Home Integration System - Does Sunrun need to coordinate with the local Utility?

[LabPower]

As several others have noted, it's been quite the experience working with Sunrun to have the Home Integration System installed. At some point I'll write up the entire experience to assist others going this route but for now I have a question for anyone that has gone through this with Sunrun. Does Sunrun need to coordinate with the local utility to complete the installation? We had most, if not all of the equipment installed by Sunrun a couple months ago but it is not fully operational. Sunrun is claiming that they are waiting on the local utility. Has anyone else run across this?

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[shadycoh]

it depends if they have to access the main lines connected to the meter.

If you have enough supply and your braker box can handle the large amps needed then they should not have to be involved.

It might also depend where you live,.


actually with it being able to send juice back into the system It may well have to involve the utilities

 

[RTanton]

As several others have noted, it's been quite the experience working with Sunrun to have the Home Integration System installed. At some point I'll write up the entire experience to assist others going this route but for now I have a question for anyone that has gone through this with Sunrun. Does Sunrun need to coordinate with the local utility to complete the installation? We had most, if not all of the equipment installed by Sunrun a couple months ago but it is not fully operational. Sunrun is claiming that they are waiting on the local utility. Has anyone else run across this?

We are currently working with SunRun to install the home back up system. Our city required that the local utility needed to disconnect power for their panel upgrade. This inspite of a disconnect switch that was installed with our first solar panel system from Sunpower. The home integration system is new to Sunrun and it is obvious they are struggling. We began our installation process in June and is not yet functional.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I hate to use the word disaster, but neither SunRun nor Ford has ANY idea how to make this process OR the technology work correctly. I despair having my home integration system ever work correctly. The only saving grace is that I haven't paid a dime so far for the two full weeks of onsite work that SunRun and its subcontractors have spent trying to install and get it operational, to no avail. Our house in Boynton Beach was 150 amps, and the design spec for the HIS installation called for 200 amps, which did require the local utility to be involved, shut down the power, upgrade the service. That was completed back in September. SunRun does not have a local team, so hired a Delray Beach electrical contractor team with limited English skills to do the HIS installation. They came in while I was out of the country, and despite instructions to the contrary, removed my existing Tesla high power (100-amp) wall charger, removed an entire wall of slatwall which I had instructed them to put the HIS modules on TOP of, and proceeded to completely bolux the installation, including installing the Ford charger at knee level - which I thought must be a joke, but they seemed to think was standard procedure. After a week of futzing around with no wire pulled through the conduit they'd installed between six illogically placed and widely spaced boxes/devices, SunRun had enough and pulled them off the job, eventually firing them. They are now suing me and SunRun for payment for their work and equipment, potentially tying my house up in mechanics liens.

Meanwhile SunRun sent a team of their own people from Orlando, 3 hours away, put them up in a hotel, and they tore everything out, started over. It was done correctly, but upon completion, did not work. It charges the truck, but will not provide power to the house for more than a minute before throwing a fault, no matter how big the draw. The team had to leave, has since come back for two more days, could not solve the problem. To make matters worse, the former subcontractor team had removed my Tesla charger against specific instructions, so the new SunRun team attempted to reinstall it, found that the prior electrician sub had damaged its internals. SunRun therefore purchased a brand new Tesla wall charger, a newer generation, and installed in my garage at their expense.

We now have a group of techs at Ford, SunRun, Siemens, and several others apparently pointing fingers at each other and attempting to figure out which and whose software isn't playing correctly. There's software in the HIS box, inside the Ford Pro Charger, and inside the truck, as well as in the phone app, all of which must work perfectly and in synch, with proper versions and firmware updates in order to function. No one seems to know what is the right version of each or what hurdles there are when something isn't working. As it stands right now, we cannot even get my iphone properly linked to or seeing the Pro Charger, and no one has a clue at any of the four involved software/hardware providers, and no one seems to have ownership of resolving the issues. Consensus seems to be that the truck is the problem and that major software development will be required to get this to work, if it will ever do so.

I keep asking this question - is there anyone, anywhere, that has a truck automatically switching over to generator mode when power goes out? The SunRun installation team says they have not yet seen a single installation work correctly and reliably to do this for more than a minute or two. So I'm not paying anything until it works and runs my house off the grid for a couple days, automatically switching over after we pull the main breaker - and it must do this more than once. I'm not holding my breath, am concluding that Ford sold an aspiration, not technology that they had already engineered and was operating - a great idea.

All those "we're saving the world" ads and news items about Lightnings running disaster-area homes, businesses, car dealerships in power outages, freezing weather, etc.? These situations are not EVER a Lightning using the Ford/SunRun bidirectional charging system. It is ALWAYS a person plugging extension cords into the Lightning's outlets to run stuff. Yes, my truck will do that, but this isn't what the $12,500 home integration system contract that I signed is all about.

 

[Greased Lightning]

@PungoteagueDave your experience sound like what I expected of this. Which is why I opted to not even venture down this path until some time has passed and successful installs were in the real world. I have 200amp service with plenty of available capacity, but when I spoke with SunRun (local sales guy, local tech, National sales guy, and National tech) about installing solar on my home nobody could instill any confidence in their abilities. I ultimately went with a local company that did a great job. I have Tesla power wall back up so suspect the ford home integration install will be that much more complicated. I’m thinking I may give it a shot in a year or two. I live pretty much on the water in Hawaii and the possibility of a big storm knocking out power for an extended amount of time is not too far fetched. So the prospect of using the truck for backup power is very intriguing. For now I’ll sit back and let others fight the good fight.

Like you, I’m winding if anybody has a successful install at this point.

 

[Monkey]

In most places SunRun is nothing more than the project coordinator. They hire local electricians and other trades people as needed to do the work. Unfortunately, I think they simply go with the lowest bidder amongst those who are willing to take the job, or they pull from a pool of contractors that have signed up.

SunRun was supposed to be getting me quotes to do the electrical upgrades I want and quote a few different options. The first electrician they sent to do the quote for me looked everything over and said he wouldn't and couldn't give me a quote because it was too big of a job for him as it's just him and his brother working for him part time. SunRun tried again with another contractor. They looked everything over last week and I'm supposed to have quotes here soon. But the second electrician they sent out is a large outfit that does mostly commercial stuff. Not that it's a problem, but I have a feeling I'll get a highly inflated quote for something that's way over-engineered.

I also want at least one competing quote and I'm trying to ask SunRun if I can have my own electrician do the bulk of the work or maybe work with them to get everything needed to do it all.
I only need SunRun involved if I decide to do the home power backup through the Charge Station Pro. SunRun are the only ones that can supply and install the companion transfer switch and cabinet for this setup.

 

[Monkey]

I hate to use the word disaster, but neither SunRun nor Ford has ANY idea how to make this process OR the technology work correctly. I despair having my home integration system ever work correctly. The only saving grace is that I haven't paid a dime so far for the two full weeks of onsite work that SunRun and its subcontractors have spent trying to install and get it operational, to no avail.

Your account is just about enough for me to skip this altogether and just have one of the local electricians I know do my panel/service upgrade and install the charger.... forget the home backup.

Which is pretty much what I've already decided to do. Really I'm just deciding if it's worth upgrading my panel and service to 400A or if I should install a new 200A service and meter just for a couple car chargers in the garage.

 

[RTanton]

I hate to use the word disaster, but neither SunRun nor Ford has ANY idea how to make this process OR the technology work correctly. I despair having my home integration system ever work correctly. The only saving grace is that I haven't paid a dime so far for the two full weeks of onsite work that SunRun and its subcontractors have spent trying to install and get it operational, to no avail. Our house in Boynton Beach was 150 amps, and the design spec for the HIS installation called for 200 amps, which did require the local utility to be involved, shut down the power, upgrade the service. That was completed back in September. SunRun does not have a local team, so hired a Delray Beach electrical contractor team with limited English skills to do the HIS installation. They came in while I was out of the country, and despite instructions to the contrary, removed my existing Tesla high power (100-amp) wall charger, removed an entire wall of slatwall which I had instructed them to put the HIS modules on TOP of, and proceeded to completely bolux the installation, including installing the Ford charger at knee level - which I thought must be a joke, but they seemed to think was standard procedure. After a week of futzing around with no wire pulled through the conduit they'd installed between six illogically placed and widely spaced boxes/devices, SunRun had enough and pulled them off the job, eventually firing them. They are now suing me and SunRun for payment for their work and equipment, potentially tying my house up in mechanics liens.

Meanwhile SunRun sent a team of their own people from Orlando, 3 hours away, put them up in a hotel, and they tore everything out, started over. It was done correctly, but upon completion, did not work. It charges the truck, but will not provide power to the house for more than a minute before throwing a fault, no matter how big the draw. The team had to leave, has since come back for two more days, could not solve the problem. To make matters worse, the former subcontractor team had removed my Tesla charger against specific instructions, so the new SunRun team attempted to reinstall it, found that the prior electrician sub had damaged its internals. SunRun therefore purchased a brand new Tesla wall charger, a newer generation, and installed in my garage at their expense.

We now have a group of techs at Ford, SunRun, Siemens, and several others apparently pointing fingers at each other and attempting to figure out which and whose software isn't playing correctly. There's software in the HIS box, inside the Ford Pro Charger, and inside the truck, as well as in the phone app, all of which must work perfectly and in synch, with proper versions and firmware updates in order to function. No one seems to know what is the right version of each or what hurdles there are when something isn't working. As it stands right now, we cannot even get my iphone properly linked to or seeing the Pro Charger, and no one has a clue at any of the four involved software/hardware providers, and no one seems to have ownership of resolving the issues. Consensus seems to be that the truck is the problem and that major software development will be required to get this to work, if it will ever do so.

I keep asking this question - is there anyone, anywhere, that has a truck automatically switching over to generator mode when power goes out? The SunRun installation team says they have not yet seen a single installation work correctly and reliably to do this for more than a minute or two. So I'm not paying anything until it works and runs my house off the grid for a couple days, automatically switching over after we pull the main breaker - and it must do this more than once. I'm not holding my breath, am concluding that Ford sold an aspiration, not technology that they had already engineered and was operating - a great idea.

All those "we're saving the world" ads and news items about Lightnings running disaster-area homes, businesses, car dealerships in power outages, freezing weather, etc.? These situations are not EVER a Lightning using the Ford/SunRun bidirectional charging system. It is ALWAYS a person plugging extension cords into the Lightning's outlets to run stuff. Yes, my truck will do that, but this isn't what the $12,500 home integration system contract that I signed is all about.

Your experience explains our long delay. We started the home backup process in June with Sunrun in California. Moving from a plug-in-hybrid, we determined that additional solar panels would be needed to suppliment our current Sunpower system. We contracted with Sunrun to install an addtional 8 panels and the home integration system. They pulled tiles of the roof and upgraded our electrical panel in August. After persistant communication, they finally installed the solar panels, replaced the roof tiles, and installed the home integration unit...with the exception of the Ford charger. They claim that the charger needs to be installed by Ford. So, at this point everything is sitting disconnected and idle.

 

[tommolog]

I hate to use the word disaster, but neither SunRun nor Ford has ANY idea how to make this process OR the technology work correctly. I despair having my home integration system ever work correctly. The only saving grace is that I haven't paid a dime so far for the two full weeks of onsite work that SunRun and its subcontractors have spent trying to install and get it operational, to no avail. Our house in Boynton Beach was 150 amps, and the design spec for the HIS installation called for 200 amps, which did require the local utility to be involved, shut down the power, upgrade the service. That was completed back in September. SunRun does not have a local team, so hired a Delray Beach electrical contractor team with limited English skills to do the HIS installation. They came in while I was out of the country, and despite instructions to the contrary, removed my existing Tesla high power (100-amp) wall charger, removed an entire wall of slatwall which I had instructed them to put the HIS modules on TOP of, and proceeded to completely bolux the installation, including installing the Ford charger at knee level - which I thought must be a joke, but they seemed to think was standard procedure. After a week of futzing around with no wire pulled through the conduit they'd installed between six illogically placed and widely spaced boxes/devices, SunRun had enough and pulled them off the job, eventually firing them. They are now suing me and SunRun for payment for their work and equipment, potentially tying my house up in mechanics liens.

Meanwhile SunRun sent a team of their own people from Orlando, 3 hours away, put them up in a hotel, and they tore everything out, started over. It was done correctly, but upon completion, did not work. It charges the truck, but will not provide power to the house for more than a minute before throwing a fault, no matter how big the draw. The team had to leave, has since come back for two more days, could not solve the problem. To make matters worse, the former subcontractor team had removed my Tesla charger against specific instructions, so the new SunRun team attempted to reinstall it, found that the prior electrician sub had damaged its internals. SunRun therefore purchased a brand new Tesla wall charger, a newer generation, and installed in my garage at their expense.

We now have a group of techs at Ford, SunRun, Siemens, and several others apparently pointing fingers at each other and attempting to figure out which and whose software isn't playing correctly. There's software in the HIS box, inside the Ford Pro Charger, and inside the truck, as well as in the phone app, all of which must work perfectly and in synch, with proper versions and firmware updates in order to function. No one seems to know what is the right version of each or what hurdles there are when something isn't working. As it stands right now, we cannot even get my iphone properly linked to or seeing the Pro Charger, and no one has a clue at any of the four involved software/hardware providers, and no one seems to have ownership of resolving the issues. Consensus seems to be that the truck is the problem and that major software development will be required to get this to work, if it will ever do so.

I keep asking this question - is there anyone, anywhere, that has a truck automatically switching over to generator mode when power goes out? The SunRun installation team says they have not yet seen a single installation work correctly and reliably to do this for more than a minute or two. So I'm not paying anything until it works and runs my house off the grid for a couple days, automatically switching over after we pull the main breaker - and it must do this more than once. I'm not holding my breath, am concluding that Ford sold an aspiration, not technology that they had already engineered and was operating - a great idea.

All those "we're saving the world" ads and news items about Lightnings running disaster-area homes, businesses, car dealerships in power outages, freezing weather, etc.? These situations are not EVER a Lightning using the Ford/SunRun bidirectional charging system. It is ALWAYS a person plugging extension cords into the Lightning's outlets to run stuff. Yes, my truck will do that, but this isn't what the $12,500 home integration system contract that I signed is all about.

Sorry to hear about your problems. My system was installed a few weeks ago and does work. I had my YouTube sponsor, Qmerit do the installation, and while we needed to contact Ford with some questions, it worked the first time we powered it up.
I'll be posting a video on the installation in a couple of weeks.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Have you tried a long term run of the system as generator, killing your grid connection at the main box and running for, say 12 hours or longer? That’s my plan if/when it gets operational, maybe even a couple days just to see how well it handles full loads with a/c and for how long it should last in the event of an incident. Kind of like battle planning, war gaming.

 

[tommolog]

Have you tried a long term run of the system as generator, killing your grid connection at the main box and running for, say 12 hours or longer? That’s my plan if/when it gets operational, maybe even a couple days just to see how well it handles full loads with a/c and for how long it should last in the event of an incident. Kind of like battle planning, war gaming.

No, I haven't. Just killed the power for 20 minutes and it fired up in about 30 seconds and kept running.

But my installation is a complicated one, which you'll see in the video. I already had a 16 kW natural gas generator, so I really didn't need this IBP system. I only bought and installed it to demonstrate how it works and make videos with it.

So as it is, I have the generator panel powering 80% of the house, and the IBP system powering the remaining 20%. I also have solar so the installation was a complex one, making everything work together.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

No, I haven't. Just killed the power for 20 minutes and it fired up in about 30 seconds and kept running.

But my installation is a complicated one, which you'll see in the video. I already had a 16 kW natural gas generator, so I really didn't need this IBP system. I only bought and installed it to demonstrate how it works and make videos with it.

So as it is, I have the generator panel powering 80% of the house, and the IBP system powering the remaining 20%. I also have solar so the installation was a complex one, making everything work together.

I look forward to seeing your installation. I have sort of the same motivation. Our Virginia farm has a 42 kWh solar installation, produces excess power, sold to the grid. It is an oyster aquaculture farm, with about 14 million baby oysters, depending on time of year, dependent on continually pumped water through dock-based and floating upwellers. For backup we have a 55 kWh propane generator that is 16 years old. In today’s world I would install battery backup there instead, but it’s already working and despite about $2k of annual maintenance and repair, not worth ugrading until the engine wears out, which could be another 15 years or more.

However, our Florida house, an ICW-facing townhome in a gated community with lots of rules, cannot have a permanent automatic backup generator installation despite being end-of group. We already had Tesla wall chargers at both places, so I was able to charge the new Lightning using a TeslaTap adapter, so did not really need to do anything for the new truck.

FPL power is pretty reliable, and among the cheapest in the U.S., so battery backup and solar are hard to justify in Florida. For example, there is no time-of day shifting strategy. We’ve never had a significant outage in the ten-ish years with a winter home there. With that said, we travel nearly half the year, often overseas, keep motorcycles and bicycles in Europe and South America, will do so for at least another five years, so are at either place only a few months per year, and will park the Lightning in Florida for months at a time. I like the idea that it can “keep watch” and provide power when we are away in the event of an outage, run freezers, etc. We are almost never there during hurricane season, so that’s not a must-have, just a benefit, so we decided to get it done, almost for kicks. Having the installation issues is almost a sideshow, wastes some of my time, but isn’t mission-critical like it would be at our oyster farm, where we have internet-connected alarms notifying staff when a single pump goes offline.

When it is over and working, I plan to do a day-by-day expose’ on the disaster that the Ford/SunRun situation has been since last May when they first came to do a site review. Just this week I was notified that my SunRun project coordinator has been replaced by a new person who knows none of the history, so essentially starting over. They still don’t have proper permits, my house still sits under a Boynton Beach stop work order, and my system still will not operate bidirectionally. And I still haven’t paid anyone a penny for the system.

Ford is getting a ton of great press for the truck, perhaps deservedly so, and even specifically for its generator capabilities, but the HIS isn’t a thing yet from where I sit, and I’m about as easy an installation, a laid-back, patient customer for this as they could possibly have. I’m not yelling at anyone, happy to smile and say, “just get to it when you can, here is the gate entry code, the entry code to our garage, have at it whenever you want, just let me know when it works or if you need anything from me.” And they cannot make it work, full stop.

 

[hifixenthusiast]

I look forward to seeing your installation. I have sort of the same motivation. Our Virginia farm has a 42 kWh solar installation, produces excess power, sold to the grid. It is an oyster aquaculture farm, with about 14 million baby oysters, depending on time of year, dependent on continually pumped water through dock-based and floating upwellers. For backup we have a 55 kWh propane generator that is 16 years old. In today’s world I would install battery backup there instead, but it’s already working and despite about $2k of annual maintenance and repair, not worth ugrading until the engine wears out, which could be another 15 years or more.

However, our Florida house, an ICW-facing townhome in a gated community with lots of rules, cannot have a permanent automatic backup generator installation despite being end-of group. We already had Tesla wall chargers at both places, so I was able to charge the new Lightning using a TeslaTap adapter, so did not really need to do anything for the new truck.

FPL power is pretty reliable, and among the cheapest in the U.S., so battery backup and solar are hard to justify in Florida. For example, there is no time-of day shifting strategy. We’ve never had a significant outage in the ten-ish years with a winter home there. With that said, we travel nearly half the year, often overseas, keep motorcycles and bicycles in Europe and South America, will do so for at least another five years, so are at either place only a few months per year, and will park the Lightning in Florida for months at a time. I like the idea that it can “keep watch” and provide power when we are away in the event of an outage, run freezers, etc. We are almost never there during hurricane season, so that’s not a must-have, just a benefit, so we decided to get it done, almost for kicks. Having the installation issues is almost a sideshow, wastes some of my time, but isn’t mission-critical like it would be at our oyster farm, where we have internet-connected alarms notifying staff when a single pump goes offline.

When it is over and working, I plan to do a day-by-day expose’ on the disaster that the Ford/SunRun situation has been since last May when they first came to do a site review. Just this week I was notified that my SunRun project coordinator has been replaced by a new person who knows none of the history, so essentially starting over. They still don’t have proper permits, my house still sits under a Boynton Beach stop work order, and my system still will not operate bidirectionally. And I still haven’t paid anyone a penny for the system.

Ford is getting a ton of great press for the truck, perhaps deservedly so, and even specifically for its generator capabilities, but the HIS isn’t a thing yet from where I sit, and I’m about as easy an installation, a laid-back, patient customer for this as they could possibly have. I’m not yelling at anyone, happy to smile and say, “just get to it when you can, here is the gate entry code, the entry code to our garage, have at it whenever you want, just let me know when it works or if you need anything from me.” And they cannot make it work, full stop.

You might want to check out this thread:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...gent-backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/page-3

I was recently successful in getting my system up and running. It is a basic installation, with no solar and no additional batteries. I purchased the HIS from SunRun and had my local electrician install the Ford Charge Station Pro and the HIS. The SunRun installation SoP's are very "one size fits all" and leave out a lot of helpful information. Please feel free to send me any questions that you might have and I will do my best to answer them based on my personal experience.

 

[RTanton]

Sorry to hear about your problems. My system was installed a few weeks ago and does work. I had my YouTube sponsor, Qmerit do the installation, and while we needed to contact Ford with some questions, it worked the first time we powered it up.
I'll be posting a video on the installation in a couple of weeks.

I wish that we had hired Qmerit do our installation as SunRun has been one failure after another. Although we had a SunPower system installed to support our previous vehicle, we determined that our Lightning would require additional panels. Our process began in June with a quote from Sun Run to install additional panels with the backup system. Tiles were removed from our roof to allow panel installation in September. The roof sat bare with loose tiles on the roof for over a month. An independent electrical contractor arrived in September to upgrade our electrical service panel. A third crew came to install the back up system in December. With that accomplished a Ford team came to install the charger and commission our system. Unfortunately, they discovered that SunRun‘s team had wired the backup system incorrectly and spent several days rewiring. They then spent two days attempting to get the backup system functional only to discover the solar panels were wired incorrectly on the roof and the bidirectional inverter is defective. It looks as if this installation time will soon excede our wait time for our Lightning. Ford‘s plan to use SunRun exclusively is a disaster.

 

[yed19]

From other thread on my install... Thanks to @hifixenthusiast. They finally have a process in place for us non-SunRun Customers at SunRun to register the equipment to have it show in the FOrdpass App

1/5/2023
I called back into SunRun Customer Care (1-844-809-4320) and provided the details of my experience thus far and stated that I was calling to register my Home Integration System for my Ford F150 Lightning. The customer care representative transferred me to the SunRun Ford Customer Care team. The SunRun Ford Customer Care representative collected my name and address and then put me on a brief hold while she collected the necessary documentation to register my system. When she returned, she re-validated my address, collected my phone number and e-mail address and then requested the serial numbers of the Home Integration System inverter and the Ford Charge Station Pro. After collecting this information, she said that my system would be registered and that I should expect to receive a notification in the Ford Pass app and/or an e-mail by the week of January 15th confirming that my system had been registered.

Fingers crossed! I hope this helps!

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