12v battery monitor results [DATA LOG] on 18 month old XLT hybrid

Index:

1. Base case data
2. Base case w/ telematics ON
3. Truck unlocked, key inside cab, and telematics OFF
4. [reserved telematics ON with vehicle unlocked]
5. [reserved future tests]

Summary:

A week ago I installed a $15 BM2 12v battery voltage monitor with the intent to establish a base case and understand if telematics is what is causing the deep sleep or something else.

About truck tested:

• 2023 hybrid XLT
• Purchased Sept 2023 (~18 months old)
• 5000 miles on truck
• Garaged 100%
• When parked for more than a few days, 12v battery tender used

Parameters for Base case:

My first case I will post is base case; base case is:

• charged via Noco 5 the day prior and driven for a day of errands just before parking, starting voltage 12.56v
• parked in unheated garage, temps 45°-60°
• ALL TELEMATICS OFF on vehicle settings (but fuse still in)
• Wifi Off
• LOCKED, with key in faraday cage pouch inside house
• Voltage loss over 86 hours 12.56 - 12.48 = 0.08v or 0.0009v/hr

Pic 1. Can see truck parked date/time, overall average voltage level maintained of ~12.5v:



----------------------------------

Pic 2. Starting voltage right after parking truck, with truck off/locked was approx 12.55v.




----------------------------------

Pic 3. Approx 7 hours after initially parking, truck internally activated systems which caused a brief voltage drop. Nothing was done to vehicle and key remained inside and untouched. This was a one time event it appears.




----------------------------------

Pic 4. After 3.5 days of sitting, ending voltage was approx 12.48v, a very gradual decline. Also noted, on the evening of the 10th I took the key out of the faraday pouch and walked around the truck with it. I placed it on the drivers side window. No power draw or bootup was noted, so I do not believe the truck detects the key moving or nearby (Lariat may be different due to keyless entry).



----------------------------------

Pic 5. After unlocking and opening doors for several minutes, voltage dropped to approx 12.0v. Recover to 12.48v did occur; it took approximately one hour:



@HeyBales

This data is with telematics ON, used for reporting to Ford servers.

Summary:

Telematics ON certainly has a slight impact to battery life while sitting, however it was far less detrimental that I thought it would be. I don't believe leaving it ON should have a big impact on if vehicle enters deep sleep with a properly charged/healthy battery.

The vehicle "phones home" to Ford servers once a day if not driven. This occurred around 6:30 pm for me and lasted a few minutes.

Of note, accessing Ford Pass during the time while sitting DID NOT pull a battery draw down on the vehicle. Of course, locking/unlocking or starting the vehicle would send signal to the vehicle and would do so.

Parameters for this test:

• charged via Noco 5 the day prior and driven for a day of errands just before parking, starting voltage 12.63v
• parked in unheated garage, temps 45°-60°
• ALL TELEMATICS ON in vehicle settings (with fuse still in)
• Wifi Off
• LOCKED, with key in faraday cage pouch inside house
• 24+Voltage loss over 67 hours 12.63 - 12.47 = 0.16v or 0.0024v/hr

Test #1 is data is with truck unlocked, key inside cab, and telematics OFF. Test #2 is data with everything the same as #1, but telematics fuse #11 pulled as well.

Summary:

Telematics were selected off. Despite this, the vehicle was doing something every day around the same time, similar to with telematics ON. This is confusing. I'm wondering if this voltage drop is something else other than telematics at this point. Overall profile looks similar to when telematics selected ON.

***With the #11 fuse pulled, there was NO telematics comms going on.***

Curiously, voltage actually increased on the last day. This happened immediately after doing a double voltage drop.

Parameters for this test:

• charged via Noco 5 the day prior and driven for a day of errands just before parking, starting voltage 12.63v
• parked in unheated garage, temps 45°-60°
• ALL TELEMATICS OFF in vehicle settings (with fuse still in)
• Wifi Off
• UNLOCKED, with key in cab resting under center console
• Voltage loss over ~4 days 12.63 - 12.42 = 0.21v or 0.0021v/hour
• The bulk of voltage loss occurred on first day. After that, avg voltage loss per day was 0.02v. Minimal.
• Voltage actually increased on the last day slightly.

Test #2 is data is with truck unlocked, key inside cab, and telematics OFF, along with fuse #11 removed from truck.

It appears that with the key in vehicle/truck unlocked, telematics actually remain ON even when selected OFF. I have no idea the logic behind this but when you remove the fuse, it completely cuts all telematics and voltage drop is very minimal.

Parameters for this test:

• charged via Noco 5 the day prior and driven for a day of errands just before parking, starting voltage 12.69v
• parked in unheated garage, temps 45°-60°
• ALL TELEMATICS OFF in vehicle settings, with fuse OUT
• Wifi Off
• UNLOCKED, with key in cab resting under center console
• Voltage loss over ~4 days 12.69 - 12.54 = 0.15v or 0.0015v/hour

[reserved]

This will be telematics ON with vehicle unlocked

[reserved]

Future tests

Very cool.

I wonder about the BMS relearn schedule.

Part of that is measuring a known draw, though manual says other things might be turned off to get that figure right.

But wondering if voltage remains above some minimum, does it log how many days was the last one, and perhaps run another one?
Or it decides I got a figure, I've got Ah draw figured out, I got battery size estimated - I'm good for now until some next event - like a drive & park.

Telematics off, like all the options to share?
I could see the private data to Ford being one of those initial voltage drops soon after parking - but since no change of location, no updates to data.

Perchance any idea what your ATT signal might be in truck's location?
Or since the big 3 seem to usually share cell towers - how is your cell coverage if not ATT?

Thanks for the tracking.
Are you having fun yet, or too much fun?

Now - if you could figure out the infrequent drain scenario described in the SSM, never mind, you don't want that.

HeyBales said:

Very cool.

I wonder about the BMS relearn schedule.

Part of that is measuring a known draw, though manual says other things might be turned off to get that figure right.

But wondering if voltage remains above some minimum, does it log how many days was the last one, and perhaps run another one?
Or it decides I got a figure, I've got Ah draw figured out, I got battery size estimated - I'm good for now until some next event - like a drive & park.

Click to expand...

That one is above my pay grade lol

Telematics off, like all the options to share?
I could see the private data to Ford being one of those initial voltage drops soon after parking - but since no change of location, no updates to data.

Click to expand...

On the connectivity settings on the 22-24 screen, I've selected everything off including the Ford data. I did not pull the fuse, although that would be interesting to try as well.

I also forgot - the last night I took the key out of the faraday pouch and walked around my truck with it. I placed it right by the drivers door. No additional power draw or bootup was made or noted. So, I don't believe having the key in close proximity to the truck (unless possibly the lariat with keyless entry) makes a difference.

Perchance any idea what your ATT signal might be in truck's location?
Or since the big 3 seem to usually share cell towers - how is your cell coverage if not ATT?

Click to expand...

Both AT&T and Verizon coverage is excellent in my garage, so no issues with attempting to connect.

Thanks for the tracking.
Are you having fun yet, or too much fun?

Now - if you could figure out the infrequent drain scenario described in the SSM, never mind, you don't want that.

Click to expand...

More of an interest honestly. I've got an airport car that I use a solar charger with and used the BM2 to see if it was charging the battery (it would with sun visible, but would quickly drop back to baseline voltage and did not increase voltage overnight).



Overall, for $15 I'm going to buy a few more of these and put them on all of my vehicles as it's nice to know where the 12v stands. Early warning of failure is nice. At 1-1.5 mah draw (supposedly) it's minimal. I have it set up to where it will only push data out when I open the app next to the vehicle, so hopefully that cuts down on draw. I would also like to measure the power draw of it someday to confirm its specs.

Ya keyless entry for Lariat should cause some prep action in truck.
Good confirmation the non-keyless is as expected - gotta hit a button to send a signal off the fob.

My ponderings on BMS were merely that, I wouldn't even expect it to be found in a workbook somewhere as it's likely proprietary.
Though Ford could cause some real harm if others got their code and used it!

Look forward to future updates.

With readings now, at what point would you go for the battery tender normal usage?
Starting at 12.56 sure shows your normal process has done wonders.

Hmmmm - how could we get you a big faraday cage to mimic having terrible cell signal in truck for the initial turn-off/park?

[reserved]

HeyBales said:

With readings now, at what point would you go for the battery tender normal usage?
Starting at 12.56 sure shows your normal process has done wonders.

Click to expand...

My general use case right now is I drive it while home and when I leave on 3-4 day trips I plug it in. I was using a Harbor Freight 600 mah $7 special however upgraded to the NOCO 5 over Xmas.

I'm not an expert in lead acid but do understand they like to be charged at 90%+ for best longevity.

Just briefly looking at my overall drive habits day to day, even shorter 10-15 min drives seem to top it off to 12.6v-12.7v and it remains in that 12.5v area after several days. This is of course with telematics off. My next test will be similar conditions as above but adding in telematics.

It's possible by keeping it mostly fully charged half of the time my battery has maintained its health. I also have mostly kept telematics off as I don't have much need for remote start - except the few times I've wanted to use it - it went into deep sleep.

When I put an ammeter with basic data logging, my 22 XLT would draw power for 90 minutes following key off. Then nothing.

I have telematics fuse 11 removed.

HeyBales said:

Very cool.

I wonder about the BMS relearn schedule.

Part of that is measuring a known draw, though manual says other things might be turned off to get that figure right.

But wondering if voltage remains above some minimum, does it log how many days was the last one, and perhaps run another one?
Or it decides I got a figure, I've got Ah draw figured out, I got battery size estimated - I'm good for now until some next event - like a drive & park.

Telematics off, like all the options to share?
I could see the private data to Ford being one of those initial voltage drops soon after parking - but since no change of location, no updates to data.

Perchance any idea what your ATT signal might be in truck's location?
Or since the big 3 seem to usually share cell towers - how is your cell coverage if not ATT?

Thanks for the tracking.
Are you having fun yet, or too much fun?

Now - if you could figure out the infrequent drain scenario described in the SSM, never mind, you don't want that.

Click to expand...

Here is an example of the flooded battery vs an AGM. On 1/27 mid-day, I changed to the AGM battery and reset the BMS per the owners manual. My concern is the constant charging rate of 15.4v which seem high and wonder how that may affect all the 12v battery and other components.

ShadowBlack XL440 said:

Here is an example of the flooded battery vs an AGM. On 1/27 mid-day, I changed to the AGM battery and reset the BMS per the owners manual. My concern is the constant charging rate of 15.4v which seem high and wonder how that may affect all the 12v battery and other components.

Click to expand...

I have noticed the voltage of 15.x for the first hour? Or so. (Not precisely documented). Then, the rest of the time on drives longer than 1 hour it will be 14.5 volts or so.

People are too quick to blame the software or "charging strategy".

It could just be 50,000 poorly made batteries. Aka cheaply made batteries.