Battery and Charging

[Cwbyfan62]

I have a battery charging issue which may be twofold.
First, due to life and health challenges, I don't drive a lot. Typically about 10 miles a weekday and maybe 20 on the weekend.
My Ranger is a 2020 and I have less than 14,000 miles on it,

My challenge is I keep getting notifications that FordPass keeps telling me my "Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery life".
I get this notice shortly after I drive anywhere.
I occasionally take long drives on the freeway but it only delays the notice. Maybe for a day. Considering the price of gas in California, this is an expensive way to charge the battery.

Ford recently replace my battery under warranty as defective.

So now my questions are - Is the low charge due to my lack of driving the truck?
Is there possibly something wrong with my charging system?
(I have a Garmin Dashcam plugged into my OB2 port but it pulls barely any power and most parking options are disabled)

I have considered getting a trickle charger to charge the battery.
But since I live in a condo complex, my only option is at work.
Will charging 8 hours at a time make a significant difference?

This has been annoying for a while. I appreciate any guidance or feedback.

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[DukeCanBuildit]

David,

The lack of use allows your battery to drain down too far. A regular “trickle charger” is not the right way to maintain the battery in your Ranger. You’ll need a proper battery maintainer and if I’m not mistaken, our other David, @subquark , can likely fill you in on what to buy. I’m pretty sure he has one - he has everything else. If not him, then maybe @OrangeStreak . Paul? David?

 

[CashSeeAO]

If you have approximately 8 hours to charge, I suggest getting a charger with at least 4-5 amp capacity. Also, since your battery is AGM type, get a charger that’s compatible with AGM batteries. This is what I have. It works great.

 

[airline tech]

Unfortunately due to the limited mileage it gets every week, a SOC bump or BMS sensor disconnect won’t help much.
A battery maintainer or charger such as the NOCO Genius 5 or 10 will help the most.

 

[subquark]

David,

The lack of use allows your battery to drain down too far. A regular “trickle charger” is not the right way to maintain the battery in your Ranger. You’ll need a proper battery maintainer and if I’m not mistaken, our other David, @subquark , can likely fill you in on what to buy. I’m pretty sure he has one - he has everything else. If not him, then maybe @OrangeStreak . Paul? David?

CTEK, as recommended by expat mod formerly known as AZScorpion.

I've used it regularly for a year and a half about 2-3 nights per week in winter and once a week in summer. It's best to leave it on for at least 6 hours, if not 8-10.

It regularly conditions the battery.

I have another one that has been on a new battery 24/7 for the last year and a half on an old FJ40.

For Soupie, I have a connection coming out of the bumper. The retaining clip snapped off when the mailman tripped over it, but that worked out good because if I forget to unplug it, it easily comes off. I have the tender in the garage with 16' of cable coming outside that I keep having of a branch of a bush.

CTEK MXS 5.0 $97.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CD44RQO
forum posts: https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/what-did-you-receive-in-the-mail-today-for-your-ranger.1866/post-456491
https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/what-did-you-do-to-your-ranger-today.3511/post-464715
CTEK Comfort Connect $9.99
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OHN5NQ
CTEK Comfort Connect extension cable, 8.2 Feet $38.01
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ADIHUVG
CTEK bumper $12.16
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0722GXNJR
Remove Before Flight key chain
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XWIY7WO
MagnetPal heavy-duty magnet
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09RNF6GH3

 

[got3fords]

If you have approximately 8 hours to charge, I suggest getting a charger with at least 4-5 amp capacity. Also, since your battery is AGM type, get a charger that’s compatible with AGM batteries. This is what I have. It works great.

Does this desulfate as well?

 

[subquark]

I have a battery charging issue which may be twofold.
First, due to life and health challenges, I don't drive a lot. Typically about 10 miles a weekday and maybe 20 on the weekend.
My Ranger is a 2020 and I have less than 14,000 miles on it,

My challenge is I keep getting notifications that FordPass keeps telling me my "Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery life".
I get this notice shortly after I drive anywhere.
I occasionally take long drives on the freeway but it only delays the notice. Maybe for a day. Considering the price of gas in California, this is an expensive way to charge the battery.

Ford recently replace my battery under warranty as defective.

So now my questions are - Is the low charge due to my lack of driving the truck?
Is there possibly something wrong with my charging system?
(I have a Garmin Dashcam plugged into my OB2 port but it pulls barely any power and most parking options are disabled)

I have considered getting a trickle charger to charge the battery.
But since I live in a condo complex, my only option is at work.
Will charging 8 hours at a time make a significant difference?

This has been annoying for a while. I appreciate any guidance or feedback.

I answered with specifics but wanted to address your access.

I was also getting that annoying app warning about disabling features. It wouldn't allow me to use the app to remote start, so I got a Start-X and a CTEK.

Plugging it in at work will work for you and while you could do it daily, probably twice a week would be all you need.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I'll be posting about adding a magnetic connector in the spring.

 

[subquark]

Does this desulfate as well?

Yes, it does. =)

 

[CashSeeAO]

Does this desulfate as well?

Yes it does have a desulfate stage.

 

[Cwbyfan62]

David,

The lack of use allows your battery to drain down too far. A regular “trickle charger” is not the right way to maintain the battery in your Ranger. You’ll need a proper battery maintainer and if I’m not mistaken, our other David, @subquark , can likely fill you in on what to buy. I’m pretty sure he has one - he has everything else. If not him, then maybe @OrangeStreak . Paul? David?

Correct me if I'm wrong, a maintainer needs to be on the battery almost constantly?
I live in a condo complex and cannot run a cord to my truck.
That's why I asked about a trickle charger, as my only option is to plug it in at work. It's not something I can do every day either.
So, I need to be enlightened if I'm wrong and why?

 

[FunInTheSun]

For what it's worth, I have a small input on this subject, although I don't use FordPass. I was getting these (or similar) notifications on the Sync3 screen.
The wording was slightly different. I'm going by memory here, but it said something "was shut down to save battery". It was doing it every time I started the truck, so I was getting worried.

Like you, I don't drive an awful lot (under 10,000 miles on my 2021) so I was hoping I was not about to need a new battery. I bought one of those battery testers that tells you the internal condition of the battery with internal resistance test, and a capacity estimation just to see what it would tell me.

It said the battery was fine, and capacity was actually above the marked rating. So that was weird. SO next time I got in the truck, the message popped up again, but this time I noticed a small message at the bottom that said I should turn off the truck and turn it on again to reset the (can't remember if it said "system" or something else). I thought , "Well, what do I have to lose?" so I shut it off and re-started it. I've not seen the message any more yet, and this was two months ago.

I have no explanation. Just my observations. The "system" may have a memory of some sort that needs to be reset by some definite action before it will stop reminding you about a registered event.

 

[moorejl57]

Correct me if I'm wrong, a maintainer needs to be on the battery almost constantly?
I live in a condo complex and cannot run a cord to my truck.
That's why I asked about a trickle charger, as my only option is to plug it in at work. It's not something I can do every day either.
So, I need to be enlightened if I'm wrong and why?

You can use a modern AGM battery charger like the CTEK or NOCO Genius5/10 for as long or as short as you need to at work. The important thing is to have enough charging current to well overcome the relatively high idle draw down rate of our trucks. Unfortunately my battery won't charge to over 12.55V even when left plugged into a charger or after a long road trip. So I carry a NOCO GB50 Jump pack just in case it decides to die while I am out camping/fishing/kayaking.

 

[Msfitoy]

I've been using this remote Bluetooth 5.0 battery monitor to track the charge state while parked in the garage...gets reading through the walls from my office...real time reading while driving too...looks like it's out of stock but there's other like this...but not BT 5.0 so range isn't as good...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZDMLMGY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this (link below) to check CCA and battery health...the Autozone battery I got last August isn't impressive and doesn't look like it'll last the 3 year warranty...CCA has already dropped from 760 down to 610 in the one year since purchase...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TNFLNGL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[subquark]

You can use a modern AGM battery charger like the CTEK or NOCO Genius5/10 for as long or as short as you need to at work. The important thing is to have enough charging current to well overcome the relatively high idle draw down rate of our trucks. Unfortunately my battery won't charge to over 12.55V even when left plugged into a charger or after a long road trip. So I carry a NOCO GB50 Jump pack just in case it decides to die while I am out camping/fishing/kayaking.

Great call on the jump pack. We carry a Gooloo in each of our cars. It works incredibly well and I've used one to start that old FJ40 and have cranked on it as many as 10 times in a row (until the leads were too hot to touch).

 

[TJC]

...
...
Unfortunately my battery won't charge to over 12.55V even when left plugged into a charger or after a long road trip. So I carry a NOCO GB50 Jump pack just in case it decides to die while I am out camping/fishing/kayaking.

This is a function of the BMS recharging setting. That 12.55V threshold is ~70% to 75% battery charged level. Ford does not allow the battery to ever be fully charged. They are using the 25% space to allow for the high voltage spike regenerative charge feature when you coast to a stop / decelerate.

It is not healthy to keep a lead acid battery (flooded or AGM) consistently undercharged, but Ford built that feature into the charging system. Even if you manually charge the battery to 100%, the Ford charging system will immediately discharge the battery to 70%-75% capacity depending on the trim level of your Ranger.

Battery sulfation begins when the charge level drops below ~12.65v. Sulfation will destroy your battery over time.

Ford traded battery life for an ever so slightly higher EPA rating.

To override the Ford BMS charging system

1. simply unplug the BMS sensor at the neg battery terminal,
2. or disable ASS/BMS in Forscan,
3. and/or (in combo with #2) raise the battery charge level in Forscan,
4. or live with it and replace your battery every 18 months to 3 years, depending on your driving patterns.

You "pick your poison" and live with the consequences.

FWIW, even if you disable BMS, the dark voltage drain on the 5G Ranger is significant enough to drain your battery much faster than the previous generation Rangers.

I have tried Option 1, and a combo of option 2 & 3, and I am coming to the opinion that Option 1 is the closest to the previous gen Rangers charging system. I believe that when you pull the plug on the BMS sensor, the BMS system sees a faulty sensor, logs an error, and goes into backup charging mode, which is something very similar to the old standard charging system used by Ford for years.

I've been comparing the charging patterns of the 5G to my old 4G Ranger under different scenarios.

The 4G is easy to understand. You start the truck, the charging system looks at the state of charge and temperature, and maybe a few other parameters unknown to me, and it sets the charging range voltage. The charging system will stay within that range the entire time that the truck is running. Turn off the truck and restart, and the charging system will reevaluate and reset the voltage to a lower level. I've seen my 4G go from an initial charge rate of 14.4v down to 14.1v and stay there. Turning off the truck and immediately restarting resulted in a charge rate of 13.9v that dropped to 13.6v within 10 miles. Charge voltage will drop even lower depending on ambient temperature. I have seen my 4G charge rate as low as 13.1V. I have never seen it go above 14.4v

On the 5G Ranger, I have seen charge voltage go up above 15.5v when coasting or braking, and well below the accepted 12 battery trickle charge rates. My testing with the BMS constantly enabled has been limited, as I view the BMS system as harmful to battery health. I have seen enough to know I don't want the stock parameters of the BMS system controlling my battery charge rates.

With the BMS sensor cable on the 5G unplugged I see the same behavior as the 4G Ranger, but at a slightly higher voltage level (.2v-.3v higher). Perhaps due to different charging strategies of AGM batteries vs the flooded batteries used in the 4G Rangers.

With the BMS sensor plugged in I see different behavior and I am looking for a definable repeatable pattern. Still playing with Forscan settings and BMS charging thresholds. I currently have ASS/BMS disabled and battery charge threshold at 95% via Forscan updates.

One last thing, if I let my truck sit for 2 weeks I will need to put a charger on it as the battery will be significantly discharged. To minimize current draw when the truck is off I have turned off much of the electrical toys that Ford has on by default. I don't need my truck lighting up like a Christmas tree when I open the door. Or headlights staying on when I exit my truck, etc.

If it were possible to set the truck into deep sleep mode when I exit it, I would. The dark power drain is greater than I am comfortable with.

Edited to correct spelling, punctuation, and to clarify thoughts

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