Battery and Charging

[Kenn]

I have had the same problem with my 2019 Ford Ranger so I purchased the "Battery Tender 12 Volt, 5 Watt Solar Panel" and have been very happy with it, (no more messages telling the system is shut down to save battery). I also purchased an OBD2 extension from the internet so that I don't have to keep unplugging the panel directly from the factory OBD2 connection and therefore I only have to unplug the panel from the extension.

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[LB'sTremor]

I started getting the notification on Fordpass low battery and disabling features to preserve it so I got a CTEK MXS 5 and have a couple of questions.

1) It took about 6 hours to get past the #3 Bulk charge and the unit get very warm to the touch (like cannot hold my finger on it for more than 30-45 seconds warm), is this normal? I double checked all of my connections (used the clamps) and the quick clip and all were good

2) once it got past #3 it went to #7 after about an hour and had been there for a day. With parasetic draw do they ever goto #8 pulse? I have the posititive clamp on the posititive battery terminal and the ground on the ground bolt on the fender.

Thanks!
LB

 

[mtbikernate]

I started getting the notification on Fordpass low battery and disabling features to preserve it so I got a CTEK MXS 5 and have a couple of questions.

1) It took about 6 hours to get past the #3 Bulk charge and the unit get very warm to the touch (like cannot hold my finger on it for more than 30-45 seconds warm), is this normal? I double checked all of my connections (used the clamps) and the quick clip and all were good

2) once it got past #3 it went to #7 after about an hour and had been there for a day. With parasetic draw do they ever goto #8 pulse? I have the posititive clamp on the posititive battery terminal and the ground on the ground bolt on the fender.

Thanks!
LB

I dunno about the CTEK, but the first time I put a charger on my Ranger battery, it took a LONG time for the battery warnings to go away. My Noco charger was definitely doing a bunch of repair/conditioning to the battery before it was able to put down a good charge. I think it spent almost a week doing its thing (it's a 2A charger). Now, if I have the charger on for an hour, it makes a difference.

 

[LB'sTremor]

Thx yeah I was a bit shocked/puzzeled it took that long at 4.5 amps as they truck still started without issue. Truck is 2 years old and low mileage I work from home so it sits all week.

The CTEK has a step #8 pulse after the battery gets a full charge, and with the parasetic draw not sure if it will ever get there.

STEP 7 FLOAT
Maintaining the battery voltage at maximum level by providing a constant voltage charge.
STEP 8 PULSE
Maintaining the battery at 95–100% capacity. The charger monitors the battery voltage
and gives a pulse when necessary to keep the battery fully charged.

LB

 

[subquark]

Thx yeah I was a bit shocked/puzzeled it took that long at 4.5 amps as they truck still started without issue. Truck is 2 years old and low mileage I work from home so it sits all week.

The CTEK has a step #8 pulse after the battery gets a full charge, and with the parasetic draw not sure if it will ever get there.

STEP 7 FLOAT
Maintaining the battery voltage at maximum level by providing a constant voltage charge.
STEP 8 PULSE
Maintaining the battery at 95–100% capacity. The charger monitors the battery voltage
and gives a pulse when necessary to keep the battery fully charged.

LB

Same as @mtbikernate's experience with my CTEK getting all lights lit. I can't remember the specifics, but I remember being frustrated with the CTEK. After all, I'm old school and still have my 40+ year old Craftsman 10/2 amp charger!

Ii seems like it was a few weeks, maybe a month before all lights would go green and that's after 8 to 10 hours. I've never checked it hourly but I'll plug it in like around noon and even by 6 that evening, it won't be on those last two green lights. But, by morning, it usually is.

By "usually" I mean if it isn't done by morning, then I have a fault and just a red light. That makes me crazy and I don't know why it fails sometimes. Usually though, that red light comes on in the first few minutes of plugging it in. It's just that I don't always look at it.

I have 16 feet of extensions on my CTEK and run it out under the garage door, so I'll plug it in but don't then walk into the garage to check it. I get that red light maybe 5-10% of the time and it may just be dirty contacts since the plug hangs on a hedge branch when not in use! =D

Give it some time both in how many times you've used it and in time to charge. There are many times that I plug it in and then end up going somewhere in the next few hours, I figure even those short times are doing some reconditioning or desulphating or providing power to a mouse brunch under the engine cover! =D

Edit: I also had lots of disabling app notices, they seem to have gone now but it took a few months ...

 

[OrangeStreak]

Same as @mtbikernate's experience with my CTEK getting all lights lit. I can't remember the specifics, but I remember being frustrated with the CTEK. After all, I'm old school and still have my 40+ year old Craftsman 10/2 amp charger!

Ii seems like it was a few weeks, maybe a month before all lights would go green and that's after 8 to 10 hours. I've never checked it hourly but I'll plug it in like around noon and even by 6 that evening, it won't be on those last two green lights. But, by morning, it usually is.

By "usually" I mean if it isn't done by morning, then I have a fault and just a red light. That makes me crazy and I don't know why it fails sometimes. Usually though, that red light comes on in the first few minutes of plugging it in. It's just that I don't always look at it.

I have 16 feet of extensions on my CTEK and run it out under the garage door, so I'll plug it in but don't then walk into the garage to check it. I get that red light maybe 5-10% of the time and it may just be dirty contacts since the plug hangs on a hedge branch when not in use! =D

Give it some time both in how many times you've used it and in time to charge. There are many times that I plug it in and then end up going somewhere in the next few hours, I figure even those short times are doing some reconditioning or desulphating or providing power to a mouse brunch under the engine cover! =D

Edit: I also had lots of disabling app notices, they seem to have gone now but it took a few months ...

Is this the family living in your engine compartment?

 

[TJC]

I finally managed to exile the mice from my Rangers! They liked living in the air filter box in both trucks. I doubt they will get past the "chain link fence" now over the intake openings (.25" square galvanized steel fence mesh. An Inexpensive and quick fix.

In the 5G Ranger I also put the same stuff over the cab air intakes in the cowl for the AC, and blocked the rear cab vents behind the seats completely.

 

[Frenchy]

As others have stated the short drives definitely do not help. That said if you want to get a battery maintainer I would highly recommend going with battery tender. They have two different versions. A small one does 3/4 of an amp and the big one does about 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 amps. It will charge the battery and then start exercising the battery and leave the battery at a charge where you can start the vehicle with no major problems. Real easy to set up say at least.

 

[OrangeStreak]

I finally managed to exile the mice from my Rangers! They liked living in the air filter box in both trucks. I doubt they will get past the "chain link fence" now over the intake openings (.25" square galvanized steel fence mesh. An Inexpensive and quick fix.

In the 5G Ranger I also put the same stuff over the cab air intakes in the cowl for the AC, and blocked the rear cab vents behind the seats completely.

Say goodbye to living in Tony's trucks...

 

[TJC]

Say goodbye to living in Tony's trucks...

I gotta say, he is cute!

 

[IdahoRanger]

Haven't driven much so charged and repaired the battery with the Noco 5 and here are the results on an almost 5 year old battery.

 

[TJC]

Say goodbye to living in Tony's trucks...

Remember when I said "He's Cute!" I still stand by that statement, but I have an update.

The little %%$#@ chewed on my hood lining exactly sitting in that location! I went out to change the oil in my 2005 Ranger, raised the hood and find this. To reach this spot he had to sit right at the apex of the fan shroud.... quite close to where "cutie" is perched!

The truck was parked in front of my detached garage (on a wide concrete pad) for 2 weeks while I repaired my Bendpak lift, and began spring cleaning my garage.

More traps laid inside the garage, but no takers. I suspect the little guy lives outdoors and took advantage of the free meal.

I just read where they are adding PIG DNA to Soy plants (God only knows why - I mean what could go wrong), but the little rascals may be discerning and not like the resulting products. Of course they may like it even more!

 

[DasBoot]

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.

If I have to guess I would say that they did not reset your battery monitor when they replaced your battery. That means the PCM does not know you have a new battery and thinks you still have the run down battery

 

[OrangeStreak]

Remember when I said "He's Cute!" I still stand by that statement, but I have an update.

The little %%$#@ chewed on my hood lining exactly sitting in that location! I went out to change the oil in my 2005 Ranger, raised the hood and find this. To reach this spot he had to sit right at the apex of the fan shroud.... quite close to where "cutie" is perched!

The truck was parked in front of my detached garage (on a wide concrete pad) for 2 weeks while I repaired my Bendpak lift, and began spring cleaning my garage.

More traps laid inside the garage, but no takers. I suspect the little guy lives outdoors and took advantage of the free meal.

I just read where they are adding PIG DNA to Soy plants (God only knows why - I mean what could go wrong), but the little rascals may be discerning and not like the resulting products. Of course they may like it even more!

Sorry to hear that Tony...frustrating to say the least!

 

[ntechnic]

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

I'm confused, why would the system voltage go up under coast down or braking? I have a 2022 Lariat, it's not a hybrid and I ordered it with start/stop deleted (I ordered it in California if that matters). The Ford performance handheld was also ordered and the dealer installed the tune prior to delivery. Am I missing something?

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