Pro Power weirdness

[climateguy]

I'm working on my 2024 Flash in my driveway.

I wanted to run a small Dremel rotary tool. I turned the outlets in the bed on and plugged the tool in. It would not work. I had just been using this tool in my garage and it had worked there. I took it back into the garage to verify that it could run. It did. I turned the truck on, then off, then turned the bed outlets on. The Dremel tool still did not work. I verified that the bed outlet "on" light would go on and off when I pushed the bed outlet button. No matter what, the tool would not work.

From the touch screen, I tried the ground fault test for the bed outlets. A ground fault was detected. I reset the outlets. The Dremel tool would still not work. I tested the outlet with a Klein outlet tester that indicates its result with idiot lights - the tester claimed there was nothing wrong. The tester indicated that outlet that could not power my Dremel tool was working fine.

Finally, I got another tool, a portable drill. I verified that the drill worked in the garage. The drill worked when plugged into the same bed outlet in my truck under all circumstances. It worked just before a ground fault test indicated that there had been a fault, it worked just after the outlet had been reset, and it worked when the ProPower was on when the truck was on or off. All the situations where the Dremel tool had not worked, the portable drill did work.

There has been a ground fault detected on every test I've done, yet the tiny light that indicates that the bed outlet is on or off, always indicates the bed outlets are on, and the drill always works. I tested the Dremel at a G.F.C.I protected outlet in my kitchen and it works there, and it does not trip the kitchen outlet G.F.C.I.

Does anyone have similar experience, or can anyone explain this?

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[hturnerfamily]

does this Dremel tool have the third GROUND pin on it's male plug, or only the two HOT and NEUTRAL pins?

 

[The Weatherman]

Have you tried the Frunk outlets?

There have been earlier reports of wiring issues with the bed outlets.

May be a trip to the dealer to resolve.

 

[climateguy]

does this Dremel tool have the third GROUND pin on it's male plug, or only the two HOT and NEUTRAL pins?

It uses a two pin polarized plug. The portable drill uses the same type of two pin polarized plug.

 

[climateguy]

Have you tried the Frunk outlets?

There have been earlier reports of wiring issues with the bed outlets.

May be a trip to the dealer to resolve.

Thanks for the suggestion. The Dremel tool and the drill both work on all Frunk outlets. I then retried the drill in all 4 of the 120v bed outlets and it worked. I retried the Dremel tool in all 4, and it did not work in 3 of them, and it worked for a brief half second in 1 of the outlets. My hand was still on the plug pushing it in when the tool worked briefly. Repeated attempts to duplicate this produced no result. The Dremel tool works reliably in all other situations including a retest in the frunk.

 

[EVpower]

Try using the tool with a short extension cord on the bed outlets and see if the tool works.

I've had one experience where otherwise working plug and receptacle combination would not power an appliance. I attribute this to the plugs solid connection points being undersize in thickness.

The bed receptacles seem to make good positive connections. Your last post suggests an issue with the Dremel plug.

Steve

 

[Stevie Wonder]

Excellent suggestion from @EVpower re: using a drop cord. The fact that you were physically pressing on the Dremel plug when it briefly worked certainly sounds like a fitment / contact problem with the blades of the Dremel not consistently touching the metal contacts in the bed receptacles.

 

[Hammick]

We power our house daily using the Pro Power 240v bed outlet to an automatic transfer switch. My wife's Anova oven will not work off the truck bed inverter. It does work when plugged into the frunk outlet. I took the oven to my dealer and plugged into a Lariat they had on the lott. Same thing. Would not power from the bed outlets but would power from the frunk outlets. Ended up putting a power conditioner before the outlet that powers the oven and it work off the bed power now. Some things just don't like that bed inverter.

 

[climateguy]

Try using the tool with a short extension cord on the bed outlets and see if the tool works.

I've had one experience where otherwise working plug and receptacle combination would not power an appliance. I attribute this to the plugs solid connection points being undersize in thickness.

The bed receptacles seem to make good positive connections. Your last post suggests an issue with the Dremel plug.

Steve

My original diagnosis effort included seeing what happens when an extension cord was used. When plugged into the truck, the drill worked with the extension cord, and the Dremel tool did not. When plugged into an outlet in my garage, both tools work. I thought about replacing the Dremel plug until I did this test. But I'll try replacing it anyway.

 

[climateguy]

We power our house daily using the Pro Power 240v bed outlet to an automatic transfer switch. My wife's Anova oven will not work off the truck bed inverter. It does work when plugged into the frunk outlet. I took the oven to my dealer and plugged into a Lariat they had on the lott. Same thing. Would not power from the bed outlets but would power from the frunk outlets. Ended up putting a power conditioner before the outlet that powers the oven and it work off the bed power now. Some things just don't like that bed inverter.

Thanks for your info. I was able to send power into the trailer and use the microwave and A/C from one 120v leg of the 240v outlet no problem. I've used an angle grinder powered by one of the 120v bed outlets also. If the Dremel is the only problem I won't worry about it. But I've never seen an electrical problem like this. I'd like to get to the bottom it and understand what is happening.

 

[climateguy]

Your last post suggests an issue with the Dremel plug.
Steve

I replaced the plug, but the story is the same. The Dremel tool won't work when plugged into any of the 120v bed outlets, but it does work when plugged into house power in my garage.

 

[climateguy]

Ended up putting a power conditioner before the outlet that powers the oven and it works off the bed power now. Some things just don't like that bed inverter.

I still wonder why every time I use the ground fault detection when the ProPower is on it indicates there is ground fault, even though the outlets were functioning except the Dremel tool would not work. In a home system, if there is a ground fault, the ground fault circuit breaker trips and the protected outlets are dead.

 

[Hammick]

I still wonder why every time I use the ground fault detection when the ProPower is on it indicates there is ground fault, even though the outlets were functioning except the Dremel tool would not work. In a home system, if there is a ground fault, the ground fault circuit breaker trips and the protected outlets are dead.

I think the ground fault detection you are talking about is a test to make sure it is woking properly. When you initiate the test the truck ground to neutral and throw the fault. Working properly.

 

[Hammick]

Thanks for your info. I was able to send power into the trailer and use the microwave and A/C from one 120v leg of the 240v outlet no problem. I've used an angle grinder powered by one of the 120v bed outlets also. If the Dremel is the only problem I won't worry about it. But I've never seen an electrical problem like this. I'd like to get to the bottom it and understand what is happening.

I suggest you just accept it. It drove me crazy for months. Two different dealers looked at it. My selling dealer put an Oscilloscope on it at Ford's direction. Tested normal. Once I was able to try our oven on a different truck and it did it behaved the sameI accepted that it was just how it was going to be.

BTW only my most expensive power conditioner worked. I had a smaller/cheaper Panamax one that didn't work.

 

[climateguy]

I think the ground fault detection you are talking about is a test to make sure it is woking properly. When you initiate the test the truck ground to neutral and throw the fault. Working properly.

When I use the touch screen to test the bed outlets for a ground fault, this message pops up at the top of the screen:

"ProPower Onboard detected a ground fault and it turned off. If you did not press the button see the Owner's Manual"

This message sounds like it is describing a condition described in a 2021 NHTSA ID Number 10203859 communication:

"Some 2021 F-150 vehicles with ProPower Onboard may exhibit a message in the touchscreen stating Pro Power Onboard Turned Off Ground Fault Detected, after performing the Pro Power Onboard test function."

This is what is happening in my truck: after I perform the Pro Power Onboard test function, Pro Power turns itself off and I get the message I quoted at the top of this post.

The NHTSA communication continues: "This is a normal response after performing the test and full system function may be restored after pressing the on-screen RESET button. Inform customers that engineering is currently working on a solution for this condition and will be released via an over the air (OTA) software update expected in April of 2022."

So Ford claimed back then that this is normal, but it had to file this report to the NHTSA and promise to fix this.

Anyone else see this message after performing a ground fault test on their Pro Power?

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