Test Report: EG4 Chargeverter Works Well

[Garrik]

I have no financial connection to, and receive no benefit of any kind from, the products mentioned below.

I recently leased a 2024 Flash with the intention of using it as an additional backup battery for my off-grid solar system. After reading the horror stories about HIS, I have avoided going in that direction. Instead, I am working on using the Pro Power bed outlets to charge my solar system main batteries when needed, and a separate charger to recharge the truck when excess solar capacity is available. I use Home Assistant to automate everything that I do.

My first attempt involved wiring the truck up to the AC charging port on my inverter, with a contactor to make and break the connection controlled by HA. That worked, but only if I did not connect Ground or Neutral - I could only connect the two hot leads. Connecting Ground or Neutral caused a ground fault in the truck because my inverter has Ground bonded to Neutral. That didn't seem like an ideal solution to me.

Yesterday, I tried using the truck to power an EG4 Chargeverter - a ~$500 device which is intended to allow generators with potentially dirty power output to charge solar batteries. It worked perfectly. I am just reporting this for the benefit of others who might be doing the same kind of experiments. The Chargeverter even has the L14-30 plug as shipped from the factory, making the install very easy. It should be possible to use a second Chargeverter connected to two of the the 120v bed outlets to add another 3,000 watts or so of charge capacity (in addition to the 6,000 watts available on the 240v outlet [which is limited to around 5,000 watts by the Chargeverter's capacity, unless you use two of them]), I will experiment with that next.

I continue to have problems with the software on the truck. The "Keep On When Vehicle is Off" option on the ProPower Onboard screen does not seem to work. Perhaps the truck is going into deep sleep or something - but unless some power is drawn continuously from the outlets it eventually (hours) stops working. Need to try to figure that out next too.

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[tnugentfl]

Sounds like you might be BKXC. I'm m a big fan!

 

[Adventureboy]

It should be possible to use a second Chargeverter connected to two of the the 120v bed outlets to add another 3,000 watts or so of charge capacity (in addition to the 6,000 watts available on the 240v outlet [which is limited to around 5,000 watts by the Chargeverter's capacity, unless you use two of them]), I will experiment with that next.

Power from the bed is limited to 7200 watts (3600 watts for each 120v leg) regardless of how it is connected to the bed outlets.

 

[Garrik]

Power from the bed is limited to 7200 watts (3600 watts for each 120v leg) regardless of how it is connected to the bed outlets.

My understanding, which may be incorrect, is that two of the bed outlets are driven by the front inverter, and thus can be powered in addition to the 240v bed outlet which is driven by the rear inverter. Is that wrong?

 

[Adventureboy]

My understanding, which may be incorrect, is that two of the bed outlets are driven by the front inverter, and thus can be powered in addition to the 240v bed outlet which is driven by the rear inverter. Is that wrong?

If you have Pro Power Onboard 9600 watt version, there are two inverters. The 7200 watt inverter for the bed is 240v centre tapped and runs both the 240v and 120v outlets in the bed. A separate 2400 watt 120v inverter runs the frunk and cab outlets. You can only pull 240v from the bed inverter and at a maximum of 7200 watts.

 

[Thunder⚡️ Lightning]

Power from the bed is limited to 7200 watts (3600 watts for each 120v leg) regardless of how it is connected to the bed outlets.

that’s the power boost. But my lightning pro goes up to 9.6kw 7.2 from 240 and the 2.4 from 120v. Apparently the j1772 can do more than this with the expensive ford/sunrun system.

 

[Adventureboy]

that’s the power boost. But my lightning pro goes up to 9.6kw 7.2 from 240 and the 2.4 from 120v. Apparently the j1772 can do more than this with the expensive ford/sunrun system.

As I said, you cannot draw more than 7.2kw from the bed outlets.
You are right, there are two inverters in the 9.6kw Pro Power Onboard. There is a 7.2kw 240 volt split phase inverter that runs the bed outlets. That is 30 amps on the 240 volt L6-30R or 3.6kw on each 120v leg of the split phase 5-20p outlets in the bed. The combination of all bed outlets cannot exceed 7.2kw or 3.6kw per 120v leg.
The second inverter is 120v 2.4kw and runs the cab and Frunk outlets.
Combined, the two inverters total 9.6kw so you can draw up to 9.6kw but you'll need to use a combination of the bed outlets and Frunk outlets.

The Ford Home Integration system is a completely different system. It draws DC power directly from the HVB through the Ford Charge Station Pro (this is why it has the CCS1 connector) and feeds an external inverter mounted on the home side. The home side inverter is also limited to a total of 9.6kw but across a single 240v split phase inverter.

 

[NW Ontario Ford Lightning]

Yesterday, I tried using the truck to power an EG4 Chargeverter - a ~$500 device which is intended to allow generators with potentially dirty power output to charge solar batteries. It worked perfectly. I am just reporting this for the benefit of others who might be doing the same kind of experiments. The Chargeverter even has the L14-30 plug as shipped from the factory, making the install very easy. It should be possible to use a second Chargeverter connected to two of the the 120v bed outlets to add another 3,000 watts or so of charge capacity (in addition to the 6,000 watts available on the 240v outlet [which is limited to around 5,000 watts by the Chargeverter's capacity, unless you use two of them]), I will experiment with that next.






I continue to have problems with the software on the truck. The "Keep On When Vehicle is Off" option on the ProPower Onboard screen does not seem to work. Perhaps the truck is going into deep sleep or something - but unless some power is drawn continuously from the outlets it eventually (hours) stops working. Need to try to figure that out next too.

I have a complete solarPV-battery-inverter system, and average 37kWh per day to run the buildings, plus another 20-25kWh per day to top up the Lightning to 80% SOC. During Winter there is no way my system can collect 60kWh per day, and I use overnight ToU utilty (low overnight rates) to charge up the Lightning, and the home energy system battery (115kWh, 48v DC pack).
Like your situation, I have been planning to use the Truck as the back up to my solar if utility is down - say a winter storm takes out the utility power. I have a pair of EG4's, but I figure it this way:
if the grid is down, no EV charging will take place, and the rest of the system is max 37kWh per 24hour day = 1.54kWh per hour. So a single EG4 set to say 80A 50V output (4kW) can supply that 37 kWh in 9.25 hours. This supplies the total power needed for the property in 24 hours of run time, yes some losses will apply on top.


I was noodling around in the Truck settings today, looking for exactly this - there is a setting for how deep the truck will allow battery discharge, and seems like another for how long the truck bed power can remain 'on' while the truck is off before it goes into sleep. I am just learning all this, had the truck a few weeks only, but am interested in doing exactly as you describe - use the EG4 and truck outlet to allow some back-up energy transfer to my main solar-battery system, if needed during emergency. I want to work on this while it is NOT an emergency to work out what I need to know, and how it can work.

 

[Thunder⚡️ Lightning]

I am aw

As I said, you cannot draw more than 7.2kw from the bed outlets.
You are right, there are two inverters in the 9.6kw Pro Power Onboard. There is a 7.2kw 240 volt split phase inverter that runs the bed outlets. That is 30 amps on the 240 volt L6-30R or 3.6kw on each 120v leg of the split phase 5-20p outlets in the bed. The combination of all bed outlets cannot exceed 7.2kw or 3.6kw per 120v leg.
The second inverter is 120v 2.4kw and runs the cab and Frunk outlets.
Combined, the two inverters total 9.6kw so you can draw up to 9.6kw but you'll need to use a combination of the bed outlets and Frunk outlets.

The Ford Home Integration system is a completely different system. It draws DC power directly from the HVB through the Ford Charge Station Pro (this is why it has the CCS1 connector) and feeds an external inverter mounted on the home side. The home side inverter is also limited to a total of 9.6kw but across a single 240v split phase inverter.

I am aware of all of the things. I didn’t ask any questions nonetheless thank you for explaining that.

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