Ricks Lightning
Well-known member
- First Name
- Rick
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2024
- Threads
- 4
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 31
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Vehicles
- 2023 F150 Lightning Pro, 2024 F150 Lightning Flash
- Occupation
- Plumbing Contractor
- Thread starter
- #1
I recently purchased an electric Tonneau cover from Amazon. Not cheap and everything went fine even with the poorly written Chinese instructions. But weeks later I noticed the cover had opened by itself. The CS rep said a button was pushed and I said impossible as the 4 options are the hand held remote, that's locked up in the truck bed, the wired push button that is installed where the factory bed lights would be , the phone app and an option to link the ford key fob to a signal wire which I don't have as i haven't figured out how or where to wire the signal wire.
So I decided to install a switch that cuts the power to the cover when not in use so that it will never open on its own or about a false trigger. Here lies the problem. Apparently when you turn off power to the cover, even if it's fully closed, the cover looses it's preset memory of where to stop the travel in the closed position. what happens upon turning the power on is that the cover opens 14'' and stops. I then have to recalibrate the unit each time I cut the power. CS rep was also unaware of this and had me doing trouble shooting for a week.
The cover requires power 24/7 for the memory / limit stops to stay . So is there a way to either wire a 12 volt low current feed or add a battery backup that supplies power to the memory and not enough current to open the cover. I was thinking adding a 1 amp fuse or circuit breaker to feed power continuously, and then when i need the cover flip on my switch / 15 amp fuse to give it full current. Or possibly a 12 volt small button cell to keep the board hot and not loose my settings. Is there a diode or resister I can wire to bypass the switch and allow minimal current flow to keep the memory running?
What's crazy is the factory claims that the only way to retain the memory is to keep the cover fully open, like it was shipped and then kill power. complete opposite of what I need. Also what's interesting is the phone app and serial number allows them to check all the logs and determine what triggered the false opening. So I guess with a phone app they have access to my cover and can potentially open the cover at will if it ever gets hacked. I might need to drop the app for security concerns.
What's the purpose of a cover that I can't trust to stay closed and protect my tools and equipment? Factory hasn't gotten back to me with the phone app logs that would show what triggered it. I don't remember the date anyways so it's useless too. In the mean time I'm keeping the power off and using the rarely using this expensive cover until I make a fix.
Thanks for your help.
Rick
So I decided to install a switch that cuts the power to the cover when not in use so that it will never open on its own or about a false trigger. Here lies the problem. Apparently when you turn off power to the cover, even if it's fully closed, the cover looses it's preset memory of where to stop the travel in the closed position. what happens upon turning the power on is that the cover opens 14'' and stops. I then have to recalibrate the unit each time I cut the power. CS rep was also unaware of this and had me doing trouble shooting for a week.
The cover requires power 24/7 for the memory / limit stops to stay . So is there a way to either wire a 12 volt low current feed or add a battery backup that supplies power to the memory and not enough current to open the cover. I was thinking adding a 1 amp fuse or circuit breaker to feed power continuously, and then when i need the cover flip on my switch / 15 amp fuse to give it full current. Or possibly a 12 volt small button cell to keep the board hot and not loose my settings. Is there a diode or resister I can wire to bypass the switch and allow minimal current flow to keep the memory running?
What's crazy is the factory claims that the only way to retain the memory is to keep the cover fully open, like it was shipped and then kill power. complete opposite of what I need. Also what's interesting is the phone app and serial number allows them to check all the logs and determine what triggered the false opening. So I guess with a phone app they have access to my cover and can potentially open the cover at will if it ever gets hacked. I might need to drop the app for security concerns.
What's the purpose of a cover that I can't trust to stay closed and protect my tools and equipment? Factory hasn't gotten back to me with the phone app logs that would show what triggered it. I don't remember the date anyways so it's useless too. In the mean time I'm keeping the power off and using the rarely using this expensive cover until I make a fix.
Thanks for your help.
Rick
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