PPOB "Unavailable"!

[dmd3home]

I posted several months ago about an issue where PPOB would shut down on its own apparently thinking it had reached its "reserve" setting....sometimes with, or without a warning. That issue has much improved....had it happen a couple times in the last several months. Since then I have been thrilled that a hidden update has given me the ability to run PPOB WITHOUT having to have the truck running! Yay Ford! Indeed, things are improving. But this latest issue has me baffled.....when I try to engage PPOB, I get "PPOB Unavailable" (see photo).

I'm a heavy user of PPOB, in fact, that's the reason I bought the truck. I use it to power my house in outages, power varies tools while working around the property, and, to charge my other EVs. It's a rolling power supply. The truck is charged via an off-grid solar array and so is constantly being charged when not in use and I can almost always be driving on "sun power".

But today I performed a rather large charge to my Tesla Y...from 30% to 79% (with no issues). I did need the Tesla so shut the charge down at 79% rather than the set 80%. This charge session drained the truck from 80% to about 25%.

Later in the day I returned and thought I'd continue charging the Tesla to 80%, but when I fired up the truck and went to PPOB it said "Vehicle must be Running" to use PPOB.....Wait, I had the update to allow it to supply power with the vehicle off. Why am I getting this?? It's worked great for months now! So, anyway, I "Run" the truck and again go to PPOB and now it says it is "Unavailable...try later" (see photo) ......why? I've never seen this before! I did remember that every time I started it fresh that I always had to again reset the reserve setting to 10 miles (it always defaults back to 60 miles on shut down) and, would have to again tell it to operate even when the "truck is off" (I do wish it would keep my settings). So perhaps at 25% it thought the reserve was too low to even start. Maybe?

But the problem was that with PPOB "Unavailable" I couldn't even get to a screen to change any settings....well, I could get to screens, and scroll down, but everything was greyed out so couldn't see or change any settings. See photos.

But I did think, well, if the truck thought the reserve was insufficient, I'll just charge the truck and get it to a high enough level that it would surpass the apparent (apparent because it doesn't show up on the greyed out screen) default reserve of 60 miles. So I charged it to 35% with an on-grid level 2 charger. This certainly gets the present range above the 60 mile reserve that I'm guessing it defaulted back to (again, the present setting isn't available on the screen).

I did, somewhere, get to a screen that said to reset PPOB read the manual. Well, I couldn't find anything in the manual about "resetting" PPOB other than a ground fault or overcurrent breaker trip. Oh, and note that I have nothing plugged in anywhere.

I thought maybe if I drove the truck things might reset so I drove a few miles, came back and tried again......same thing!

Anyone have any ideas on what's wrong here?

Thanks

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[TaxmanHog]

Just to confirm, when you tap the main PPOB switch, it fails to start and you get the series of messages noted above?

 

[dmd3home]

Yes. Although today I only seem to get a greyed out screen. But I do get a message on my phone from the app telling me that ppob is unavailable and to go to the Sync screen to reset it. Reset it? I don't see any reset...and, as I said, everything is greyed out anyway.
It would be nice to know what the inputs are to the "PPOB Unavailable" screen. And, "Try again later"? What's it waiting for?

 

[B177y]

I know this is an overused suggestion, but try disconnecting the 12 volt negative terminal for about 20 minutes and reconnect. Should drain and reboot all of the modules. See what happens.

 

[The Weatherman]

Or before the disconnect try doing a reset on the APIM. (Sync screen)

 

[dmd3home]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give that a try when I have time. But reset APIM? Not sure what that is. As I said, on the Sync screen on PPOB it is all greyed out....nothing active to view or change.

 

[MillieChliette]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give that a try when I have time. But reset APIM? Not sure what that is. As I said, on the Sync screen on PPOB it is all greyed out....nothing active to view or change.

To reset the sync system, hold next track and volume down on the steering wheel for 10 seconds with the vehicle on. You'll see the screen reboot.

 

[dmd3home]

Thanks to both of you for the suggestions.....I reset the 12v Battery/BMS and the Sync screen but still have the problem:

PPOB Unavailable Please try again later.

Interesting too, after reconnecting the battery I got 4 notifications on my phone saying that PPOB was unavailable and to reset it on the Sync screen.

Thanks

 

[chl]

My guesses are:
1) below a certain percent of HVB, the PPOB will be unavailable until the HVB is recharged and/or
2) the 12v battery has gotten too low, even if on a maintainer, a long run of PPOB could deplete it significantly.

So I recommend: recharge the HVB and let the 12v battery recharge as well (over night) then see what happens.

 

[dmd3home]

Thanks chl. I did have the same thoughts and am working on just that...though the hvb is now at 40%+ (though slowly charging on level 1 solar)....and certainly should be sufficient. The 12v is always on the maintainer and has been on charge with no load for over 24 hours (says full and has all through the PPOB cycle yesterday). There must be something else going on here. Again, what are the inputs to the "PPOB Unavailable Try Again Later" screen? That should steer us in the right direction.

 

[dmd3home]

Again, I'm hoping someone, somewhere can find out what the inputs are to the "ProPower Unavailable" screen. It's been 2 days and the problem hasn't gone away. The HV battery is at 60% and the 12v is fully charged. I've reset the 12v BMS and Sync screen. I've driven the truck a few times and I also have turned everything off, locked it and left it for several hours as someone suggested.

An interesting side note: when I select PPOB on the Sync screen I get a pop-up saying the truck has to be running. I haven't seen that screen since I got the update that allowed PPOB with the truck off.....why am I getting that again? That was fixed with the OTA update a few months back.
I'm also getting a phone notification that PPOB isn't available and to reset it on the Sync screen. Where do you reset it on the Sync screen? Besides, the PPOB on the Sync screen is dead....it's greyed out with no current settings or adjustments available. It's not an active screen.
Again, the best starting point would be to know what the inputs to the "PPOB Not Available" screen are. Does anyone have a suggestion on where to get that info? Where do I go from here?Brian?

 

[K6CCC]

Where do you reset it on the Sync screen?

To quickly reset the SYNC 4 screen on a Ford F-150 Lightning without losing your saved settings, perform a soft reboot by pressing and holding the Volume Down button and the Right Seek (forward) button on the steering wheel at the same time for about 10 seconds until the screen goes blank and restarts.

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