Battery and Charging

[IdahoRanger]

Steve, just curious. What is IR anyway. Lower the better?

Internal resistance and you want it lower. Desulfating should help the number.

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[IdahoRanger]

How is a "TOPDON" (sounds like a XX film title) test conducted - is it just a momentary hookup to the battery to conduct the test or do you leave it hooked up for a longer period ? These type of testers calculate off of the IR reading - which tends to decrease over a few minutes even under a small load , your SOC reading at 12.6 should indicate a less than 100% charge, it's possible your battery may be healthier than the "DON" is telling you just as I'm skeptical at some posts indicating their CCA level after 4 yrs is significantly above the mfg CCA rating - these testers always aren't known for great accuracy. But you need to run the repair mode for several days and see what results you get.

Yes, just a momentary hookup for the reading.

 

[TJC]

How is a "TOPDON" (sounds like a XX film title) test conducted - is it just a momentary hookup to the battery to conduct the test or do you leave it hooked up for a longer period ? These type of testers calculate off of the IR reading - which tends to decrease over a few minutes even under a small load , your SOC reading at 12.6 should indicate a less than 100% charge, it's possible your battery may be healthier than the "DON" is telling you just as I'm skeptical at some posts indicating their CCA level after 4 yrs is significantly above the mfg CCA rating - these testers always aren't known for great accuracy. But you need to run the repair mode for several days and see what results you get.

Always use the tester with the same test parameters, and I am not simply talking about the tester settings. Let your battery rest before taking a reading, usually at least an hour or two, but more important than the time is that you use the same amount of rest time for each reading. IOW, whatever time you choose to use 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 hours after a charge or a drive, use that time period every time you test. Some folks simply turn on their headlights immediately after a charge for 30 seconds to burn off the residual charge on the plates, and then use the battery tester. Pick a procedure and stick to it.

Same goes for temperatures. If you garage your ranger then the temp variation is not so extreme.

To measure gains or losses, you need definable repeatable processes. Those gains or losses will then be relative to each other. Starting point accuracy is not as important as the trend from measurement to measurement.

I don't care so much what my battery tester reports. I use it to set a base line and then test exactly the same way to determine delta differences over time. The ultimate test is battery longevity.

If I do it right, my 10-12 year old batteries tend to fail hard, vs slowly deteriorate over time. The IR stays well below 0.5 mOhms during the entire time. I'll go out one morning and the battery will simply not start the vehicle, Several times the cabin lights would not even light up when I opened the door.

I suspect that shedding of the lead plates internally shorts the battery cells when the build up at the bottom of the battery reaches the plates. Just a guess though. I always carry a battery jumper pack in my cars, just in case.

 

[scrubaducky]

Hopefully repair will do the trick. That IR is high.

1 round of repair mode took it up to 48% health, 50% charge. So I'll give it another repair session tomorrow and see where that takes us.

 

[Fx4ranger2019Larait]

Good info on here like always. Just picked up a BT-100 on eBay for 35$. Curious to see my battery test results I’m still on original battery build date APR 19 purchased 05/08/20 at least 4 yrs old possibly 5. Changed charge rate to 90% via Forscan around a yr after ownership. Just ran repair mode on battery last weekend and charged it after that using noco genius 10. I will report results after I receive BT-100.

 

[scrubaducky]

Unfortunately it looks like around 48% is the best I can repair my battery to.

Took this reading right after doing repaie mode and turning headlights on 30 seconds, then testing with them off again.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Unfortunately it looks like around 48% is the best I can repair my battery to.

Took this reading right after doing repaie mode and turning headlights on 30 seconds, then testing with them off again.

I would do more repair modes.

 

[dtech]

Unfortunately it looks like around 48% is the best I can repair my battery to.

Took this reading right after doing repaie mode and turning headlights on 30 seconds, then testing with them off again.

Tony knows more about this stuff than I do - but IIRC some desulfators have 2 modes, one with puts extra strength pulses into the battery - these are typically more expensive. And some gurus on this subject matter identify "hard sulfation" which is resistant to breaking up and sometimes cannot be broken up . And yes I would run the NOCO or whatever you are using in repair mode for several days or even a week before giving it up for dead.

 

[scrubaducky]

I would do more repair modes.

Done about 5-6 over the last two weeks. Not sure what battery status was at the start (no fordpass low battery warnings) but the last 3 haven't got me above this point when testing with the topdon.

Guess there can't be much harm giving it some more repair sessions this week and make sure.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Done about 5-6 over the last two weeks. Not sure what battery status was at the start (no fordpass low battery warnings) but the last 3 haven't got me above this point when testing with the topdon.

Guess there can't be much harm giving it some more repair sessions this week and make sure.

Mine wasn't so good back in Feb. when it was cold.

and got it to here.

 

[TJC]

Tony knows more about this stuff than I do - but IIRC some desulfators have 2 modes, one with puts extra strength pulses into the battery - these are typically more expensive. And some gurus on this subject matter identify "hard sulfation" which is resistant to breaking up and sometimes cannot be broken up . And yes I would run the NOCO or whatever you are using in repair mode for several days or even a week before giving it up for dead.

I can view your pictures so I have no idea what your charge voltage and IR readings are. If IR is >5 < 10mOhms your battery is marginal, but probably can be saved. The odds of a full recovery above 10 dramatically drops.

It can take months of steady desulfation to bring a deeply sulfated battery back. You battery needs to stay at a full charge
to keep the sulfation a from reforming on the lead plates. As a rule, anything less than 12.65v charge will sulfate the battery. The lower the voltage the faster the sulfation rate. I have posted the charge tables on the Maximizing Battery Life thread.

I am not sure how long the repair mode runs, but a day or two will not be sufficient to recover a deeply sulfated battery.

Does you charger allow you to stay in desulfation mode? The BatteryMinder 2amp maintainer has desulfation mode built in and it will run continuously. I have had good results with them.

All of my units are the older models. I am not sure about the newer versions. Some time new models are better, sometimes worse. Here is the BatteryMinder store on Amazon. You can also purchase the onboard BM desulfator for ~$65 from here

This will desulfate your battery whenever your truck is charging the battery above 13.5v. Trickle charging your battery with an installed onboard desulfator should also activate it.

If you keep BMS active it will discharge your battery well below the 13.5v activation threshold. And even if you fully charge your battery to 100%, as soon as you start your truck the BMS will discharge your battery to 70% - 75% and keep it there. This charge level will sulfate your battery raising the internal resistance and shortening the battery life. Unless you keep your truck on a charger/desulator regularly, you are going to have poor battery life. Turning off BMS with Forscan will help, but pulling the BMS sensor plug works best for me. I spent 6 months with BMS on with SOC set at 90% and found my battery suffered during that time. I had previously diabled BMS by unplugging the BMS sensor. I have recently returned to that strategy with the onboard desulfator installed. We will see if my battery returns to full health.

I have them installed on all three of my autos. And several are going on 15 years and still working just fine. When I sell a car I remove it and install it on the next new vehicle.

 

[Hot Pepper Red Zeppelin]

Is my battery getting wonky?

This is the replacement of the original, same battery, and it is 1yr 8mos old.

it has been hooked up to a noco genius 2x2 every weekend. Typically is done after 12-14 hrs. Starting 3 weeks ago after about 18 hrs it isn’t finished, still flashing green. This morning after 18 hrs I have the 3 solid red and orange lights with the flashing green.

I checked while it was hooked up and it was reading 14.59v. The cr-v (normal 12v and small) was reading 13.03.

I’ve done some troubleshooting and it seems like the noco is okay.

 

[TJC]

Let the battery rest for 4-6 hours and check the voltage. It should be at or above 12.65v. I believe that the Ford BMS is detrimental to battery health.

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