9 Comments

Interesting article thanks! I think all the Ford salesmen should be required to read your info on their truck. You should strike a deal with Ford in Detroit to publish a paper for distribution to their dealerships.

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Interesting article, thanks Mike. I have several questions. First, you mentioned that the F-150 hybrid has a bonded neutral and that you had a workaround for using it to power a house but I couldn’t find it in the article (did I miss it?). You mentioned the GFCI being a problem but isn’t the ground to neutral bond a problem too since in a home, there should only be one G-N bond at the main panel? Second, I camped with a friend who had one of these puppies and I couldn’t resist trying to power my RV with it and using it to charge up my battery after three days of boondocking. He mentioned it had a battery for powering the gene so the engine didn’t need to run constantly but I assumed it was the hybrid propulsion battery. You said it had a 1.5kW-hr battery. That sounded kinda small to me but I looked it up and yes, that’s what they say but it apparently operates at 450V which would keep the current to a reasonable level. Do you know if this 1.5 kW-hr battery is just for the gene or is this also the propulsion motor battery? When powering his or my trailer, the engine would automatically start-up every so often to charge the battery but I didn’t think to time it. If the gene were to output 7.2 kW, then it would consume 1.5 kW-hr every 1.5/7.2 hrs or every 12.5 minutes. Assuming 80% or so efficiency, the engine would need to turn on every 10 minutes but that would cycle the battery from 100% to 0%. I guess this seems possible but I wonder what you think or know about this?

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Oh my gosh! Comparing your information to my Ford dealer folks is like night and day. For some reason my PowerBoost keeps tripping the "B" GFCI. Do you think it could be just a cheap Dogbone? And what do you recommend for a Dogbone manufacturer?

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Do you have the 7.2kW onboard generator?

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Yes, I just ran the self-test and it tripped the “B” breaker with no load. I will return to the Ford Service and have them figure out the internal issue. They know very little about the PowerBoost system.

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Yes I do.

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I believe that Reliance Controls sells a special twist-lock adapter for the 7.2kW PowerBoost that has a lifted ground to prevent GFCI nuisance tripping. https://reliancecontrols.com/

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I’m curious about the engine that powers the inverter generator. I assume it gets fuel from the vehicle tank but what is the consumption rate? How about the SPL when it’s running? I wouldn’t expect Ford to develop a small engine for it so who makes the one they use?

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Does the inverter provide a pure or modified sine wave output?

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