LiFePo4 battery installed in my Hybrid Maverick

[acelee1895]

Well folks, I did it. I replaced my (edited) Lead acid battery with a LiFePo4 battery. I haven’t see any posts of anyone else doing it but if you know any, I would love to read them and see what they found. I’m not going to tell you how to do it because I’m not convinced it won’t break something yet but I can share what I’ve found so far. All of this is based on my 2023 Hybrid (edited) lariat with copilot 360.

I built and put in a 72 AH battery. I have a Bluetooth BMS attached to it so I can see a lot of stats with the main ones being power draw and amperage for charging.

Good news is that the truck seems to mostly be plug and play with it. Started right up and charges it with no issues so far. Bad news is that I still have the stupid deep sleep issue even though when I woke up this morning, battery was at 50% I think around 13 volts.

The dc-dc converter has dumped a max of 170 amps into the battery but it normally charges at a 120-130 amp level until it starts to fill up. So anyone who’s thinking of high amp draw accessories (winch or ac converter), unless you upgrade the battery, you should be good up to 120 amps continuous. Normal power draw while driving sits at about 20-40 amps dependent on what’s running for accessories.

Temperature seems to be a little bit of a concern, my batteries are good up to 45*C and we are getting up to the high 30’s low 40’s sometimes. I think using a bigger cell would help dissipate some of that heat.

Another thing is that it seems to like to charge the battery to between 50-55% until it randomly decides to charge full. I haven’t figured out if this is something with the batteries bms or the trucks yet

I’ll post a couple screenshots from my bms screen and if you have any questions or anything you would like me to check, let me know and I’ll try it out.

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[bgn]

There might be changes needed on the BMS side to tell it that it's not the same chemistry as OEM. Not sure.

Very cool. Thank you for sharing.

 

[acelee1895]

There might be changes needed on the BMS side to tell it that it's not the same chemistry as OEM. Not sure.

Very cool. Thank you for sharing.

There probably are but I haven’t gotten into that just yet. That’s why I put a bms on the battery I built to make sure everything stays in safe ranges for the battery. Almost as a double safety net

 

[RonFLA]

So stupid question: How are you throttling the Mavericks lead-acid charger profile to accommodate the lithium-ion chemistry pack? I understand you have a BMS on your battery to deal with each cell, but I don’t see the BMS lasting long, taking a lead-acid charge input. Are you rectifying it with a buck-converter to limit the charger amperage? That may be why your cells are getting rather toasty.

 

[BradnChristine]

Why?
I have had all types of 12V batteries over the years...FLA, AGM, GEL, and LiFePo. Each has had its place and purpose, and I love the way my 200AH of LiFePo behaves in my RV, but I don't understand why they would be an improvement over AGM in a starter battery role?

I don't like the standing voltage of my OEM battery, but the instant I start my truck, the 12V is being charged at 14.5v, as indicated on my plug-in gauge, thanks to the HV battery. I haven't had the deep sleep issue after I started driving it at least twice a week, but while I confess to worrying a bit about my OEM battery, LiFePo wouldn't seem to be the answer to me.

Don't take this as accostive...I'm no battery expert, but I really don't understand the choice/thinking here.

 

[acelee1895]

So stupid question: How are you throttling the Mavericks lead-acid charger profile to accommodate the lithium-ion chemistry pack? I understand you have a BMS on your battery to deal with each cell, but I don’t see the BMS lasting long, taking a lead-acid charge input. Are you rectifying it with a buck-converter to limit the charger amperage? That may be why your cells are getting rather toasty.

The answer is to use a higher amp rated BMS. After what I have learned, I recommend at least 200 amp continuous charge current and cells that can also do 200 continuous. Nothing I couldn’t find exactly how many amps were going into the battery while it’s charging. So I started with a simple one and I plan to upgrade to a higher quality one now that I know what the limits are. I’m keeping a very close eye on it during charging have have temperature cutoff so if anything gets near the limit, it kills charging. Another heat issue is that the cubby that the battery is in is warm to the touch anyway, I presume due to exhaust heat

 

[acelee1895]

Why?
I have had all types of 12V batteries over the years...FLA, AGM, GEL, and LiFePo. Each has had its place and purpose, and I love the way my 200AH of LiFePo behaves in my RV, but I don't understand why they would be an improvement over AGM in a starter battery role?

I don't like the standing voltage of my OEM battery, but the instant I start my truck, the 12V is being charged at 14.5v, as indicated on my plug-in gauge, thanks to the HV battery. I haven't had the deep sleep issue after I started driving it at least twice a week, but while I confess to worrying a bit about my OEM battery, LiFePo wouldn't seem to be the answer to me.

Don't take this as accostive...I'm no battery expert, but I really don't understand the choice/thinking here.

No worries, no accosting taken. My answer is because why not. The battery in the hybrid isn’t a “starting” battery in the traditional sense of high amp output to start the engine. I have only seen a max draw of 50 ish amps. I wanted to know what they dc-dc converter is capable of and this tells me more than an Agm battery could. I can also cycle this significantly more than an Agm with longer life cycle. It has a higher capacity in a smaller footprint so if I want to attach more 12v appliances, it would handle it better. It is also about half the weight.

Now all of that means nothing because this isn’t something everyone should do. In fact almost no one should do it unless they want to which is why I did. That is why I didn’t write it up as a how to, more as an information guide for anyone who wants to know more about their trucks. Unfortunately manufacturers don’t make this information readily available to us so it’s up to some people to test and find out then open source that information to others.

 

[Johnkn]

Well folks, I did it. I replaced my AGM battery with a LiFePo4 battery. I haven’t see any posts of anyone else doing it but if you know any, I would love to read them and see what they found. I’m not going to tell you how to do it because I’m not convinced it won’t break something yet but I can share what I’ve found so far. All of this is based on my 2023 Hybrid Titanium with copilot 360.

The stock Maverick Hybrid +12vdc battery is not an AGM battery, it's a standard flooded battery.


And "2023 Hybrid Titanium with copilot 360" what? Ford does not offer a Titanium model Maverick.
.

.

 

[RonFLA]

My concern is that this appears to not have solved your problem of your Maverick slipping into deep-sleep mode. Have you had your vehicle inspected/repaired for the battery cable crimp issue? If your driving it fairly frequently, you shouldn’t have to be coming up with a nuclear option, like completely ditching the factory battery, in favor for a very expensive DYI option.

It’s a commendable endeavor, as the accessory battery on hybrids and EV’s often don’t last long. Maybe having a lithium-Ion chemistry will give you a wider operating voltage and be more resilient to those conditions. I would advise a fire resistant container for your battery.

I’ll be watching this thread to see how you progress and hopefully, we can get a price breakdown on what you spent to accomplish this project. Good luck!

 

[acelee1895]

The stock Maverick Hybrid battery is not an AGM battery, it's a standard flooded battery.

.

youre absolutely correct. my bad. not sure why i thought it was agm

 

[acelee1895]

My concern is that this appears to not have solved your problem of your Maverick slipping into deep-sleep mode. Have you had your vehicle inspected/repaired for the battery cable crimp issue? If your driving it fairly frequently, you shouldn’t have to be coming up with a nuclear option, like completely ditching the factory battery, in favor for a very expensive DYI option.

It’s a commendable endeavor, as the accessory battery on hybrids and EV’s often don’t last long. Maybe having a Lithium-Ion chemistry will give you a wider operating voltage and be more resilient to those conditions.

I’ll be watching this thread to see how you progress and hopefully, we can get a price breakdown on what you spent to accomplish this project. Good luck!

I haven't had it inspected and I do drive it every day with plenty of time to charge the battery. This wasn't necessarily to solve that, though if it did, cool. more so just for the information and fun. Lithium ion is a good choice but lithium iron is typically regarded as safer and when I'm fudging around with potentially dangerous stuff, I would rather as safe as possible dangerous stuff. If that makes sense

 

[acelee1895]

The stock Maverick Hybrid +12vdc battery is not an AGM battery, it's a standard flooded battery.


And "2023 Hybrid Titanium with copilot 360" what? Ford does not offer a Titanium model Maverick.
.

.

also that, titanium was my fusion. this one is a lariat. You have a great eye for detail

 

[Grumpa]

Well folks, I did it. I replaced my (edited) Lead acid battery with a LiFePo4 battery. I haven’t see any posts of anyone else doing it but if you know any, I would love to read them and see what they found. I’m not going to tell you how to do it because I’m not convinced it won’t break something yet but I can share what I’ve found so far. All of this is based on my 2023 Hybrid (edited) lariat with copilot 360.

I built and put in a 72 AH battery. I have a Bluetooth BMS attached to it so I can see a lot of stats with the main ones being power draw and amperage for charging.

Good news is that the truck seems to mostly be plug and play with it. Started right up and charges it with no issues so far. Bad news is that I still have the stupid deep sleep issue even though when I woke up this morning, battery was at 50% I think around 13 volts.

The dc-dc converter has dumped a max of 170 amps into the battery but it normally charges at a 120-130 amp level until it starts to fill up. So anyone who’s thinking of high amp draw accessories (winch or ac converter), unless you upgrade the battery, you should be good up to 120 amps continuous. Normal power draw while driving sits at about 20-40 amps dependent on what’s running for accessories.

Temperature seems to be a little bit of a concern, my batteries are good up to 45*C and we are getting up to the high 30’s low 40’s sometimes. I think using a bigger cell would help dissipate some of that heat.

Another thing is that it seems to like to charge the battery to between 50-55% until it randomly decides to charge full. I haven’t figured out if this is something with the batteries bms or the trucks yet

I’ll post a couple screenshots from my bms screen and if you have any questions or anything you would like me to check, let me know and I’ll try it out.

Question! I am mechanically declined. Whatever you did, will this void your warranty?

 

[acelee1895]

Question! I am mechanically declined. Whatever you did, will this void your warranty?

ummm they have to prove it caused a problem. but the definitely will fight it if i bring it in

 

[RonFLA]

I haven't had it inspected and I do drive it every day with plenty of time to charge the battery.

Umm, I would slap the factory battery in it and take it in to have it warranty inspected and repaired. That is not normal, if you are frequently driving it.

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