Power outlet are timing off after 6 minutes!

[Firn]

Also experiencing this and it's frustrating. Use case: Dometic CX7 series fridge in the frunk. This fridge can't suffer a power outage or food spoils.

All I want is for the outlets to function as advertised.

Vehicle Power Down Timer: OFF
Pro Power Onboard: ON
Frunk: ON
Keep on when vehicle is off: ON.
Pro power Reserve Selection: MANUAL, 10 MI.

With this behavior, the truck should allow the outlets to stay on when I turn the vehicle off, until I reach the Pro Power Reserve Setting of 10 miles.

It's annoying that the "Keep on when vehicle is off" setting resets to OFF after each power cycle, but I get it. But that's not the issue here.

When I'm powering a camper with a sustained air conditioning load constantly, it never powers off.
If I have the vehicle in ON or ACCESSORY mode, it never powers off.
This seems to only be an issue with "keep on when vehicle is off" set to ON, the vehicle is off, and load stays below ~90W for more than ~10 minutes.

Ford Engineers: Why not use outlet cover status as an indicator that there's a possible intermittent load connected, instead of relying on something that apparently doesn't have the capability of seeing a load under 90W?

There was another thread on this recently. I believe someone in there said that the order of key on, or door opening, preventing it from timing out.

Edit: never-ending
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/pro-power-onboard-overnight.28895/post-538083

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[xgonzo821]

Mine is doing the same thing. I have a camera plugged in and every morning I go to the vehicle, it’s off. I have the “Outlets Availability, Keep On When Vehicle is Off” selected. Doesn’t seem to work.
2024 Lariat.

 

[kubel]

My frunk fridge is a Dometic CX35 (variable speed compressor, typically 40W to 100W when compressor is on). When the compressor is running, the truck will not time out. But once it's cold, the compressor cycles off, and typically stays off for more than 10 minutes. PPO doesn't detect enough load to stay on, so it very happily kills the power, and my food in the fridge perishes.

My Lightning is a 2024 which supports PPO on while vehicle is off. When running, the truck never times out PPO (unless i hit the range threshold which i never have)

Proof of concept:
Techbee short-interval 120V timer (programmed to turn on for 2 seconds, off for 8 minutes).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BZ8LQFB

200V incandescent bulb as load. This ends up being about 20 watt-hours per day of running which is trivial.

The hope is that 2 seconds of 200W run time every 8 minutes is sufficient to convince the truck to keep PPO on. I'll let this run overnight and see where we are in the morning.

Let's see how this works.

 

[flyct]

My frunk fridge is a Dometic CX35 (variable speed compressor, typically 40W to 100W when compressor is on). When the compressor is running, the truck will not time out. But once it's cold, the compressor cycles off, and typically stays off for more than 10 minutes. PPO doesn't detect enough load to stay on, so it very happily kills the power, and my food in the fridge perishes.

My Lightning is a 2024 which supports PPO on while vehicle is off. When running, the truck never times out PPO (unless i hit the range threshold which i never have)

Proof of concept:
Techbee short-interval 120V timer (programmed to turn on for 2 seconds, off for 8 minutes).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BZ8LQFB

200V incandescent bulb as load. This ends up being about 20 watt-hours per day of running which is trivial.

The hope is that 2 seconds of 200W run time every 8 minutes is sufficient to convince the truck to keep PPO on. I'll let this run overnight and see where we are in the morning.

Let's see how this works.

good test. I’m very interested in the results. Thanks for sharing.

Some have stated that the timeout is 6 minutes of less than 90 watts. 8 minutes may be too long to defeat the timer and pp may turn off. you may want to change the off interval to perhaps 5 minutes.

Another limitation to be aware of, is when the front trunk is closed the power outlets are limited to, I believe, 400 watts.

 

[K6CCC]

Also interested in this test. Here's the other part to test (assuming this works), is a separate load required for the frunk / cab 2.4 KW inverter and the bed 7.2 KW inverter, or will one switched load like this keep both inverters from timing out?

 

[kubel]

good test. I’m very interested in the results. Thanks for sharing.

Some have stated that the timeout is 6 minutes of less than 90 watts. 8 minutes may be too long to defeat the timer and pp may turn off. you may want to change the off interval to perhaps 5 minutes.

Another limitation to be aware of, is when the front trunk is closed the power outlets are limited to, I believe, 400 watts.

You appear to be correct, 8 minutes off was too much and I woke up to a dead fridge. I reduced the "off" timer to 5 minutes and am testing again. This will increase power consumption per 24-hours to 32Wh, or aout 0.02% of the total capacity of the battery.

Good to know about the 400 watt limit while closed. I shouldn't be hitting that limit yet since combined I should be around 300W peak.

 

[kubel]

Also interested in this test. Here's the other part to test (assuming this works), is a separate load required for the frunk / cab 2.4 KW inverter and the bed 7.2 KW inverter, or will one switched load like this keep both inverters from timing out?

My expectation is the shutdown is not compartmentalized, it's global, but my tests are just testing frunk. I'll power on bed too and see if it shuts down separately.

 

[bmwhitetx]

This will increase power consumption per 24-hours to 32Wh, or aout 0.02% of the total capacity of the battery.

You said you connected a 200W light bulb. Maybe try 100W to cut the consumption in half.

 

[kubel]

Various scenarios. Test times are estimates. Load was on frunk.

Summary: It's not just a power threshold (minimum watts) in a given 6-minute window- it appears to also be looking at power used over time. Ford may be measuing energy (watt-hours) used in a 6-minute period, and not just simply watts.

A 200W load for 1 second every 5 minutes will keep PPO from timing out. But it takes a 170W load for 2 seconds every 5 minutes. A 100W load takes between 2-4 seconds every 5 minutes. I'm not sure how far this trend continues.

You may want this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4UVGHO (personal space heater)
https://www.amazon.com/Lasko-100-MyHeat-Personal-Heater/dp/B003XDTWN2 (another option)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BZ8LQFB (short interval timer)
Set the space heater to LOW, if Honeywell.
Plug the heater into the short interval timer. Set the timer to run 2 seconds and off for 5 minutes.
This will use about 0.02% of your total capacity (assuming extended range battery), plus losses, in a 24-hour period.

A space heater is more robust than a lightbulb. Another option is to charge a power bank or power tool battery so it's more of a multasker- but that will take some testing.


Test data summary for nerds like me with way too much time:
12-hour test: 8 minutes off with 2 second 200W load with bed off = shuts down
1-hour test: 5 minutes off with 2 second 200W load with bed off = stays on
1-hour test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 200W load with bed on = both stay on
30-min test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 60W load with bed on = both shut down
10-min test: 5 minutes off with 1 second unloaded with bed on (just intermittent timer running) = both shut down
10-min test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 100W load with bed off = shuts down

10-min re-test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 100W load with bed off = shuts down
(truck detected this load as 110W but still shut down).
10-min re-test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 200W load with bed off = stays on
(sanity check)
10-min test: 5 minutes off with 5 second 100W load with bed off = stays on
10-min test: 5 minutes off with 4 second 100W load with bed off = stays on
(I stopped short of finding the threshold because I don't like the idea of a glass light bulb, switched to a 170W heater after this)
15-min test: 5 minutes off with 2 second 170W load with bed off = stays on
15-min test: 5 minutes off with 1 second 170W load with bed off = shuts down

It's possible a 60W or 100W load running with 2+ seconds would work, but I've given up on the lightbulbs. Don't want glass smashed in my frunk anyway.

5 minutes off with a 2 second 170W personal space heater load appears to work fine and is a more robust solution. This is what I'm going with until Ford patches this defect (skeletonwaiting.jpg).

Hope this helps.

 

[K6CCC]

Thanks for all that testing! Interesting result.

 

[RLXXI]

I've got a 25 Flash and it's experiencing this same phenomenon with the outlets shutting down. I have a twin camera dash cam setup that I want to keep powered overnight but it shuts down about 6 mins or so. It's only pulling .25w in parking mode.

I don't want a quarter amp draw on the small 12v battery as that will cause issues, been there done that on my other truck.

 

[kubel]

I've got a 25 Flash and it's experiencing this same phenomenon with the outlets shutting down. I have a twin camera dash cam setup that I want to keep powered overnight but it shuts down about 6 mins or so. It's only pulling .25w in parking mode.

I don't want a quarter amp draw on the small 12v battery as that will cause issues, been there done that on my other truck.

You'll need to apply a load (~100W) once for a few seconds every 5 minutes to defeat Ford's auto-shutdown, or you'll need to keep the truck running. I suggest a short interval switch and a personal space heater.

Another option is to daisychain your dashcam to a power bank (that supports passthrough charging) which is plugged into the truck. Assuming you drive the truck once in a while, it will charge the bank, then the bank provides continious power to the dashcam.

 

[ET60]

I have a 2024 Lightning Platinum and am experiencing the same issue. I had a compact fridge plugged into the ProPower in the main cabin. I set the settings for the "outlets to stay on after vehicle is off", and for the Power Down Timer to be off. Despite this, all of the outlets turned off after 10 minutes. I read other forums where people suggested turning on all of the outlets, but that didn't work for me either. In earlier years, there was a "utility idle mode" that you needed to select, but that is supposedly built into the 2024+. I sent my truck to the Walnut Creek Ford dealership (CA) and they confirmed that it's shutting off at 10 minutes even with an electrical draw. They contacted Ford and the Engineers have not gotten back to them yet. I scheduled a virtual appointment with the "Discover Your Ford" personnel available off the Ford app. They said I needed to have the Utility Idle Mode activated, and if I didn't have the option to select it, then it wouldn't be able to use ProPower with the vehicle off. I showed them the numerous articles that said this was inaccurate, and they still said it was not available on my model. The Walnut Creek Ford dealership believes me and is still waiting to hear back from the Ford Engineers. It's been very frustrating.

 

[kubel]

I have a 2024 Lightning Platinum and am experiencing the same issue. I had a compact fridge plugged into the ProPower in the main cabin. I set the settings for the "outlets to stay on after vehicle is off", and for the Power Down Timer to be off. Despite this, all of the outlets turned off after 10 minutes. I read other forums where people suggested turning on all of the outlets, but that didn't work for me either. In earlier years, there was a "utility idle mode" that you needed to select, but that is supposedly built into the 2024+. I sent my truck to the Walnut Creek Ford dealership (CA) and they confirmed that it's shutting off at 10 minutes even with an electrical draw. They contacted Ford and the Engineers have not gotten back to them yet. I scheduled a virtual appointment with the "Discover Your Ford" personnel available off the Ford app. They said I needed to have the Utility Idle Mode activated, and if I didn't have the option to select it, then it wouldn't be able to use ProPower with the vehicle off. I showed them the numerous articles that said this was inaccurate, and they still said it was not available on my model. The Walnut Creek Ford dealership believes me and is still waiting to hear back from the Ford Engineers. It's been very frustrating.

There is no Utility Idle mode on the current software for Lightning.

Here's what you have to do if you want to run PPO with low or intermittent loads while the vehicle is off:

1. Have a 2024 or newer Lightning.
2. Disable the vehicle power down timer in Vehicle settings.
3. Turn on Pro Power Onboard.
4. Enable the compartments you want on.
5. Enable "Keep on when vehicle is off" setting.
6. Keep a minimum load (~100W for 4 seconds, ~170W for 2 seconds, or ~200W for 1 second) at least once every 5 minutes. You can do this with a short interval timer (example here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BZ8LQFB) along with a sufficient load (I recommend a 200W personal space heater).
7. Each time you shut down and power back on the truck, repeat step 5.

 

[spectacle]

I can think of multiple use cases in which there is either a low continuous draw (running lights, fans, or other small accessory while camping) or higher but intermittent draw that are less frequent than 6 mins (chainsaw example above, many work related uses, fridge freezer possibly). It’s hard to believe that in these cases it’s actually safer to leave the entire truck on and energized, although I don’t think it’s unsafe to leave the truck on. It’s our only option.

The biggest issue for me is that none of this is clearly explained in the manual or any other documentation, and thus I could plan some use cases assuming the truck could provide power, only to discover that my use case is not feasible due to truck timing out after 6 mins. I am thankful for this thread because otherwise I would have likely been completely baffled on my next camping trip.

Speaking of baffles on a camping trip; I did NOT research this before our recent week in Glacier because the UI is so clear. Thanks to you all I now understand what was very confounding in the campsite! I agree with those who have said that instructions in the UI (or at least in the manual) should explain the details. It’s not fair to make dozens of users figure out the configuration on their own!

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