Maximizing Battery Life

[Ohwell]

So after reading threw these 53 pages the last couple days and a few advel. I decided to get a meter and a de charger from Norco..
so my truck sat for 3 days and here’s my meter reading this morning (18* here this morning) now I upped the SOC to, can’t remember to what I did (can find my notes) so this may have something to do with its condition..what do you guys think?

It looks like you tested the battery with the vehicle drawing current like it would be after opening the door and popping the hood. Let it sit awhile and go back to close to a sleeping mode after popping the hood to get a true battery reading. I doubt it's actually sitting at a 25% charge.

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[2021Ranger]

Ok so I did the test again and much different result. I opened the hood and let it sit for am hr then did the test.
for some reason it won’t let me load a pic

 

[TJC]

Optimally you want to see >12.6v on a newly charged battery. If you truck is in extreme cold the battery will show weaker than in optimal conditions. IR is creeping up at 3.78 mOhms. Was your truck garaged or out in the 18F weather?

 

[2021Ranger]

Truck is garaged sometimes but this time it was outside and was sitting out side for 3 days.. I did not charge the battery..

 

[Ohwell]

Truck is garaged sometimes but this time it was outside and was sitting out side for 3 days.. I did not charge the battery..

 

[2021Ranger]

I could not find the AH on the battery so from what I looked up it said to divide the CCA by 7.25 so that is 110 AH.

 

[Ohwell]

That's a more realistic result. Your truck will draw a lot of current and show a lower voltage when you first open the door, pull the hood latch and open the hood, letting it sit for a while so most of those systems can go back to sleep gives you a more real SOC reading. Airline Tech and TJC have done a lot of work on this subject, read most of their posts, and you'll get a better understanding of what's going on.

 

[Ohwell]

Although our Rangers are set at 70% to 75% SOC, all the other Fords and newer models seem to all be set at 80%. Is Ford actually trying to mimic the charging pattern of a smart charger which has a high charge for the bulk phase and tapers down at about 80% to a low current absorption phase so it doesn't overheat the battery? The problem is the absorption stage is a very slow type of charge that takes a lot of time, and it would take long drives to fully charge a battery.

 

[2021Ranger]

That's a more realistic result. Your truck will draw a lot of current and show a lower voltage when you first open the door, pull the hood latch and open the hood, letting it sit for a while so most of those systems can go back to sleep gives you a more real SOC reading. Airline Tech and TJC have done a lot of work on this subject, read most of their posts, and you'll get a better understanding of what's going on.

‘yes I read threw the 53 pages of that and like I said I needed an advil my head was getting overloaded lol.
im going to get back into forscan and see what I set the SOC as I know I changed it a wile back. I’m surprised that my battery is in that good of condition going on 5 years old

 

[Ohwell]

‘yes I read threw the 53 pages of that and like I said I needed an advil my head was getting overloaded lol.
im going to get back into forscan and see what I set the SOC as I know I changed it a wile back. I’m surprised that my battery is in that good of condition going on 5 years old

The change you made is likely the reason it is in as good of condition as it is. I have also added the Batteryminder obd-12 to my setup as I think that's what is the biggest thing missing in Fords charge pattern.

 

[emesel]

So ... I have not read all pages of this thread, but started with airline tech's deep dive. I am not high tech in the battery area, but my take is Ford sets SOC to 75% for better gas mileage, but a setting of 90% is better for battery life and reducing/eliminating annoying accessory shutdowns and messages. Is this correct so far?

I have a 2019 Lariat that I use for towing; ~100k miles on the truck with 50% towing. I replaced my battery (with OEM from Ford dealer) about a year ago because I was going on a cross-country trip and didn't want to do this with a battery that old. My original battery was 5.8 years old and spent most of its life in Massachusetts outside.

If I got 5.8 years out of the original battery, does it make sense to change SOC from 75% to 85 or 90%?

Mark

 

[airline tech]

It really depends on how many miles do you average in a week, more short trips over long trips is what causes the SOC to drift, those that have consistent long drives (average) the battery has a better chance of having a higher (SOC) and a lower IR.

 

[TJC]

I'd set it to 90%-95% and keep in on a charger once a month. Add a BatteryMinder Onboard Desulfator $65, and reset the BMS annually to insure the SOC threshold hasn't drifted too far off... It tends to progressively lower the SOC over time. You'll not know it unless you regulalry monitor the BMS. Use the Ancel battery tester to check battery health if you can't monitor the SOC dynamically.

Buy a nice 5amp battery such a NOCO or CTEK. Let it do it's thing monthly. Both are high quality and priced well. Then purchase a mice battery tester such as the ANCEL BA101 $34.

BTW, 5.8 years is not bad. You can do better but that life is better than most get here. I'm at 6 years and hope to make 8-10. My old 4G ranger and previous cars all averaged 10 years of battery life.... but they did not have the power requirements of these computers on wheels that we drive now.

 

[emesel]

It really depends on how many miles do you average in a week, more short trips over long trips is what causes the SOC to drift, those that have consistent long drives (average) the battery has a better chance of having a higher (SOC) and a lower IR.

Thanks! And, your analysis was very interesting, even if much was over my head. I appreciate all your posts.
Mark

 

[emesel]

I'd set it to 90%-95% and keep in on a charger once a month. Add a BatteryMinder Onboard Desulfator $65, and reset the BMS annually to insure the SOC threshold hasn't drifted too far off... It tends to progressively lower the SOC over time. You'll not know it unless you regulalry monitor the BMS. Use the Ancel battery tester to check battery health if you can't monitor the SOC dynamically.

Buy a nice 5amp battery such a NOCO or CTEK. Let it do it's thing monthly. Both are high quality and priced well. Then purchase a mice battery tester such as the ANCEL BA101 $34.

BTW, 5.8 years is not bad. You can do better but that life is better than most get here. I'm at 6 years and hope to make 8-10. My old 4G ranger and previous cars all averaged 10 years of battery life.... but they did not have the power requirements of these computers on wheels that we drive now.

Thanks, this is good info. 8 - 10 years sounds very good to me. Actually, my battery wasn't acting up, I just didn't want to have to replace it on a 7,000 mile trip.

I have a Victron Blue Smart IP65 Charger which can charge at either 15 amp or 4 amp. It has a Reconditioning Mode and they caution: "Reconditioning should be applied only occasionally to flat plate VRLA (gel and AGM) batteries because the resulting gassing will dry out the electrolyte." Would this be a good charger to use? What about reconditioning? This always sounded a bit scary to me ...

Don't you have to reset the BMS each time you charge with an external battery charger?

Yes, today's cars are insane with all the computers squeaking out every bit of gas mileage they can ... actually kind of annoying to me. I loved my '64 Nova with 283 and 4 spd; nothing under the hood that wasn't needed to run the engine!

Oh well, many thanks!

Mark

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