Hybrid 12V Battery Charging

[NedF]

Since monitoring the 12V battery is hard to do with a plug in 12V adapter I decided to pick up a Bluetooth monitor (BM6). I believe it is still learning (I have only had it 2 days) as the SoC is slowly moving up but the voltage data should be true. You can see my trip to and from work did not net much of a charge, but my two back to back trips to and from the dog park today caused it to almost fully charge?

I have only had one instance of Deep Sleep so far in the 3ish weeks I have had the truck and it worked as it should and started no problem.

Today after the two short trips

This morning before going to the dog park

Yesterday after getting to work

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[Packer Bill]

Seems like your alternator does very little charging...

 

[NedF]

Seems like your alternator does very little charging...

No alternator on a hybrid, the 12V battery is charged by the HV battery via the DC - DC inverter. It looks like there is a lot of charging after parking as well.

 

[SVTRIDE]

Fully charged flooded lead acid or AGM battery is ~12.8vdc. Seems there’s not much charging going on. What is the charge voltage when you’re underway? I see the spikes near 15v, what are you doing with truck during those spike periods?

 

[BlueSpec1]

The "spikes" are the DC-DC's voltage to the battery during normal driving.
The charts compress them to just look like voltage spikes.

Maverick 14.6 during drive

Maverick, Escape AGM battery charts look similar during driving:

 

[The Real Maverick]

So.... this is showing voltage only, correct? It's good for logging when your truck is on and when it isn't.

It would also show if your truck was "waking up" and drawing the voltage down without your knowledge.

But it's not going to show much about charging or state of charge unless you also install an ammeter.

like this:

The battery is crap.
The battery is perhaps sulfated.
OR poorly made.

My hybrid is NOT using much power over-night. 1% or 2% battery capacity.
So I should be able to park it for 50 to 100 days. But it won't hold a charge.
Set in the garage it won't hold a charge.

Ford sold us crap in a box for the 12v anyway. I start to get upset; then remember this is a $20k truck before add-ons. Add-ons that are creature comforts or appearance related and not related to the truck's performance.

We got what we paid for. So I've come to terms with it. Soon I will replace with a new better battery. I'm convinced my truck is fine. 12v battery is crap.

 

[NedF]

That

So.... this is showing voltage only, correct? It's good for logging when your truck is on and when it isn't.

It would also show if your truck was "waking up" and drawing the voltage down without your knowledge.

But it's not going to show much about charging or state of charge unless you also install an ammeter.

like this:

The battery is crap.
The battery is perhaps sulfated.
OR poorly made.

My hybrid is NOT using much power over-night. 1% or 2% battery capacity.
So I should be able to park it for 50 to 100 days. But it won't hold a charge.
Set in the garage it won't hold a charge.

Ford sold us crap in a box for the 12v anyway. I start to get upset; then remember this is a $20k truck before add-ons. Add-ons that are creature comforts or appearance related and not related to the truck's performance.

We got what we paid for. So I've come to terms with it. Soon I will replace with a new better battery. I'm convinced my truck is fine. 12v battery is crap.

The sensor also records SoC and temperature but SoC is not accurate yet as it started from 35% and is up to 72%. I will see where it’s in a few more days. Although I should not have to I am not dead set against purchasing a good battery. I will see how the original holds up and decide if and when it dies.

 

[ychuck46]

We got what we paid for. So I've come to terms with it. Soon I will replace with a new better battery. I'm convinced my truck is fine. 12v battery is crap.

This is been discussed in dozens or hundreds of other forums. The Ford Motorcraft 12V batteries suck, period. After Ford replaced ours 3-4 times at no cost to us I finally gave up with them crapping out and bought a Diehard last year. No problems since, including when it sat in the garage for 3-4 months this winter, and still turned on when we got home. It wouldn't have lasted 3-4 days if that with a Motorcraft battery. So bite the bullet and replace and be done with your problem.

 

[Master Blaster]

So.... this is showing voltage only, correct? It's good for logging when your truck is on and when it isn't.

It would also show if your truck was "waking up" and drawing the voltage down without your knowledge.

But it's not going to show much about charging or state of charge unless you also install an ammeter.

like this:

The battery is crap.
The battery is perhaps sulfated.
OR poorly made.

My hybrid is NOT using much power over-night. 1% or 2% battery capacity.
So I should be able to park it for 50 to 100 days. But it won't hold a charge.
Set in the garage it won't hold a charge.

Ford sold us crap in a box for the 12v anyway. I start to get upset; then remember this is a $20k truck before add-ons. Add-ons that are creature comforts or appearance related and not related to the truck's performance.

We got what we paid for. So I've come to terms with it. Soon I will replace with a new better battery. I'm convinced my truck is fine. 12v battery is crap.

Do you have your keyfob blocked in a Faraday cage or pouch, or a tin cakebox overnight? I've been checking on all the clicking that the hybrid does, and am convinced that a number of fairly power-hungry systems are kept operating because the vehicle can communicate with the key and is anticipating that you are close enough that you will be getting in and starting it soon. I started putting it in a tin box to defeat driveway key cloning thefts, but it has a pretty obvious effect on the clicking from the vehicle.

 

[Oscarcat]

So.... this is showing voltage only, correct? It's good for logging when your truck is on and when it isn't.

It would also show if your truck was "waking up" and drawing the voltage down without your knowledge.

But it's not going to show much about charging or state of charge unless you also install an ammeter.

like this:

The battery is crap.
The battery is perhaps sulfated.
OR poorly made.

My hybrid is NOT using much power over-night. 1% or 2% battery capacity.
So I should be able to park it for 50 to 100 days. But it won't hold a charge.
Set in the garage it won't hold a charge.

Ford sold us crap in a box for the 12v anyway. I start to get upset; then remember this is a $20k truck before add-ons. Add-ons that are creature comforts or appearance related and not related to the truck's performance.

We got what we paid for. So I've come to terms with it. Soon I will replace with a new better battery. I'm convinced my truck is fine. 12v battery is crap.

Good point - it is a budget vehicle produced in the middle of a pandemic when commodities were in short supply and chip manufacturing was limited. That said, when I talk to friends with various vehicles, the number one issue is with electronics and related components. I'm not saying FoMoCo can't do better and should do better given years of experience with hybrids, but it is the current state affairs.

 

[Stradbash]

No alternator and no starter…, this vehicle is going to hurt my head and drag me into the 21st century!

 

[TheSEARCH]

I had to charge my 12 v once this past winter. Once done no issue of deep sleep after that. In winter i do more short trips . Eventully I will replace the OEM battery. By then I hope at least 3 years I hope they list AGM batteries for the Mav. Now you still get regular lead acid battery. I assume AGM would be better?

I have seen some figure out by looking at size which AGM will fit but would prefer when I look up the Mav battery its listed which AGM is right to fit.

 

[Rlward]

Since monitoring the 12V battery is hard to do with a plug in 12V adapter I decided to pick up a Bluetooth monitor (BM6). I believe it is still learning (I have only had it 2 days) as the SoC is slowly moving up but the voltage data should be true. You can see my trip to and from work did not net much of a charge, but my two back to back trips to and from the dog park today caused it to almost fully charge?

I have only had one instance of Deep Sleep so far in the 3ish weeks I have had the truck and it worked as it should and started no problem.

Today after the two short trips

This morning before going to the dog park

Yesterday after getting to work

I am getting about the same values for voltage with my monitor. Original stock battery. Holding off on a Diehard H5 AGM battery until after the next update.

 

[bajesus8]

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8878472

Here is the AGM replacement. Havent bought it but have the page bookmarked for when its needed.

 

[MaverickMark]

I get the deep sleep message almost every day for almost a yr. It starts every time so far.

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