Battery failing?

[Ranger Roger]

Dealer did all that too. I checked also. Display just shows “Charging”.

Charged battery 1.5 days with Noco 5 to 12.72 v. Seems like the max it would go unless i use my non-smart charger.

Took it out for test run. ASS still not working. Display still says “Charging”. Will do a load test on battery next before bringing back to dealer.

This is crazy.

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[Ranger Roger]

Anyone know how accurate the noco genius2 battery percentage is? I only got the 2 amp one to keep it to a slow charge and because it was on sale. I plugged it in and it's saying my battery is around 25%. Reason I'm doubting it is that it says it's capable of 40Ah batteries and the ford one is an 80Ah. I haven't had any issues starting the truck, just no auto start stop lately. Also from what I could find the stock battery is AGM so that's the mode I put it in. Someone message me quick if that's wrong.

Update: left the charger on for 2 hours and when I came back it was showing fully charged. Pulled out the multi meter and was showing 12.6 volts, up from 12.1 when I started. I guess the battery wasn't as drained as I thought. I'll test again in the morning to see how it held up overnight.

Update 2: after sitting over night the battery tested at 12.2 volts.

I have a Noco 5 and G3500. Both do the 25% thing for a few minutes, then raise to 50 and then faster to 75. I think that’s just the way they work since none of my batteries were discharged much.

 

[EJH]

ONLY do a BMS reset after charging the battery to 100% with a good AGM charger, otherwise the BMS will not have a starting point for reference. I had this issue with my Lithium batteries in my RV, kept wondering why they would only get charged to 89% (@14.8v). Found out it was because I reset the BMS at that SOC so the thing thought that was 100%.

Good points. but not quite the same comparing a LiFePo to a lead acid AGM.

The lithium in your RV will maintain the same voltage until right before it dies. That is why some kind of BMS or smart shut meter is necessary for a lithium battery, if you want to know close to the exact state of charge.

A lead acid (which AGM is) will slowly drop in voltage as it discharges. You can roughly tell the state of charge for AGM batteries by the voltage.

On the topic of battery chargers (Battery Tender), which point are you all connecting the charge leads too? I want to install the quick connect dongle for my Battery Tender to the Ranger's battery. However, there is a lot going on at the battery terminals (see pics). I watched a YouTube video from Ford mechanic (link, see around the 8 min mark) who suggested connecting battery chargers after the BMS (i.e. not directly to the battery terminals).

I only want to connect the Battery Tender as preventative. I do not have any weak battery symptoms at this time (truck is 2 years old, 24k miles). However, I do often leave the truck parked for two weeks at a time.

 

[Radioman]

On the topic of battery chargers (Battery Tender), which point are you all connecting the charge leads too? I want to install the quick connect dongle for my Battery Tender to the Ranger's battery. However, there is a lot going on at the battery terminals (see pics). I watched a YouTube video from Ford mechanic (link, see around the 8 min mark) who suggested connecting battery chargers after the BMS (i.e. not directly to the battery terminals).

I only want to connect the Battery Tender as preventative. I do not have any weak battery symptoms at this time (truck is 2 years old, 24k miles). However, I do often leave the truck parked for two weeks at a time.

Connect the positive lead of the charger to the positive terminal of the battery and connect the negative lead of the charger to ground, not the negative terminal of the battery.

 

[JesseS]

Good points. but not quite the same comparing a LiFePo to a lead acid AGM.

The lithium in your RV will maintain the same voltage until right before it dies. That is why some kind of BMS or smart shut meter is necessary for a lithium battery, if you want to know close to the exact state of charge.

A lead acid (which AGM is) will slowly drop in voltage as it discharges. You can roughly tell the state of charge for AGM batteries by the voltage.

On the topic of battery chargers (Battery Tender), which point are you all connecting the charge leads too? I want to install the quick connect dongle for my Battery Tender to the Ranger's battery. However, there is a lot going on at the battery terminals (see pics). I watched a YouTube video from Ford mechanic (the link is posted somewhere on this forum) who suggested connecting battery chargers after the BMS (i.e. not directly to the battery terminals).

I only want to connect the Battery Tender as preventative. I do not have any weak battery symptoms at this time (truck is 2 years old, 24k miles). However, I do often leave the truck parked for two weeks at a time.

Sorry, wasn't trying to compare a Lithium to a LA Battery, just the cause of my low SOC. LA batteries do not like a SOC of -70%, and -50% will kill it. You can't judge a Lithium's SOC by voltage as it will charge at 14.6 until the internal BMS reduces it to 13.4, which is the float for my batteries. So I have to use a current flow meter to judge percentage of charge, which requires you to reset it to zero when the battery is full. Then it measures current flow thru the shunt based on the storage capacity of the battery or batteries, measuring AH's drawn from or sent to the batters expressed as a percent of full. These are not the same as voltage based read outs. Made by Bogart Engineering.

 

[AzScorpion]

Connect the positive lead of the charger to the positive terminal of the battery and connect the negative lead of the charger to ground, not the negative terminal of the battery.

This! The negative should be connected here.

 

[Radioman]

This! The negative should be connected here.

I know you live in the desert and I know you wash and wax your truck often, but Dave, lets do some cleaning under the hood, huh.

 

[AzScorpion]

I know you live in the desert and I know you wash and wax your truck often, but Dave, lets do some cleaning under the hood, huh.

?

 

[airline tech]

Just an Update:

I bought a couple of Voltage Meters from Ebay (cheap) just to get baseline voltage readings from the truck to see what is normal or average for the BMS system

1. The One I like is this one, Accurate as compared to my Fluke Meter @ Battery

Works great, but due to angle of our Power ports you have to view it at angle but readable, might try a brand that have the display facing (upward) if I buy another one, but it does not interfere with shifter or anything, you can read it @ a glance while driving.

Amazon.com: Zeltauto LED Digital Car Voltmeter 12V/24V Vehicle Voltage Gauge Monitor for Auto Car Truck : Automotive

I also bought another style Voltage Meter (with dual USB) ports and this style only reads 12.6volts, so this is regulated to only allow 12 Volts (Charging-Feature) Protection. So don't buy this style for Voltage Check. - Plus, you cannot read the voltage unless you tilt your head all the way down to level with the gauge, quality built for USB purpose but not for this test

Test Results:

My Truck - 22 - (3 Months Old) - So new - Now my A/Start is deleted from Factory, so I don't have that to factor in on battery discharge (wear)

I Thought that this post might help in determining if your battery is on the way out.
as I would consider these readings normal without any FORscan changes to the SOC from 70%

Average @ Rest Voltage = 12.2 to 12.7 Volts after sitting for 12 hours (Truck Off)

Driving @ Night - Sys Loaded, Radio/HVAC-Auto/ Headlights & Fogs On - 13.5 Volts to 15.0 Volts
Varies depending on (BMS Charging Phase) most common is 14.7 Volts
Voltage does not fluctuate it just varies with each drive and weather it is in refresh phase (Charging)

Idle in Park:
System Loaded - Radio-HVAC On & (Blower-High)- Headlights/Fogs On = 13.5 Volts
System Unloaded -All Items above - Off = 12.4 Volts

Starting:
Lowest I have seen it drop down to is 12.0 Volts, after starter disengages jumps to 14.5 to 15.0 Volts and then settles to 13.5 to 14.8 Volts (To replenish charge from the starter draw)
On this specific test - I don't know how accurate the gauge is due to @ this point the PowerPoints are in transition of power transfer - (On/Off/On), Note: I did this test with PowerPoints still active at start - (Not Timed Out)

Truck Off - Sitting it Truck / Lights -Timed-Out / Radio on - 12.6 Volts then After Radio Time Out (10 Minutes) / Door Opened & Closed - Lights Timed Out - 12.2 Volts, after sitting @ rest Voltage will climb to 12.4 to 12.7 Volts (Residual Voltage Returning to the Battery)

So, this confirms that 12.2 is the minimal voltage you may see and as described in the service manual - (In a Normal working system)

So, by using the various AGM Battery SOC charts, there are a ton of them online. 12.2 V = 70% SOC
If I am correct this is how the 70% SOC factors in (It's the minimal voltage the system will allow in a normal charging phase. Basically, no voltage lower than 12.2 Volts (Is its functional goal) I cannot verify this by documentation as I cannot locate anything that puts this in black and white. But If I am correct, I understand it better
Before this test, I understood it to keep battery at 70% SOC (Max) and I could not wrap my head around that to make sense
Note: The AGM SOC charts vary with voltage, depending on Deep Cycle Marine Battery or not and found one that appeared to be correct info

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