Intelligent backup power issues/unreliable

[Aminorjourney]

Well, what do you know?

Mine just started working again!

I noticed a few weeks back that our charger appeared to be getting something from online, but I can't see any difference in the app (unless it's a tiny revision).

System worked just fine yesterday, although I'll be honest: I didn't run it for a long time.

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[Sea Ranch]

Well, what do you know?

Mine just started working again!

I noticed a few weeks back that our charger appeared to be getting something from online, but I can't see any difference in the app (unless it's a tiny revision).

System worked just fine yesterday, although I'll be honest: I didn't run it for a long time.

That is excellent news. After many months of frustration and almost giving up on the system, I have been very fortunate that mine has worked during the past year each time I have done a simulated outage. Having said that, the last time I did have to unplug the charger for a few minutes and then plug it back in to "kick-start" the communication.

 

[Aminorjourney]

And it’s broken again.

Another blip in power this morning, along with errors 1 and 2 on the inverter this time.

 

[Sea Ranch]

And it’s broken again.

Another blip in power this morning, along with errors 1 and 2 on the inverter this time.

That is not good. I am on my third Ford Pro Charger. This one has been working well but I did install an additional 50 amp circuit and have a ChargePoint Level 2 charger as a backup just in case it fails again.

 

[bananaslug79]

Two more tests today, all failures. Tried @Jim Lewis's plug in/out trick on several attempts, no joy. Charge station is green, Sparky's charge ring is white; multiple tries of unlock button>unplug cord and wait (no more than 30 seconds each time, this is a simulated outage here and I am NOT waiting longer). Still nothing.

Can't believe I'm in favor of class action here, but after a year and only 1 successful test (just after install last January) this is a non-working system for a LOT of money. @Ford Motor Company, I either want a working system with reliable and repeatable testing procedures, or kindly refund the entire cost of the system. I would prefer the former, but we're about to pay off the loan taken out to get this backup system installed. It needs to work.

Sigh...off to join the other thread

 

[tearitupsports]

Two more tests today, all failures. Tried @Jim Lewis's plug in/out trick on several attempts, no joy. Charge station is green, Sparky's charge ring is white; multiple tries of unlock button>unplug cord and wait (no more than 30 seconds each time, this is a simulated outage here and I am NOT waiting longer). Still nothing.

Can't believe I'm in favor of class action here, but after a year and only 1 successful test (just after install last January) this is a non-working system for a LOT of money. @Ford Motor Company, I either want a working system with reliable and repeatable testing procedures, or kindly refund the entire cost of the system. I would prefer the former, but we're about to pay off the loan taken out to get this backup system installed. It needs to work.

Sigh...off to join the other thread

I am not sure what you are meaning about the 30 seconds. It takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds or so from the time of the power outage until the light ring on the truck turns green. un-plugging and re-plugging would reset that timing and you need to wait another 1 minute 20 seconds.

 

[bananaslug79]

Wow, thank you for this information. Is this 1 min 20 sec limit documented somewhere? @Ford Motor Company?

I will be more patient on my next backup test. Having reviewed some of the other threads on troubles with the HIS, I might also see what the truck screen thinks is happening next time too. Thanks

 

[blitzlinger]

I am not sure what you are meaning about the 30 seconds. It takes about 1 minute and 20 seconds or so from the time of the power outage until the light ring on the truck turns green. un-plugging and re-plugging would reset that timing and you need to wait another 1 minute 20 seconds.

This is what I noticed as well. I timed it several times and it's always 70-80 seconds. At least with the current FCSP version (FW 5.0.16, SW ending with 1.5.3).

And yes, reinserting the cable will reset the timer, which I did have to do because the truck goes into sort of a sleep mode and ignores the HIS/FCSP handshake call until the cable is disconnected and plugged back in.

 

[Jim Lewis]

On the UNLOCK trick, after pressing the UNLOCK button on the port and removing the charger head, I always wait at least 10 to 15 seconds before plugging it in again. I've sometimes waited as long as four or five minutes, and it's still worked.

After plugging the charger head into the truck port again, you'll probably be good to go if the white port LEDs don't go out in about the first 30 seconds. If they stay on, I've found that somewhere between 40 seconds to as long as two minutes after plugging the charger head back into the port, power transfer will begin (the port LEDs will turn green). But actual power transfer to the house may only occur 10 to 15 seconds after the port LEDs turn green). I haven't tested my system since the end of December. YMMV.

 

[Sea Ranch]

On the UNLOCK trick, after pressing the UNLOCK button on the port and removing the charger head, I always wait at least 10 to 15 seconds before plugging it in again. I've sometimes waited as long as four or five minutes, and it's still worked.

After plugging the charger head into the truck port again, you'll probably be good to go if the white port LEDs don't go out in about the first 30 seconds. If they stay on, I've found that somewhere between 40 seconds to as long as two minutes after plugging the charger head back into the port, power transfer will begin (the port LEDs will turn green). But actual power transfer to the house may only occur 10 to 15 seconds after the port LEDs turn green). I haven't tested my system since the end of December. YMMV.

After a year of successful outage tests (after more than a year of frustration working to get it operating), today I had something new develop. I have always had mine set on "automatic". Today it totally failed to initiate the power transfer. I wanted for a full 5 minutes. I got into the truck and switched from "automatic" to "manual" and hit the "start" button. Within a minute power was restored to the house but a few seconds later it simply quit. I hit the charge port unlock button, removed the charging cable for about 1 minute, plugged it back in and tried the manual mode again. This time it worked.

Like pretty much everyone else who has an HIS, the frustration is palpable. It is like throwing the dice. You never know what your will end up with. I bought the Lightning because of the HIS and had complete faith in Ford that what we have all been experiencing would never happen and if it did, they would stand behind their customers. The truth is, I love my Lightning but I am so disappointed in Ford. Are they just hoping that we will just give up and all this will go away? I assume that after spending big on advertising the HIS they have quietly stopped selling it?

Come on Ford, step up to the plate and let's all have a system that works 100% of the time.

 

[blitzlinger]

I wanted to chime in once again on this subject.

Today I had a grid power failure, and this time the IBP/HIS system did not kick in at all (a first). The FCSP and the truck lit up with pulsating green, but after about two minutes it would shut down (subsequent testing shows the truck also throws a "charge station fault").

Finally after digging through the M Professional (Delta inverter management app) logs, I discovered that my Delta inverter triggered a "EVSE Under Voltage" fault and thus refuses to draw power from the truck. The voltage being reported was at 377v, and the truck's SoC was 78%.

The only difference between prior successful transfers and this failed one were the colder temperatures, it was 24f with most of the night around 16f. Makes me wonder what the "low voltage" threshold is with the Delta inverter.

Edit: Charged to 100% which showed up on the Delta inverter at 391v, with ambient temps at 29f. Gave the test another go, same result with a "EVSE Under Voltage" error, while the truck and FCSP continued to pulsate green with the truck screen showing "preparing to provide power". Really doesn't make sense, I'll pull the 12V and retest tomorrow...

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