Ford Lightning Pro Power Onboard failure on the last weld of the project

[hturnerfamily]

I also don't think the LIGHTNING employs any type of 'breakers', but more like FUSES, which is why you have the 'reset' buttons in the bed... so, heat does not seem to be the culprit.

I can imagine, though, that welders create different sources of nuisances to an INVERTER versus the typical tools, extension cords, and home circuits being powered by the ProPower output... while we can hope that Ford's engineers imagined every conceivable electrical tool and device to be used by the ProPower, it's also possible that the harmonics and other parts of the somewhat unique qualities of WELDING is also different than most... the process, and the electronics of the INVERTER and other equipment within the truck, may not play well together... somewhat like the condition we all talk about when it comes to the 'bonded Neutral' issue...

it should be simpler, but, well....

a gas or similar generator, though, is not designed the same... it's output is solely due to the power being generated by the running engine, and may can be much more 'forgiving' of electrical ups and downs while welding... but, a pure battery DC to 120v/240v AC output might be a different animal.

I think, too, you might search out a line conditioner, just to see...

Check if there are 'Inverter friendly' welders...

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[ElectrifyingMe25]

Not all power loads are created equal. You could have a highly inductive load that's very hard on the inverter. Also your welder could be creating a lot of high frequency harmonics that's backfeeding into the inverter. Harmonic pulses can cause the voltage on DC bus capacitors in the inverter to creep up in voltage and cause a fault. In industry, line reactors rated for the current can be put in series with the welder to block the noise (harmonics). But.... it may just be a faulty inverter. If I were using my truck on crazy loads, I would use a line reactor and an active power filter that's rated for the maximum load the truck can source.
Grainger, MSC, and Automation Direct sell Line reactors and active power conditioners rated for your truck's output power. They may help.

I'm curious to know what you find. Best of luck.

 

[Felix Mechanical Inc]

Update.
I did end up allowing Ford to buy back my Ford Lightning. The story doesn't end there. I purchased a new 2025 F150 Powerboost with the 7.2 KW propower option. Surprise surprise, the same issue exists on the powerboost with the 220 v 30 amp outlet while welding.
I was able to continue talking to my dealer and the Ford engineering team because they were still trying to find a fix for this issue.

This last week I received a call from Ford wanting to schedule a beta software update in my vehicle. The update is supposed to adjust the paramiters so it's not so touchy to voltage spikes. I'm supposed to report back to see if the update helped the issue.

I just got done welding aproimatily 20 welding rods one after the other. I was purposefully trying to stick the rod and spike the machine. It worked flawlessly. It's still too soon to say its fixed but its a good sign. Before the update it would have shut down on me 3 times in the same duration. Good job Ford!

 

[Blochead21]

Will love to see how long that update takes to roll out OTA to the masses.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

Update.
I did end up allowing Ford to buy back my Ford Lightning. The story doesn't end there. I purchased a new 2025 F150 Powerboost with the 7.2 KW propower option. Surprise surprise, the same issue exists on the powerboost with the 220 v 30 amp outlet while welding.
I was able to continue talking to my dealer and the Ford engineering team because they were still trying to find a fix for this issue.

This last week I received a call from Ford wanting to schedule a beta software update in my vehicle. The update is supposed to adjust the paramiters so it's not so touchy to voltage spikes. I'm supposed to report back to see if the update helped the issue.

I just got done welding aproimatily 20 welding rods one after the other. I was purposefully trying to stick the rod and spike the machine. It worked flawlessly. It's still too soon to say its fixed but its a good sign. Before the update it would have shut down on me 3 times in the same duration. Good job Ford!

Maybe I can help both the Ford engineers and you out.

This is a very interesting problem to solve. My bet is that the truck's inverter doesn't like the harmonics being generated by the welder. I've witnessed this same issue in industrial applications.

In order to stop harmonics generated in the welder from getting back into the truck's inverter, a line reactor (filter) must be connected in series with the output of the truck and the input to the welder.

There are two types of line reactors, passive and active. Active filters are more aggressive at stopping the harmonics, but they are more expensive. Passive filters are basically inductor chokes. Passive filter are simple and will likely solve the problem. If not, use both passive and active filers in series for the most extreme cases.

Line reactors (chokes) must be rated for the Full Load Amps [FLA] of the welder. The best deals for passive line reactors used for 1-phase 240V are most likely the ones that are designed for 3-phase devices. Only use two of the three chokes of the passive reactor for each leg of the 240V. Leave the other choke open and cap off the ends with wire nuts.

The same solution is used when connecting a VFD to a motor. The line reactor should be connected to the line side of the VFD to stop harmonics from getting back into the building power grid.

You can look up my post on this Ford Lightning Forum for generating 3-phase 240V power from single phase 240V power to get more details for line reactor selection.

Best of luck. Keep us informed.

My guess is if programming was used to help mitigate the harmonic issues, the engineers changed the carrier frequency for the Ford on-board inverter to change the harmonics being refected back. They basically modified the modified sine wave that the on-board inverter generates.

I wish Ford would let us know what they did to help resolve the issue with this welder. I also wonder if the fix for this particular welder will work with all other inverter welders and/or inverters.

 

[ZeusDriver]

It is a little disturbing that a Harbor Freight inverter has no trouble feeding a welder, but that a Ford inverter cannot do as well. There was a time when one could think of a Ford as being better engineered than stuff from Harbor Freight. Inverters feeding inverters is not new tech, at all: there are certainly known issues that can occur. Chokes, etc can help, but Ford should have figured this out long ago. I feel for the OP. What a disappointment with direct impacts on one's livelihood.

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