Intelligent backup power issues/unreliable

[hturnerfamily]

this conversation bolsters my own decision to go the simple route and bypass all this 'need' for equipment and 'data connections' just to make use of ProPower for my home... I'm comfortable with electricity, and maybe most are not, but mine works flawlessly. It just works.

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[chl]

Hi, to preface my background is as a former master electrician/solar installer, I did this, install myself and purposefully tried to keep all of my wiring behind the wall to limit the amount of surface mount conduit‘s to the equipment.. Currently I am the CTO for a start up solar product. So troubleshooting is natural to me, but this feels more like a software issue.

I installed my intelligent back up system, and I have had nothing but unreliability, glitches, issues and it feels like it comes back to either an issue with the truck or communication between it and the pro charger.

Yesterday, through the FordPass app, I noticed it said the intelligent power couldn’t function because of a fault inside of the truck. This morning when I went to leave, my main odometer display was blank so I couldn’t tell how fast I would be going, I disconnected the battery and reconnected it that worked however then the frunk wouldn’t close so I manually closed it. And in that process of resetting by disconnecting the battery, the “truck fault” alert on my FordPass app did disappear, so I thought what better time to try another utility outage simulation…

Funny enough after waiting around for about 4 mins 2.5x the normal time it did transfer power, but then it kicked back off after 15 seconds and gave an option on the truck display to “start” the power transfer which never worked.

Ever since installing the intelligent backup system I have gotten it to work roughly 5% of the time in simulated utility power outages. Every thing else has been failed attempts.

Dear Ford, please have one of your software engineers reach out, I would really like to understand more of the software digital handshakes and see if we can simplify this and speed up the transfer. Sometimes less is more. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work.

There have been a lot of issues like the ones you are having - some indication that it is the blue tooth communication between the truck and the backup power unit, there were YouTube videos about it as well.

It is were me, an MSCEE, I'd use the 240vac output from the bed and a transfer switch (with switched unbonded neutral) for backup power to the house. Have to switch the neutrals because the neutral in the bed is bonded/grounded and will trip the GFCI breaker otherwise.

Of course its a manual system that way, but much simpler, less to go wrong, no software to worry about, or blue tooth drop-outs.

Good luck - I have read a lot of posts without a lot of help being forthcoming from Ford (or Sunrun who some people used to install).

 

[Ford Motor Company]

Hi, to preface my background is as a former master electrician/solar installer, I did this, install myself and purposefully tried to keep all of my wiring behind the wall to limit the amount of surface mount conduit‘s to the equipment.. Currently I am the CTO for a start up solar product. So troubleshooting is natural to me, but this feels more like a software issue.

I installed my intelligent back up system, and I have had nothing but unreliability, glitches, issues and it feels like it comes back to either an issue with the truck or communication between it and the pro charger.

Yesterday, through the FordPass app, I noticed it said the intelligent power couldn’t function because of a fault inside of the truck. This morning when I went to leave, my main odometer display was blank so I couldn’t tell how fast I would be going, I disconnected the battery and reconnected it that worked however then the frunk wouldn’t close so I manually closed it. And in that process of resetting by disconnecting the battery, the “truck fault” alert on my FordPass app did disappear, so I thought what better time to try another utility outage simulation…

Funny enough after waiting around for about 4 mins 2.5x the normal time it did transfer power, but then it kicked back off after 15 seconds and gave an option on the truck display to “start” the power transfer which never worked.

Ever since installing the intelligent backup system I have gotten it to work roughly 5% of the time in simulated utility power outages. Every thing else has been failed attempts.

Dear Ford, please have one of your software engineers reach out, I would really like to understand more of the software digital handshakes and see if we can simplify this and speed up the transfer. Sometimes less is more. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work.

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your Lightning concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

 

[ElectroJames]

Hi there, I'd be happy to look into your Lightning concerns on my end. Will you send us a message with your VIN and dealership info? I can look into things on my end.

Awesome! Thanks, and I just sent you a message.

 

[Kman]

Tom Moloughney from State of Charge is the only one I have seen that has gotten this to work successfully. I follow Nicki's channel from Transport Evolved, she seems to be in the same boat as the rest of us. If they can't get her system working as an EV journalist, I feel there is little hope for the rest of us.
@fordmotorcompany, I'm happy to send you my VIN# and dealer info if your willing to look.
VIN# 1FTVW1EV5PWG07467
Dealer# 370879 Midway Ford in Miami Florida

 

[djwildstar]

I'm in the same boat as well. I'm located near Atlanta Georgia. I've had my truck since mid-May, and the HIS installed since June. I initially got a bad FCSP, and got that replaced and installed by early July. With the new FCSP, I was able to get it online, get the HIS inverter and FCSP software updated, and make a connection between the FCSP and the truck. The system has always said that the HIS is "not ready" in both FordPass and on the truck's screens. I have called SunRun about this issue, and they said it was because the system wasn't (yet) registered; they took my information and promised that it would be ready by mid-July.

When simulating a power-outage (by throwing the main breaker), I can hear the contractor in the HIS cut over, and the lights on the FCSP go green. In the M-Power app, the HIS shows that it is cut over to the inverter and is awaiting power from the truck. The screen on the truck shows that it is attempting to start a power transfer. In some cases, I even get the display showing power transferred from the truck, but it always shows 0, and then immediately ends with a fault message. I also called Ford about this issue, and was told in late July that it would be addressed by a software update "in the next week or so".

The FCSP has since disappeared from my network. Hopefully this means that it got a software update -- the last updated took it off-line. I had to perform a reset using the internal button to get it back on the network and then re-pair it to my truck. I will attempt to get it reset and back on-line in the next day or three, so we'll see how that goes.

I apologize if this is piling on, but I've also sent a PM to @fordmotorcompany. This system's been installed for weeks, and has never worked.

 

[ElectroJames]

I'm in the same boat as well. I'm located near Atlanta Georgia. I've had my truck since mid-May, and the HIS installed since June. I initially got a bad FCSP, and got that replaced and installed by early July. With the new FCSP, I was able to get it online, get the HIS inverter and FCSP software updated, and make a connection between the FCSP and the truck. The system has always said that the HIS is "not ready" in both FordPass and on the truck's screens. I have called SunRun about this issue, and they said it was because the system wasn't (yet) registered; they took my information and promised that it would be ready by mid-July.

When simulating a power-outage (by throwing the main breaker), I can hear the contractor in the HIS cut over, and the lights on the FCSP go green. In the M-Power app, the HIS shows that it is cut over to the inverter and is awaiting power from the truck. The screen on the truck shows that it is attempting to start a power transfer. In some cases, I even get the display showing power transferred from the truck, but it always shows 0, and then immediately ends with a fault message. I also called Ford about this issue, and was told in late July that it would be addressed by a software update "in the next week or so".

The FCSP has since disappeared from my network. Hopefully this means that it got a software update -- the last updated took it off-line. I had to perform a reset using the internal button to get it back on the network and then re-pair it to my truck. I will attempt to get it reset and back on-line in the next day or three, so we'll see how that goes.

I apologize if this is piling on, but I've also sent a PM to @fordmotorcompany. This system's been installed for weeks, and has never worked.

Yeah, I actually think that there’s a lot more of us in the same boat than even realize, some people had sun run, install their systems, and they probably think that everything’s good to go, but have an actually simulated a power outage. It’s kind of sad that Ford continues to sell a product that doesn’t work and a lot of these people are spending $10-$15,000 to have those installed.
I was fortunate enough to be a master electrician, and install my own saving a lot of money!

I hate to say this, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and I feel like we all need to start standing up and being squeaky wheels find some Youtubers to get behind it. FORD probably doesn’t want to hear that, but it is what it is.

I did a questionnaire in the Ford lightning Facebook group and found that there was only one person that thinks their system functions properly but he hasn’t simulated a couple outages back to back to back, so probably looking at 100% of all customers having a non functioning

@fordmotorcompany wake up and put more resources towards this please.

BTW I absolutely love driving my truck, they knocked that part out of the park. But partnering with SunRun and Delta, was a bad move.

 

[Jim Lewis]

But partnering with SunRun and Delta, was a bad move.

But it was Ford engineers who designed the system from "off-the-shelf" parts and should bear the ultimate responsibility for releasing it before it was thoroughly tested and debugged in real-world situations rather than letting buyers beta test the design. The buck has to stop with Ford, IMHO. Sunrun is just a distributor/installer, AFAIK.

 

[smandel]

This is Steven in las Cruces NM and my system will not work as well. I had a solar contractor finish installing the HIS about 2 weeks ago and AC Couple to about 5k of existing solar. It seems like the only way to use the system at this point is to install a battery and connect it directly to the BDI E10 inverter until I can get the Lightning to power the home.

At this point we have done and rechecked all wiring. We Commissioned our BDI E10 Inverter, registered the Charge Station Pro, and paired the Lightning App, the Charge Station Pro and my phone Ford pass App. It was not easy to get this far since the signal was intermittent at best. We have had conversations with Ford, Sunrun, and Delta and were told that a new software update maybe coming in the future to seemingly solve the problems we did have and also have now getting the system to operate.

Nothing in the information I received told me that the charger should go by the right rear door because of communication problems or I might of been able to make that happen prior to spending the money to place it in front of the vehicle.

Currently I have two cases in play with Ford waiting for a reply:
1. To get the HIS system functional.
2. To get the Ford Charge Station Pro to put out the 19.2 KWH it is advertised to do. I currently only puts out a maximum 10KWH. Yes, the dial is set on 7 within the unit (80 amps) and I have discharged the vehicle down to 22% before plugging it in. It seems like I might get a new charger but am waiting for a reply on that happening.

I am a little discouraged by the fact that this system has been out since 2022 and a fix has not been forwarded. I had heard that the software upgrade on Bluetooth power was to happen in July and then pushed to September and maybe beyond.

Im wondering if the problem is that there are so few of us that have bought the HIS and it's not a priority currently. My serial number on my Inverter is below a 100 and I got the equipment in June.

I am posting my pictures that I have if anyone has advice. The one thought I had is there a way for us to boast the communication of the bluetooth. Antennas, wire, repeater, etc???

 

[ElectroJames]

But it was Ford engineers who designed the system from "off-the-shelf" parts and should bear the ultimate responsibility for releasing it before it was thoroughly tested and debugged in real-world situations rather than letting buyers beta test the design. The buck has to stop with Ford, IMHO. Sunrun is just a distributor/installer, AFAIK.

Ok this

@fordmotorcompany this is another customer with a non-functioning system. I think the new thing to do is actually find a customer that has a functioning system, because I truly believe there is not one single one in the United States.

How is this OK by any standards, you can’t mass produce a product that does not work and sell it to the public there should be some sort of laws that prevent this from happening, I hate to be that guy, but somebody’s got to stand up for us, and make a stink.

 

[v2h8484]

Tom Moloughney from State of Charge is the only one I have seen that has gotten this to work successfully.

I watched the video and he basically stated that he would not have gotten HIS due to the cost and complexity but he did it to make a video for his viewers. That's not exactly an endorsement.

 

[smandel]

Just heard from Customer care that an update was just released for the Pro Charger that might help... Anybody with any additional info??

 

[Major Dawg]

This is the same thing most of us (all of us) who put our faith in (Sunrun/Ford) to provide a market-ready quality product for customers to buy, install, and use.

In most product launches engineering and marketing teams generally listen to what the Product Quality Test team has to say about "Market readiness".

As a software/hardware Quality Test Engineer, this product would never have made it past the final qualification stage to be released for our company.

Yes, sometimes companies release a wet product using the "80-20" rule - 80% of customers will never experience the known issue. In this case (data from this forum) it is 100% of the customers that are experiencing the same issue that is preventing the product from working as designed/intended.

The quality/reliability is just not there.

I'm sorry you too are experiencing this pain.

I had to chop this 10 min video down to 1 min to keep it small enough to upload, sorry for the chopped up flow

 

[TaxmanHog]

HIS owners, check your FCSP settings, hopefully you're seeing a new software version as discussed in this thread.

Possibly there are improvements that impact the HIS operation??????
Possibly you might have updates for those systems??
{ I do not have one, nor know how you would determine if updates were made to its firmware}

 

[GoodSam]

Bump for @Ford Motor Company - see above since you last posted:

@fordmotorcompany this is another customer with a non-functioning system.

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