Pro Power Onboard - preferences?

[Robocop]

Question for the club:

I saw a youtube video where some guy was talking about efficiency and whatnot and his hot tip for owners was, among other things, to turn Pro Power Onboard "OFF" every time claiming there are gains to be had. He claimed he measured and tested it, and the results were supposedly conclusive. [though I imagine the gains are negligible]

I have omitted the guy's preferences on sport mode and 1pd on purpose to avoid the usual tangential arguments over whether sport/non sport or 1pd / normal is more efficient. I am only asking about Pro Power Onboard.

I'll admit he's in my head now so I switch it off every time.

For those of us not using the feature regularly, what are your preferences? On? Off?

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[RickLightning]

I think that claim is baloney.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

I would like to see that person do another test with driving 1mph slower and see if it's more than turning off the Pro Power. I would bet it's a lot more.....

 

[hturnerfamily]

I think it also depends on what you mean by 'ProPower ON'...

- is anything plugged in, even without any current power draw

- is anything turned ON, and/or actually USING any power

- are we referring to BOTH of the Inverters...front 120v(Frunk/cab)
and the optional rear 240v(bed)

Technically, if either of the Inverters are ACTIVE, then yes, it is going to draw even the slightest minimum power, and yes, therefore will contribute to slightly more battery usage... although yes, probably NOT noticeable in any real-world way...

 

[Heliian]

All we need to know is the draw of the idle inverters. Unlikely its as enough to tip the scales of you making your destination.

 

[Newton]

On my Lariat SR, on at ’idle’ with no load attached to the inverters (this is important) I used .31 kW with Pro Power off and .44 kW with all outlets on. That is .13 kWh if you leave all of the inverters on for one hour, or slightly over 1/3 of a mile loss in range if you leave the inverters on for one hour at my current 2.7 mi/kWh efficiency.

If you had a small load you might use a bit more if it forces the inverters to go out of “idle” mode.

So yeah, if you leave them on for a six hour drive you might lose two miles of range. If you are stuck somewhere potentially for a very long time and you want to keep the climate control running as long as possible (which will be days) then turn off the Pro Power.

Otherwise, do I care? I just went to Seattle and back (160 miles) starting at about 99% power and am now back at home 38% and 96 miles of range. On my long trips to California I generally plan my charging stops around where I want to stop rather than need - especially now that we can stop at Tesla. I have a standard range battery and it is just not an issue.

 

[nate002]

The peace of mind I gain by leaving pro power on all day while I'm at work overrides any perceived gains not using it.

I use the 120v adapter for a dual channel dash cam front/rear on in sentry (parking) mode so that it feeds from the big battery and not kill the little one. Has built in event detection, just bump the truck and it starts recording, well it's actually recording all the time but only saves events, motion/impact detection.

Last event worthy of speaking about was a police chase thru our parking lot all around my old truck and not one scratch, lol dodged a dodge err bullet technically well yeah a dodge being hotly pursued, kind of reminds me of the keystone cops.



So yeah, I'm leaving my dash cams on all day while I'm away if for nothing more than the entertainment factor. oh and yeah it eats about 1% of the hvb, I'll take that any day and twice on Sunday.

When you say you use a 120v adapter, do you mean you’re hooking your 12v plug from your dash cam into the adapter and then plugging that in the 120v socket to make sure it stays on all day? I have issues with my 12v “cigarette lighter” plug not being on all the time.

 

[Adventureboy]

I have a 2023 so the truck must be on for PPOB like your 2022. I have not noticed any reduction in range whatsoever if I run PPOB in the bed, which is the big inverter, and must be turned on to use. Small Frunk/cabin inverter starts in the ON state. Of course, there is a measurable impact if you get out the test equipment, but it is so small compared to driving that it is negligible for most.

 

[Robocop]

I have a 2023 so the truck must be on for PPOB like your 2022. I have not noticed any reduction in range whatsoever if I run PPOB in the bed, which is the big inverter, and must be turned on to use. Small Frunk/cabin inverter starts in the ON state. Of course, there is a measurable impact if you get out the test equipment, but it is so small compared to driving that it is negligible for most.

Thank you for this thoughtful and helpful reply. I feel a bit silly now. The extra step in the startup routine was getting annoying and I have found the 'button' to be extremely fiddly / sensitive. I appreciate everyone's input as well. I need to just stop it and let it go.

 

[K6CCC]

Not sure on the 24 but on my 2025, I have a toggle on screen to keep ppob turned on with vehicle turned off.

MY 2024 is the same way. On screen toggle to keep PPOB turned on after shutting off the truck.

 

[Adventureboy]

MY 2024 is the same way. On screen toggle to keep PPOB turned on after shutting off the truck.

Yep - early adopters are still hoping for that OTA update @Ford Motor Company

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Any inverter that is 'on' ie producing 120/240AC from a DC source is using some idle current to do so, even if there are zero AC loads.
The best inverter equipment has very low idle current draw, while cheap stuff uses quite a lot.
My very first 6kW inverter I bought for solar-battery system had 80W idle current - 1.9kWh per 24 hour day!
Better equipment like Victron sells can be around 10-20W idle current.
I suspect the two truck inverters are pretty low idle current, not zero thou, unless you switch them off.

 

[RedLightning86]

Pro power sucks down 400 watts an hour if you are converting to AC. BETTER OFF getting a Jackery or other lithium battery instead of killing miles of charge before you even talk about whatever you are powering, at least while camping. If you are charging frequently it wont matter

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Pro power sucks down 400 watts an hour

Was "400W' idle confirmed somewhere?

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