Ford Lightning Pro Power Onboard failure on the last weld of the project

[Felix Mechanical Inc]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this forum. I thought I better get familiar with this forum because of the issue I had last week.

I'm the owner operator of a Mechanical piping company. We do many different kinds of piping but mostly welding. I recently purchased a brand new Miller CST 282 stick welding machine as my main welder for the lighting. For the last few days my trucks pro power onboard has been acting up. The power keeps shutting off and Im getting a "Pro Power Onboard Service Required" indication. After unplugging the cord, restarting the truck it has been ok until.... The last weld on the job, Christmas eave in Malibu. We would have been finished, packed up and home for eggnog early. But the lightning would not re power up the bed outlets to my welder. I dropped the truck off this morning at Fullerton Ford.
I hope he understands the urgency of this repair because my company is shutdown until they get this fixed.

Sponsored

 

[TaxmanHog]

Sorry to hear this report, you may see some other threads either in this section or the Issues section link here https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/forums/issues-repairs-tsb-recalls-warranty.109/

I hope your dealer can get you up and running quick, but the few PPOB failures I recall took time to get the affected 7.2KW inverter replaced.

 

[Harman023]

I don't know what the service duty is on the inverters, but I would think commercial use of a welder would exceed it.

 

[Ricks Lightning]

Fullerton to Malibu everyday. That's the real problem.

Are you a fitter or plumbing company?
I was in local 78 from 81-97. Still doing my own thing but staying very local with my Lightning.

Last year I was invited to the Tesla cybertruck reveal party. 1 of the demos they had was a live demo of stick welding using the cybertrucks power in the back. They do have a larger inverter than our lightnings.

Rick

 

[broncoaz]

Following as I’m interested in using my new 2024 Flash with a welder.

Your welder is capable of exceeding the 30 amps provided by the truck if maxed out. I’m sure you’re aware and are’t running at maximum output. I wonder if the turn on amperage surge is just a little too high and causing an overload condition.

 

[Felix Mechanical Inc]

I have a slight update on the Pro Power Onboard issue.
The dealer is saying that they do not have a hard code for this issue. I'm puzzled because I received multiple alerts on my Ford app stating "service required see dealer". My question is what is the point for the Ford app to tell you to see the dealer if the dealer can't see the issue. Anyways.

Fullerton Ford really tried to eliminate a possible issue with the bed outlet itself. They took a bed outlet from another Lightning and installed it in mine to see if that could possibly be the issue. I took the truck home last night and tried to weld with it this morning. It welded for about 3 rods before the machine shut off and I got the same warning sign on the dash. I tried to unplug and reset everything but no go.

I plan to return the Lightning back to Fullerton Ford on Monday.

P.s
* At the time of this issue I'm welding with 1/8" 6010 5P+ welding rod at 75-85 amps
4" sch 40 carbon steel pipe

*Fact- I experimented and found that 1 each 6" sch 40 weld (3 passes) reduces the range of my truck by 3 miles.

 

[PrimeRisk]

I'm betting on a heat sink separation/failure in the inverter causing overheating and shutdown. This is why it will reset and work for a while, but as soon as it gets hot, you're done. There's likely no repairing it directly, so it's time for a new inverter.

 

[B177y]

Solely based on your symptoms, I agree with @PrimeRisk . This sounds like an overheating issue or some sort of thermal fuse tripping when hot and resetting when it's cooled off. Interested in finding out the real cause is.

 

[Ricks Lightning]

Can you have someone monitor your wattage on your sync screen while welding and see what the amp draw is or the what draw is.
Rick

 

[Felix Mechanical Inc]

I just ran an Amp draw test. I simulated the same weld scenario. This screenshot is running 75 amps on my welding machine with 1/8" welding rod.
This is an inverter welding machine that typically doesn't draw a lot of amps.

 

[Duke_239]

I just ran an Amp draw test. I simulated the same weld scenario. This screenshot is running 75 amps on my welding machine with 1/8" welding rod.
This is an inverter welding machine that typically doesn't draw a lot of amps.

13A is not much. One theory is harmonics. Your machine has an inverter, and probably a rectifier on the front end. These can throw out a lot of harmonics backwards toward the source, which is just another inverter. These harmonics can create heat without showing up on an ameter. Large industrial VFDs have harmonic filters built in to reduce this problem. Just a theory, I have not run a fab shop out of my truck!