Intelligent backup power issues/unreliable

[ElectroJames]

Hi, to preface my background is as a former master electrician/solar installer, I did this, install myself and purposefully tried to keep all of my wiring behind the wall to limit the amount of surface mount conduit‘s to the equipment.. Currently I am the CTO for a start up solar product. So troubleshooting is natural to me, but this feels more like a software issue.

I installed my intelligent back up system, and I have had nothing but unreliability, glitches, issues and it feels like it comes back to either an issue with the truck or communication between it and the pro charger.

Yesterday, through the FordPass app, I noticed it said the intelligent power couldn’t function because of a fault inside of the truck. This morning when I went to leave, my main odometer display was blank so I couldn’t tell how fast I would be going, I disconnected the battery and reconnected it that worked however then the frunk wouldn’t close so I manually closed it. And in that process of resetting by disconnecting the battery, the “truck fault” alert on my FordPass app did disappear, so I thought what better time to try another utility outage simulation…

Funny enough after waiting around for about 4 mins 2.5x the normal time it did transfer power, but then it kicked back off after 15 seconds and gave an option on the truck display to “start” the power transfer which never worked.

Ever since installing the intelligent backup system I have gotten it to work roughly 5% of the time in simulated utility power outages. Every thing else has been failed attempts.

Dear Ford, please have one of your software engineers reach out, I would really like to understand more of the software digital handshakes and see if we can simplify this and speed up the transfer. Sometimes less is more. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work. At the end of the day I have a really expensive back up power system installed on my house that does not function, and it is kind of upsetting to have spent this much money on something that doesn’t work.

 

[ElectroJames]

I had to chop this 10 min video down to 1 min to keep it small enough to upload, sorry for the chopped up flow

 

[Jim Lewis]

You're not alone. See the following two threads. There is some equipment/firmware issue between the truck, the FCSP, and the HIS "Intelligent" Backup unit. Ford has acknowledged the issue and said that OTA updates for the truck and the FCSP will be needed to fix the problems most of us Home Backup owners have experienced (not working now for most of us). A Ford rep told me the OTA updates were targeted for July 31st, but now they may be delayed until the October-December 2023 time frame and possibly require some equipment replacement under warranty.

See the last few pages of the following thread: Installing a Home Integration System for Intelligent Backup Power (without SunRun) | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community (f150lightningforum.com)

I have the same problem as you. The latest version of the FordPass app for iOS, v4.29.1, may have brought on my OUTAGE DETECTED - BACKUP POWER UNAVAILABLE annoyances. Before that, my HIS backup simply didn't work, but the truck charged just fine, and the FordPass app worked well except for logging driving.

Outage Detected - Backup Power Unavailable | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community (f150lightningforum.com)

 

[ElectroJames]

@fordmotorcompany can you hel

You're not alone. See the following two threads. There is some equipment/firmware issue between the truck, the FCSP, and the HIS "Intelligent" Backup unit. Ford has acknowledged the issue and said that OTA updates for the truck and the FCSP will be needed to fix the problems most of us Home Backup owners have experienced (not working now for most of us). A Ford rep told me the OTA updates were targeted for July 31st, but now they may be delayed until the October-December 2023 time frame and possibly require some equipment replacement under warranty.

See the last few pages of the following thread: Installing a Home Integration System for Intelligent Backup Power (without SunRun) | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community (f150lightningforum.com)

I have the same problem as you. The latest version of the FordPass app for iOS, v4.29.1, may have brought on my OUTAGE DETECTED - BACKUP POWER UNAVAILABLE annoyances. Before that, my HIS backup simply didn't work, but the truck charged just fine, and the FordPass app worked well except for logging driving.

Outage Detected - Backup Power Unavailable | Ford Lightning Forum For F-150 Lightning EV Pickup: News, Owners, Discussions, Community (f150lightningforum.com)

thanks Jim, if it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have got the info I needed to finalize the app and get the sun run install manual. I have seen all the posts and greatly appreciate them. I really would like @fordmotorcompany to let me speak with their engineering team on this and try to understand better how the systems communicate. It needs to be simplified and I feel like I could help.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I'm glad you got Jim's attention you HIS guys need to stick together and prod FoMoCo to get this operation working reliably! Gooooood Luck!

 

[GoodSam]

@Ford Motor Company
It seems best to start typing @ford then wait for list of users to show up to choose from?

 

[v2h8484]

As mentioned previously, public shared spectrum wireless real-time control is never going to be 100%. Ford needs to change to wired control (RS485 or CAN). Having said that, putting a dual-channel WiFi AP (with wired Ethernet LAN connect) within 5 ft (without walls) of the units can improve WiFi comms substantially.

 

[Cfieldsj]

I’m in this with you guys! My IBP has worked 10 minutes over the last 3 months — since Sunrun installed it. It’s a mess. Retired 40 yr engineer here (20 in realtime sw). I’ve not seen such a small system work so poorly.

 

[Quietfly]

Watching

 

[smandel]

@fordmotorcompany can you hel

thanks Jim, if it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have got the info I needed to finalize the app and get the sun run install manual. I have seen all the posts and greatly appreciate them. I really would like @fordmotorcompany to let me speak with their engineering team on this and try to understand better how the systems communicate. It needs to be simplified and I feel like I could help.

Hey Jim,
This is Steven in las Cruces NM and my system will not work as well. I’m very frustrated and upset that Ford is not jumping on a solution immediately and furthermore continues to sell a system that is so faulty. I had a solar contractor install it 2 weeks ago and AC Couple to about 5k of existing solar. It seems like the only way to use the system at this point is to install a battery and connect it directly to the BDI E10 inverter. Really pissed since I bought the truck mostly for power backup.

 

[Aminorjourney]

@fordmotorcompany can you hel

thanks Jim, if it wasn’t for this forum I wouldn’t have got the info I needed to finalize the app and get the sun run install manual. I have seen all the posts and greatly appreciate them. I really would like @fordmotorcompany to let me speak with their engineering team on this and try to understand better how the systems communicate. It needs to be simplified and I feel like I could help.

Honestly, I've been trying to do this since day one (our system was installed in October last year). In my experience, there's certainly a lack of communication between Sunrun (who are absolutely terrible), Ford, Siemens, and Delta. We have FOUR different companies, all of whom seem to spend too much time blaming each other.

In our case, it was even worse, because we installed a review SPAN panel at the same time, and the whole thing has been a nightmare. We spent $15,000 (basically savings) on putting both systems in and so far, nothing.

Fun fact: I'm supposedly on their VIP program (I didn't ask to be), but as a journalist, I'm guessing they wanted me to have a good experience. Ha

As mentioned previously, public shared spectrum wireless real-time control is never going to be 100%. Ford needs to change to wired control (RS485 or CAN). Having said that, putting a dual-channel WiFi AP (with wired Ethernet LAN connect) within 5 ft (without walls) of the units can improve WiFi comms substantially.

So, I can address this: My chicken Coop (which is less than four feet from the CSP facing it) has a Unify external access point on it. I have great WiFi there, but the CSP still hates doing what it's meant to be doing.

AsI understand it, there is a firmware/bluetooth issue between truck and CSP. I understand there's a solution in testing right now which took longer to develop than promised, but which my contact told me fixes ANOTHER issue that also popped up at the same time.

OTA updates are planned in the next few months as I understand it.

I've also noticed my HIS either works flawlessly or not at all. If I go for a drive and come back, it often works again.

 

[v2h8484]

AsI understand it, there is a firmware/bluetooth issue between truck and CSP.

Perhaps a Bluetooth repeater could help.

 

[Aminorjourney]

Perhaps a Bluetooth repeater could help.

Given that the truck sits as close to the FCP as possible, I think it's more a case of poor design

 

[9onmy6]

Just wish I could get mine installed since buying it 02/2023 so I could complain it doesn’t work. 6-8 electricians been out and they don’t want to tackle it.

 

[ElectroJames]

Just wish I could get mine installed since buying it 02/2023 so I could complain it doesn’t work. 6-8 electricians been out and they don’t want to tackle it.

That’s sad, I’m a retired electrician and this was as simple as connecting the dots. Once you get sun runs wiring diagram and install manual it’s pretty easy to wire. The difficulty is updating the firmware on the inverter and connecting your pro charger to the ford pass app.

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