Maverick 12v batteries: Stock→AGM→Sodium

[Joaquin F]

I figured I’d share a quick write-up on the batteries I’ve run in my Maverick so far. I’ve now gone through the stock battery, an AGM upgrade, and now a sodium battery, so I thought the comparison might be helpful.

Also this is my first DIY write-up, so if something doesn’t make sense or I missed something please ask.

Stock Battery
The truck originally came with the factory lead-acid battery, which weighed about 26 lbs.

Pretty early on I started having the truck constantly go into deep sleep mode. I’ve personally experienced it and I’ve seen it mentioned across a lot of Mavericks, especially the earlier ones. The truck would get really sensitive to voltage and throw itself into deep sleep.

Because of that I decided to swap it out.

AGM Upgrade
The next step for me was an AGM battery. The main goal was just better reliability and hopefully avoiding the deep sleep issue.

It definitely helped with that. The truck behaved much better after the switch.

The downside though was weight. The AGM I ran weighed about 33.5 lbs, which is quite a bit heavier than the factory battery.

At the same time I’m also running a lot of accessories on the truck, so having a stronger battery was already becoming important. Between that and planning some longer trips that could involve pretty extreme temperatures, I started looking at other battery options.

Trying Sodium (Ohmmu H5)
That’s what led me to try the Ohmmu Sodium H5.

It is a little bigger than the stock battery, but it still fits in the Maverick tray. The only thing I had to do was bend two small tabs on the battery tray. They’re thin and bend easily with pliers. Once those are bent out of the way the battery drops right in and bolts down normally.

I go over exactly where those tabs are in the video for anyone who wants to see it before doing it.

Weight Comparison
Factory lead-acid: ~26 lbs
AGM upgrade: ~33.5 lbs
Ohmmu H5: ~12 lbs

So it’s way lighter than both.

Starting Power
Most lead-acid or AGM batteries in this size range usually land somewhere around 400–900 CCA.

The H5 is rated at 1200+ CCA, so it has quite a bit more starting power.

Discount
I reached out to Ohmmu to see if they’d be open to offering a small discount for the Maverick community, and they were cool enough to set one up.
https://www.ohmmu.com/?ref=MAVTRUCK

Video
I also put together a short video showing the install, the weight comparison, and the tray tabs that need to be bent.

The file was too big to upload here so I put it here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nVa53f5gmxP9XaeA9

And thanks again to everyone supporting the Instagram page(Ford.Maverick.Trucks) — that support is what helps me reach out to companies and get things like these discounts for the community. Video could also be found there!

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[HeyBales]

Since the 1200 CCA is immaterial to the hybrid - what does the RC or Ah happen to be - can't read it from the picture on the battery if stated.

It appears they have some H4 sizes - nice.
They say 900+ CCA, but no RC or Ah listed - and this is on specific EV & Hybrid list where CCA would never matter.
No pictures give those values.

Does it sound like the Na battery has a design that happens to handle standard charging voltages?
Not going to assume that just because it's a car battery, it fits the current charging schemes great. I see no greater than 16V, not a problem there.

Thanks for the info - very beneficial.

 

[Joaquin F]

Good questions.

You’re right that on the Maverick Hybrid the 12V battery isn’t actually cranking the engine. The high-voltage system spins the engine through the motor in the transmission. The 12V battery mostly powers the electronics and helps bring the hybrid system online.

For me the reason I started paying more attention to the 12V system is because I’m running a lot of accessories on the truck — extra lighting, electronics, and other gear for the build. Because of that I wanted something a bit more robust than the stock battery.

From what I understand the sodium battery is designed to behave like a normal 12V starter battery electrically, so it works with standard charging systems. In the Maverick I set the battery profile to AGM at 100%, which is what Ohmmu recommended, and it’s been working fine so far.

And yeah, the higher CCA isn’t really the important part for the hybrid, it’s more just a characteristic of the chemistry. What interested me more was the weight difference and the temperature range compared to typical lead-acid batteries.

I also reached out to the person at Ohmmu who helped set up the discount for the Maverick community to see if they can provide a more official statement on the specs like Ah or reserve capacity, since that’s not clearly listed on the battery itself.

If I hear back from them I’ll update the thread.

 

[Bruce W]

Please give us progress reports as you go. I would like to know how this all turns out for you.

 

[Joaquin F]

Please give us progress reports as you go. I would like to know how this all turns out for you.

Yea totally! I am currently running the ANCEL BM200 battery monitoring system and will update here as we go. If you want to "Watch this thread" or if not I can tag you on future updates!

 

[HeyBales]

So it sounds like for the initial charge up - confirming a fully charged battery is going in prior to BMS Relearn - any charger would just need to be set to AGM mode to correctly handle their recommendation?

Good to know.

 

[710-oil-614]

Wow that price is a non-starter for me with a factory AGM that is working fine. If my AGM fails and they won't replace under warranty then I may consider the upcharge.

I do appreciate the weight savings and am interested in how this works out for you long term.

 

[ScottyC]

Does it have a connection to hook the vent up so that any battery related gases get vented out of the cab and away from the occupants?

 

[Joaquin F]

So it sounds like for the initial charge up - confirming a fully charged battery is going in prior to BMS Relearn - any charger would just need to be set to AGM mode to correctly handle their recommendation?

Good to know.

Yes, that’s basically the idea.

From what Ohmmu told me, the sodium battery behaves electrically like a normal 12V starter battery, so normal charging equipment works fine. They recommended setting the vehicle battery profile to AGM, which is what I did in the Maverick.

The sodium chemistry can also tolerate higher charging voltages than typical lead-acid batteries (even above ~16V), so it isn’t sensitive to normal vehicle charging systems.

For reserve capacity, they told me the H4 is roughly ~100 minutes of usable RC. One thing that’s interesting with sodium is that it can safely discharge much deeper than lead-acid batteries, so that RC number represents actual usable capacity rather than stopping early to prevent damage like most lead-acid batteries do.

 

[Joaquin F]

Wow that price is a non-starter for me with a factory AGM that is working fine. If my AGM fails and they won't replace under warranty then I may consider the upcharge.

I do appreciate the weight savings and am interested in how this works out for you long term.

Totally fair.

If your factory AGM is working well there’s definitely no urgent reason to swap. The main reasons I wanted to try it were:

• Temperature tolerance – sodium batteries handle both hot and cold better than typical lead-acid batteries
• Accessory load – I’m running a lot of electronics on the truck
• Weight –Side benefit

For someone running a mostly stock truck, AGM is still a perfectly good option.

I’m mostly curious to see how it performs long-term, which is why I’m logging everything with the battery monitor.

 

[Joaquin F]

Does it have a connection to hook the vent up so that any battery related gases get vented out of the cab and away from the occupants?

I also had this question but got clarification.

No vent tube is needed.

Traditional lead-acid batteries can produce hydrogen gas when charging, which is why some vehicles have vent tubes. Sodium batteries are sealed and non-gassing, so there aren’t fumes that need to be vented outside the vehicle.

So for my understanding it installs basically like a sealed AGM battery in that sense.

 

[Finnster]

Wow! What an informative Thread. Thank you!
My 26 XL hybrid has had a battery charging rate of 15.3 to 15.4 (supplied) volts since new. I can't imagine that is good for 12V battery, flooded or AGM.

 

[710-oil-614]

Totally fair.

If your factory AGM is working well there’s definitely no urgent reason to swap. The main reasons I wanted to try it were:

• Temperature tolerance – sodium batteries handle both hot and cold better than typical lead-acid batteries
• Accessory load – I’m running a lot of electronics on the truck
• Weight –Side benefit

For someone running a mostly stock truck, AGM is still a perfectly good option.

I’m mostly curious to see how it performs long-term, which is why I’m logging everything with the battery monitor.

The weight is a neat side benefit but in reality doesn’t improve efficiency but does net you 14lbs of additional payload if adhering to the factory ratings.

From what you’ve presented it definitely seems like the superior option to even AGM but with some H5 AGMs around for $150 it’s hard to justify paying for 2.5 batteries to go sodium.

I would maybe feel different if I were in your position with accessories or someone who was plagued by the deep sleep issue - however I’d likely just sell the Mav in that case.

 

[Joaquin F]

Wow! What an informative Thread. Thank you!
My 26 XL hybrid has had a battery charging rate of 15.3 to 15.4 (supplied) volts since new. I can't imagine that is good for 12V battery, flooded or AGM.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

And yeah, 15.3–15.4V looks high if you’re thinking in traditional lead-acid terms, but from what I’ve been told these trucks can run pretty aggressive charging voltages depending on conditions and battery strategy.

That was actually one of the things that made the sodium battery interesting to me, since Ohmmu said it can tolerate voltages above normal 12V charging ranges without issue.

I’m still learning as I go on this too, but I’ll keep posting monitor data as I get more time on it.

 

[Joaquin F]

The weight is a neat side benefit but in reality doesn’t improve efficiency but does net you 14lbs of additional payload if adhering to the factory ratings.

From what you’ve presented it definitely seems like the superior option to even AGM but with some H5 AGMs around for $150 it’s hard to justify paying for 2.5 batteries to go sodium.

I would maybe feel different if I were in your position with accessories or someone who was plagued by the deep sleep issue - however I’d likely just sell the Mav in that case.

Yeah that’s a fair take.

If someone already has a good AGM that’s working fine, I probably wouldn’t rush to swap it either. AGM is still a solid option.

For me it was more a combination of things — I’m running a lot of accessories, I’ve had the deep sleep issue before, and I wanted to try something lighter with better temperature tolerance.

At this point I’m mostly just curious how it performs long term. I’ll keep updating the thread as I get more data from the battery monitor.

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