Battery saver 2nd battery

[OldHippy]

The only significant one:

• FORD - First On Race Day
• FORD - Found On Roadside Dead
• FORD - Fix Or Repair Daily

Almost 6 years on and I am STILL reworking issues in an attempt to make my 2020 Ranger as reliable as my 2005 Ranger. I don't even think about the 2005 Ranger. Just routine maintenance, get in and go. It is essentially stock from the dealer lot. I have not modified anything on my 2005 Ranger with the exception of installing a cheap Android Radio that allows me to play my music off a USB thumb drive.

In the last 21 years I've only taken it to the dealer twice, both times for recalls on airbag replacements, and each time I have had dash rattles that need to be addressed when I get it back.

And It needs to go back in for replacements again! I'm seriously thinking about removing them entirely.

Anyway...

I blame Ford entirely. The 2005 set my reliability expectations for what I thought I was purchasing in 2020. I seriously misjudged. I figured the Ranger had been in production around the world for 7 years before reentering the US market. Best selling truck in Australia for years... The kinks were worked out.

But Ford couldn't leave well enough alone, and we got the sickly inbred cousin who stays locked in a basement! I'm mentally picturing Steve Martin in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

The wife says dump it. Do IT NOW!

After throwing more modification $$ in it than in all my previous auto's combined, I'm still hoping that I can salvage it. The mods that I have made have made the truck far more reliable and drive-able. The last bit of work is targeting the transmission. I plan to have that work completed over winter. I'll know by the end of 2026 if I've been successful, and it has been transformed into keeper.

There is a lot to like about the truck. But poor / cheap design decisions really weakened the product. And I am fast approaching the age where it becomes increasingly difficult to take on major projects like this.

I do know this... It is my last new car... for a lots of reasons. I'm going back to vehicles designed to last and that can be repaired without massive investments in electronic diagnostic/maintenance tools. Most likely a older vehicle with modern engine, transmission, brakes, and suspension. No major computers other than engine management. More mechanical than computer.

Less is More!

I have a 2020 xlt. Bought it in 2023. Had 29000 miles. Has 48000 now. And so far no issues. Knock on wood. I have put all kinds of doo dad's on her, from fro r big bumper and 13000 lb wench. I like it except tje seats dont seem to fir the damn thing. Lol

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[rang19ca]

The biggest issue with finding older vehicles, is whether the maintenance was done by the previous owner. I'm keeping my 2019 non-delete model because the HVAC and the CDF trans issues were take care of under extended warranty. It is becoming a Classic !

 

[TJC]

I'm keeping my 2019 non-delete model because the HVAC and the CDF trans issues were taken care of under extended warranty.

"The Transmission is fixed..." Famous Last Words!

Seriously, I have 29K on my 2020. It is only that low because I knew driving it more would have damaged the transmission beyond repair. I'm trying hard to get out in front of the impending doom!

I really don't want to hear "I Told You So" from my bride.... and that is a powerful motivator!

 

[TJC]

The biggest issue with finding older vehicles, is whether the maintenance was done by the previous owner. I'm keeping my 2019 non-delete model because the HVAC and the CDF trans issues were take care of under extended warranty. It is becoming a Classic !

Find a clean one on the cheap, and spend 10K-15K to bring it back to it's old glory or better. Then plan on keeping it for long time.

 

[hughesjv]

I replaced my battery 2 years ago with Walmart battery that has 4 year warranty . The last few days my truck keeps going into powersaving mode. On my elo gps app. My volts go down to 12.2 after turning the truck off. So I ordered a charger and it gets here later.
Should I reset the bms after charging or leave it?

Im also considering to get forscan and change the settings. But the adapters are expensive. Would it help since the battery is 2 years old?

I wanted to update everyone on somethings about the battery and charge I discovered. I discovered that my Ranger was turning things off even when the battery was pretty highly charged. It just didn't make sense, so I kept reading about the issues like passenger door handles not working. I had the power saving mode kick in this last time when the battery was actually almost fully charged. So, after careful thought I wondered if resetting the PMS would resolve the inconsistency. So, I charged the batter to 100% and checked the passenger door locks and still they did not work. I got in and flipped the lights 5 times, hit the brake 3 times and the battery flashed just like in the video I saw. Checked the door locks and whala, they worked again. I think by not resetting the PMS I was not letting my truck know all was well. I had charged at least 10 times without PMS reset and I think, maybe, this was why even at 100% power saving was still turned on. So, I am not sure I will reset the PMS every time I charge the battery, but I think at least every other time as it does seem to not reset on its own. I hope this helps those out there that experiencing the mysterious power savings turning on and not going off on its own.

 

[RangerBill]

I wanted to update everyone on somethings about the battery and charge I discovered. I discovered that my Ranger was turning things off even when the battery was pretty highly charged. It just didn't make sense, so I kept reading about the issues like passenger door handles not working. I had the power saving mode kick in this last time when the battery was actually almost fully charged. So, after careful thought I wondered if resetting the PMS would resolve the inconsistency. So, I charged the batter to 100% and checked the passenger door locks and still they did not work. I got in and flipped the lights 5 times, hit the brake 3 times and the battery flashed just like in the video I saw. Checked the door locks and whala, they worked again. I think by not resetting the PMS I was not letting my truck know all was well. I had charged at least 10 times without PMS reset and I think, maybe, this was why even at 100% power saving was still turned on. So, I am not sure I will reset the PMS every time I charge the battery, but I think at least every other time as it does seem to not reset on its own. I hope this helps those out there that experiencing the mysterious power savings turning on and not going off on its own.

I think you mean BMS (battery monitoring system). You should reset it only when replacing the battery. This allows the system to know the age of the battery and adjusts charging setpoint using the age and other parameters.

 

[airline tech]

I think you mean BMS (battery monitoring system). You should reset it only when replacing the battery. This allows the system to know the age of the battery and adjusts charging setpoint using the age and other parameters.

Yes, Ford recommends - BMS Reset only with a battery replacement - however they also have in one of their documents to reset the BMS sensor for issues with - Deep Sleep and Deep Sleep ties into the Load Shed.
If he was to check the Estimated SOC PID, I am sure he would have saw a biased sensor reading and lower soc than the actual soc.

I actually proved that my BMS sensor was biased and stuck at 83% with a battery that has low IR and good voltage - so yes, the sensor can become biased and under report, when this happens the BCM does what it is programmed to do - start load shedding - depending on the SOC it was actually reading and the caveat is - that the low SOC reading would have had the Generator Voltage Desired working hard to appease the BMS sensor - Applying a charge to the battery that the BMS sensor could not accurately see. (so, in a continuous loop)
Note: I am set to 90% Target SOC so 83% for me - I am well above the load shed trigger but well under the target.

 

[RangerBill]

Yes, Ford recommends - BMS Reset only with a battery replacement - however they also have in one of their documents to reset the BMS sensor for issues with - Deep Sleep and Deep Sleep ties into the Load Shed.
If he was to check the Estimated SOC PID, I am sure he would have saw a biased sensor reading and lower soc than the actual soc.

I actually proved that my BMS sensor was biased and stuck at 83% with a battery that has low IR and good voltage - so yes, the sensor can become biased and under report, when this happens the BCM does what it is programmed to do - start load shedding - depending on the SOC it was actually reading and the caveat is - that the low SOC reading would have had the Generator Voltage Desired working hard to appease the BMS sensor - Applying a charge to the battery that the BMS sensor could not accurately see. (so, in a continuous loop)
Note: I am set to 90% Target SOC so 83% for me - I am well above the load shed trigger but well under the target.

The gist of what I was stating is to not reset the BMS every time the battery is placed on a charger as @hughesjv was thinking about doing. The shop manual doesn't recommend that.

 

[OldHippy]

The gist of what I was stating is to not reset the BMS every time the battery is placed on a charger as @hughesjv was thinking about doing. The shop manual doesn't recommend that.

Im glad to learn all this. Not l9ng after purchasing my 2020 xlt with 30,000 miles, I kept getting alerts of Low Battery and Safe Mode. So I put a new Motorcraft battery in it. About a week later it was going into sleep mode again. Saying that Remote Start and other things wouldnt work. But everything Did work. I just started putting a Battery Tender on it whenever parked at home. Im a disabled vet and sometimes I dont go anywhere for 2 to 3 days. Thought that was the issue. Reading manuals it said that when driving to turn lights on to activate the generator charge system. So I do that as well. Havent ever reset the BCM. So guess I need to do that. Thnx for all the info.

 

[TJC]

Yes, Ford recommends - BMS Reset only with a battery replacement - however they also have in one of their documents to reset the BMS sensor for issues with - Deep Sleep and Deep Sleep ties into the Load Shed.
If he was to check the Estimated SOC PID, I am sure he would have saw a biased sensor reading and lower soc than the actual soc.

I actually proved that my BMS sensor was biased and stuck at 83% with a battery that has low IR and good voltage - so yes, the sensor can become biased and under report, when this happens the BCM does what it is programmed to do - start load shedding - depending on the SOC it was actually reading and the caveat is - that the low SOC reading would have had the Generator Voltage Desired working hard to appease the BMS sensor - Applying a charge to the battery that the BMS sensor could not accurately see. (so, in a continuous loop)
Note: I am set to 90% Target SOC so 83% for me - I am well above the load shed trigger but well under the target.

I have tested in real time and witnessed the BMS dynamically lowering the SOC target from what is set in Forscan. And not just a little bit either! Up to 15 points lower! Maybe even a little more. I've started referring to the SOC set in Forscan as the Target SOC vs the Actual SOC - what BMS is doing dynamically.

Further, the only way I could recalibrate the Target SOC with the Actual SOC was to reset the BMS.

And I can tell you without a doubt that when Actual deviates from Target it affects my battery negatively. I've just spent the better part of a month breaking up sulfate crystals that resulted from that deviation.

I am still investigating how frequently I will need to do the reset. But it will be very easy to determine now that I have eyes on Charge Voltage and Amperage, and the Actual SOC. I know the Target SOC is a constant, it never changes as it is set in Forscan.

As always, this is my experience. Yours may differ.

 

[airline tech]

i wonder if - changing the Target SOC requires the BMS Reset after you do it?
or
Are you noting that even after this is done - the BMS still will bias and under report?
I have a hunch it's the Temperature - altering the readings - and we may see different results in the summer months. (My Learned Data - Deep Dive vs Actual Real Live Data Monitoring)
I have proved the sensor will bias - but why did it bias is the unknown? - (Time-Age etc)

Edit: I forgot to add - constant short trip (bias) as it never registers a full charge cycle - it eventually will bias to the low side - the most logical reason.

 

[woodworker]

I wanted to update everyone on somethings about the battery and charge I discovered. I discovered that my Ranger was turning things off even when the battery was pretty highly charged. It just didn't make sense, so I kept reading about the issues like passenger door handles not working. I had the power saving mode kick in this last time when the battery was actually almost fully charged. So, after careful thought I wondered if resetting the PMS would resolve the inconsistency. So, I charged the batter to 100% and checked the passenger door locks and still they did not work. I got in and flipped the lights 5 times, hit the brake 3 times and the battery flashed just like in the video I saw. Checked the door locks and whala, they worked again. I think by not resetting the PMS I was not letting my truck know all was well. I had charged at least 10 times without PMS reset and I think, maybe, this was why even at 100% power saving was still turned on. So, I am not sure I will reset the PMS every time I charge the battery, but I think at least every other time as it does seem to not reset on its own. I hope this helps those out there that experiencing the mysterious power savings turning on and not going off on its own.

I had the battery replaced in my 2021 and they said they had to do some type of registration or some stuff may not work. So I left them do it cause I didn’t want any problems.

 

[TJC]

The gist of what I was stating is to not reset the BMS every time the battery is placed on a charger as @hughesjv was thinking about doing. The shop manual doesn't recommend that.

The shop manual doesn't recommend changing your transmission fluid ever. I take what that manual says as a suggestion.

I am not sure how often the BMS needs to be reset, but there are times when it certainly does need to be reset. I am uncomfortable stating how often it needs to be done, but I fear it is more often than I like to think about.

I may be wrong, but I intend to monitor and try to find out.

There is a great deal going on in the BMS firmware, lots of variables, hueristics, and objectives (goals/targets). The hueristics, goals and targets are what I am most concerned about. Getting them wrong based upon flawed reasoning will destroy the best engineered software / firmware. And I think Ford made compromises in the charging system to meet government guideline goals.

Targets and hueristics are critical to get correct. Get it wrong and you get "shat". The code may be elegant, but elegant doesn't mean a d@mn thing if the goal is incorrect.

And I believe that Ford has it's corporate goals all screwed up... and those goals seep down to infect every aspect of product design, even down to the BMS (and if you need to change your transmission fluid).

 

[TJC]

i wonder if - changing the Target SOC requires the BMS Reset after you do it?
or
Are you noting that even after this is done - the BMS still will bias and under report?

I'm not sure. I have only reset the BMS once. But doing so did realign the the SOC Actual with Target.

I have a hunch it's the Temperature - altering the readings - and we may see different results in the summer months. (My Learned Data - Deep Dive vs Actual Real Live Data Monitoring)
I have proved the sensor will bias - but why did it bias is the unknown? - (Time-Age etc)

I am not sure what is causing the SOC to change. I had no idea it was happening until I got eyes on it when I installed the ScanGauge 3. This was in the late summer early fall of 2025.

I've got a lot to do to the truck soon when it is scheduled for an oil change. Changing several things up:

• Transmission cooling modification - target 150F-165F. (It behaves best in this temp range. GM's sister 10 speed transmission runs in this temp range and several transmission techs recommend this range)
• Heavier diff fluid, currently 75-90.
  (Going to 75-140. Protection over gas mileage)
• Coolant Change (may change the T-Stat to 180F)
  lowering stress on heads/gaskets & cooling system
• Brake fluid change (and get the air out of the ABS)
• Replace Front Shocks, then front Alignment

Will revisit the BMS in depth once the list is completed. However, I will still be monitoring to see if SOC starts to drop again. I'll report when it happens, and how big the drop. I do believe that the drop is gradual in nature, but I could be wrong.

All three of our vehicles are due for oil changes soon, and the 2020 Ranger will be last. It's going to be on the lift for a little while while I do all the above work. Looking to complete everything before spring and the hot muggy dog days roll in.

 

[hughesjv]

Yes, Ford recommends - BMS Reset only with a battery replacement - however they also have in one of their documents to reset the BMS sensor for issues with - Deep Sleep and Deep Sleep ties into the Load Shed.
If he was to check the Estimated SOC PID, I am sure he would have saw a biased sensor reading and lower soc than the actual soc.

I actually proved that my BMS sensor was biased and stuck at 83% with a battery that has low IR and good voltage - so yes, the sensor can become biased and under report, when this happens the BCM does what it is programmed to do - start load shedding - depending on the SOC it was actually reading and the caveat is - that the low SOC reading would have had the Generator Voltage Desired working hard to appease the BMS sensor - Applying a charge to the battery that the BMS sensor could not accurately see. (so, in a continuous loop)
Note: I am set to 90% Target SOC so 83% for me - I am well above the load shed trigger but well under the target.

Maybe but when your electronics are turned off when the battery is nearly 100% there must be another answer?

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