A new way to manage Intelligent Backup Power is up ahead.

[Steely]

Thanks for sending that I wasn't aware of it. It looks nice but doesn't seem to offer much information, at least when not plugged in.

I hope they provide the advertised functions of starting and stopping the backup power, and showing available backup time remaining via this since it never made it into the app as advertised. I'd like to be able to test it without having to flip the main breaker every time.

If it doesn't do these things we'll have to ask for it via the feedback page in the menu.

Sponsored

 

[tearitupsports]

Thanks for sending that I wasn't aware of it. It looks nice but doesn't seem to offer much information, at least when not plugged in.

I hope they provide the advertised functions of starting and stopping the backup power, and showing available backup time remaining via this since it never made it into the app as advertised. I'd like to be able to test it without having to flip the main breaker every time.

If it doesn't do these things we'll have to ask for it via the feedback page in the menu.

How do you get this page to stay up? Mine flashes this screen then goes blank both on my computer and phone.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

I hope other manufacturers are using Ford's abject failure as a learning experience. Ford gets a small amount of sympathy from me for being the first to try this. But Ford has made it abundantly clear they don't care, aren't going to begin caring, and the few customers that bought it are collateral damage. That collateral damage is not affecting Ford's PR so it's cheaper to just continue not caring.

What surprises me is how seemingly ok and calm HIS owners about this. $10,000 on a thing that barely works sometimes should be investigative journalism and lawsuit territory. But everyone seems to be content with being Ford's failed experiment I guess.

 

[Jim Lewis]

How do you get this page to stay up? Mine flashes this screen then goes blank both on my computer and phone.

Same here, as reported above.

When I examine the page source of https://energy.ford.com, there seem to be a number of Javascript errors, including crossscripting (XSS) regarded as insecure and not alllowed by modern browsers.

Here's the page source view with errors in MS Edge:

energy.ford.com
www.account.ford.com/:1 Refused to frame 'https://www.meea-local.ford.com/' because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: "frame-src 'self' https://login.ford.com/".

(index):2942 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'classList')
at HTMLDocument.onDocumentLoad ((index):2942:19)
api.pd01e.gcp.ford.com/meea-vs/energy-app/v1/vehicle-status/1FT6W1EVXPWG12099:1


Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request)
SummaryHero.jsx:51 Login Time: 1.96 seconds
moment.js:287 Deprecation warning: use moment.updateLocale(localeName, config) to change an existing locale. moment.defineLocale(localeName, config) should only be used for creating a new locale See http://momentjs.com/guides/#/warnings/define-locale/ for more info.
C @ moment.js:287
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react-dom.production.min.js:24 Error: <rect> attribute rx: A negative value is not valid. ("-2")
b @ react-dom.production.min.js:24
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react-dom.production.min.js:24 Error: <rect> attribute ry: A negative value is not valid. ("-2")
b @ react-dom.production.min.js:24
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ChargeSettings.jsx:57 Departure time not set for this vehicle
react-dom.production.min.js:189 TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'buttonVisible')
at Zg (BackupPowerTile.jsx:62:51)
at ks (react-dom.production.min.js:167:137)
at To (react-dom.production.min.js:197:258)
at Cl (react-dom.production.min.js:292:88)
at yc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:389)
at xc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:320)
at vc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:180)
at sc (react-dom.production.min.js:271:88)
at ac (react-dom.production.min.js:268:429)
at S (scheduler.production.min.js:13:203)
ho @ react-dom.production.min.js:189
Show 1 more frame
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react-dom.production.min.js:283 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'buttonVisible')
at Zg (BackupPowerTile.jsx:62:51)
at ks (react-dom.production.min.js:167:137)
at To (react-dom.production.min.js:197:258)
at Cl (react-dom.production.min.js:292:88)
at yc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:389)
at xc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:320)
at vc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:180)
at sc (react-dom.production.min.js:271:88)
at ac (react-dom.production.min.js:268:429)
at S (scheduler.production.min.js:13:203)

Here's Microsoft Copilot's summary/analysis of the above errors:

Sent by Copilot:

It looks like you’re encountering several issues with the Ford Energy website and related services. Here are a few things you might want to try:

1. Content Security Policy (CSP) Violation: This error occurs because the site is trying to load content from a source that is not allowed by its CSP. This is something that needs to be fixed by the website administrators.
2. TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading ‘classList’): This error suggests that the script is trying to access an element that doesn’t exist. Ensure that all elements the script is trying to manipulate are present in the DOM.
3. Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request): This indicates that the server couldn’t understand the request. Double-check the request parameters and ensure they are correct.
4. Deprecation warning from moment.js: This warning suggests updating the way locales are defined in moment.js. You can refer to the moment.js documentation for more details.
5. Error: <rect> attribute rx/ry: A negative value is not valid: This error occurs when trying to set a negative value for the rx or ry attributes of an SVG rect element. Ensure that these attributes are set to non-negative values.
6. TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘buttonVisible’): This error indicates that the script is trying to access a property of an undefined object. Make sure that the object is defined before accessing its properties.

For more detailed information on Ford’s energy solutions, you can visit their EV Energy Solutions page1.
If these issues persist, you might want to contact Ford’s technical support for further assistance. Is there anything else you’d like to know or need help with?

Learn more
1ford.com 2ford.com 3ford.com 4ford.com

 

[Steely]

I'll assume you've tried to load the page in a private window to confirm that there isn't any bad cached code.

I'm using Vivaldi on my phone. Pretty standard configuration with the internal ad block and tracking turned on. It loads ok in that browser. I've not tried any others or on a computer.

If Ford is paying attention the timeout is too short and requires re-login too quickly making it slow to access.

Same here, as reported above.

When I examine the page source of https://energy.ford.com, there seem to be a number of Javascript errors, including crossscripting (XSS) regarded as insecure and not alllowed by modern browsers.

Here's the page source view with errors in MS Edge:


Here's Microsoft Copilot's summary/analysis of the above errors:

 

[Jim Lewis]

I'll assume you've tried to load the page in a private window to confirm that there isn't any bad cached code.

I'm using Vivaldi on my phone. Pretty standard configuration with the internal ad block and tracking turned on. It loads ok in that browser.

Interesting. Vivaldi on my iPhone 14 Pro Max running iOS 18.0 shows the same behavior as other browsers have. The page loads and disappears. This is with ad-blocking and tracking turned on same as for you.

Same thing happens loading https://energy.ford.com in an In Private tab in Microsoft Edge on my desktop computer.

Vivaldi gives a similar set of web page errors as I reported for Edge in my previous post:

energy.ford.com
ChargeSettings.jsx:57 Departure time not set for this vehicle
api.pd01e.gcp.ford.com/meea-vs/energy-app/v1/vehicle-status/1FT6W1EVXPWG12099:1


Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 400 (Bad Request)
SummaryHero.jsx:51 Login Time: 3.10 seconds
moment.js:287 Deprecation warning: use moment.updateLocale(localeName, config) to change an existing locale. moment.defineLocale(localeName, config) should only be used for creating a new locale See http://momentjs.com/guides/#/warnings/define-locale/ for more info.
C @ moment.js:287
Show 1 more frame
Show less
react-dom.production.min.js:24 Error: <rect> attribute rx: A negative value is not valid. ("-2")
b @ react-dom.production.min.js:24
Show 1 more frame
Show less
react-dom.production.min.js:24 Error: <rect> attribute ry: A negative value is not valid. ("-2")
b @ react-dom.production.min.js:24
Show 1 more frame
Show less
react-dom.production.min.js:189 TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'buttonVisible')
at Zg (BackupPowerTile.jsx:62:51)
at ks (react-dom.production.min.js:167:137)
at To (react-dom.production.min.js:197:258)
at Cl (react-dom.production.min.js:292:88)
at yc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:389)
at xc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:320)
at vc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:180)
at sc (react-dom.production.min.js:271:88)
at ac (react-dom.production.min.js:268:429)
at S (scheduler.production.min.js:13:203)
ho @ react-dom.production.min.js:189
Show 1 more frame
Show less
react-dom.production.min.js:283 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'buttonVisible')
at Zg (BackupPowerTile.jsx:62:51)
at ks (react-dom.production.min.js:167:137)
at To (react-dom.production.min.js:197:258)
at Cl (react-dom.production.min.js:292:88)
at yc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:389)
at xc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:320)
at vc (react-dom.production.min.js:280:180)
at sc (react-dom.production.min.js:271:88)
at ac (react-dom.production.min.js:268:429)
at S (scheduler.production.min.js:13:203)

 

[Steely]

Quick update, as stated it was working in Vivaldi on my android phone, checked on the PC and it also successfully logs in on both Firefox and Vivaldi on Linux.

I'm not going to pretend to know how to parse that error log, but looking at the first line about the departure time not being set; mine is set, is yours? If not maybe the page is getting hung up on that somehow?

Also, in reply to prior comments, i'm not happy with the system as a whole or the support I've gotten from Ford, but I'm not a lawyer, i kind of figured that somewhere a lawyer would have installed the system, be similarly dissatisfied as all of us, and determined if this would warrant a class action suit. I figured i'd start posting here to document some of my issues and hopefully get some additional help somehow.

I called an old contact at the BEV team about my other thread and tried to explain it for a few minutes with the new TSB being issued and after little to no help the call just dropped and when i tried to call back it was like the person just left their desk and went to lunch. Maybe someone has some better contacts for BEV engineering they can PM.

 

[Jim Lewis]

looking at the first line about the departure time not being set; mine is set, is yours? If not maybe the page is getting hung up on that somehow?

I set a Departure Time for 8 AM Monday morning. The page load still goes blank, so that's not it.

Quick update, as stated it was working in Vivaldi on my android phone, checked on the PC and it also successfully logs in on both Firefox and Vivaldi on Linux.

There must be something about my PC networking, my router, or Spectrum cable in San Antonio that's screwing things up. But Ford should make a website that just plain works, or let us know if it's not really fully operational yet for some reason. UPDATE: tested energy.ford.com site from my iPhone with Wi-Fi shutoff using a 5G cellular data connection provided to Spectrum Mobile, an MVNO, by Verizon. The page loads and still goes blank as before.

I have an installation of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on Oracle VirtualBox 7.0 that I haven't updated since ~June 2022. If I log onto energy.ford.com with Firefox running under Ubuntu in VirtualBox on my Windows 11 PC, Ford's site screws up in the same way as I've reported on my Windows 11 PC and on my recent version iPhone running iOS 18.0 (happened under iOS 17.x, too).

@Ford Motor Company. How about providing an update from the powers that be at Ford on the status of the energy.ford.com site, what it takes to get it to work properly, and whether the site is fully operational already or not

 

[tearitupsports]

I set a Departure Time for 8 AM Monday morning. The page load still goes blank, so that's not it.


There must be something about my PC networking, my router, or Spectrum cable in San Antonio that's screwing things up. But Ford should make a website that just plain works, or let us know if it's not really fully operational yet for some reason. UPDATE: tested energy.ford.com site from my iPhone with Wi-Fi shutoff using a 5G cellular data connection provided to Spectrum Mobile, an MVNO, by Verizon. The page loads and still goes blank as before.

I have an installation of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on Oracle VirtualBox 7.0 that I haven't updated since ~June 2022. If I log onto energy.ford.com with Firefox running under Ubuntu in VirtualBox on my Windows 11 PC, Ford's site screws up in the same way as I've reported on my Windows 11 PC and on my recent version iPhone running iOS 18.0 (happened under iOS 17.x, too).

@Ford Motor Company. How about providing an update from the powers that be at Ford on the status of the energy.ford.com site, what it takes to get it to work properly, and whether the site is fully operational already or not

I set a Departure Time for 8 AM Monday morning. The page load still goes blank, so that's not it.


There must be something about my PC networking, my router, or Spectrum cable in San Antonio that's screwing things up. But Ford should make a website that just plain works, or let us know if it's not really fully operational yet for some reason. UPDATE: tested energy.ford.com site from my iPhone with Wi-Fi shutoff using a 5G cellular data connection provided to Spectrum Mobile, an MVNO, by Verizon. The page loads and still goes blank as before.

I have an installation of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on Oracle VirtualBox 7.0 that I haven't updated since ~June 2022. If I log onto energy.ford.com with Firefox running under Ubuntu in VirtualBox on my Windows 11 PC, Ford's site screws up in the same way as I've reported on my Windows 11 PC and on my recent version iPhone running iOS 18.0 (happened under iOS 17.x, too).

@Ford Motor Company. How about providing an update from the powers that be at Ford on the status of the energy.ford.com site, what it takes to get it to work properly, and whether the site is fully operational already or not

I have tried on different computers and browsers, as well as my phone, from all different locations. No matter what the screen goes blank after flashing up the data for less than a second.
I have never set a departure schedule up, so maybe there is something to that...

I was happy that the HIS actually worked for the first time today. I am not sure I would actually see it on the energy app though, because it doesn't seem to be registered with Ford in any way.

 

[Jim Lewis]

The online Ford Energy app to monitor Intelligent Backup Power appears fixed. I just tried it (https://energy.ford.com), and now, after I sign into my Ford account, the page loads and no longer goes blank. It shows the correct status of my truck and its backup settings. Hurray! Let's hope it stays that way...

 

[tearitupsports]

The online Ford Energy app to monitor Intelligent Backup Power appears fixed. I just tried it (https://energy.ford.com), and now, after I sign into my Ford account, the page loads and no longer goes blank. It shows the correct status of my truck and its backup settings. Hurray! Let's hope it stays that way...

Mine still goes blank after about 1 second. Are you aware of anything you might have done to clear this condition?

 

[Jim Lewis]

Are you aware of anything you might have done to clear this condition?

No, I am clueless as to why it's working for me now (except an e-mail I received today, see below, might offer an explanation). I just double-checked again, and it still works fine on my Win11 desktop PC and my iPhone running iOS 18.0.

I still get infrequent DTC U019B's from the SOBDMC module in Car Scanner, which, according to Mike G., would indicate I haven't received the gateway module update Ford says won't be generally delivered until October 2024. Ford has previously indicated the Intelligent Backup Power won't work properly until the gateway module update is delivered. OTH, I received an e-mail today from someone at Ford stating my truck is now supposed to be fully functional with the Intelligent Backup Power system, and he indicated that my new status resulted from my system being of elevated concern. AFAIK, the only reason that might be is back in December 2023, I complained bitterly to Sunrun about the nonfunctional status of my system for over six months, and someone high up in Sunrun assured me at that time that Sunrun had elevated my status to the highest levels of concern at Ford for IBP function. I asked the Ford rep today how come then that I'm still getting U019B DTCs, but I haven't heard back yet. Nothing was mentioned about an NDA, but I was asked to submit my truck to further tests and am to electronically sign off on a document allowing my truck to be tested. I said I couldn't test the truck for the next few days and am awaiting further word. The funny thing about the e-mail is that it had a PTS screen capture that verified everything about my truck, VIN#, color, HVB and LVB SOC, mileage, all my contact info, etc. But the VIN # stated in the accompanying manually typed request didn't match my true VIN # in the included PTS capture, a minor detail (!? ) I reported back to my correspondent. I verified from the Outlook.com source e-mail header information that the e-mail originated from ford.com and passed the various e-mail signature tests through which Microsoft filters e-mails. So, I'm awaiting further information on the VIN # mistake and the electronic document I'm supposed to sign. If the document includes an NDA, I won't be saying anything more. I remarked to the e-mailer that the energy.ford.com site was now working for me while it wasn't before but the correspondent said nothing in reply (could be his only function is to get me signed up for a test).

 

[Steely]

Here is what it sould look like with backup power transfer in progress. Note mine isn't actually transferring any power though.

Disappointed there doesn't seem to be any way to start or stop the power transfer from this page or any backup duration remaining indication.

Does anyone with a working system care to test this page out?

 

[Jim Lewis]

Does anyone with a working system care to test this page out?

I tested backup power transfer extensively early this AM and got the same results. The screen background goes from BLUE (power available from GRID) to GREEN (power being transferred from truck to house panel) just like the FCSP LEDs, and the truck port LEDs change color accordingly.

The START/STOP transfer button does not work in the energy.ford.com app for right now,*** and although the kW transfer indication shows 0.0 kW being transferred, if you check the truck SYNC screen IBP app or use the M Professional app (available in the App Store and Google Play), you'll find power is being transferred (the 4-number passcode to connect M Professional to the HIS unit via BT is on the side of your HIS unit). Hopefully, the lack of power transfer wrongly shown by the web app is something that can be easily fixed.

***Note: Actually, the Stop Transfer worked for me via the web app in the midst of a BPT event, but with backup transfer stopped and the truck and grid power off, the Start Transfer button, as shown in the screen capture before, did not work and crashed the web app, The web page for a short time became unavailable to my iPhone! Ideally, one should be able to stop and restart BPT at will, as the truck IBP app suggests, to nurse the most usage out of your battery during an outage.

Here's what the site page looks like if grid power is down and there is no transfer. The background is now a dirty orange-brown. More later. The most important thing I learned is after the picture.

So, I did a series of tests proscribed by Ford https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...nt-backup-power-is-up-ahead.18856/post-422261.

It probably wouldn't be very informative to describe in detail what those tests were, and I didn't see any NDA anywhere in the correspondence, but I don't want to irk FORD by blabbing on about it.

So, the main thing is my system failed to initiate backup transfer power at four or five points in the series of tests I ran. But here's the great thing. In every instance where I had such a failure, I wildly adlibbed on the instructions I was given. I pushed the UNLOCK button on the truck port (not the charger head). I then pushed the button on the charger head, removed the head, and waited a few seconds to at least three to four minutes, just to try different wait time intervals. In every instance I did this, power transfer was successfully started when I plugged the charger head back into the truck port. This success may very well depend on what updated modules Ford has arranged to have on my truck (Ford is monitoring the ECG (GWM), TCU, and APIM modules during the tests).

The overly optimistic view of my results is that now resetting the backup system does not depend on a cold reboot (requiring GRID power, a no-go in an outage). Just a toggle of the truck port UNLOCK button, along with removing and reinserting the charger head, seems to reset the system to make it work for me, at least.

It'll be interesting to see if I fall out of grace for not following Ford's instructions to the letter (nothing about the unlock, remove, and reinsert charger head in instructions), but maybe whatever that does to the system, they can figure out and modify the software to achieve the same reset effect at the start of an outage and make sure the truck, FCSP, (and HIS unit?) are ready. Seems like the UNLOCK is just something that should be affecting the truck and FCSP.

In my limited trial of UNLOCK rescues, I'd say waiting at least 15 to 20 seconds before plugging the charger head in again is safest. One time, immediately plugging the head in failed. Pressing UNLOCK again, waiting ~15 seconds, then worked on the same trial to get backup power going.

Basically, your truck port LEDs are your best monitor of whether you will succeed or fail in backup power transfer. When GRID power is down, and your charger is plugged in, the port LEDs will turn white. If the LEDs go off within about 30 seconds, in my long experience, the transfer will fail. OTH, if the LEDs stay on past 30 seconds, you may go 40 seconds, even 2 minutes or longer, but if the LEDs are still white and on, power transfer almost always succeeds. The truck port LEDs will turn green, and then 10 to 15 seconds later, the "highest" green LED will start flashing, indicating that backup power transfer is in progress.

Don't know if it's something new in firmware, but before, I was unaware of any delay between the port LEDs flashing green and power being supplied to the panel. But now, in the tests I did early this AM, there was a ~20-second delay between port lights flashing and the garage lights coming on and an amount of power > 0 showing up in the SYNC screen IBP app.

 

[Jim Lewis]

To sum up my previous two posts just above, I'd say that backup power now works reliably for me. This is based on relatively few tests. I could get backup transfer to work during nine out of nine test grid shutdowns on a single day. But on five of the nine tests, I had to use the truck port UNLOCK button workaround (push the unlock button on the right side of the truck port, not the charger head button, then unplug the charger head, wait at least 15 sec, replug charger head into port).

The port UNLOCK button trick obviously won't help if you travel away from home and leave your truck behind to back up the house during an outage. Ford needs to devise a software modification to reset the truck/FCSP interface during an outage in the same way the unlock/unplug charger head physically does. Ford also needs to make the energy.ford.com web app as functional as the IBP app available through the truck SYN screen is.

I've asked Ford what updates my truck got that improved my backup power transfer experience. No reply yet. But the initial communication from Ford about IBP testing claimed my truck was now fully functional for backup power transfer (clearly it still isn't because it failed five out of nine times without the port UNLOCK button trick). I suspect the recent ECG 24.2.5.6.2 update is related to my improved backup status, perhaps just to install the tracking/logging tokens Ford employed for IBP testing (the owner installs the tokens and has control over their function through the SYNC screen interface using special steering wheel combination button pushes). I also received ECG-24.2.4.9 back on July 3, 2024.

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