Installing a Home Integration System for Intelligent Backup Power (without SunRun)

[v2h8484]

it looks however, as if even in that position, the bluetooth is too weak to reliably work. So I moved the truck, parking it so that it was parallel to the front of our garage, and at right angles to the FCSP.

Does Ford acknowledge this design flaw? Do they plan to change to wired comms? It's gotta be cheaper than flying engineers to customer homes everywhere.

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[Aminorjourney]

Does Ford acknowledge this design flaw? Do they plan to change to wired comms? It's gotta be cheaper than flying engineers to customer homes everywhere.

Honestly, I don't know. But as my wife is away for the evening, I came home and switched over to the Truck - it's running the whole house, including both well pumps, sewage, heat pumps, studio, etc...

Everything is working great... because my truck is parked 90 degrees to the charging station.

I'll keep you all posted.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Everything is working great... because my truck is parked 90 degrees to the charging station.

Unfortunately, my charging station is in the middle of the left wall inside our garage. So I can't park at 90 degrees to the wall the charging station is on! An installer wanted me to back my truck into the garage so the FCSP could be as close as possible to the BT unit behind the right rear passenger seat, but I pointed out that besides the danger of taking down my garage back wall, we'd have a wee bit of trouble routing the charging cable to the truck charging port, now on the far right front side of the garage bay with the truck facing out.

 

[Aminorjourney]

Well, now we have a new problem.

We've been regularly testing to make sure that everything works as it should, and now... our dark start battery appears to be drained or dead.

My contact is aware, and I'll keep you all updated. But yeah, HIS is no-longer working after a week's worth of successful testing.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Is Dark Start battery replacement covered under warranty, at least for a few years? (I haven't read my warranty details yet!).

 

[Aminorjourney]

Update: HIS is working again!
We had an issue with the dark start battery draining completely due to all the tests we’d been making, and apparently it takes a LONG time to recharge.
It’s nice to see things working at last!

 

[Kman]

Great to see Nicki in here, I'm a fan of the channel and been following your HIS videos, amongst others.
My 2023 Lariat ER was purchased in January, HIS installed around May/June and still cant get it to work. No successful tests or transfers.
I have been following the threads, waiting patiently, and feel I have been more than reasonable as an early adopter, I wasn't expecting a flawless product.
But this is beyond ridiculous now, and Ford should be ashamed for selling a product to the public that was clearly rushed and untested.
If Ford cant get this crap fixed, I'd like a refund for the $4k I spend on the HIS hardware, and the $6k I spent having it installed.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Hopefully, today, I joined the club of folks for whom the HIS unit works reliably. My system worked 3x in a row, only taking 1 minute 23 seconds or so to provide backup power automatically after grid power was cut.

A tech for ETW Energy (a subcontractor for Sunrun) shut down the entire FCSP/HIS system for >10 min. On reboot, he reset the FCSP to be reconnected with my network extender. When I asked why it worked now and not before, he said Ford had let them know a few weeks ago that they'd issued an update for the truck/HIS hardware. The day after Ford let them know, he got another customer's problematic HIS unit to work immediately after a system reset. Overall, he said the HIS system had seemed to work fine all along, even before the update, for a bunch of people but not for others and offered no reason why. The tech had tested the system with the truck on when he cut power. After he left, I tested backup transfer successfully 2x in a row with the truck off, the last time with a State Farm Drive Safe & Save BT beacon in a driver's side cupholder (I'd worried that beacon would mess up the backup power transfer but it seems not to).

My remaining annoyance is that Sunrun today told me they start the warranty from the installation date (6/12/23) and don't make any allowance for the system not working for me for almost the last 6 months.

 

[RDeFran]

We do not have sunrun here. I had the system installed by a professional electrician September 2022. It charges the truck but has never paired. I gave up, it was a huge waste of money.

 

[deltacap]

Hopefully, today, I joined the club of folks for whom the HIS unit works reliably. My system worked 3x in a row, only taking 1 minute 23 seconds or so to provide backup power automatically after grid power was cut.

A tech for ETW Energy (a subcontractor for Sunrun) shut down the entire FCSP/HIS system for >10 min. On reboot, he reset the FCSP to be reconnected with my network extender. When I asked why it worked now and not before, he said Ford had let them know a few weeks ago that they'd issued an update for the truck/HIS hardware. The day after Ford let them know, he got another customer's problematic HIS unit to work immediately after a system reset. Overall, he said the HIS system had seemed to work fine all along, even before the update, for a bunch of people but not for others and offered no reason why. The tech had tested the system with the truck on when he cut power. After he left, I tested backup transfer successfully 2x in a row with the truck off, the last time with a State Farm Drive Safe & Save BT beacon in a driver's side cupholder (I'd worried that beacon would mess up the backup power transfer but it seems not to).

My remaining annoyance is that Sunrun today told me they start the warranty from the installation date (6/12/23) and don't make any allowance for the system not working for me for almost the last 6 months.

Jim,
That's great news that your system is finally up. Could you specify whether this update was installed on the truck, the FCSP, or the HIS hardware?
Thanks.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Could you specify whether this update was installed on the truck, the FCSP, or the HIS hardware?

Unfortunately, I'm just relaying hearsay from the ETW Energy installer who got my system working. I've asked his boss for more specifics on what update(s) made the difference and will reply here if I get a more specific answer (the answer just in is that he doesn't know...).

OTH, the key updates may well have been identified by @hifixenthusiast on 10/5/23: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-340571

and here: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-342023

Ford Charge Station Pro firmware update: 2.112.91...

mine now 2.112.91:2.149:1.32:1.53:0.62​

Delta Inverter firmware update: 1.1.21

Mine (from M Prof app): BDI_SYS_01.01.21_PWR_01.06.08_ENS_01.06.01_D2D_01.01.05.bin​

Ford Power Up 6.1

But, by 10/23/23, I'd received all those updates. Unlike @hifixenthusiast's Power Up 6.1 update, the DETAILS for my Power Up 6.1 said nothing about the HIS system. And on 10/23, I tried three backup power transfers, two automatic and one using Nikki's manual transfer formula (https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-347301). I waited >10 min each time for transfer to occur and it never did. (and rested system >10 min between tests). When I launched the Charge Station Pro app, it still said "Connection Lost" over the FCSP wall station image, as it had for months. But then hifixenthusiast's screen capture of his working system had the same "Connection Lost" advisory in his FordPass app.

So, barring further info from ETW Energy/Sunrun, I have no idea what happened between 10/23 and 12/4/23, except the ETW Energy tech completely shut down my system on 12/4, including the Dark Start battery, let it sit for >10 min, rebooted, removed the cover plate of the FCSP and held down the red reset button in the upper left of the board until an LED in the right middle of the board starting flashing. The FCSP then made its SSID visible, and we repaired the device with my network extender so the CSP app had a "Plugged In" message above the FCSP icon rather than a "Connection Lost" message. On the hard reset of the FCSP Wi-Fi, we may have just been impatient after the cold reboot. In the past, I've just waited >30 min with the whole FCSP/HIS unit off and then after powering on, had the FCSP broadcasting its SSID after waiting 4 or 5 min without a hard reset.

P.S. By 12/4/23, I'd also received Power Up updates 6.2 and 6.3 and, subsequently (12/1), the revised 6.2 update. But as I received them, none of these updates had any details about the HIS unit or FCSP in the accompanying explanatory text.

 

[deltacap]

Unfortunately, I'm just relaying hearsay from the ETW Energy installer who got my system working. I've asked his boss for more specifics on what update(s) made the difference and will reply here if I get a more specific answer (the answer just in is that he doesn't know...).

OTH, the key updates may well have been identified by @hifixenthusiast on 10/5/23: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-340571

and here: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-342023

Ford Charge Station Pro firmware update: 2.112.91...

mine now 2.112.91:2.149:1.32:1.53:0.62​

Delta Inverter firmware update: 1.1.21

Mine (from M Prof app): BDI_SYS_01.01.21_PWR_01.06.08_ENS_01.06.01_D2D_01.01.05.bin​

Ford Power Up 6.1

But, by 10/23/23, I'd received all those updates. Unlike @hifixenthusiast's Power Up 6.1 update, the DETAILS for my Power Up 6.1 said nothing about the HIS system. And on 10/23, I tried three backup power transfers, two automatic and one using Nikki's manual transfer formula (https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...backup-power-without-sunrun.12564/post-347301). I waited >10 min each time for transfer to occur and it never did. (and rested system >10 min between tests). When I launched the Charge Station Pro app, it still said "Connection Lost" over the FCSP wall station image, as it had for months. But then hifixenthusiast's screen capture of his working system had the same "Connection Lost" advisory in his FordPass app.

So, barring further info from ETW Energy/Sunrun, I have no idea what happened between 10/23 and 12/4/23, except the ETW Energy tech completely shut down my system on 12/4, including the Dark Start battery, let it sit for >10 min, rebooted, removed the cover plate of the FCSP and held down the red reset button in the upper left of the board until an LED in the right middle of the board starting flashing. The FCSP then made its SSID visible, and we repaired the device with my network extender so the CSP app had a "Plugged In" message above the FCSP icon rather than a "Connection Lost" message. On the hard reset of the FCSP Wi-Fi, we may have just been impatient after the cold reboot. In the past, I've just waited >30 min with the whole FCSP/HIS unit off and then after powering on, had the FCSP broadcasting its SSID after waiting 4 or 5 min without a hard reset.

P.S. By 12/4/23, I'd also received Power Up updates 6.2 and 6.3 and, subsequently (12/1), the revised 6.2 update. But as I received them, none of these updates had any details about the HIS unit or FCSP in the accompanying explanatory text.

Thanks for your very detailed answer about the current state of upgrades. I'm sorry to say the telling of your saga has discouraged me from purchasing the HIS system.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Hopefully, today, I joined the club of folks for whom the HIS unit works reliably. My system worked 3x in a row, only taking 1 minute 23 seconds or so to provide backup power automatically after grid power was cut.

Just an update on HIS unit reliability. Since 12/4/23, my FCSP went to "Connection Lost" status again (even though charging works great). I also got Power Up updates 6.4 and 6.5 and Priority Update: 23-PU0722-DC-CHG3. The truck and FordPass behaved strangely after the latter two updates. No tire air pressure reports until the truck sat overnight, and the wrong % SOC target charge level (100%) was reported in the FordPass app but returned to normal during my power transfer and cold HIS unit reboot experiments below.

The system initially failed to transfer power with grid power out >10 min today. Then, after an FCSP/HIS unit cold reboot (power, including DS battery, off >20 min) and reconnecting the FCSP to my garage Wi-Fi extender, power transfer occurred within 1 min 30 sec of cutting grid power.

So, it looks like if I want to be sure that backup power is available when needed on into the future, I'll need to be testing power transfer at least once a month and maybe frequently doing the cold reboot rain dance (or niggling Sunrun about my 12-year HIS unit warranty). My experience today shows that one cannot expect to go ten days and still have the Lightning/FCSP/HIS combo just plain work.

 

[Jim Lewis]

Further update on the reliability and trustworthiness of Ford's backup system.

I'm sitting in my kitchen. No power outage for sure as neighborhood Christmas lights are glowing all around me. I see the FordPass app on my iPhone hasn't updated in several hours. So, I swipe down from the top of the screen. Apparently, that initiates a Power Transfer (if you believe everything the FordPass app tells you):

Click on the DETAILS button, you see the following:

Clicking on the STOP TRANSFER button just causes a page-loading circle to appear and go round-and-round.

Throw open the door to the garage. The truck is doing nuttin'.

Ford is like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. So much crappy information out of FordPass that when the app throws up something real that's life-or-death important, one might not believe it for all the previous white noise.

Edit_Update: I got out of the Power Transfer quagmire by turning off Automatic Transfer in the Intelligent Backup settings in both the Sync screen settings and in FordPass, then saving to the cloud my altered FordPass settings. After my FordPass Home screen notification button went back to WAITING TO CHARGE, I changed back to Automatic Transfer both in the truck and FordPass settings and the Power Transfer in progress notice hasn't come back. Maybe changing settings in only one place would be sufficient. I'll try that if the Power Transfer accident happens again.

 

[TaxmanHog]

Looking forward to a NEW version of Ford Pass!

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