[Feature Rollout] Pro Power Onboard with Vehicle Off

[Pacific.NW]

With the FORscan tweak at least, one has to set the 'slider' in the PPOB menu to "PPOB when truck is off" before you turn the truck off.

I haven’t activated anything in my preferences for this yet!?

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[chl]

HI Brian,

Thanks for the update, and keep up with the good work.
We really appreciate it!!
I absolutely love my lightning!!

Regarding the new feature, problem is it does not do what it says:

It explicitly says that "outlets stay on until the Pro Power Reserve setting is reached".
It does not say the outlets will shut off after 5 minutes with draw less than 100W.
This is like building a beautiful castle and then go live in the basement.

If the concern is to avoid the battery to deplete, the power reserve limit setting is there already.
If the concern is that people forget and deplete their batteries without knowing, I would take the same engineering approach you take to warn people when they approach low levels of battery state of charge while driving: warn them!! Beep, honk, flash lights, send a push notifications on the app, etc.
Or also add a timer like the one that shuts off the engine if idle too long.

Anything that is not the current approach, which is rather frustrating, limiting and of little use.
Let users control how they use pro power, and if that means allowing them to screw up and deplete their batteries, let them do it.

As a user I should be able to use pro power for as long as I need, with as much power as I want, after I set Pro Power Reserve to the limit I want.

Thanks!

I think the concern might be the 12v battery drain as well as the HVB if you are not using the PPOB but leave it on accidentally. The design might be assuming you forgot to shut it off and may leave it on for a long time which could deplete the batteries.

The DC-AC converter uses some HVB energy when ever it is ON even if not powering a load.

Like the POWER DOWN TIMER it may be to protect the 12v battery as well.

The minimum wattage requirement rational could be/is probably another way to ensure the batteries are not drained 'inadvertently' because you left PPOB ON when not using it?

Running PPOB does require some 12v battery use - the 12v battery is involved in keeping the contactors closed to connect the HVB to the DC-AC innverter(s), and communicate with the app etc.
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ALSO NOTE:

Some owners have had the PPOB turn off prematurely and abruptly with no warning when the 12v battery got 'low' even when running PPOB with the truck ON.

By prematurely, I mean BEFORE it reached the set reserve. And by abruptly I mena there was no warning message issued to the FORD app.

Running the PPOB with the truck OFF could have the same effect of draining the 12v battery and causing a premature abrupt shut down.

The solution that eliminated the 'low'12v battery issue one owner was having was to keep it on a maintainer while running PPOB.

When I first did the FORscan tweak to have PPOB ON with the truck OFF capability, and while I was testing it for several hours (over 4 hours), my 12v battery SOC apparently got down to the level where the PPOB shut off. I did not have it on a maintainer.

It seems the truck might go into into 'battery saver mode' and off-loaded the PPOB function. Like the other owner, I did not notice any warning message on the FORD app.

Another glitch that was noticed with the PPOB was that turning on the climate with the FORD app caused the PPOB to shut down abruptly, whether the truck was ON or OFF.

I accidentally touched Climate on the FORD app screen while running PPOB and it shut PPOB off.

I have no theory as to why turning on the climate with the FORD app shut off PPOB. I did notice that the heated seat was in the full on high setting when the climate came on despite the fact I never used it that high...maybe that was involved somehow.

The FORD team had me run several experiments over the last few weeks to demonstrate the above PPOB issues to collect data from my truck so they could work on understanding what is happening and maybe find a fix.

This is the thread about the reserve limit premature shut down issue:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/pro-power-reserve-limit-fails.35984/

 

[chl]

I haven’t activated anything in my preferences for this yet!?

It resets every time the truck cycles.
It is in the Pro Power menu, a slider to enable the PPOB ON with truck OFF.

 

[heelyeah]

The fact that the setting resets every time the vehicle is restarted makes this "feature" almost useless IMO.

 

[Box Cat]

I think the concern might be the 12v battery drain as well as the HVB if you are not using the PPOB but leave it on accidentally. The design might be assuming you forgot to shut it off and may leave it on for a long time which could deplete the batteries.

From a user perspective, a feature has been enabled with the stated expectation of actually working under the pro power reserve limit.

This is indeed not happening.

If Ford is unable to be faithful to its own specs then why even enable the functionality?
At the very least say it clearly that there is a 5 minute cut-off after 100W draw is not seen.

The 12 V battery management is also another sore point. The way this works today was an engineering choice which is probably not optimal.

But when in PPOB engine off mode the LVB should be sustained by the HVB so that the function works reliably, all under the same HVB reserve limit that already works when driving.

The function should be reliable and the choice of how much energy to use or waste should be the users.

If I want to power a 25W fridge overnight I should be able to do it without attaching dummy loads on a timer.

Keeping the truck on just consumes more power than needed (excluding sustaining the LVB which is always on when truck is on but not when off letting LVB drain way too much).

 

[Randall Stephens]

Will I receive a notification? No. This is a completely silent update. There will not be any in-vehicle notifications, release notes, or vehicle downtime. It happens entirely in the background.

Not okay. You guys know better than this.

 

[chl]

From a user perspective, a feature has been enabled with the stated expectation of actually working under the pro power reserve limit.

This is indeed not happening.

If Ford is unable to be faithful to its own specs then why even enable the functionality?
At the very least say it clearly that there is a 5 minute cut-off after 100W draw is not seen.

The 12 V battery management is also another sore point. The way this works today was an engineering choice which is probably not optimal.

But when in PPOB engine off mode the LVB should be sustained by the HVB so that the function works reliably, all under the same HVB reserve limit that already works when driving.

The function should be reliable and the choice of how much energy to use or waste should be the users.

If I want to power a 25W fridge overnight I should be able to do it without attaching dummy loads on a timer.

Keeping the truck on just consumes more power than needed (excluding sustaining the LVB which is always on when truck is on but not when off letting LVB drain way too much).

A lot of should be's with the Lightning...

 

[Pacific.NW]

It resets every time the truck cycles.
It is in the Pro Power menu, a slider to enable the PPOB ON with truck OFF.

No, what I’m saying is I was able to use my power while the vehicle was off WITHOUT this new setting being available…

 

[ka-chow]

But also a lot of things I couldn't have asked to be any better! : )

A lot of should be's with the Lightning...

 

[The Weatherman]

This update appeared on my 2022 Lariat today. Thanks Brian @Ford Motor Company

 

[Dinozero]

Thank you, Ford I own a 2023 and I have been waiting for this feature for two years. I appreciate you following up.

To my knowledge that leaves one feature left that we were promised would be eventually coming to our models, and that is showing the charging speed while charging on the screen

 

[jamelski]

Wait a Min. The 24/25 have this feature and it took ford how long to give it to 22-23

 

[chl]

No, what I’m saying is I was able to use my power while the vehicle was off WITHOUT this new setting being available…

Oh, interesting...the power in the bed?

So all you did was unlock the truck and the PPOB came ON with the truck OFF?

A 2022 Lariat, but is it a Canadian version? Maybe that is a Canadian thing?

Definitely NOT in any US Lightning I have ever heard of.
---
Are you sure the truck did not come on?
Does it maybe have a remote start option by pressing the an non-standard key FOB like in this thread:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/remote-start-from-key-fob-it-works.25058/

Or this video?

 

[chl]

But also a lot of things I couldn't have asked to be any better! : )

Agreed, no vehicle is perfect, but I'm happy with the Lightning so far.

 

[Pacific.NW]

Oh, interesting...the power in the bed?

So all you did was unlock the truck and the PPOB came ON with the truck OFF?

A 2022 Lariat, but is it a Canadian version? Maybe that is a Canadian thing?

Definitely NOT in any US Lightning I have ever heard of.
---
Are you sure the truck did not come on?
Does it maybe have a remote start option by pressing the an non-standard key FOB like in this thread:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/remote-start-from-key-fob-it-works.25058/

Or this video?

Yes, Canadian; no, it definitely wasn’t on! I was as surprised as you are!

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