Pro Power reserve limit fails

[TaxmanHog]

But, still, the 12v battery could be the problem. Research is continuing! Thanks for your thoughts.

The DC/DC converter should be maintaining the LVB {12v} normally in full run mode.

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[chl]

The DC/DC converter should be maintaining the LVB {12v} normally in full run mode.

Yes, it should, but...when the current draw is high-ish, it still needs the battery...which is basically why short-trip driving and parasitic drains kill batteries over time even in ICE vehicles - they never really get topped off.

My last experiment seems to suggest that the power down timer kicked in with the truck ON after I switched from PPOB with truck OFF to truck powered ON - the PPOB quit after 30 minutes.

Whenever I have the 240V 30A outlet in use, the power down timer always defaults to OFF without my intervention which I always confirm by looking at the truck menu screen.

I can turn the power down timer back ON from there if I want to, but that would be dumb since when using the PPOB I set a reserve limit already which defaults to 10 miles so I don't want the power down timer to kick in and override the reserve.

So my guess is that the OTA update in question 'glitched' the power down timer control.

IMHO the reserve setting should override any power down timer anyway, not the other way around.

 

[chl]

While running another test of the PPOB with the truck OFF, I accidentally touched the climate button on the FORD app screen and the whole thing shut down...PPOB shut off that is.

Went to the truck, turned it ON and restarted PPOB. No error message or ground fault.

I was not running a large load on the PPOB well under 1000W.

I am able to turn the truck ON after running PPOB with the truck OFF without any problem/shutdown.

I suppose this is another bug.

 

[K6CCC]

While running another test of the PPOB with the truck OFF, I accidentally touched the climate button on the FORD app screen and the whole thing shut down...PPOB shut off that is.

I will have to test that this afternoon. I have PPOB on with about a 50 watt load for about 16 hours. I do have the truck on L2 charge at this time. Note that I have observed one change sometime or another. A 50 watt load on PPOB is resulting in PPOB with the truck off NOT timing out. I thought in the past it took a higher continuous load to keep PPOB running.

 

[chl]

I will have to test that this afternoon. I have PPOB on with about a 50 watt load for about 16 hours. I do have the truck on L2 charge at this time. Note that I have observed one change sometime or another. A 50 watt load on PPOB is resulting in PPOB with the truck off NOT timing out. I thought in the past it took a higher continuous load to keep PPOB running.

The shut down when I accidentally touched climate with the PPOB ON and the truck OFF turned the heated seat ON full blast (all bars).
I never use it that high.
I am guessing the heated seat uses the HVB.
The HVB also powers the inverters that run PPOB.
So I guess there would be an uptick in the HVB usage.

Why that would cause the PPOB to shut off before the reserve was met is a mystery.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I am guessing the heated seat uses the HVB.

It's powered by the 12v LVB system.

 

[K6CCC]

Confirmed, PPOB on with a 50 watt load for the past 16 hours or so with truck plugged into L2 charging.

Turned on Climate and PPOB turned off.

I wish I could turn PPOB back on from the phone...

 

[chl]

It's powered by the 12v LVB system.

Thanks for the info - I had seen conflicting info about which was powering it.

That it is the 12v system lends credence to the idea that these PPOB premature shut downs are a result of the 12v system having a low SOC and off loading the PPOB.

The weird thing is it happens when the truck is ON.

I just ran another test today - started with the truck OFF and the PPOB ON.
After about 6 hours, I turned the truck ON.
About/exactly 1/2 hour later the PPOB shut OFF abruptly at 187 miles range before the 120 mile reserve was met.
No warning message about approaching the reserve this time either.

I will do a bug report on these last two premature shut downs now that Ford is monitoring the truck and hope that they can solve it.

Running the PPOB with the truck OFF might be draining the 12v battery so that when the truck is turned back ON the 30 minute power down time gets activated.

I did look to see if the power down timer was still OFF when I first turned the truck back ON after the 6 hours with the truck OFF, and the power down timer was OFF according to the truck menu screen anyway. PPOB ran another 30 minutes and then shut down.

The fact that both times it happened to me it was 30 minutes after the truck was turned back ON makes me suspect the power down timer and the 12v battery system.

Other people have had premature shut downs WITHOUT using the Truck OFF and PPOB ON, but they may have weak 12v batteries.

Anyway, this was a recent problem after one of the OTAs earlier this year.

And so far it only seems to have affected our 2023 Pro trim.

 

[chl]

Just did three bug reports for the issue using the truck voice recording method.

Two for the premature PPOB shut downs on May 29 and May 31 and one for the shut down when I touched the Climate button on the FORD app. and it shut PPOB down.

Hopefully @Ford Motor Company can get to the bottom of this and institute a fix...soon?

 

[chl]

Alas, I will have to do the test again.

I was just informed that apparently one has to report the bug by sending a recorded message in the truck IMMEDIATELY after it happens, and I waited until the next day.

Event: May 31, 2026, 8:21pm.
Report: June1, 2026, afternoon sometime.

And all the time I thought Ford had a data stream they could look at if I gave them the time and date it happened.

What can I say?

 

[chl]

I ran some more tests today, 6/6/26.
I had an idea about the power down timer and wanted to test it.
What I did and what happened was;
---
Plug cord into bed 240V 30A outlet
Turn truck ON
Message asks if I want to power bed outlet?
I say YES, and the bed outlet turns ON
A message says it will run until reserve is met
I check and the Power Down Timer is OFF
----
Plug cord into bed 240V 30A outlet
Turn truck ON
Message asks if I want to power bed outlet?
This time I say NO, on bed outlet does NOT turn ON
I check and the Power Down Timer is ON
I go to PPOB menu and turn the bed outlet ON
I check and the Power Down Timer is now OFF
---
So if the truck is ON and the PPOB is ON, the power down timer automatically turns OFF
----
But in either case, if I activate the PPOB when truck is off
and turn the truck OFF, when I turn the truck back ON,
the Power Down Timer is now ON and the truck
will shut down after 30 minutes.

Unless I reactivate the PPOB when truck is off setting
that will turn the PPOB OFF as well when the truck powers down after 30 minutes.
----
I knew the PPOB when truck is off setting would reset every time the truck cycles
but I did not expect the Power Down Timer to come back ON as well
since the 240V 30A bed outlet was still in use and a reserve was set.
----
I think that explains the premature shut-downs of PPOB that
occurred 30 minutes after turning the truck back on I
experienced.

It does not explain the random PPOB and truck shut downs
that the other forum members experienced - they do not have
the PPOB when truck is off feature enabled.

However, those premature shut downs might be attributed to a low 12v battery SOC
and a battery saver power down event.

I keep my 12v battery on a maintainer all of the time the truck
is not in use since mid-2024 so I have not had any power
downs due to low 12v battery SOC.

And it is possible that the one or two times when I had PPOB shut down not on the
30 minute schedule may have been when I forgot to plug in the battery maintainer
and may have let the 12v battery SOC get below a threshold level.

It seems to me it would make more sense to keep the power
down timer OFF any time while the PPOB 240V 30A bed outlet is in use
and a reserve is set even if the truck has been turned off then
back on.

However, now that I am aware of that, I can make sure to turn it off myself.

There is still the Climate button related PPOB shut down to
explain and watch out for - while PPOB is ON and the truck is OFF, if I touch the CLIMATE button in the Ford APP the PPOB shuts down.

 

[dmd3home]

OK, I am back in California and able to resume troubleshooting the PPOB issues. Again, are these issues only with the 2023 pro versions? Anyone else with a different model and having these problems please chime in so we can better identify specifically where the problem is.....why would this issue only be with the 2023 Pro SR model? What makes it different?

Anyway, back to it, today I used PPOB to charge my PHEV BMW. My truck, since it's not modified, is required to be "ON" inorder to use PPOB. So I turned it on and turned the headlights off (in my shop, in auto, they want to be on) and then set the reserve to 50 mi. The HV battery was at 95%, 215 miles. I also had the truck on level 1 charging off my offgrid solar at 1.1kW. Additionally I had the 12v on a maintainer and a voltmeter on the 12v battery. The maintainer said "FULL" and the voltmeter showed 13.06V.

I turned on the bed outlets on the truck and plugged in a level 2 charger into the 240V bed outlet and then into the BMW at 12:15pm.

I began charging the BMW at 3.7kW.

I checked on it every 30 mins or so and was happy to see it all working as it should. I was especially curious about the 12V battery but was pleased to see that the battery maintainer always read "FULL" and the battery voltage never dropped below 13.04V.

To get to the point here, the PPOB worked just as it was supposed to....it never shut down and at 2:16pm the BMW was fully charged. Perfect!!! 2 hours and one minute and it didn't shut down!
But, I too suspect that the past problems have been due to issues with the 12v battery. The next time I try this I will not connect the 12v battery maintainer and closely monitor the voltage.

Especially on an unmodified 23 that requires the truck to be "ON", I suspect it will have a larger draw on the 12v drawing it down further and perhaps causing problems.

But another thought I had was....what if I used a PPOB frunk 120v outlet to power the battery maintainer while using PPOB out of the bed? Theoretically this would ensure the 12v battery was always fully charged while using PPOB. This is but a workaround, as the truck should take care of this on its own, but, in the meantime, it could make our lives easier.

But, again, I want to emphasize that the PPOB spontaneously shutting down was never an issue until the 25.2xxxx Blue Cruise/Sirius radio OTA (which I don't believe us 23 pros should have even gotten) was installed. Something in that update "broke" our trucks.

 

[TaxmanHog]

So if the truck is ON and the PPOB is ON, the power down timer automatically turns OFF

Quite a while ago I noticed this as well, from prior understanding I might have inadvertently switched it back to ON status as well, now I just check to verify that the 30 minute timer is off.

 

[chl]

OK, I am back in California and able to resume troubleshooting the PPOB issues. Again, are these issues only with the 2023 pro versions? Anyone else with a different model and having these problems please chime in so we can better identify specifically where the problem is.....why would this issue only be with the 2023 Pro SR model? What makes it different?

Anyway, back to it, today I used PPOB to charge my PHEV BMW. My truck, since it's not modified, is required to be "ON" inorder to use PPOB. So I turned it on and turned the headlights off (in my shop, in auto, they want to be on) and then set the reserve to 50 mi. The HV battery was at 95%, 215 miles. I also had the truck on level 1 charging off my offgrid solar at 1.1kW. Additionally I had the 12v on a maintainer and a voltmeter on the 12v battery. The maintainer said "FULL" and the voltmeter showed 13.06V.

I turned on the bed outlets on the truck and plugged in a level 2 charger into the 240V bed outlet and then into the BMW at 12:15pm.

I began charging the BMW at 3.7kW.

I checked on it every 30 mins or so and was happy to see it all working as it should. I was especially curious about the 12V battery but was pleased to see that the battery maintainer always read "FULL" and the battery voltage never dropped below 13.04V.

To get to the point here, the PPOB worked just as it was supposed to....it never shut down and at 2:16pm the BMW was fully charged. Perfect!!! 2 hours and one minute and it didn't shut down!
But, I too suspect that the past problems have been due to issues with the 12v battery. The next time I try this I will not connect the 12v battery maintainer and closely monitor the voltage.

Especially on an unmodified 23 that requires the truck to be "ON", I suspect it will have a larger draw on the 12v drawing it down further and perhaps causing problems.

But another thought I had was....what if I used a PPOB frunk 120v outlet to power the battery maintainer while using PPOB out of the bed? Theoretically this would ensure the 12v battery was always fully charged while using PPOB. This is but a workaround, as the truck should take care of this on its own, but, in the meantime, it could make our lives easier.

But, again, I want to emphasize that the PPOB spontaneously shutting down was never an issue until the 25.2xxxx Blue Cruise/Sirius radio OTA (which I don't believe us 23 pros should have even gotten) was installed. Something in that update "broke" our trucks.

It could just have been a coincidence I suppose, the OTA and the problem? We don't know all the details in these OTA's, so it is a possibility.

"We’ve made some disk space enhancements to ensure optimal performance of your vehicle’s SiriusXM service (if applicable)."

Hard to imagine "disk space enhancements" causing PPOB issues unless it altered some storage area used for that somehow, caused regular 12v battery usage, or changed something in the APIM module used for both?

When I enable the PPOB with truck off, I change 2 lines in the APIM, and I know that if you change the ACM with one that supports SiriusXM you have to make a change to the APIM.

I have been reporting all my tests to Ford - they have a team looking at it and we have exchanged emails.
They would like me to keep doing tests, so I will do some more until they tell me to stop.
I think the 'token' lasts for at least a month.

With your truck ON, the DC-DC converter is supposed to be providing adequate power to the 12v system and the battery. If it is not, then either there is a problem or the battery has a low SOC.

But if when the truck is ON the DC-DC converter is preventing the 12v battery from being deeply discharged, why would we need a shut down timer at all?

The truck systems could be using more power than being supplied by the DC-DC and the battery if the battery SOC was low or the current draw was high for some reason then a battery saver message might be issued or even a power down to save the 12v battery.

There have been reports of getting the battery saver message and power down while the truck is ON meaning the DC-DC converter isn't handling the load.

Before I started using a maintainer I got one of those messages briefly but not a power down, and an OTA failed.

Since using a maintainer daily I have not had the battery message.

Because of my set up I do not keep the truck on the maintainer while running a PPOB backup of my house.- my maintainer is on a circuit that is not powered by the truck, so it is either unpowered in an outage or powered by the utility during a test. When powered by the utility it could cause a ground loop and ground fault if connected to the truck battery which is bonded to the truck ground.

I could move it to the Frunk outlet if needed with a bit of effort relocating cords.
Maybe I will try that in one of my next tests.

I could use FORscan to disable the 30 minute power down timer which is turned ON every time the truck cycles so I don't forget to manually disable it when running PPOB with the truck ON or forget to enable the PPOB with truck OFF toggle.

It is there to prevent draining the 12v battery completely as I understand it if the truck is left on 'accidentally' or with an ICe vehicle so a buildup of CO is avoided from an idling engine. This was a feature in model years PRIOR to the Lightning introduction so not just an EV feature.

FORD:

"Before your vehicle shuts down, a message appears in the instrument cluster display showing a timer counting down from 30 seconds. If you do not intervene within 30 seconds, your vehicle shuts down.
After the shutdown, another message appears in the instrument cluster display to inform you that your vehicle has shut down in order to save battery energy.
Start your vehicle as normal."

But if when the truck is ON the DC-DC converter is preventing the 12v battery from being deeply discharged, why would we need a shut down timer.

 

[chl]

The DC/DC converter should be maintaining the LVB {12v} normally in full run mode.

Yes, but...if when the truck is ON the DC-DC converter is adequately maintaining the 12v battery from being deeply discharged, why would it need a shut down timer to avoid over-discharging the 12v battery?

Seems like Ford knows it doesn't do a good job.

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