Encourage Software Update?

[KennyB123]

Wait, what?!

Do we need cell signal to get updates? Cell coverage at my home is MISERABLE with maybe one spot under the tree in the front yard being good enough to hold a phone call. This is obviously much much worse in my garage, which also happens to be 10' lower and surrounded by trees in the back yard.

If you have decent home internet, consider contacting your cell provider and asking for a cell booster. They hook into your home Internet and create a mini cell tower that will allow you to make phone calls, have 4gLTE data, etc.

Might help with your truck updates too, just know that the truck uses at&t towers to communicate.

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[TaxmanHog]

Does the frigging thing need to be charging, lvb over 90%, battery tender running, hvb over 90%, and your first born in the backseat to download updates too?

That and you should consider taking the significant other to a nice Italian dinner in the big city one a month.

 

[rugedraw]

Unfortunately I have one and it almost made the issues worse. With wifi I can do wifi calling and it works anywhere in my mesh network, when the booster is in place it defaults to cell and if you move anywhere the signal gets weak and drops calls all the time.

On top of the poor cell reception they built my house with concrete board so I had to install an elaborate wifi mesh system just to work. Which obviously is part of the problem with the booster.

Personally, I also think the local transformer is going bad and flooding the whole area with rf. Half a mile up the road and half a mile down everything works. My house? Compete deadzone

The booster is a good idea though, I can throw that in the far reaches of the garage and not mess with the rest of the house

Having the truck connected to wifi or having good/bad cellular reception will not determine when an OTA will queue up for you on the server. When an OTA trigger is created for your truck, then and only then does it matter if you have a good connection. First, you vehicle must ping the server back to let it know it received the OTA trigger. This only happens when the truck is turned on; whether you drive it or not. Once that handshake happens, the OTA will go through it's motions to verify the files and manifest. If this part checks out, then and only then will your truck try and download the files from the mothership. This is the time where it is important to have good cellular data.

So, you can have your truck parked under a cell phone tower with the LVB charged to 100% and it will make zero difference in terms of when an update will be sent to you.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I get I can't MAKE it happen, but being my truck is on 4.2 and has never updated

I'm wondering if your truck is blocked from updates, was your truck originally a fleet order or was it a demo model prior to you buying it?

 

[rugedraw]

But having bad/no wifi and or bad cellular can cause it to NOT take place, right?

I get I can't MAKE it happen, but being my truck is on 4.2 and has never updated I want to make sure it will when it can, but if where it is parked prevents that then there is an issue I should address.

No?

You would know if that was the case because you would have a notification of a failed update.

Pro ER so could have been a fleet order. It only had 100 miles on it when I picked it up so I don't expect it was a demo.

To be clear, I have only had it two months so it hasn't been a long time. I have not tried all the "tricks" either.

PM me the VIN. I can check if it is in fleet mode or not and if you have any obvious connectivity issues.

 

[rugedraw]

@Firn Got your message. Modem was properly activated; it is not in fleet mode. Vehicle is reporting its status to the cloud consistently including earlier today.

Below it the OTA dashboard showing the update you got on 9/6. Total update size was just under 200MB, and it downloaded all the files in less than a minute. This does not like like a truck that is suffering from poor data conditions to me.

I do not see anything to be concerned about tbh. Just gotta wait for the next one to be sent. Once that happens, if it does not install, lmk and I can check what's going on.

 

[Scorpio3d]

So….
Are you telling me that the rabbit ears(with tinfoil attached), star Link receiver and satellite dish I bolted into the roof of my truck are not going to help me get OTAs?? ???

 

[brewski]

The best way to encourage a software update is to stop wanting an update.

 

[Lytning]

I have concluded that every time I check Software Update in my Lightning touch screen menu, it delays the next update for two more weeks..

 

[lakeguy55]

The updates my dealer did a few weeks ago have done the trick for me. In the last four days I have successfully received 6.5, the Tesla charging update, and 6.8. All while driving my normal way and routes. The Power Up updates happened during the night in my driveway. So they were done either via my micro cell tower or wifi.

While nice to have, now trying to figure out what all the excitement is about the percentage SOC display. I always found I could read the graphic display bar and determine, within a point or two, what my SOC percentage was.

 

[rugedraw]

Out of every OTA ever released, only two are listed as "wifi required" one of which was designed to fix a modem connectivity issue and the other was a minor config change and not an actual update that required anything to be downloaded. Long read, but this will answer most of your questions:

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thr...p-by-step-breakdown-of-the-ota-process.20875/

Also, is there any way to test the cellular signal from within the truck?

Yea, there's a way to turn something on that shows if your truck has good cellular data connection on the ICE trucks. It shows these symbols up top. I assume it would work on the Lightnings too, but not sure. I don't remember how I enabled them as I've had it there forever, but I'll find out.

 

[rugedraw]

Found it:

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/sync-bezel-diagnostics.9543/

Getting into that menu may be different for the Lightning, but I am sure it exists. Once in there, enable the connectivity icons and you'll always have the icons showing if you're connected or not.

 

[Lytning]

Worked exactly as described.

This is sitting down in the garage so I'm very happy! Great info to have, thank you again.

Next song was Van Halen, now I'm stuck in my truck...

On my 15" screen I can get to Bezel Diagnostics, but the "Enable Connectivity Icons" option is not visible.

 

[rugedraw]

On my 15" screen I can get to Bezel Diagnostics, but the "Enable Connectivity Icons" option is not visible.

Possible this only works on the 12" screens? I'm not sure, tbh.

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