 am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troylikesbikes Posted August 20, 2016 at 05:10 AM Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 at 05:10 AM When the HVB indicates 0 it is not at actual 0. It still has about 1.5 kWh for the hybrid mode plus whatever they reserved for battery protection. The battery can not be taken too low. The engine will charge it before that can happen. Driving with the battery indicating 0 is a valid mode. That is the hybrid mode. I know. By narrowing the SOC range even further than that permitted by the onboard electronics, I figure it sure won't hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troylikesbikes Posted August 20, 2016 at 05:17 AM Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 at 05:17 AM You want to delay charging until the last possible minute and then use the car immediately after charging completes. Charging the car any sooner than necessary will result in greater HVB degradation. Ideally, you would want to use a 240 V charger and start charging the car at 5:30 am so the car is ready at 7:30 am. No 220V charging available in my garage. And given a choice between a non-stop charge from bottom to top, ending 5 minutes before the wife uses it, and using 3 stages, with the final stage finishing right before the wife uses it, I prefer the 3 stages to the 1. And sure, I try and get the battery to hit max SOC 5 minutes before the wife drives it out the door, but give or take 1/2 hour isn't too bad, plus in some cases I don't charge it all the way up anyway, further narrowing the min-max range the battery sees. The entire game here is to see how long I can maintain original battery capability. Because the car has more value to me as a superior hybrid highway car than EV, I don't really have to care about it this much, and it wouldn't bother me or the car for its primary use if I lost 50% of the batteries capability, but still, why not try and maximize longevity? Should be great experience for the day I make the leap to full EV for my around town car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdginmo Posted August 20, 2016 at 01:52 PM Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 at 01:52 PM This is a great reason why Ford should have added the option to do partial charges. Other manufacturers allow that. jdbob and flyingcheesehead 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troylikesbikes Posted August 22, 2016 at 09:02 PM Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2016 at 09:02 PM This is a great reason why Ford should have added the option to do partial charges. Other manufacturers allow that. Well, at least we can sort of fake it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbort Posted August 23, 2016 at 01:43 AM Report Share Posted August 23, 2016 at 01:43 AM Hey I do partial charges all the time. If not needed when I hear the fan racing inside the car, I decide to stop the charge if I don't need it and charge some more later. I'm also using 120v at home but on the road I use 240v when available, otherwise 120v at hotels I just setup value charge to start at 3am and plug it in before I go in for the night. -=>Raja. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingcheesehead Posted August 30, 2016 at 07:04 PM Report Share Posted August 30, 2016 at 07:04 PM How do you do multiple charge periods? I charge at home and at work, and I would like to set it up so that it waits to charge so the battery has a chance to cool off somewhat, and it doesn't reach full charge until I'm about to leave. But, in the Value Charge setup I see weekday, weekend, 120V, and 240V. Does the car not pay attention to the voltage, so you can use both of those? (I'm L1 all the time right now.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.