Battery Management System - Has it been a success?

[dceggert]

Has the battery management system been a success for Ford owners measurable in longer battery life or just a gimmick and problematic for owners?

I have not experienced any problems with Non BMS vehicle batteries lasting 4-6 years without issue. Both AGM and Costco flood batteries for my vehicles. I googled it and cannot find an answer? From what I have read this has been onboard Ford vehicles since 2011..

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=19&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjcqPvR8afpAhWIrJ4KHYflA8YQFjASegQIAxAB&url=https://www.noln.net/articles/2122-battery-management-the-challenges-of-a-smart-system&usg=AOvVaw0q_MsZgO113kv5R6ztbqIf

* So Ford owners, HAVE your batteries lasted longer with only a 50% charge rather than a full charge of 12.6 - 13.1 resting?

Phil,
Battery Management is also used as a battery monitor for 'other' things besides charge/discharge management. If the battery has a sufficient charge the alternator can be managed to lower the charge being produced to save fuel. In addition, the battery state is used to determine if Stop/Start can be accomplished further saving fuel.

I know a lot of people don't like these Stop/Start events but it saves about 2% on the FE certification cycles. Remember the 'old days' what people would do to save 1% fuel? This is worth 2%!

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[SemperVee]

I leave mine disconnected as I don't feel running around with a 50% charged battery is a good thing. I also keep start/stop off 100% of the time.

 

[wanted33]

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the kind words.... I have included a document from the Service Manual that gives a overview. I have little familiarity with the 5G Ranger system...quite sophisticated.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

@P. A. Schilke , Thanks Phil. I'm a bit technologically challenged, and there are a lot of technical terms in there. So I have to ask, does it say that if the system is working properly there in no need for a battery maintainer. Yeah, I'm pitiful when it comes to all this new fangled stuff on cars these days.

 

[Mustang2Ranger]

So from Phil's document I learned to not connect accessories (such as winch or battery charger) to the negative post, use chassis ground instead so it doesn't mess with the computer's monitoring

Also that if the plug is disconnected the default charge voltage is 13.5v. It seems also that the system will not condition the battery periodically either when this plug is disconnected because it will not allow the computer to perform its usual checks

More importantly and which kind of pisses me off is that if the battery is replaced a scan tool has to clear the memory so it doesn't think it is the old battery. Wondering if we can do this ourselves with a scan tool or does dealer have to do it?

Reminds me of my mom's BMW, SMH when the battery had to be replaced

I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I want to disconnect it

 

[wanted33]

So from Phil's document I learned to not connect accessories (such as winch or battery charger) to the negative post, use chassis ground instead so it doesn't mess with the computer's monitoring

Also that if the plug is disconnected the default charge voltage is 13.5v. It seems also that the system will not condition the battery periodically either when this plug is disconnected because it will not allow the computer to perform its usual checks

More importantly and which kind of pisses me off is that if the battery is replaced a scan tool has to clear the memory so it doesn't think it is the old battery. Wondering if we can do this ourselves with a scan tool or does the dealer have to do it?

Reminds me of my mom's BMW, SMH when the battery had to be replaced

I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I want to disconnect it

Garrett, how can Ford make any money if we do it ourselves?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

So from Phil's document I learned to not connect accessories (such as winch or battery charger) to the negative post, use chassis ground instead so it doesn't mess with the computer's monitoring

Also that if the plug is disconnected the default charge voltage is 13.5v. It seems also that the system will not condition the battery periodically either when this plug is disconnected because it will not allow the computer to perform its usual checks

More importantly and which kind of pisses me off is that if the battery is replaced a scan tool has to clear the memory so it doesn't think it is the old battery. Wondering if we can do this ourselves with a scan tool or does dealer have to do it?

Reminds me of my mom's BMW, SMH when the battery had to be replaced

I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I want to disconnect it

Hi Garrett,

I had the same question about DYI battery replacement but concluded the system will eventually figure out it has a new battery....otherwise we are stuck needing a scan tool, which I never planned on purchasing. Maybe Autozone or such knows how to do this....I understand this is done free of charge for fault codes. This is one area of my 2019 Ranger that I do not clearly understand, particularly of what benefit it is long term.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[SemperVee]

Hi Garrett,

I had the same question about DYI battery replacement but concluded the system will eventually figure out it has a new battery....otherwise we are stuck needing a scan tool, which I never planned on purchasing. Maybe Autozone or such knows how to do this....I understand this is done free of charge for fault codes. This is one area of my 2019 Ranger that I do not clearly understand, particularly of what benefit it is long term.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired
[/QUOTE


Thanks Phil! I took readings from both the post and a ground and got the same readings. I read the article and it sure is very complicated. I just want my battery to last 4-6 years like they did when I had my Chevy full size PU. In 15 years I went thru 3 Costco Batteries and little else with that reliable V8 platform. I would like to trust that FORD knows what they are doing as I sure love my Ranger and how it drives!

 

[Wasatch]

Here ya go..... Just this simple.

I wanted to bump this thread. Has it been confirmed this keeps the battery charged and eliminates the battery 'management' without issues?

Also, have folks had any issues keeping it plugged in AND having accessories such as lights, winch, etc. hooked up directly to the battery?

 

[pbb_photo]

I wanted to bump this thread. Has it been confirmed this keeps the battery charged and eliminates the battery 'management' without issues?

Also, have folks had any issues keeping it plugged in AND having accessories such as lights, winch, etc. hooked up directly to the battery?

I use the Grey box from National Luna as a backup battery. I found that with our smart alternator or also called variable voltage alternator, a lot of times it wasn’t strong enough to power the second battery. I found this thread about the battery management system, and tried unplugging this connection. It turns off the auto start stop, and as of now seams to put an even, consistent and sufficient charge to my second battery. I will test further to make sure I don’t have any other unforeseen issues with power, but so far so good. I will be getting a tuner very soon too, and may be able to disable the smart alternator function from the tuner, but not sure yet.

 

[Big Blue]

Hi Garrett,

I had the same question about DYI battery replacement but concluded the system will eventually figure out it has a new battery....otherwise we are stuck needing a scan tool, which I never planned on purchasing. Maybe Autozone or such knows how to do this....I understand this is done free of charge for fault codes. This is one area of my 2019 Ranger that I do not clearly understand, particularly of what benefit it is long term.

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

From another thread it appears the BMS can be set in Forscan after a battery change.

 

[wanted33]

I use the Grey box from National Luna as a backup battery. I found that with our smart alternator or also called variable voltage alternator, a lot of times it wasn’t strong enough to power the second battery. I found this thread about the battery management system, and tried unplugging this connection. It turns off the auto start stop, and as of now seams to put an even, consistent and sufficient charge to my second battery. I will test further to make sure I don’t have any other unforeseen issues with power, but so far so good. I will be getting a tuner very soon too, and may be able to disable the smart alternator function from the tuner, but not sure yet.

Thanks for the update Pat. How long have you had the plug disconnected? I'm curious as I will be leaving mine parked for approx. 4 weeks soon, and would hate to return home to a brand new truck with a dead battery.

 

[Glocker]

I can't relate any experience with this system on the Ranger, but I can tell you about a negative experience with this system on my wife's Ford Escape.

My wife called me from work one evening to tell me her car wouldn't start. I asked her to describe any symptoms so I could potentially diagnose it over the phone, and she told me that when she pressed the starter button, it just made clicking noises. Okay, bad battery! I asked her to see if she could get a jump start to get home, if not I would be in route to get her going. She called back a minute later to say security at her building got her started and she was in route to the house. I told her I would go out and get her a battery so I could put it ion as soon as she hit the garage.

I got her the best battery I could spend money on, in short notice, and had it waiting for her car to be installed as soon as she got home. That's when the nightmare started, when she got home. First off, the battery on her Escape is located up under the firewall on the driver side, and a tone of junk needs to be removed to get it out. What a pain in the ass!!!! But it got worse! Once I got access to the battery, and started to get the leads off of it, the battery saver module just absolutely fell apart. It had obvious signs of battery corrosion and I found a crack in the battery case around that terminal on the battery. The new battery wouldn't start the car, and AAA had to tow my wife's Escape out of the garage the next morning to take it to get a new battery saver harness installed. It was EXPENSIVE! But her car went six years on the factory battery before that incident. So I guess it worked. ? LOL

 

[geophb]

WTF is this thread. Its like disabling abs because you think it wears out your brakes faster. Come on.

Better sell all your micro processor controlled battery chargers and go back to the old school fixed output ones too.

 

[pbb_photo]

WTF is this thread. Its like disabling abs because you think it wears out your brakes faster. Come on.

Better sell all your micro processor controlled battery chargers and go back to the old school fixed output ones too.

 

[pbb_photo]

I stumbled upon this thread trying to sort out the best way to get my dual battery system working. It has helped in that regards, so has been useful. There’s also really interesting information on the bms and the smart alternators. Ok ? ?

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