F-150 Lightning powering house after tornado power outage

This is a success story detailing the first time using the Lightning to help though a power outage.

I live in the middle of Iowa and my area got hit with significant tornado damage last week (Tornado Damage).

Due to the proximity of the tornado, we were without power for almost 5 days. I knew we had some storms coming in, so figured I'd charge up to 90% just in case. I plugged the 10-30R outlet into our generator input of the house (ground disconnected), and let ProPower do it's thing. Ended up using about 18% of the battery each day (Ending up with 8% battery remaining at the end of the ordeal). We didn't change any of our normal routines throughout the outage (Excluding laundry), even using the GeoThermal AC for a few hours. The AC was able to run due to having this device installed on the compressor (MicroAir Easy Start).

A couple of take-aways from my point of view:

1. It really sucks not being able to drive the truck while it is powering the house. It seems obvious, but something to consider if you have critical loads (Sump Pump) that can't go without power for a period of time.

2. I know it is a common complaint, but it bothers me a ton that the truck must be "On and ready to drive" in order to use ProPower. Seeing the screens on is just annoying.

3. We are in a rural location without access to close DC chargers. Our other EV (MachE) came home almost dead after the first day with no way to charge. Luckily we have another non-ev that we could use for this situation, but really eye opening for me when I aspire to drop all of our ICE vehicles.

4. The capacity of the truck when charged to 90% is more than large enough. We had an accurate timeline of when we expected the power to be back on....If we needed to, we could have been conservative on our consumption and easily made it more than a week just powering critical loads (Well, Sump, Fridges).

5. If you plan on using the truck for an outage, make sure you test your setup before hand. About 10 minutes after the tornado went though and we were all clear, I was greeted with the sump alarm indicating that it was filling up and had just a few more minutes before things started to flood (Storm was proceeded by a ton of rain for our area). Luckily I had tested everything out before the event, so it wasn't an issue. If this was my first time going though it, it might have taken me a bit longer to get things setup. (I'll be installing a backup sump in anyway to prevent this in the future).

Great write up.

I also have a tri-fuel (Natural gas) portable generator to use when the truck is needed for other things. However the quietness of the truck over the noisy generator will encourage me to use the truck all I can.

No power outages yet, but I have shut off the main to make sure the truck powers everything A-OK...certainly good advice your part.

You might want to look into a small LFP system Ecoflow Delta Pro, I have two Pro's and two add-on batteries for a total of 14.4 KWH of energy to cover criticals, they are actually my primary protection, with the Lightning being the backup when stationary.

We had an unexpected outage last week - no significant weather, a tree just fell across one of the main feeders here out of the blue. I'm set up with the Generac panel that lets you plug in without cutting the ground. Man was it easy, I just pulled the cord out of the utility room, connected up and turned the truck on. No hauling out the noisy generator, getting gas from the shed below (I empty it after winter) and trying to pull start the damn thing.

Plug in and go to bed, quite nice.

I do wish that you didn't have to leave the truck on, I turned it off and the power went out. Grr, that desn't seem very secure, can you lock the truck?

TaxmanHog said:

You might want to look into a small LFP system Ecoflow Delta Pro, I have two Pro's and two add-on batteries for a total of 14.4 KWH of energy to cover criticals, they are actually my primary protection, with the Lightning being the backup when stationary.

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I've been interested in them for a while, but up until this event I have not had an outage, so hard to justify when I already had the Lightning (And traditional portable generator).

Do you have the Ecoflow units always connected to your loads (Acting as a UPS of sorts), or do you move connections around in the event of an outage?

Do you use the Solar Input as well?

cyclops said:

I know it is a common complaint, but it bothers me a ton that the truck must be "On and ready to drive" in order to use ProPower. Seeing the screens on is just annoying

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This could be concern for some. I need to leave key in truck, running, unlocked, and just to power outlets? Hello @Ford.

9onmy6 said:

This could be concern for some. I need to leave key in truck, running, unlocked, and just to power outlets? Hello @Ford.

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To be fair, you can remove the key and lock the truck......But the screens will still be powered. It's a pet peeve of mine seeing the screens powered up and consuming a ridiculously minuscule amount of energy (Considering the size of the main battery pack).

Great real world write up, observations, and advice! That same storm came thru Wisconsin and luckily we only had a few EF-1's (one of them that developed and touched down a few miles after it went by my house). I was prepared and had my truck mostly charged to use in case I or friends/family needed it, but in short my truck is my backup generator for my primary generator which is a 12,000watt 50amp portable dual fuel generator. (only ran propane so far, so little maintenance) Noisy yes... affordable and effective. Yes!

cyclops said:

1. It really sucks not being able to drive the truck while it is powering the house. It seems obvious, but something to consider if you have critical loads (Sump Pump) that can't go without power for a period of time.

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#1) is what I have always said is getting grossly overlooked in using one's primary vehicle as a "home generator". Having your primary vehicle handcuffed to your house is a MAJOR MAJOR hassle for the vast majority of people!

(I know some people do have extra vehicles... but if we are being honest the majority of people don't have more vehicles than licensed drivers in their households, especially extra pickup trucks which is a very important vehicle to have during any potential restoration, recovery, site clearing, etc.)

cyclops said:

2. I know it is a common complaint, but it bothers me a ton that the truck must be "On and ready to drive" in order to use ProPower. Seeing the screens on is just annoying.

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#2) is getting resolved (i.e. pro power only mode) on the 2024's and I pray we get it as a software update. It drives me nuts. Not necessarily that the screen is on, its that I can't just plug something in quickly and use it without having to climb into my damn truck, hit the start button, turn lights off, radio off etc, and then turn off the shut down timer, and then climb out.

That said, @9onmy6 You do not need to leave the key in, you can lock it and just leave it "on" as long as you turn of the 30 minute power down timer.

Ok. Good to know. Not that I was worried. Thank you.

cyclops said:

To be fair, you can remove the key and lock the truck......But the screens will still be powered. It's a pet peeve of mine seeing the screens powered up and consuming a ridiculously minuscule amount of energy (Considering the size of the main battery pack).

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And you have turn lights from Auto to off. And keep closing screens! I hear ya. Wish a ford person actually tried it out for real. That is why we are here. Glad for you.

luebri said:

Yes!

#1) is what I have always said is getting grossly overlooked in using one's primary vehicle as a "home generator". Having your primary vehicle handcuffed to your house is a MAJOR MAJOR hassle for the vast majority of people!

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This should not be a primary vehicle. But let us say it Is. If you need it as generator, then something is a mock and you shouldn’t be going anywhere.

cyclops said:

make sure you test your setup before hand

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This x100. In my case the electricians hooked up the generator port, tested everything including the truck's GFCI that it wouldn't fault out, checked power to all the circuits we wired, I was happy, they were happy, and papers signed.

I then started playing with scenarios and noticed my furnace wouldn't actually spark/fire. Turns out the furnace needs its power source to be grounded for the spark to fly (or something), so the electricians had to come back out and add a ground to the generator switchbox.

If I hadn't run scenarios it might be winter when I found out.

luebri said:

#1) is what I have always said is getting grossly overlooked in using one's primary vehicle as a "home generator". Having your primary vehicle handcuffed to your house is a MAJOR MAJOR hassle for the vast majority of people!

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100% agree.....

In this case I started out with the Lightning as our primary generator (It is much nicer to not have the noisy generator). Our 9500 watt Tri-Fuel portable generator (Tested enough to charge our EV's) was lent out to others in need shortly after I realized that the Lightning was going to work for us. It is always difficult to know when/if things like this should be lent out......If another day went by, I would of had to have the awkward conversation about getting the portable generator back for our own needs.

cyclops said:

I've been interested in them for a while, but up until this event I have not had an outage, so hard to justify when I already had the Lightning (And traditional portable generator).

Do you have the Ecoflow units always connected to your loads (Acting as a UPS of sorts), or do you move connections around in the event of an outage?

Do you use the Solar Input as well?

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I bought the DP system a year prior to committing to buying the Lightning.

I have our oil fired steam boiler connected to one 7.2 KWH system, it performs like UPS system.
The second 7.2 KWH system is not permanently connected to the refrigerator yet, I connect via heavy duty cord as needed.

Summer project is to install the smart home panel so that I can cover more loads in the house for a combined 14.4 KWH.

I do not have solar, but considering a small off-grid array that fits the specifications of the DP's built in charge controllers.

cyclops said:

But the screens will still be powered.

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XLT and Pro at least let you turn the info screen off. Still have the driver screen on though.