Forscan settings to disable BMS/ASS?

[Idaho Mike]

Does anyone have a complete list of changes needed in Forscan to disable BMS/ASS?

My '21 Ranger Tremor battery is on its last legs. I drive rarely and mostly very short runs of less than 20 miles, so charging is never complete. ASS has not worked since the weather got colder, always greyed out. (I usually turn it off as soon as I start the truck anyway.)I have started driving without the heated seat, auto headlights, etc. to save power but it's a losing proposition.

I have purchased the BatteryMinder Onboard Desulfator and the BatteryMinder wall wart charger, a BT200 TopDon Battery tester and a power port voltage gauge, so I'm ready to attempt a recovery.

I installed the desulfator last night directly to the battery terminals at the posts. Then I put it on the charger via the plug-in on the desulfator, so I only have one attachment point. It finally got to a float charge in the wee hours this morning. I am letting it rest with the charger off for a few hours so I can do a TopDon test to see where I'm at. (It was telling me last night my battery was trashed, but it's been limping along for the past few weeks. IR was around 5, BTW)

I do not want to physically disconnect the battery sensor so I don't have to live with a OBDC code forever after. I might try to temporarily unplug it until I get the Forscan specs I need though, but with SOC set at 75% I doubt I would gain much from what I'm reading!

What I _think_ I want do do is disable BMS\ASS via Forscan and set the SOC to 95 or 100%.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

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[RangerMedic]

If you go in to BdyCM > Battery Target State of Charge, you can adjust from 75%. I recently increased mine to 85%. I have not yet disabled the AS/S, but it's on my short list of things to-do.

 

[pboggini]

I never disabled auto stop start, I bumped SOC to 90, then 95 and finally 100. I'm at 100 now. I, like you, generally just press the button to turn it off but I kind of like being able to use it when I know I'll be stopped for a longish light.

I have the NOCO Genius 5 and I used that to "repair" the battery when it started acting up years ago. I then installed the desulfator in the truck. I think bumping the SOC, running repair mode a few times and having the desulfator bought me close to 3 more years on the battery.

As it started getting colder out I noticed the accessories turning off more quickly so I just caved in and bought the Lariat battery for my STX.

TL;DR, I think SOC is the biggest deal and likely most important. Followed by auto stop start followed by desulfator.

Here is a link to a pic of the SOC change:

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/change-charge-percent-with-forscan.22587/post-502662

 

[Tom_C]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there is a setting to disable ASS. That's why people have done other things to turn it off, one of the easiest if plugging a load into the AC plug on the back of the console... like a night lite.

 

[pboggini]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there is a setting to disable ASS. That's why people have done other things to turn it off, one of the easiest if plugging a load into the AC plug on the back of the console... like a night lite.

There is a way to disable it for sure as I did it for my nephew on his F150. I've resisted doing it on my Ranger but I might do it at some point.

For me, I kind of like having BMS as I do like the fact that it will turn off things when it thinks the battery is low. And, I think having SOC set to 100% is a winner as I haven't seen the regenerative charging and my voltages look better since the battery change. When it was set to 95%, I saw the lower voltages when the battery was fully charged and then the regenerative charging. So, I think keeping it set to 100% is the best option.

Not sure if others have set their SOC to 100% or not but I'd be interested in seeing their experience.

 

[Tom_C]

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/forscan-help.18270/

 

[Idaho Mike]

Thanks everyone!
Night before last I checked and the battery was at less than 12 V, TopDon was saying battery was toast, and IR was at 5.0. I didn't get a screen shot of it but ran the charger and desulfator overnight.

Yesterday afternoon after waiting "at rest" for about 4 hours I checked and the battery SOC was 41% and IR was 4.5. I ran the charger again last night and will check again later today but I've already seen improvement. ASS started working yesterday while I was running some errands I will check the battery state again this afternoon.

I think for now I will focus on getting the SOC setting to 100% and worry about auto stop/start later.
I am waiting for my code to be approved for the 2 month Forscan license right now. I hope that will get me what I need because you can't pay for a license right now.

 

[Idaho Mike]

There is a way to disable it for sure as I did it for my nephew on his F150. I've resisted doing it on my Ranger but I might do it at some point.

For me, I kind of like having BMS as I do like the fact that it will turn off things when it thinks the battery is low. And, I think having SOC set to 100% is a winner as I haven't seen the regenerative charging and my voltages look better since the battery change. When it was set to 95%, I saw the lower voltages when the battery was fully charged and then the regenerative charging. So, I think keeping it set to 100% is the best option.

Not sure if others have set their SOC to 100% or not but I'd be interested in seeing their experience.

Yes, I am very interested in going to 100%. Others have hesitated on that but since you are doing it I will try also.

 

[pboggini]

Cool. I think the concern has been around overcharging but in looking at the charts, I think the % is just a target voltage. And, based on what I've seen over the last couple of months, I don't think I'm cooking my battery.

 

[Idaho Mike]

Today's results. Only one hour resting after unplugging the charger. Sorry about the crappy glare.

Cool. I think the concern has been around overcharging but in looking at the charts, I think the % is just a target voltage. And, based on what I've seen over the last couple of months, I don't think I'm cooking my battery.

The last few days mine has been putting out 15 + volts at the power port, so it's already overcharging anyway. Probably due to the sick battery. It does drop down into 14.4 - 14.6 while driving around.
I haven't seen anyone else reporting overcharging or overheating at 90 = 95% SOC either.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Today's results. Only one hour resting after unplugging the charger. Sorry about the crappy glare.

The last few days mine has been putting out 15 + volts at the power port, so it's already overcharging anyway. Probably due to the sick battery. It does drop down into 14.4 - 14.6 while driving around.
I haven't seen anyone else reporting overcharging or overheating at 90 = 95% SOC either.

Numbers are showing improvement, just keep running repair as needed to keep getting better numbers.

 

[Idaho Mike]

Numbers are showing improvement, just keep running repair as needed to keep getting better numbers.

Yep, I'm plugging it into the charger every night until I see no more improvement. Tomorrow I'll get into Forscan and try and get the SOC up to 100%.
Once that's done, it won't suck the juice back down to 75% every time I drive it. Hopefully.

If I can't get the battery back up to acceptable levels I will replace it, but I don't want to waste my money on a system that's just going to eat a new battery up in 18 months.

 

[Idaho Mike]

Does anyone have a complete list of changes needed in Forscan to disable BMS/ASS?

My '21 Ranger Tremor battery is on its last legs. I drive rarely and mostly very short runs of less than 20 miles, so charging is never complete. ASS has not worked since the weather got colder, always greyed out. (I usually turn it off as soon as I start the truck anyway.)I have started driving without the heated seat, auto headlights, etc. to save power but it's a losing proposition.

I have purchased the BatteryMinder Onboard Desulfator and the BatteryMinder wall wart charger, a BT200 TopDon Battery tester and a power port voltage gauge, so I'm ready to attempt a recovery.

I installed the desulfator last night directly to the battery terminals at the posts. Then I put it on the charger via the plug-in on the desulfator, so I only have one attachment point. It finally got to a float charge in the wee hours this morning. I am letting it rest with the charger off for a few hours so I can do a TopDon test to see where I'm at. (It was telling me last night my battery was trashed, but it's been limping along for the past few weeks. IR was around 5, BTW)

I do not want to physically disconnect the battery sensor so I don't have to live with a OBDC code forever after. I might try to temporarily unplug it until I get the Forscan specs I need though, but with SOC set at 75% I doubt I would gain much from what I'm reading!

What I _think_ I want do do is disable BMS\ASS via Forscan and set the SOC to 95 or 100%.

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

My thanks also goes out to all the guys on the "https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/maximizing-battery-life.23760/" thread, that did all the hard research and testing and gave me the inspiration to throw my hat in. I love this truck, but the battery issue is just no way at all acceptable.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Yep, I'm plugging it into the charger every night until I see no more improvement. Tomorrow I'll get into Forscan and try and get the SOC up to 100%.
Once that's done, it won't suck the juice back down to 75% every time I drive it. Hopefully.

If I can't get the battery back up to acceptable levels I will replace it, but I don't want to waste my money on a system that's just going to eat a new battery up in 18 months.

I haven't made that change but should because the battery drains ridiculously fast when the truck isn't driven.

I finally changed my OEM battery a couple months ago only because I constantly had to charge it if not driven. The new battery shows the same behavior due to the parasitic drain.

 

[Idaho Mike]

No battery update today, but I finally got the old laptop loaded up with Forscan and drivers for the OBDC dongle and bit the bullet.
Set SOC to 100% and left the charger on. So tomorrow I'll try and put some miles on and see what happens.
Took me five minutes to write the change on Forscan, and about five hours getting the computer ready. scary how easy it really is!

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