Maximizing Battery Life

[got3fords]

." In essence AGM battery’s do not like a full charge "

actually they love to be fully charged - it's just they are more sensitive to heat and characteristic of lead acid batteries internal resistance grows approaching a full charge which produces heat , so your higher power batt chargers will have an AGM setting which reduces the charging voltage as the SOC increases towards full , many trickle chargers don't need this setting as their charging isn't strong enough for heat to be an issue. Where I live I rarely see 90 temps so I opted to disco the BMS and battery has held it's own, having said that I'm going to visit the nearest Ford dealer - an hour drive to see if I qualify for a replacement batt right before warranty expiry. If I do get a new batt then I will likely reduce the SOC to 90% .

Curious what your average MPG is since you disabled regenerative charging.

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[dtech]

Curious what your average MPG is since you disabled regenerative charging.

Can't say that I've tracked it, if it dropped dramatically I'd likely have noticed it. Some folks have raised the SOC to 90% which diminishes the effectiveness of the system as it's intended to store the excess (above active load)) regen energy in the battery, at 70% SOC there's capacity to store more energy - I think the airline tech (thank you) pointed out that a 70% SOC setting doesn't necessarily mean it always stops charging at 70%, the system is designed to use the battery as an energy reservoir, to store energy you need storage capacity. However as many attest to it shorten the life of the battery, so if one has to buy an agm battery ~ $200 I'm skeptical that using the BMS regen stuff that you'd save that much in fuel costs. The use of LED lightning vs halogen and filament bulbs may save more. So if you are chasing best mpg efficiency one might leave the SOC at 70 ~ 75% and rely on a trickle charger to preserve batt life. I would love to see what Fords annual battery replacement warranty costs are, IIRC BMW developed the regen stuff and Ford later adopted it.

 

[TJC]

Please correct me if I am wrong. You are stating that Ford intentionally leaves our batteries undercharged so that they can use the spare capacity as a regeneration reserve?

Count me as confused!

What is the difference in charging the battery to 100% capacity vs regeneration charging to 100% ?

I am trying to understand the engineering logic behind this concept.

- T

 

[dtech]

Please correct me if I am wrong. You are stating that Ford intentionally leaves our batteries undercharged so that they can use the spare capacity as a regeneration reserve?

Count me as confused!

What is the difference in charging the battery to 100% capacity vs regeneration charging to 100% ?

I am trying to understand the engineering logic behind this concept.

- T

regen is harnessing surplus engine power in situations such as deacceleration to load the alternator and charge the battery - similiar to EVs , so yes the battery stores energy and thus can be drawn upon instead of increasing load on the alternator. So yes storage capacity is needed to store that energy and if the battery is 100% charged the regen system would be less effective as it would only power the active draws in the vehicle. So in certain situations like when deaccelerating and braking some of the spare (kinetic) energy that the vehicle is producing is used to charge the battery , conversely some smart systems will effectively decouple the alternator during acceleration and use the stored battery power, it can be drawn down to some SOC level which then puts load back on the alternator and recharges the batt. I do believe that in conjunction with ASS this smart regen system yields better mpgs but results highly dependent on individual operating scenarios.
to simply answer your ? charging the battery to 100% uses the alternator and requires power, in some situations such as deacceleration and braking there is surplus power available (thru the energy of motion) so putting it to use to recharge the battery can result in less fuel consumed.

 

[Trigganometry]

Please correct me if I am wrong. You are stating that Ford intentionally leaves our batteries undercharged so that they can use the spare capacity as a regeneration reserve?

Count me as confused!

What is the difference in charging the battery to 100% capacity vs regeneration charging to 100% ?

I am trying to understand the engineering logic behind this concept.

- T

I believe it was covered in another thread on battery’s here on 5G but simply put, Ford has our BCM setting for SOC depending on trim set and battery size to ether 70% SOC (XL,XLT, STX) and 75% SOC (Lariat and Tremor?) so what they’re trying to do is keep battery levels at that state to give the maximum MPG CAFE standard numbers reported. When alternator is driven by engine it’s a load. So higher the SOC more alternator runs. In theory anyways. Lower MPG is a result. Problem many are seeing is short drives, ASS is on, parasitic draw between drives the battery is on diminished returns to SOC. Once you get under 50% total charge life of battery diminishes faster. Same as over charging it as mentioned by dtech.

So many of us went into our BCM settings and changed SOC to 90% or whatever they felt safe doing. I still use a maintainer (CTEK 5.0) about once a month for topoff. For me, so far so good and I’m 2 years into it without problems. Some on here are having issues and I’m not positive but think they’re on factory BMS settings still. Lots of warranty battery replacements as reported on this forum.

 

[dtech]

I believe it was covered in another thread on battery’s here on 5G but simply put, Ford has our BCM setting for SOC depending on trim set and battery size to ether 70% SOC (XL,XLT, STX) and 75% SOC (Lariat and Tremor?) so what they’re trying to do is keep battery levels at that state to give the maximum MPG CAFE standard numbers reported. When alternator is driven by engine it’s a load. So higher the SOC more alternator runs. In theory anyways. Lower MPG is a result. Problem many are seeing is short drives, ASS is on, parasitic draw between drives the battery is on diminished returns to SOC. Once you get under 50% total charge life of battery diminishes faster. Same as over charging it as mentioned by dtech.

So many of us went into our BCM settings and changed SOC to 90% or whatever they felt safe doing. I still use a maintainer (CTEK 5.0) about once a month for topoff. For me, so far so good and I’m 2 years into it without problems. Some on here are having issues and I’m not positive but think they’re on factory BMS settings still. Lots of warranty battery replacements as reported on this forum.

I'd only add that the smart alternator functions when there is available regen type engine power to get the battery up to a higher SOC - this was pointed out by airline tech. And this is part of the way newer trannies , specifically lockup converters work - they can upshift and downshift gears and remain in lock, thus the engine is coupled to the axles and there is energy fed back to the engine and that energy can be used to load the alternator and charge the battery - the smart system takes all this into account.

 

[TJC]

Thanks for the explanation. I drove my truck about 40 miles today, and the battery voltage is already below 12.5V (12.44), so I know the truck is not completely charging the battery to full capacity.

I DO NOT LIKE THIS AT ALL!

The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is stop it up!

I suspect all this effort to increase CAFE increases the cost of the truck, complicates the electronics necessary to efficiently control the systems, and is less reliable over the long haul. Wonder how easy it would be to retrofit an old school self contained alternator.

Could it be as easy as pulling the BMS plug on the neg cable, turn off the SOC with ForScan, and let the alternator (with built in regulator) do its thing?

 

[dtech]

Thanks for the explanation. I drove my truck about 40 miles today, and the battery voltage is already below 12.5V (12.44), so I know the truck is not completely charging the battery to full capacity.

I DO NOT LIKE THIS AT ALL!

The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is stop it up!

I suspect all this effort to increase CAFE increases the cost of the truck, complicates the electronics necessary to efficiently control the systems, and is less reliable over the long haul. Wonder how easy it would be to retrofit an old school self contained alternator.

Could it be as easy as pulling the BMS plug on the neg cable, turn off the SOC with ForScan, and let the alternator (with built in regulator) do its thing?

Suggest you read airline techs write up and observations (great report, detailed)of various soc levels and bms disco. In my case , 2 yr+ old batt, moderate climate, no ass use, garaged vehicle with little use of electrical heating elements, and occasional trickle charge I felt ok. But with a newer battery and if you live where temps get 90 and above I'd be cautious with a bms disco, agm batts can overheat and outgas in certain situations. And absolutely all done in the interest of CAFE.

 

[got3fords]

I was monitoring the voltage with my 12V outlet voltmeter closely on the way home. Normal driving it read about 12.5. Coasting downhill it went up to about 14.7V. Touch the pedal to resume speed went back to 12.5ish. Perfect example of regenerative charging at work. Light alternator load while cruising, heavier load while coasting.

 

[dtech]

I was monitoring the voltage with my 12V outlet voltmeter closely on the way home. Normal driving it read about 12.5. Coasting downhill it went up to about 14.7V. Touch the pedal to resume speed went back to 12.5ish. Perfect example of regenerative charging at work. Light alternator load while cruising, heavier load while coasting.

Yes and that's a big part of the reason that the system at times only partially charges the battery so when there is a regen opportunity it bumps the voltage and puts a charge into the battery, thus using some of the kinetic vehicle energy which years ago wasn't used, when going downhill the tranny is locked up spinning the engine and the engine itself is put into a lean fuel state and voila you have reduced fuel consumption and charged the battery.

 

[TJC]

Suggest you read airline techs write up and observations (great report, detailed)of various soc levels and bms disco. In my case , 2 yr+ old batt, moderate climate, no ass use, garaged vehicle with little use of electrical heating elements, and occasional trickle charge I felt ok. But with a newer battery and if you live where temps get 90 and above I'd be cautious with a bms disco, agm batts can overheat and outgas in certain situations. And absolutely all done in the interest of CAFE.

I just returned from my 2nd drive of the day - First was 40 miles, the 2nd 75 miles.
I don't like what I am seeing. My desulfator is installed. It activates at 13.5V and turns off when it drops below 13.5v.

I started the day with the following rested battery reading

Voltage = 12.44v
Resistance 4.24 mOhms
603.2 CCA

After driving 115 miles, I pulled into my garage and popped the hood, and tested the battery's state. I alos noted that the desulfator was not active (in my other 3 vehicles they are always active when I pull in for a few minutes until the voltage drops below the 13.5 trigger voltage) . The results are disappointing.... the battery is returning to it low state of charge...and sulfation is getting worse!

Voltage = 12.65v
Resistance = 5.59 mOhms
CCA = 488.9

The trickle charger is back on and the desulfator is doing its thing.

I have 4 options.
1 - Live with it - Ain't Gonna Happen
2 - Disconnect the BMS plug on the negative terminal
3 - Turn off BMS in ForScan
4 - Raise the SOC incrementally in ForScan to see if the results improve.

I do not think I am asking too much to have my new truck keep a full charge on my battery.

 

[airline tech]

I just returned from my 2nd drive of the day - First was 40 miles, the 2nd 75 miles.
I don't like what I am seeing. My desulfator is installed. It activates at 13.5V and turns off when it drops below 13.5v.

I started the day with the following rested battery reading

Voltage = 12.44v
Resistance 4.24 Ohms
603.2 CCA

After driving 115 miles, I pulled into my garage and popped the hood, and tested the battery's state. I alos noted that the desulfator was not active (in my other 3 vehicles they are always active when I pull in for a few minutes until the voltage drops below the 13.5 trigger voltage) . The results are disappointing.... the battery is returning to it low state of charge...and sulfation is getting worse!

Voltage = 12.65v
Resistance = 5.59 Ohms
CCA = 488.9

The trickle charger is back on and the desulfator is doing its thing.

I have 4 options.
1 - Live with it - Ain't Gonna Happen
2 - Disconnect the BMS plug on the negative terminal
3 - Turn off BMS in ForScan
4 - Raise the SOC incrementally in ForScan to see if the results improve.

I do not think I am asking too much to have my new truck keep a full charge on my battery.

From my own test results - no matter what setting I had (SOC) even with the BMS connector disconnected, at shutdown and just after surface charge depleted, I always averaged 12.8 to 12.9 Volts, and after exiting truck and lights timed out dropped to about 12.6 to 12.7 volts.
After truck sat for 8 to 12 hours - Wake up voltage was 11.9 to 12.0 volts, note this is with going to ACCY before engine start and Headlights Etc - coming on, if I turned the headlight switch to off before going to ASSY mode, I could see a higher voltage of about 12.2 volts.

The AGM Battery installed in the Ranger: the programed voltages for 100% SOC in the BCM are:
Lariat – 800 CCA -100% SOC = 12.89v
XL / XLT - 720 CCA 100% SOC = 12.76v

So, If I am reading your results correctly, this is normal for the Ranger, the AGM battery will always dump off surface charge if above 12.76 or 12.89 Volts, and a good Ranger battery will rest voltage at around 12.6, this drop is the lights still on at shut-down, the various modules still powered until the truck enters sleep mode, while in sleep mode, some modules are still powered, it's the new generation technology that does this, unlike older generation vehicles, without it.
The problems start to arise when the overnight voltage drops below 11.5 volts, this appears to be the trigger voltage for all of the issues associated with complaints on the battery, now I cannot prove or disprove whether bumping SOC or any other charging system change helps this issue or not as of yet, it's just the nature of the Ranger charging system.

As far as the battery itself, the average life of the AGM battery is about 3 to 5 years, some owners can get more, but it seems that short drive only owners have the most issues as they are not getting the regenerative charging to boost over 75% charge and more issues arise if they are daytime drivers only, as this is when the charging system puts out its lowest fuel efficient charging mode due to no lights generating a load and regenerative charging is more important as it will sit in the charging range of 12.2 to 12.4 at idle and charge at 12.6 to 12.7 while driving, thus maintaining battery voltage only.

Plus a side note here if you are using a meter like Topdon to measure and test, I have found and noted that the meter leads are very sensitive to where you hook them up, most importantly the positive test lead, if you hook directly to the positive post you will get inaccurate results due to the inability to get a real positive connection as it is recessed down somewhat, I found that if you hook the positive lead to the hex nut on the busbar, you get better results, you have to remember that the test meter is measuring resistance (that includes the meter lead connections) a poor connection will give you a poor result.
I can make my Topdon , register a Replace Battery Result when connected directly to the Positive post, once moved to the Busbar, I get a healthy battery result. So, I have proved that the connection point will affect results, even though you have a good voltage reading you still have a resistance value to contend with at the connection points.

Plus, also keep in mind that when the hood is opened, you have a battery draw coming from the hood open sensor on the hood latch. (Door Ajar & Alarm System) , this will also affect your results.

 

[TJC]

Thanks for the feedback. My 2005 ranger has an AGM battery in it. It sat for a week unused. I checked the battery at the same time I began exploring the 2020 Ranger BMS system.

The result are below.

2005 Ranger XLT 4.0L V6	Battery Resting for 7 Days
Voltage	12.65
Resistance mOhms	2.68
CCA Rated @ 750	1012

I am not seeing anything close to this with my 2020 Ranger.

Thanks for the tip on the positive battery terminal. I found the same inconsistency as I measured from multiple points.

I have nothing against regenerative charging when coasting, but don't stop/minimizing the use of the alternator!

An AGM battery is basically dead at 11.8V! And at 12.0V the battery is at 25% charge.

The SOC for the Lariat battery is spot on, but it is low for the XLT. It should be around 12.85v. It is basically set for a 70-75% SOC maximum. I think this is unacceptable. If my 2020 Ranger sat unused for a week my battery would not be at 12.65v. That's exactly where it was after driving it 115 miles today and checking it immediately upon shutting it down and letting the lights shut off. It should have been charging at 13.4 volts.

I don't need the unreliability of solar or wind power, and I don't need an unreliable regenerative braking system. If Ford wants to augment the alternator with regenerative braking, that's fine with me. But I think they have gone beyond that and are placing too much emphasis on unreliable charging systems.

What is the carbon foot print of a battery being replaced every 18 months vs the gas savings? Will that gas savings equal the price of replacement battery?

Finally, I respect your technical acumen, and all the investigative work you have provided to me and others. A big THANK YOU for that. I do appreciate the assistance. None of what I am saying is aimed at you. (Ford? Are you listening?)

I am simply frustrated at Ford.

If they are going to do it, at the very least do it right. Reliability is more important than efficiency. Efficiency means nothing if you end up sitting stranded on the side of the road.

I may set the light timer to the minimum time.

 

[mtsoxfan]

There must be a common cause for the early failures reported. Are there electrical add ons that may be taxing system somehow? Not wired properly for the different charging/battery system?
I just can't see why so many have a need to put truck on life support systems, unless so many of you rarely drive the vehicle. I drive mine, maybe every other day, some times more, sometimes less. No electrical gremlins to speak of. With very limited use, I guess I could understand a parasitic draw hampering the battery life, just not 3 (or X#) of days of no driving.

 

[Rp930]

There must be a common cause for the early failures reported. Are there electrical add ons that may be taxing system somehow? Not wired properly for the different charging/battery system?
I just can't see why so many have a need to put truck on life support systems, unless so many of you rarely drive the vehicle. I drive mine, maybe every other day, some times more, sometimes less. No electrical gremlins to speak of. With very limited use, I guess I could understand a parasitic draw hampering the battery life, just not 3 (or X#) of days of no driving.

Same here. Sometimes not for days sometimes every day. Never plugged it in, never worried about driving day or night, never measured anything, never disconnected anything, never lost any sleep over the charging system. Battery showed signs of failing with messages on the screen but never failed to start after 3 1/2 years which is about what I expected for a factory battery. Replaced battery, no worries. Why be mad at Ford? It works fine.

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