Maximizing Battery Life

[TJC]

,
I believe this is true, time will tell for those that have it disabled by user or as mine disabled from factory. I feel that this is a primary factor in the battery life.
From what I gather the average life is 3 to 5 years, but some of the main factors determine it.
Area you live - Temp's
Driving Style - Short Trip's Only
Driving Time - Night or Day

I've had ASS disabled from day 1 (via an inline ASS adapter that remembers the last ASS setting) and have had my systems shut down once due to low battery. I am not going to let it happen again.

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[TJC]

For detains on the Testing, see my Charging System Test Results
.

Just finished the first pass read. WOW! The Definitive 5th Gen Ranger Charging System Dissertation.

I think I'm going to format your report to add to my Ford eBook Reference Collection in Calibre. Thanks for the effort, and for pointing to it. You saved me a great deal of time and effort.

Again, very impressive work!

What Ford has done reminds me of the Jekyll and Hyde that is German engineering. When they get it right it is very good, but when they over engineer, it ends up being a complicated mis-mash of overly weak technology.

I am not sure which side of the coin Ford is on.

My old 2005 Ranger simply works. I never have to touch or monitor the battery. Mine typically last 7-9 years. I replace and move on.

2020 Ranger, battery weakens within 30 months (my case) and begins to fail, plug in system support to keep 40+ systems settings alive, remove and replace battery, and reset the battery monitor system to reflect the new battery. Looks like i need to monitor the voltage on a regular basis. I don't like my battery to drop below optimal charge levels. Below 12v sets off loud alarms in my head!

There appears to be disturbing charging tradeoffs made that I will ask about a little later in detail.

Thanks again,
- T

 

[BS67]

Question for everyone.....was reading the owner's manual and page 273 it talks about the BMS. Right next to the title it say "if equipped". Do all 5G Rangers have the BMS or is it installed on certain models with certain electrical accessories?

 

[TJC]

Question for everyone.....was reading the owner's manual and page 273 it talks about the BMS. Right next to the title it say "if equipped". Do all 5G Rangers have the BMS or is it installed on certain models with certain electrical accessories?

I didn't know it was an option. Thought it was standard equipment. It is on XLTs and Lariets for sure.
Maybe it is a chip shortage thing.

 

[BS67]

I didn't know it was an option. Thought it was standard equipment. It is on XLTs and Lariets for sure.
Maybe it is a chip shortage thing.

I just noticed it in the owner's manual. I didn't think it was an option either but it says 'if equipped'......to me that means option. Just thought I'd ask!

 

[AzScorpion]

has anybody thought that having ASS disabled may prolong the battery life?

Mine's been disabled since I bought it and my first battery only lasted 18 months.

 

[AzScorpion]

I just noticed it in the owner's manual. I didn't think it was an option either but it says 'if equipped'......to me that means option. Just thought I'd ask!

It's most likely a page they use on multiple models and just add that disclaimer.

 

[TXRangerTim]

I just noticed it in the owner's manual. I didn't think it was an option either but it says 'if equipped'......to me that means option. Just thought I'd ask!

So if it's an option then does that mean it's safe to disconnect? I doubt printing that in the manual was due to chip shortages. Probably says the same in ROW Rangers manual too.

 

[Trigganometry]

So if it's an option then does that mean it's safe to disconnect? I doubt printing that in the manual was due to chip shortages. Probably says the same in ROW Rangers manual too.

These trucks all have the same brains. BMS differences is wire harness application and how the VIN is tied to it. That’s what sets the tables for many functions and auxiliary modules it talks to. But, it also allows us to tweak or add things that were not factory built.

 

[airline tech]

To my knowledge, all 5G Rangers have BMS, as I noted before, the Ranger manuals are a copy and paste of other platforms and tweaked to the Ranger, I have noted more than one complete discrepancy in the owner's manual and service manual that was missed by the proofreaders before publication.
One very important one noted was how to set up - Flat Towing, the owner's manual is misleading and can result in killing the battery if you are not attentive to what you are reading. You will end up leaving truck in ACCY mode if you follow the manual, you have to really read it and not just assume you are doing it correctly, it has steps out of order, it has proven to be an issue for another owner on here who got stranded with a dead battery, once started truck barely ran, required dealer to reset complete system.

The only items that were affected by the Chip Shortage was LED Head/Fogs and A/Start for the 22 model anyway.

I noted that my A/Start was deleted by (No Switch) and changes to the As-Built files relating to the Switch and IPC screen, the most popular mod to disable the A/Start is to disable the BMS system, but my BMS (As-Built) file remained unaltered.
So, in short, I have mine disabled from factory and they just deleted the switch and changed (2) As-Built files.

FCIM: Disable A/Start Switch: 7A7-01-01: (XXXX-X0XX-XXXX)
IPC: Disable the A/Start Screen: 720-01-01 (XXXX-1XXX-XXXX)

But they did not change the (1) file that is the most used to disable the A/Start system in the BCM files.

 

[TJC]

These devices sound good enough, but when you have to park outside no where near an A/C outlet your SOL.

The desulfator requires no external power. It does it's job when the alternator charge voltage reaches 13.5v. It stops desulfating when the battery voltage drops below 13.5v

 

[BGDOGY]

has anybody thought that having ASS disabled may prolong the battery life?

I disabled ASS from the day I got mine back in 2019, but my battery still died after three years.

 

[Joeiconic]

On average I have my truck on a Ctek charger 3-4 consecutive days a week. Stage 1 of the Ctek is desulphation, so the Ctek kills two birds with one stone. A desulphating device alone seems to provide marginal utility with respect to the real issue, which is the constant parasitic drain on the battery when the vehicle is not being driven enough to maintain a full charge. If you need to charge it anyway, why not just use a charger that also desulphates?

 

[IdahoRanger]

On average I have my truck on a Ctek charger 3-4 consecutive days a week. Stage 1 of the Ctek is desulphation, so the Ctek kills two birds with one stone. A desulphating device alone seems to provide marginal utility with respect to the real issue, which is the constant parasitic drain on the battery when the vehicle is not being driven enough to maintain a full charge. If you need to charge it anyway, why not just use a charger that also desulphates?

Got the Noco Genius 5 yesterday which does both. Charged first and showed a full charge. Ran the repair/desulfate which took 4 hours then charged again and it was still full charge. Still have 2019 OEM battery so happy. Don't have a battery tester to see what CCA's are.

I do have ASS off with the tune.

 

[TJC]

My preferred charger is the BatteryMINDer 128CEC2. But there are now many fine chargers on the market.

It desulfates while charging, has an ambient temperature sensor, and supports multiple batteries. I own two cars that I don't drive often enough to hold a charge.

I have seldom needed a charger since adding the onboard BM desulfator on my last 3 autos (all of which I still own). I Usually only need to break out the charger when I accidentally leave the lights on, or the car sits for a month or two, and once when I lost an alternator on a road trip on Christmas Eve and drove 140 miles on battery alone to my destination. I arrived at dusk with a dash full of Christmas Lights glowing the last 10 miles! As systems failed (or the 2005 Ranger system shut them down) another light would come on. In the last 2 miles all the lights went out, and if I pressed the brake pedal, the draw from the brake lights caused the engine to almost stall. That Odyssey Yellow Top Battery earned its keep that day!

I am hoping for the same result in my 2020 Ranger. Battery life is >=6-7 years (or better).

Here's a quick question that may make my onboard desulfator unnecessary. Does the Ranger charging system electronics desulfate the battery?

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