Jim Lewis
Well-known member
- First Name
- Jim
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2023
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- 755
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- 633
- Location
- San Antonio, TX
- Vehicles
- Honda Accord 2017; 2023 Lariat ER
- Occupation
- Retired
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- #1
Yet another chapter in my Home Integration System saga, but since it involves doing a Ford Factory Reset, I thought that part of my story might be of more general interest and others who've done a Factory Reset might chime in on how it fixed their particular problem and how reset recovery went down (I didn't get a truck that functioned the way I wanted until nine hours later). BTW, the punchline in my story will be that the Home Integration System is blameless. The rotten eggs in the power transfer basket are the Lightning and the FCSP.
It looked like all was well with my truck, FCSP, and Home Integration System a while back. I'd been doing monthly power transfer tests, and the system worked flawlessly on 2/6, 3/6, and 4/6/24. But then, towards the end of April, our San Antonio electric utility predicted severe thunderstorms with possible outages. A transfer test ahead of schedule seemed in order. On 4/27, transfer failed. In the past, a cold reboot of the FCSP/HIS unit always restored backup power transfer. A half dozen cold reboots later, no success. In fact, the FCSP after having all power to it cut for 30 minutes or more, failed to broadcast its SSID. It had lost connectivity to my Wi-Fi extender. A Ford rep told me the last time it communicated with Ford was 3/29/24. Only BT connectivity, not Wi-Fi connectivity, between truck and FCSP is necessary for backup power transfer. By this point, I figured I probably needed an FCSP replacement under warranty. While Ford was mulling over that possibility, I decided to factory reset the FCSP to see if that helped. I also made my life more complicated by deleting my FCSP/truck Bluetooth pairing, as maybe that was the source of my power transfer failures and needed to be recreated.
The Catch-22 problem is with an iPhone, you need Wi-Fi connectivity to do an FCSP Factory Reset through software in the Charge Station Pro app. My alternative was to turn off all power to the FCSP/HIS unit (including using the M Professional app to turn off the Dark Start battery). When all power was cut, and the FCSP LED went out, I removed the faceplate and the inner cover plate, restored power to the FCSP but not the HIS components, and pressed the Factory Reset button on the upper left of the circuit board > 15 seconds multiple times. Unlike the Sunrun Field Website instructions, the FCSP LEDs never turned white even when the Reset button was held down for >30 seconds.
Nevertheless, I cut and restored the FCSP's power (the LEDs did flash white then), waited more than 10 minutes, and never saw the FCSP broadcast its SSID. I gave up, reassembled the FCSP, turned on the HIS unit, and got in my truck to fool around with other stuff. About 25 minutes after the Factory Reset, I finally noticed the FCSP broadcasting its SSID and was able to connect it to my Wi-Fi network. Now, the FCSP showed up in both the CSP app and FordPass.
Another idiosyncrasy of iOS FCSP connectivity vs. Android FCSP connectivity is that you can only initiate Bluetooth pairing between truck and FCSP in iOS through Wi-Fi in the CSP app, AFAIK. Using Nordic Semiconductor's BT sniffer nRF Connect, I couldn't detect the Ford 3000 BT signal from the FCSP unless I enabled a BT pairing scan by the FCSP to pair with the truck. Then, the FCSP LEDs started flashing white, and Ford 3000 showed up in nRF Connect. Although the FCSP and truck started scanning, they never connected, and neither my iPhone nor the truck's SYNC screen offered a pairing PIN. I even backed my truck into the garage, rolled down all the windows, folded down the right rear passenger seat, opened the right rear door, and had the truck BT module ~five feet from the FCSP. nRF Connect said the Ford 3000 signal strength was about -70 dBM at the right rear passenger seat.
Aha, methinks that maybe I didn't get a true Factory Reset out of the FCSP hardware button and now that I have CSP Wi-Fi connectivity, I can do a software-driven Factory Reset. That seemed to work on the fully-powered FCSP and HIS unit. The FCSP LEDs turned white for ~four minutes, and right after they turned blue, I could detect the FCSP SSID being broadcast and hook it up to my Wi-Fi network. Now, the Ford 3000 BT signal was being broadcast all the time, but still no luck pairing the truck and FCSP.
So, at this point, I start to blame the truck. Maybe a truck Factory Reset will fix me up. After I do that, I find the truck takes quite a while to "heal" itself. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half before Intelligent Backup shows up as applet on the SYNC screen app list. And now when I try scanning for the FCSP via the SYNC screen, it immediately and always says "NO STATIONS FOUND" as opposed to the more typical "Searching for a Ford Charge Station Pro" displayed previously.
So I waited another hour or two, about three hours since the truck Factory Reset. The next time I tried pairing, BINGO!, On the first try, both iPhone and SYNC screens offered the same pairing PIN. I confirmed them on both screens. The SYNC screen declared pairing a success, but the iPhone screen declared it failed. Nevertheless, the SYNC screen showed a Ford 3000 station and I wrote off the CSP app result as just another Ford program glitch such as we see too frequently in FordPass.
So, the first backup power transfer test 15 minutes later looks hopeful for starters. At 51", the truck charging port LEDs turned green but they're white by 5', and I ended the test with no power transfer after 8 minutes. Three hours later, another test. No lights at all now on the truck port LEDs. Pull the charger head out and reinsert. FCSP and truck port LEDs both turn white. Get in the truck. The Intelligent Backup screen in AUTOMATIC mode says "Preparing To Provide Power," but nothing happens. Turn off AUTOMATIC but no START button appears for MANUAL. More Switching between AUTOMATIC and MANUAL. A "STOP" button finally appears for AUTOMATIC; when I hit that, it turns into a START button. I switch to MANUAL, hit START, and the FCSP and truck port LEDs both turn green but no power transfer occurs.
I don't know why I think I'm making progress. I turned off the truck, unplugged it from the FCSP, and let it sit for an hour. So, it's been about nine hours since the truck Factory Reset. I plug the truck into the FCSP and cut the grid power. The truck port lights turn green at 44", and backup power transfer occurs at 1'33".
So, perhaps the truck state was the fly in the ointment of failed backup power transfers after 4/6/24. I had a connectivity update on 2/23/24 and the Tesla NACS update on 3/4/23, but two successful power transfers after those updates. The Home Integration System itself always seems to do its job when the truck and FCSP give it a chance. Maybe when cold FCSP reboots don't work to cure FCSP ills, there will be a lot more FCSP Factory Resets in my future, and if those don't fix me up, more truck Factory Resets. It sure takes the truck a long time to recover from a Factory Reset, and I wonder if that's good for the truck's long-term health.
Ford needs to come up with something better than the FCSP and its truck BT module and power transfer firmware.
The most aggravating thing about the Factory Reset was that the truck was determined to charge itself to 100% after the Reset, and it took more than one attempt to squelch that goal.
It looked like all was well with my truck, FCSP, and Home Integration System a while back. I'd been doing monthly power transfer tests, and the system worked flawlessly on 2/6, 3/6, and 4/6/24. But then, towards the end of April, our San Antonio electric utility predicted severe thunderstorms with possible outages. A transfer test ahead of schedule seemed in order. On 4/27, transfer failed. In the past, a cold reboot of the FCSP/HIS unit always restored backup power transfer. A half dozen cold reboots later, no success. In fact, the FCSP after having all power to it cut for 30 minutes or more, failed to broadcast its SSID. It had lost connectivity to my Wi-Fi extender. A Ford rep told me the last time it communicated with Ford was 3/29/24. Only BT connectivity, not Wi-Fi connectivity, between truck and FCSP is necessary for backup power transfer. By this point, I figured I probably needed an FCSP replacement under warranty. While Ford was mulling over that possibility, I decided to factory reset the FCSP to see if that helped. I also made my life more complicated by deleting my FCSP/truck Bluetooth pairing, as maybe that was the source of my power transfer failures and needed to be recreated.
The Catch-22 problem is with an iPhone, you need Wi-Fi connectivity to do an FCSP Factory Reset through software in the Charge Station Pro app. My alternative was to turn off all power to the FCSP/HIS unit (including using the M Professional app to turn off the Dark Start battery). When all power was cut, and the FCSP LED went out, I removed the faceplate and the inner cover plate, restored power to the FCSP but not the HIS components, and pressed the Factory Reset button on the upper left of the circuit board > 15 seconds multiple times. Unlike the Sunrun Field Website instructions, the FCSP LEDs never turned white even when the Reset button was held down for >30 seconds.
Nevertheless, I cut and restored the FCSP's power (the LEDs did flash white then), waited more than 10 minutes, and never saw the FCSP broadcast its SSID. I gave up, reassembled the FCSP, turned on the HIS unit, and got in my truck to fool around with other stuff. About 25 minutes after the Factory Reset, I finally noticed the FCSP broadcasting its SSID and was able to connect it to my Wi-Fi network. Now, the FCSP showed up in both the CSP app and FordPass.
Another idiosyncrasy of iOS FCSP connectivity vs. Android FCSP connectivity is that you can only initiate Bluetooth pairing between truck and FCSP in iOS through Wi-Fi in the CSP app, AFAIK. Using Nordic Semiconductor's BT sniffer nRF Connect, I couldn't detect the Ford 3000 BT signal from the FCSP unless I enabled a BT pairing scan by the FCSP to pair with the truck. Then, the FCSP LEDs started flashing white, and Ford 3000 showed up in nRF Connect. Although the FCSP and truck started scanning, they never connected, and neither my iPhone nor the truck's SYNC screen offered a pairing PIN. I even backed my truck into the garage, rolled down all the windows, folded down the right rear passenger seat, opened the right rear door, and had the truck BT module ~five feet from the FCSP. nRF Connect said the Ford 3000 signal strength was about -70 dBM at the right rear passenger seat.
Aha, methinks that maybe I didn't get a true Factory Reset out of the FCSP hardware button and now that I have CSP Wi-Fi connectivity, I can do a software-driven Factory Reset. That seemed to work on the fully-powered FCSP and HIS unit. The FCSP LEDs turned white for ~four minutes, and right after they turned blue, I could detect the FCSP SSID being broadcast and hook it up to my Wi-Fi network. Now, the Ford 3000 BT signal was being broadcast all the time, but still no luck pairing the truck and FCSP.
So, at this point, I start to blame the truck. Maybe a truck Factory Reset will fix me up. After I do that, I find the truck takes quite a while to "heal" itself. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half before Intelligent Backup shows up as applet on the SYNC screen app list. And now when I try scanning for the FCSP via the SYNC screen, it immediately and always says "NO STATIONS FOUND" as opposed to the more typical "Searching for a Ford Charge Station Pro" displayed previously.
So I waited another hour or two, about three hours since the truck Factory Reset. The next time I tried pairing, BINGO!, On the first try, both iPhone and SYNC screens offered the same pairing PIN. I confirmed them on both screens. The SYNC screen declared pairing a success, but the iPhone screen declared it failed. Nevertheless, the SYNC screen showed a Ford 3000 station and I wrote off the CSP app result as just another Ford program glitch such as we see too frequently in FordPass.
So, the first backup power transfer test 15 minutes later looks hopeful for starters. At 51", the truck charging port LEDs turned green but they're white by 5', and I ended the test with no power transfer after 8 minutes. Three hours later, another test. No lights at all now on the truck port LEDs. Pull the charger head out and reinsert. FCSP and truck port LEDs both turn white. Get in the truck. The Intelligent Backup screen in AUTOMATIC mode says "Preparing To Provide Power," but nothing happens. Turn off AUTOMATIC but no START button appears for MANUAL. More Switching between AUTOMATIC and MANUAL. A "STOP" button finally appears for AUTOMATIC; when I hit that, it turns into a START button. I switch to MANUAL, hit START, and the FCSP and truck port LEDs both turn green but no power transfer occurs.
I don't know why I think I'm making progress. I turned off the truck, unplugged it from the FCSP, and let it sit for an hour. So, it's been about nine hours since the truck Factory Reset. I plug the truck into the FCSP and cut the grid power. The truck port lights turn green at 44", and backup power transfer occurs at 1'33".
So, perhaps the truck state was the fly in the ointment of failed backup power transfers after 4/6/24. I had a connectivity update on 2/23/24 and the Tesla NACS update on 3/4/23, but two successful power transfers after those updates. The Home Integration System itself always seems to do its job when the truck and FCSP give it a chance. Maybe when cold FCSP reboots don't work to cure FCSP ills, there will be a lot more FCSP Factory Resets in my future, and if those don't fix me up, more truck Factory Resets. It sure takes the truck a long time to recover from a Factory Reset, and I wonder if that's good for the truck's long-term health.
Ford needs to come up with something better than the FCSP and its truck BT module and power transfer firmware.
The most aggravating thing about the Factory Reset was that the truck was determined to charge itself to 100% after the Reset, and it took more than one attempt to squelch that goal.
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