The Home Integration System Departs With A Whimper

[chl]

I think if my Home Integration System just goes belly up someday and I can't get it fixed by Ford or Sunrun, I'll just switch to a transfer switch and be happy with 7.2 kW from the truck bed. The Enphase IQ Bidirectional Charger seems too expensive, and will it work with the Lightning if it doesn't fully support ISO15118-20?

On the Generlink transfer switch, I have no desire to go out in pouring rain with thunder and lightning and plug the Generlink cable in near my very exposed meter. Another brilliant idea from @Ford Motor Company! So, I will go with a transfer switch setup that I can operate from inside my house that will feed my main subpanel (all lighting and electrical outlets in the house) as my Home Integration System does now. And, as I have promised before, if Home Integration System support fades away in the coming years before the useful life of my vehicle expires, and Ford never fixes automatic Backup Power Transfer, I will never, ever buy another Ford motor vehicle and discourage all friends and neighbors from buying one, too, as Ford so far has completely blown off an expensive complex feature that it advertised initially as a premier reason for buying a Lightning.

Yes good point! Some people might have their meter in a sheltered area - I don't.

I think I read that you could leave the cord plugged into the meter when not in use. Put a hose hanger there and wrap it up, if secure.

I usually plug up my generator cord and get everything ready when I see a report that weather is approaching.

To use the PPOB, the truck has to be ON unless you do the FORscan tweak to have PPOB with the truck OFF, so braving the elements has to be done at some point unless I leave the truck ON for hours while I wait for an outage.

I have done both - had it ON all night when we had a snow and ice storm - no outage though.

Since I installed my GENERAC 6853 manual Transfer Switch in June of 2025, no outages yet.

One of the recent OTA updates caused the reserve setting to not work correctly - I saw a post about the issue and I tested mine and same problem - set a reserve, run the PPOB backup, PPOB turns off way before the reserve is met.

The workaround was to use the nearest charge station option instead of the miles for the reserve - then it defaults to 10 miles - go figure!?

And when I did the FORscan tweak and tested the PPOB with the truck OFF, after about an hour of so, I looked outside and my Frunk was open! It did it by itself! I think running PPOB with the truck OFF might have drained the 12v battery and caused the Frunk to open - no other explanation I can think of.

Sorry about the HIS. But thanks to everyone here for telling us about all the troubles.

You might see about a BlueTooth booster transmitter/receiver since the biggest issue seems to be the communication. Have to figure out where the truck BT antenna wire is and then hook it up there.

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[chl]

Oh wow.

This is maddening.

I literally just had my unit replaced, and Ford sent out an engineer to 'watch' it being put in.

I'm frustrated that this has been pulled, but honestly, I'm not surprised. I'll try and reach out with my contacts to see what the 'official line' is.

Why don;t you see about a BlueTooth booster - use it in the truck to help with the poor communication with the FCSP?

That seem so be the big issue right?

 

[Aminorjourney]

No. The issue is the hardware on the unit..

 

[MountainAlive]

Oh wow.

This is maddening.

I literally just had my unit replaced, and Ford sent out an engineer to 'watch' it being put in.

I'm frustrated that this has been pulled, but honestly, I'm not surprised. I'll try and reach out with my contacts to see what the 'official line' is.

I sense a new video brewing

 

[RickLightning]

It's interesting how your frame of mind on a solution like power backup can change over time. We have lived in our house for close to 20 years. For a period of time, we had many outages a year - one year had 6. Some of those outages lasted days. Most were caused by weather, but not all.

We retired in 2021. I had a reservation on the Lightning (which proved to be worthless), and expected to get one when it launched. Power backup was top of mind due to our frequency of outages.

As more things came into focus, I realized that a key requirement for backup power is that the generator of the power must be attached to the home. Therefore, if one buys a vehicle that provides this capability, and that vehicle is not at home, there is no backup power. Sounds simple - but how many take the truck to work, or on a trip? Then the cost came out, coupled with issues.

In September 2022 we installed our whole house generator. In Feb 2023 we took a trip, which would have been with the Lightning if we had owned it (got it in May 2023). We had an outage that lasted from 6PM on day 1 to 8:20PM on day 3, i.e. 50+ hours. Temps were cold, so pipes MIGHT have been an issue. But no issue with the generator running.

Of course once we got the generator, losses dropped... 2 months after installation it ran, less than 2 hours. A week after the 50 hour failure, it ran for 6 hours. 10 months later it ran for 6+ hours. 3 months later for 4 hours. Then 47 minutes 4 months later. Then under 2 hours 5 months later, last December.

This was because FINALLY the utility did a massive tree trimming in our area, cutting everything near the wires feeding our development with underground wiring.

Per Generac, in 1,323 days of protection, it's run 107 hours, which includes the one failure for 50+ hours and weekly testing for 15 minutes, i.e. 12 hours a year.

The other key thing is that the HIS system is Ford-dependent. Get rid of the Lightning and what do you have?

 

[Ken]

I'm in the process of purchasing a SIGEN system with a battery backup and the V2H system, so I will have a working Ford charge station pro available if anyone still needs one. Haven't had an issues with mine for 3.5 years now.

 

[chl]

It's interesting how your frame of mind on a solution like power backup can change over time. We have lived in our house for close to 20 years. For a period of time, we had many outages a year - one year had 6. Some of those outages lasted days. Most were caused by weather, but not all.

We retired in 2021. I had a reservation on the Lightning (which proved to be worthless), and expected to get one when it launched. Power backup was top of mind due to our frequency of outages.

As more things came into focus, I realized that a key requirement for backup power is that the generator of the power must be attached to the home. Therefore, if one buys a vehicle that provides this capability, and that vehicle is not at home, there is no backup power. Sounds simple - but how many take the truck to work, or on a trip? Then the cost came out, coupled with issues.

In September 2022 we installed our whole house generator. In Feb 2023 we took a trip, which would have been with the Lightning if we had owned it (got it in May 2023). We had an outage that lasted from 6PM on day 1 to 8:20PM on day 3, i.e. 50+ hours. Temps were cold, so pipes MIGHT have been an issue. But no issue with the generator running.

Of course once we got the generator, losses dropped... 2 months after installation it ran, less than 2 hours. A week after the 50 hour failure, it ran for 6 hours. 10 months later it ran for 6+ hours. 3 months later for 4 hours. Then 47 minutes 4 months later. Then under 2 hours 5 months later, last December.

This was because FINALLY the utility did a massive tree trimming in our area, cutting everything near the wires feeding our development with underground wiring.

Per Generac, in 1,323 days of protection, it's run 107 hours, which includes the one failure for 50+ hours and weekly testing for 15 minutes, i.e. 12 hours a year.

The other key thing is that the HIS system is Ford-dependent. Get rid of the Lightning and what do you have?

Good points

It took me a while to convince my wife we could use a generator - a multi-day outage when a hurricane remnant came through did the convincing for me.

So I got an 1800Wp gas generator and transfer switch in 2011, and then it sat for about a year in my shed.

We had a derecho come through in June of 2012 which knocked out power for several days and I got to use it at last. I had a little electric chain saw and used it with the generator to cut up a tree that fell in our back yard. The fallen trees were blocking roads in may places as well.

A neighbors tree hit our tree and broke it. It landed on my wife's pottery shed. I was able to cut it standing on a step ladder - I'd cut a bit off one end, the tree would tip a bit, then I go to the other end and cut some of there, back and forth like that until I could roll what was left off the shed.

I got to use it again one cold winter morning when an ice storm knocked out power - starting a gas generator in a cold January when it is below 10F is lots of fun! But it had to be done to keep the pipes from freezing and to get my morning coffee.

Other than test running it once or twice a year, I haven't had to use it more than a few times, the most recent time was when a vehicle hit a utility pole nearby.

Like your neighborhood, ours had a lot of tees trimmed after the derecho so outages occur less often now.

When I got my 2023 Pro with 9.6kw PPOB in January 2024 I couldn't use my original transfer switch because it didn't switch neutrals, so I got a GENERAC 6953 for under $400 to be able to use the Lightning for backups.

I wanted to keep the gas generator so if I need to drive the truck somewhere during an outage I would have a backup. And I did not want to unwire the original transfer switch, so I added the GENERAC and wired the two transfer switches together a simplified block diagram:

I have one generator inlet box outside the house that either the gas generator or the lightning can plug into. Inside the house I have a generator inlet box for the GENERAC and the old transfer switch has a built in inlet. The 10 load circuits are fed from the old transfer switch which gets fed by either the utility or the Lightning through the GENERAC. The old transfer switch can also be fed from the portable unbonded gas generator if needed.

I wired up for the truck in June of 2025, but have not had an outage yet. I test the system periodically.

After a recent OTA update, the PPOB reserve is funky - it turns off the PPOB long before the reserve has been met. The workaround is to use the nearest charge station option in the truck PPOB reserve setting menu, which defaults to 10 miles for some reason.

It will be much nicer having the truck powering the house in an outage than the loud gas generator, if we ever have another one...

 

[RickLightning]

It will be much nicer having the truck powering the house in an outagethan the loud gas generator, if we ever have another one...

During a 5 day outage before we got the generator, a neighbor let me run a cord to his house that had a whole house generator, to run our frig. We thanked him.

A week before our generator was to be installed (it was sitting in the garage), the power went out again. He was pulling in the driveway, so I asked again if I could plug in. He said yes. We plugged in, then the cord mysteriously flew over their patio wall. I went and plugged it back in, and again it came over. His wife came out and cursed me in her native tongue, and told me I had caused them $500 in maintenance because of the last usage (yes, my one refrigerator caused you to do maintenance after a 5 day run of the generator to power your entire house). She then made a rude gesture.

When time came for our install, I picked the chimney, so that sound would reverberate off of it towards the neighbor.

 

[tearitupsports]

I'm in the process of purchasing a SIGEN system with a battery backup and the V2H system, so I will have a working Ford charge station pro available if anyone still needs one. Haven't had an issues with mine for 3.5 years now.

That's a great choice of system. I will just caution that the charger is a DC charger. I have heard on the lightning specifically that the BMS does not recalibrate on DC charging. After many DC sessions it can get off base, especially at the very low end. I believe it is recommended to AC charge once in a while to allow the BMS to recalibrate itself.
Its for this reason I kept my charge station pro, and about every 2 weeks I use it to charge the truck to 100%. At all other times I use the Sigenergy V2X charger with an 85% limit.

I will admit I am not certain if this info is true, but it is believable enough that I have decided to follow it. Now if you have the mobile charger as well, that could probably work just fine in the same scenario, especially to go from like 90-100% on rare occasion.

About 2 weeks ago we had a 4 hour power outage. The Sigenergy system worked flawlessly.
The system notified me while we were at kids sports events (with the truck), and that the house was on battery (with solar in my case). When I got home I plugged the truck into the V2X, and the house slowly moved itself on to the truck battery instead of the stationary battery. A system like this is the best of both worlds. I don't need to be at home with the truck for it to work, as pointed out in other posts on here. When I do get home, I have the very long duration and silent operation of the truck battery. I can come and go as I please completely off-grid.

 

[Ken]

That's a great choice of system. I will just caution that the charger is a DC charger. I have heard on the lightning specifically that the BMS does not recalibrate on DC charging. After many DC sessions it can get off base, especially at the very low end. I believe it is recommended to AC charge once in a while to allow the BMS to recalibrate itself.
Its for this reason I kept my charge station pro, and about every 2 weeks I use it to charge the truck to 100%. At all other times I use the Sigenergy V2X charger with an 85% limit.

I will admit I am not certain if this info is true, but it is believable enough that I have decided to follow it. Now if you have the mobile charger as well, that could probably work just fine in the same scenario, especially to go from like 90-100% on rare occasion.

About 2 weeks ago we had a 4 hour power outage. The Sigenergy system worked flawlessly.
The system notified me while we were at kids sports events (with the truck), and that the house was on battery (with solar in my case). When I got home I plugged the truck into the V2X, and the house slowly moved itself on to the truck battery instead of the stationary battery. A system like this is the best of both worlds. I don't need to be at home with the truck for it to work, as pointed out in other posts on here. When I do get home, I have the very long duration and silent operation of the truck battery. I can come and go as I please completely off-grid.

Thanks, we have AC chargers at work so I can just hit one of those every few weeks. I'm excited about the system, and the fact that it works with a lot of vehicles. We aren't keeping the lightning forever, and I even bought the NACS cord instead of the CCS for future use and will just use the Ford adapter for now.

 

[chl]

During a 5 day outage before we got the generator, a neighbor let me run a cord to his house that had a whole house generator, to run our frig. We thanked him.

A week before our generator was to be installed (it was sitting in the garage), the power went out again. He was pulling in the driveway, so I asked again if I could plug in. He said yes. We plugged in, then the cord mysteriously flew over their patio wall. I went and plugged it back in, and again it came over. His wife came out and cursed me in her native tongue, and told me I had caused them $500 in maintenance because of the last usage (yes, my one refrigerator caused you to do maintenance after a 5 day run of the generator to power your entire house). She then made a rude gesture.

When time came for our install, I picked the chimney, so that sound would reverberate off of it towards the neighbor.

GOOD GRIEF!

I wonder what the $500 in maintenance was? Did he run it without changing the oil after that 5 day marathon? That could do it I guess.

Nothing like neighbors....

When the derecho happened I let my neighbor use a 120V outlet on my generator over the fence for their refrigerator - he and his wife (in their 80's) had just been to the PX and bought a freezer full of meat!

When we first moved in he was a bit of a pain, his son was a lawyer and encouraged him to call the county for a couple things I did - metal shed for my lawn mower next to the fence a few inches of which w higher than his fence so he could see it from his sun porch - no violation it was under 8 ft tall; an on ground deck on the north side of my house where the sun never shines but the mud proliferates and the kids would track it in - no violation, no permit needed for on ground deck.

But over time, he got used to us, especially after I helped him out a few times with this and that - kill 'em with kindness?

"Love your enemies, it'll drive them crazy" my dad, a Presbyterian minister, used to say, lol.

Sometimes it works, but other times it's no good deed goes unpunished!

My neighbor was a retired army Col. who served in Viet Nam and was exposed to Agent Orange which led to skin cancer. I think that illness must have played a part in his initial annoyance with me, so I cut him some slack.

Everybody has a story.

 

[RickLightning]

In general, scheduled maintenance is quoted as $299. If you need valves adjusted (maybe they did or were talked into it), it's more.

I change my own oil and misc stuff. I won't do the valves when they are due though.

 

[Jim Lewis]

I think I read that you could leave the cord plugged into the meter when not in use. Put a hose hanger there and wrap it up, if secure.

It's more complicated than that. My truck is in my garage. I'm not going to let it sit outside, especially in the Texas heat and sun. And in a storm, where there could be hail that would ding up my truck, especially in April and May, I don't want to go out to connect up any cables in the truck bed or at the meter. If I leave the truck in the garage, I'd have to leave the door open in a storm to connect up the cable or otherwise route the cable through an exterior wall and the brick facade. Don't want to do that either. So, an interior transfer switch that lets me deliver the 7.2 kW PPOB directly to my main subpanel, which supports all lighting and electrical outlets in my house, would be my choice, not the Generac setup Ford is endorsing.

 

[Pitbull2o08]

Why don;t you see about a BlueTooth booster - use it in the truck to help with the poor communication with the FCSP?

That seem so be the big issue right?

It’s not the truck. The trucks lights turn on when I walk out of Walmart from across the parking lot. It’s the stupid FCSP

 

[chl]

It’s not the truck. The trucks lights turn on when I walk out of Walmart from across the parking lot. It’s the stupid FCSP

Right.

I was just thinking that if the FCSp has a weak BT antenna/receiver set up, a stronger signal from the truck might help connect more reliably.

The WiFi on my FCSP was troublesome at first when I was using 5G and the WiFi router was pretty far away, but it worked fine after I put a repeater closer to it and used the 2.4G signal which penetrates walls better.

BlueTooth is notoriously problematic, especially if it's an older version, the newer ones are more reliable.

I had a lot of issues with the truck BT when I was trying to stream music from BT devices - drop outs and sometimes loss of signal completely requiring a restart, so I gave up a switched to using an FM transmitter from the device to an unused station on the truck FM radio. Or I use the USB port with an SSD formatted in xfat with music files.

Lots of post on the forums about BT troubles with the Lightning.

From some of the posts about HIS problems, it seemed to be related to signalling.
The FCSP is definitely not very receptive judging from the WiFi - no external antenna like you'd find on some devices.

Anyway, I'm sure it is frustrating as hell especially given how much it cost.

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