Hurricane Season Approaching

[EV Engineer]

Hey All. I just purchased a 2023 Standard Range Lightning with Pro Power onboard. Brand new.
I wanted the extended range but this was truly an unbeatable deal. Bought the truck for basically the price of a Mach E.

We live in the gulf coast and hurricanes are absolutely an annual thing. Good seasons maybe 1 or 2 episodes of 48-72 hours of no power. A bad season could be a week. A historic season the whole town might be gone for a month.

Problems:
- Standard Range Pro Power Onboard
- Currently no Level 2 charger. (Getting by with Level 1).
- No Generator or manual transfer switch installed currently.
- Main Breaker is about 10 feet from garage with a utility room in between.

Goal:
1. Ideally run the basics through the truck. (Lights, fridge, couple fans, television).
2. Air conditioning at night?

Questions:
1. Is there anyway to access the Home backup power sun run through the Standard Range? Is it worth it? Reviews seem limited.
2. If just running it through the pro-power onboard, what would be the anticipated cost? How much could I draw from the truck? Would air-conditioning be a no-go if just the Pro-power onboard? I assume a total home back-up AC would be no problem?
3. Anticipated cost for some of these options?


I am debating getting the ford-charger pro off ebay but the reviews on the Sunrun overall seem terrible. Even a thread labeled "class action lawsuit" lol

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[TaxmanHog]

Is there anyway to access the Home backup power sun run through the Standard Range?

Welcome to the forum and congrat's on the new Lightning.

The HIS can technically be used in an SR truck, but you'll need to pay an activation fee, before your do that, read through the many threads in this section about Home Integration System failures to operate properly!!!!

You will likely come to an opinion that it may be better to set up an emergency transfer switch that includes neutral switching, then power your critical circuits via ProPower Onboard 240v x 30 amp connection.

Also note several threads that cover high capacity AC systems, and the limitations that might impede your goals.

 

[BSEE SPARKY]

Engineer,
It time to do some Math. Look at current draw of products you want to use. Add up the total for 120v products and the current draw for 240v products. Now multiply 220v current draw by 2. Add this total to 120v current draw. This is complete current draw.
Take the amount of stored energy in batteries (kWH) divide this by 120v. This will yield total current hours available. Divide current hours by complete current draw. This value will tell you how many hours you can run at complete current draw. Depending how close you want to get, you might derate this value for losses.

Play with different current loads until you get the time you feel safe.

A good old fashion HP41CV (calculator) makes this easy.

 

[Maquis]

Engineer,
It time to do some Math. Look at current draw of products you want to use. Add up the total for 120v products and the current draw for 240v products. Now multiply 220v current draw by 2. Add this total to 120v current draw. This is complete current draw.
Take the amount of stored energy in batteries (kWH) divide this by 120v. This will yield total current hours available. Divide current hours by complete current draw. This value will tell you how many hours you can run at complete current draw. Depending how close you want to get, you might derate this value for losses.

Play with different current loads until you get the time you feel safe.

A good old fashion HP41CV (calculator) makes this easy.

That’s not right. Just figure the KW by multiplying V x A.
After that, make sure the 120V loads are balanced such that neither leg exceeds 30A. This assumes you have the 7.2KW PPO in the bed.
Don't multiply anything by 2.

 

[BSEE SPARKY]

That’s not right. Just figure the KW by multiplying V x A.
After that, make sure the 120V loads are balanced such that neither leg exceeds 30A. This assumes you have the 7.2KW PPO in the bed.
Don't multiply anything by 2.

Your calculations will not yield time at load. How many hours/days can I have power. You are correct to limit if using only 240v 30a outlet. What I don't remember is how much load can propower provide, 9.2 kw? 240×30 a is 7.2kW. You might still have 2 kW at 120v available. Or 16a.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I didn't go into the weeds about the other inverters capabilities of 2.4 KW 120v x 20a

 

[Maquis]

Your calculations will not yield time at load. How many hours/days can I have power. You are correct to limit if using only 240v 30a outlet. What I don't remember is how much load can propower provide, 9.2 kw? 240×30 a is 7.2kW. You might still have 2 kW at 120v available. Or 16a.

Once you know the KW, divide into battery size. That yields hours from 100% to dead. Add an appropriate buffer.
PPOB option is 7.2KW from the bed. Another 2.4KW from the cab and frunk. They are totally separate. The cab/frunk inverter is 20A, 120V, no 240V.
Due to demand diversity a variability, the above is worst-case. In reality, power usage will be much lower. We had an outage Monday night. I powered 2 fridges, a freezer, lights, internet, device chargers, and other miscellaneous stuff. I never observed more than a 1.5KW load. Used 5% battery in 8 hours.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

If you want to keep it on the cheap, extension cords and a mobile AC unit (not the window units, but the ones that are inside with an exhaust to the window) for your bedroom at night.

I was in your same situation, except with ER battery. I ended up getting an electrician to install the L2 charger (Tesla) and install an inlet for my electric box. If the power goes out I have to physically connect a 240v cable from the bed of the truck to the outside of the house, then physically flip the transfer switch on the panel, then decide which circuits to enable. I know I won’t be able to run my AC unit, but I can run the well pump and hot water heater (not at the same time) and a bunch of things inside like the TV / Internet / etc… I then have the little mobile AC unit for the bedroom to sleep in at night. I ended up also upgrading my panel, so the price was a bit expensive, but if I didn’t do that, it would have probably ran around $3000

 

[Bigred]

I have an XLT ER with Pro Power. We powered our house for 3 days during Beryl and still had plenty of battery left. We ran our lights, TV's, fridge, garage freezer and a portable AC without issues.

Funniest part was certain local Facebook groups were are trash talking "How are you gonna charge your stupid EV to drive?" Meanwhile Tesla SC only couple of mile away was up and running if i needed it. While the ICE/generator owners couldn't get gas as the gas stations didn't have power LOL.

I would think you would still be fine with an SR.

 

[Jodokk]

I have an XLT ER with Pro Power. We powered our house for 3 days during Beryl and still had plenty of battery left. We ran our lights, TV's, fridge, garage freezer and a portable AC without issues.

Funniest part was certain local Facebook groups were are trash talking "How are you gonna charge your stupid EV to drive?" Meanwhile Tesla SC only couple of mile away was up and running if i needed it. While the ICE/generator owners couldn't get gas as the gas stations didn't have power LOL.

I would think you would still be fine with an SR.

Had very much the same experience with Helena up here in WNC. Even after powering half the neighborhood's fridges and CPAPs for a few days. Folks really haven't a clue.
The EV FUD dissemination networks are well funded, and help keep lots of folks clueless about the value of solar and EVs. Frustrating.

 

[flyct]

I have an XLT ER with Pro Power. We powered our house for 3 days during Beryl and still had plenty of battery left. We ran our lights, TV's, fridge, garage freezer and a portable AC without issues.

Funniest part was certain local Facebook groups were are trash talking "How are you gonna charge your stupid EV to drive?" Meanwhile Tesla SC only couple of mile away was up and running if i needed it. While the ICE/generator owners couldn't get gas as the gas stations didn't have power LOL.

I would think you would still be fine with an SR.

Same thing with Hurricane Milton October of last year. We lost power at our cabin where we evacuated to. I had charged to 100% when I arrived at the cabin. Good thing, because we lost power there after the storm. We used the truck to power the cabin for 2 days. The battery went down to 75% after the 2 days. In town, the local fast charges were operational. Additionally cabin my neighbor had a whole house generator and offered to let us charge before leaving for home.

On the drive back to our house all the gas stations enroute had yellow tape around the pumps because they were out of gas. All the EV Charging stations were up and running. FPL even set up mobile charge stations in the middle of Florida for EV Travelers to get charges if needed. FPL topped us off for Free at the mobile charger station in Okeechobee FL..

I knew that power was out at our house so we took advantage of the FPL mobile charger site That way when we got home we would have juice to power the house. We didn't need it because about 15 minutes before we arrived home I got a notification that power had been restored at home. The few gas stations that had gas had 1/2 mile long lines. It was comical to drive by without worry. My daughter was grounded because her gas car was empty so lent her one of our fully charged Teslas to get by until they could get gas. She didn't have power for 2 weeks.

Here we are getting a free top off on our Lightning from FPL mobile charger site.

 

[chl]

Hey All. I just purchased a 2023 Standard Range Lightning with Pro Power onboard. Brand new.
I wanted the extended range but this was truly an unbeatable deal. Bought the truck for basically the price of a Mach E.

We live in the gulf coast and hurricanes are absolutely an annual thing. Good seasons maybe 1 or 2 episodes of 48-72 hours of no power. A bad season could be a week. A historic season the whole town might be gone for a month.

Problems:
- Standard Range Pro Power Onboard
- Currently no Level 2 charger. (Getting by with Level 1).
- No Generator or manual transfer switch installed currently.
- Main Breaker is about 10 feet from garage with a utility room in between.

Goal:
1. Ideally run the basics through the truck. (Lights, fridge, couple fans, television).
2. Air conditioning at night?

Questions:
1. Is there anyway to access the Home backup power sun run through the Standard Range? Is it worth it? Reviews seem limited.
2. If just running it through the pro-power onboard, what would be the anticipated cost? How much could I draw from the truck? Would air-conditioning be a no-go if just the Pro-power onboard? I assume a total home back-up AC would be no problem?
3. Anticipated cost for some of these options?


I am debating getting the ford-charger pro off ebay but the reviews on the Sunrun overall seem terrible. Even a thread labeled "class action lawsuit" lol

Yes a new in box FSCP is a good choice if the price is right on eBay - but the SR Lightning only needs 48A max so unless you want to future-proof you can get by on less.

I bought my FCSP on eBay for $600 including shipping back in Jan 2024. I had a longer run to the panel so supplies (wire conduit etc) cost me about $650 - I did some of the grunt work (routing the 75 feet of flexible conduit through my hot attic, mounting the FCSP on my garage wall).

I have heard Qmerit is a good installer for the the FCSP.

As others have mentioned you can get 30A 240V from the bed outlet - the SunRun HIS install is pricey and seems to be buggy, and only gives you an extra 10A 240V. So I do not think it is worth the cost even if you had the ER battery. For that $$ you could have a good sized standby generator from Generac that runs on natural or LP gas.

For a power outage that is short lived (a few days) you could get by on 30A from the bed.

If you go that route, be sure to charge your truck to 100% before the event, and hope there is electricity somewhere or a gas generator you can recharge the truck on should the outage be extended for more than a few days. If the truck is your only vehicle take that into consideration as well.

Running an AC is probably going to be difficult - a big power draw. Think fans and cold showers instead maybe?

I have run lights, microwave, refrigerator, telephones, computers, coffee maker, and house furnace circulating fan on a 240V 30A gasoline generator for several days, with capacity to spare in the past when a hurricane made it this far north (Virginia/DC/Md area) and one time when there was an ice storm in winter.

Lots of fun starting a portable gas generator when it is 10F outside!

One thing I found was when the power is out, so are most of the gas pumps.

Installing the transfer switch (like a Generac 6853 for example around $400new) will cost you some additional labor and supplies (minimal).

Good luck.

 

[EV Engineer]

Okay I am scratching the Ford Home Integration system. Too buggy and $$$$.

We all know when s*** hits the fan you want simple, dumb, reliable, redundant things. HIS seems too finnicky.

Thanks for the math lesson! Should've been an EE had I known the way all this tech was going! Certainly relearning some simple physics.

So a L2 charger, a neutral switched 240V manual Transfer switch and some wiring back to the main panel?

If my panel is up to date (how do I evaluate this ) I could anticipate 3-5k?


Also if the 240V is used are the other 120V outlets still available If not hitting the 7.2kW?

My monthly KWH usage is around 1000hours. So 30kWh a Day. I figure in conservation mode we could cut that down to 15KWh a day (5 days = 75kHW. ~20 to get the truck to safety). In a real bind 10KwH a day would get me 7 or 8 days. Incredible really.

I will have to math some more to figure out if AC is possible and how much I want to connect.

 

[EV Engineer]

9.2kWh is incredible also I'm realizing.

You begin to realize how close we are to infrastructure to support current quality of life even in power outages!

Imagine if a few neighbors or spouses have F150Lightning Or other V2H systems. Even in a real bind someone could 40 miles up the road to recharge. Brings back and L2 chargers the home base.

Although once 50,000 people in each town have this the wait time at the L3 charger will be long ha!

 

[chl]

Okay I am scratching the Ford Home Integration system. Too buggy and $$$$.

We all know when s*** hits the fan you want simple, dumb, reliable, redundant things. HIS seems too finnicky.

Thanks for the math lesson! Should've been an EE had I known the way all this tech was going! Certainly relearning some simple physics.

So a L2 charger, a neutral switched 240V manual Transfer switch and some wiring back to the main panel? YES

If my panel is up to date (how do I evaluate this ) I could anticipate 3-5k?

Maybe that question is about the L2 charger/EVSE? Your electrician could best answer that, but the idea is you'd need at least a 240V 60A breaker put in your panel for a 48A draw for the EVSE. Also the total continuous load on your panel at any given time should not exceed 80% of it's rating. So if you have a 200A service panel, you should not exceed 160A. A continuous load is anything that will run for 3 or more hours. So the L2 EVSE is a continuous load, but so are lights, and other things that are on for a long time, maybe your computer or tv set? I am on a time of day plan so I charge my Lightning Pro SR when the cost is the lowest from 1am to 5am - at that time, not much else is running except in summer when the AC might be on.

If it is about the transfer switch...The way the transfer switch works is it has breakers in it so you move the circuits to be powered by the Lightning into the transfer switch from the panel, the hots connected to the breakers and neutrals to a neutral bar. You put one 30A breaker in the panel to power the transferred circuits when the IS utility power. (see pdf manual attached) Your electrician should be able to tell you if your panel and other electrical circuits are compliant with the current electrical codes in your area.

Also if the 240V is used are the other 120V outlets still available If not hitting the 7.2kW?

Yes the other outlets 120V in the Lightning are available. The ones in the cab and the frunk I believe are powered by the other DC-AC inverter that provides the other 2.4Kw of the 9.6kW total. But the more you use the faster you will deplete the energy stored in the battery.

My monthly KWH usage is around 1000hours. So 30kWh a Day. I figure in conservation mode we could cut that down to 15KWh a day (5 days = 75kHW. ~20 to get the truck to safety). In a real bind 10KwH a day would get me 7 or 8 days. Incredible really.

The SR battery has 98kWh available when 100% charged. If you used the max power the transfer switch can supply 240V x 30A = 7.2kW, then reserving the 20kWh you could run for only (98-20)kWh/7.2kW = 10 hours. Cutting your usage down to some minimum emergency circuits is the way to go, obviously. Figuring out which things you want to power with the Lightning, and how much power they will use, ahead of setting up the transfer system is a must. One thing to remember, things with motors or a compressor (like the refrigerator)have an initial surge current at start up - and a lower running current.

I will have to math some more to figure out if AC is possible and how much I want to connect.

Yes there are on-line guides for standby generator systems you can refer to with how to calculate the loads. You could get some ideas from these:

https://www.thespruce.com/calculate-electrical-circuit-load-capacity-1152739
https://generatormart.com/pages/sizing-calculator

Most of your appliances should have a power use plate or label on them somewhere which can be helpful, or state their power requirements in their owners/use manual.

Good luck!

PS: I am an EE and Patent attorney. But not a licensed electrician. Consult a licensed electrician to do your install(s) - electricity can be dangerous to life and property.

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