Low battery warning message received in app!

[SafetyGuy]

Good day @agmonaco and @Darthie

It is the end of the month so it is time for me to hook up my agm battery charger in order to recondition my truck 12 volt battery (in case the Mav's charging programming isn't perfect...'nuff said right there as to reason).

So I decided I would hook my charger to the posts under the hood, take some pics and include them here (to help you (and anyone else) out in knowing how to monitor your battery charge status and improve you battery health and possibly, it's performance as well as its longevity).

I have a simple 12 volt indicator plugged into my trucks cigarette lighter port/12 volt power port. If power is on in the truck, I can see what the battery is being charged to when ever we are driving. (Bought off Amazon.ca)

It will also give you your battery charge level after you turn off the trucks ignition for about 90 minutes (as per reported in this forum).

1st photo shows what the 12 volt power level is when the ignition is turned on and charging from your hi voltage Drive Battery.

2nd image shows the battery voltage just after turning off trucks ignition switch. Power is still on and only shows your 12 volt battery charge level (also keep in mind that this indication is usually about 0.2 volts low due to line resistance) now that the hi voltage battery is disconnected.

3rd image is showing where the remote battery access terminals are for charging. The red post is easily seen once the red cap is flipped off and for the ground post, just look for a grey coloured post attached to the side where the black clip is located.

4th is just a close up of my not very expensive battery charger from Canadian Tire. It is set to 7 amps and to AGM battery.

5th image just shows me peeking through the driver window to check what the charge level is now that my charger is connected and charging. It is at an appropriate charge level for AGM. Only can be seen for the 90 minutes mentioned earlier.

I will charge all of today, and will go out and open a door once or twice, just to cycle the charger. Then this evening I will disconnect the charger and lock the truck up for the night (9 or 10 hours) for a battery relearn.

I hope this helps,

Andy

Sponsored

 

[Darthie]

Good day @agmonaco and @Darthie

It is the end of the month so it is time for me to hook up my agm battery charger in order to recondition my truck 12 volt battery (in case the Mav's charging programming isn't perfect...'nuff said right there as to reason).

So I decided I would hook my charger to the posts under the hood, take some pics and include them here (to help you (and anyone else) out in knowing how to monitor your battery charge status and improve you battery health and possibly, it's performance as well as its longevity).

I have a simple 12 volt indicator plugged into my trucks cigarette lighter port/12 volt power port. If power is on in the truck, I can see what the battery is being charged to when ever we are driving. (Bought off Amazon.ca)

It will also give you your battery charge level after you turn off the trucks ignition for about 90 minutes (as per reported in this forum).

1st photo shows what the 12 volt power level is when the ignition is turned on and charging from your hi voltage Drive Battery.

2nd image shows the battery voltage just after turning off trucks ignition switch. Power is still on and only shows your 12 volt battery charge level (also keep in mind that this indication is usually about 0.2 volts low due to line resistance) now that the hi voltage battery is disconnected.

3rd image is showing where the remote battery access terminals are for charging. The red post is easily seen once the red cap is flipped off and for the ground post, just look for a grey coloured post attached to the side where the black clip is located.

4th is just a close up of my not very expensive battery charger from Canadian Tire. It is set to 7 amps and to AGM battery.

5th image just shows me peeking through the driver window to check what the charge level is now that my charger is connected and charging. It is at an appropriate charge level for AGM. Only can be seen for the 90 minutes mentioned earlier.

I will charge all of today, and will go out and open a door once or twice, just to cycle the charger. Then this evening I will disconnect the charger and lock the truck up for the night (9 or 10 hours) for a battery relearn.

I hope this helps,

Andy

Thank you! How does this reset the battery and how often is this needed? I’d have to have a pretty long extension cord to achieve this as well.

 

[SafetyGuy]

Thank you! How does this reset the battery and how often is this needed? I’d have to have a pretty long extension cord to achieve this as well.

What this procedure does is charge each battery to its best possible charge state, and then when you shut the truck up and lock it and then leave it for 10 hours, the truck will now recognize the new charge level and should try to now charge it to that new level...if a battery is toast, its toast. It won't fix sudden overnight parasitic drain or other issues like that.

It just charges your 12 volt battery and then gives the truck a chance to adjust its charge points.

I do it every month about this time when it is convenient, you could goc2 months and watch the 12 volt indicator to see when the battery might start to sag/drop and do it then.

Andy

 

[Darthie]

What this procedure does is charge each battery to its best possible charge state, and then when you shut the truck up and lock it and then leave it for 10 hours, the truck will now recognize the new charge level and should try to now charge it to that new level...if a battery is toast, its toast. It won't fix sudden overnight parasitic drain or other issues like that.

It just charges your 12 volt battery and then gives the truck a chance to adjust its charge points.

I do it every month about this time when it is convenient, you could goc2 months and watch the 12 volt indicator to see when the battery might start to sag/drop and do it then.

Andy

Worth trying. Thanks for the post.

 

[agmonaco]

Good day @agmonaco and @Darthie

It is the end of the month so it is time for me to hook up my agm battery charger in order to recondition my truck 12 volt battery (in case the Mav's charging programming isn't perfect...'nuff said right there as to reason).

So I decided I would hook my charger to the posts under the hood, take some pics and include them here (to help you (and anyone else) out in knowing how to monitor your battery charge status and improve you battery health and possibly, it's performance as well as its longevity).

I have a simple 12 volt indicator plugged into my trucks cigarette lighter port/12 volt power port. If power is on in the truck, I can see what the battery is being charged to when ever we are driving. (Bought off Amazon.ca)

It will also give you your battery charge level after you turn off the trucks ignition for about 90 minutes (as per reported in this forum).

1st photo shows what the 12 volt power level is when the ignition is turned on and charging from your hi voltage Drive Battery.

2nd image shows the battery voltage just after turning off trucks ignition switch. Power is still on and only shows your 12 volt battery charge level (also keep in mind that this indication is usually about 0.2 volts low due to line resistance) now that the hi voltage battery is disconnected.

3rd image is showing where the remote battery access terminals are for charging. The red post is easily seen once the red cap is flipped off and for the ground post, just look for a grey coloured post attached to the side where the black clip is located.

4th is just a close up of my not very expensive battery charger from Canadian Tire. It is set to 7 amps and to AGM battery.

5th image just shows me peeking through the driver window to check what the charge level is now that my charger is connected and charging. It is at an appropriate charge level for AGM. Only can be seen for the 90 minutes mentioned earlier.

I will charge all of today, and will go out and open a door once or twice, just to cycle the charger. Then this evening I will disconnect the charger and lock the truck up for the night (9 or 10 hours) for a battery relearn.

I hope this helps,

Andy

Thank you!

 

[Wilklersticks]

Good day

This is in addition to all the good info @HeyBales already passed on.

If you do a Battery relearn procedure, you first need to get a smart battery charger that provides at least 4-5 amps (as well as a decent multimeter to do all your testing) that can charge whatever battery you have installed in your truck (probably a wet cell, if I am guessing) to it's maximum capability.

So this is what I do every month or two.
-I have a garage, so I park inside and pop the hood. -We have battery attachment points in our engine bays, so I use them. Much easier access but you can certainly access the battery under the seat if you wish.
-I charge the battery till it is fully charged. Charge time varies according to the batteries discharge level and also it's health...(a good smart charger can possibly recondition/put some life back into it but they aren't miracle workers.)
-once the battery is confirmed to be good and fully charged (and after making sure all electrical loads are removed, such as dash cam, digital readout, or USB flashlights for example), disconnect the charger, close the engine bonnet, make sure all doors are closed as well and then lock up the truck and leave it for 9 or 10 hours.

Keep all your keys/truck fobs stored away from the truck and don't touch them, (and don't go back in the truck...if you do then you need to restart the process).

This is where you now leave the truck completely alone...for 9 or 10 hours.

This time is required for the truck to relearn what a fully charged battery looks like and so that it will charge it to this new level from this point forward.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't once you do it once or twice.

Depending on your battery health a new battery may be required. I would suggest an H4 AGM battery which is what your trucks charging system thinks it has.

Good luck,

Andy

Just finding this and even though I'm a 2025 with a theoretically new/better battery, I'm having these problems and the dealer is giving me the standard "your battery's fine" runaround even though my truck goes to sleep basically any time it's under 40 degrees.

So I might as well try this ... would a 4amp harbor freight trickle charger do the job?

 

[HeyBales]

Just finding this and even though I'm a 2025 with a theoretically new/better battery, I'm having these problems and the dealer is giving me the standard "your battery's fine" runaround even though my truck goes to sleep basically any time it's under 40 degrees.

So I might as well try this ... would a 4amp harbor freight trickle charger do the job?

As long as it's got AGM setting, and says it backs off to smaller float charge eventually as battery nears full.

Your truck goes to "sleep" after 60 min every time you shut it down. Per design. Open/close a door, it goes to sleep again much sooner.
So wrong term to use to get their attention.

The Fordapp stopped calling out Deep Sleep Mode awhile back it seems, just calls it battery saver. Same term the manual uses.

So what are you talking about when you say "sleep"?
How often and how long do you drive?

And ya - battery has to be in pretty bad state for a warranty replacement - so get a jump pack which you'll find useful besides your truck - and don't waste your time at dealer, until it's bad enough to get a replacement.

ETA- unless dealer has free coffee & donuts and great ones.

 

[Wilklersticks]

As long as it's got AGM setting, and says it backs off to smaller float charge eventually as battery nears full.

Your truck goes to "sleep" after 60 min every time you shut it down. Per design. Open/close a door, it goes to sleep again much sooner.
So wrong term to use to get their attention.

The Fordapp stopped calling out Deep Sleep Mode awhile back it seems, just calls it battery saver. Same term the manual uses.

So what are you talking about when you say "sleep"?

My Ford app for sure is still calling it deep sleep mode. This is the message as of 8:26 AM this morning.

"Remote features disabled to preserve battery" "... has entered Deep Sleep mode to conserve battery energy."

How often and how long do you drive?

It's pretty random, as I work from home, but they "confirmed my battery was fine" during a recent recall/what's wrong with my battery visit and then the following weekend, I drove 4 hours round trip over 36 hours and it did the deep sleep thing two days after. Additionally, I drove 30 minutes, maybe 10-15 miles yesterday and it still threw this out this morning.

And ya - battery has to be in pretty bad state for a warranty replacement - so get a jump pack which you'll find useful besides your truck - and don't waste your time at dealer, until it's bad enough to get a replacement.

ETA- unless dealer has free coffee & donuts and great ones.

I have my truck connected to my smart home to get all kinds of things reported via the Ford app, so I can see battery levels. It seems like it's charging back up when I drive, but there's either a parasitic draw, the battery isn't reporting correctly, or it doesn't hold the charge well.

The only aftermarket item I have currently installed is a dash cam that's hardwired, but the power behavior seems like you'd expect (on when turned on, shuts off when the truck turns off) and I don't use parking mode. Additionally, once I started having these problems, I'd routinely unplug the power manually and my battery still seemed like it was being weird.

During the winter, this would happen multiple times a week. It's better as things warm up, but the moment it gets cold (it was 40 last night), it shits the bed.

 

[Tim's23Mav]

Andy.. Thank you and

What is a AGM battery. Sorry if this is incorrect way to ask

 

[SafetyGuy]

What is a AGM battery. Sorry if this is incorrect way to ask

Good day @Tim's23Mav

Batteries have different construction methods and need different levels of charging to charge properly/not get damaged by over charging.

AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat, uses fiberglass inside.

FLA means Flooded Lead Acid, or the car batteries old normal construction. Uses a acid bath around the lead plates. Needs checking and topping up with fluids on occasion.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[HeyBales]

My Ford app for sure is still calling it deep sleep mode. This is the message as of 8:26 AM this morning.

"Remote features disabled to preserve battery" "... has entered Deep Sleep mode to conserve battery energy."



It's pretty random, as I work from home, but they "confirmed my battery was fine" during a recent recall/what's wrong with my battery visit and then the following weekend, I drove 4 hours round trip over 36 hours and it did the deep sleep thing two days after. Additionally, I drove 30 minutes, maybe 10-15 miles yesterday and it still threw this out this morning.


I have my truck connected to my smart home to get all kinds of things reported via the Ford app, so I can see battery levels. It seems like it's charging back up when I drive, but there's either a parasitic draw, the battery isn't reporting correctly, or it doesn't hold the charge well.

The only aftermarket item I have currently installed is a dash cam that's hardwired, but the power behavior seems like you'd expect (on when turned on, shuts off when the truck turns off) and I don't use parking mode. Additionally, once I started having these problems, I'd routinely unplug the power manually and my battery still seemed like it was being weird.

During the winter, this would happen multiple times a week. It's better as things warm up, but the moment it gets cold (it was 40 last night), it shits the bed.

You'll get an app update eventually, it'll say battery saving, remote features, and leave it at that. Well, drive more too.

Does the truck get locked for at least 9 hrs on a regular basis?

System doesn't do a BMS Relearn like every single night when locked, so the timing of that trip with likely full charge, and that night happened to be the BMS relearn, may not have matched up.
So it may not have known it was fully charged, used current SOC%, and system told Ford to tell app modem turning off.
But if rarely locked - never getting a SOC% update.

SOC% is one reason for DSM, that's a calculated value from Relearn info and sensor readings, Battery age, I'm convinced internal resistance like any battery tester can get, ect.
So it actually may have overcharged 1 cell that was the worst of the 6, from a long trip charge.
That's when my OEM 12VB bit the dust fast - 4 days of extended driving, no cold involved.
Pretty sure I was already down 1 cell, killed a 2nd.
Lasted 15 months. SLA, not AGM like yours.

It being worse in the cold seems to indicate yours is probably on the line of decent/problem battery. Only 1 direction to go of course.

You may have a parasitic drain that happened to strike the night before the problem morning - but probably the regular undercharged nature of the system, and timing, and age.
There's the regular expected micro-drain during sleep mode, 25-50 mA, but the drain during the going-to-sleep max 60 min could be excessive. Service manual has no comments on what's expected then as modules turn off.

You have a BT voltage reader on the battery, since you mentioned getting readings?

Since my last long trip with full charge end of Oct, Nov till now has been in battery saver max mode for lights/power ports - but no DSM.

 

[HeyBales]

Good day @Tim's23Mav

Batteries have different construction methods and need different levels of charging to charge properly/not get damaged by over charging.

AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat, uses fiberglass inside.

FLA means Flooded Lead Acid, or the car batteries old normal construction. Uses a acid bath around the lead plates. Needs checking and topping up with fluids on occasion.

Cheers,

Andy

And I know we are incorrect using FLA for Maverick, should be SLA, SealedLA.
Probably few vehicles still really use FLA. Just bad habit.

What is a AGM battery. Sorry if this is incorrect way to ask

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-201a-absorbent-glass-mat-agm/

 

[SafetyGuy]

My Ford app for sure is still calling it deep sleep mode. This is the message as of 8:26 AM this morning.

"Remote features disabled to preserve battery" "... has entered Deep Sleep mode to conserve battery energy."



It's pretty random, as I work from home, but they "confirmed my battery was fine" during a recent recall/what's wrong with my battery visit and then the following weekend, I drove 4 hours round trip over 36 hours and it did the deep sleep thing two days after. Additionally, I drove 30 minutes, maybe 10-15 miles yesterday and it still threw this out this morning.


I have my truck connected to my smart home to get all kinds of things reported via the Ford app, so I can see battery levels. It seems like it's charging back up when I drive, but there's either a parasitic draw, the battery isn't reporting correctly, or it doesn't hold the charge well.

The only aftermarket item I have currently installed is a dash cam that's hardwired, but the power behavior seems like you'd expect (on when turned on, shuts off when the truck turns off) and I don't use parking mode. Additionally, once I started having these problems, I'd routinely unplug the power manually and my battery still seemed like it was being weird.

During the winter, this would happen multiple times a week. It's better as things warm up, but the moment it gets cold (it was 40 last night), it shits the bed.

Good day @Wilklersticks

It seems you have something going on with your battery other then not just being undercharged.

As @HeyBales said, your charger is probably good to go if it AGM compatible.

I would suggest that you should carry out a thorough battery recharge over several days (as it sounds like your battery is quite troubled) at your convenience.

I usually recommend a newer smart charger of a minimum of 4-5 amps as it takes decent amps to try to recondition a battery. And a smart charger will taper the charge on your AGM at the appropriate times.

When I say really charge the battery, I mean hook it up as long as you can and check it...if it says it is full then turn on the truck power, open a door, turn on the headlights for example for a few seconds, to start the battery chargers charge cycle again.

Once you are happy and the battery is again fully charged, close up the truck, disconnect the charger and lock the truck for 9-10 hours for the truck to do its relearn process.

This ONLY tries to help your battery be the best battery it can be.

If you are having sudden overnight battery going dead then that is a different issue, and you will need to let your dealer know you are having overnight battery going flat...there are many threads here that go over other peoples experiences with this problem.

When you tell them of the sudden drain of your battery, many here have had resolution when the dealer has updated various modules such as the air conditioning module (ACM).

If you search out @Darryl posta and go rhrough them, he has contributed enormously with information regarding this problem (and many others). He is a Ford Tech in Florida, I believe.

Again, what I suggest to do is to just help keep our batteries at their best while sudden battery drains are another problem entirely.

I am between Dr appointments so this is all I have time to respond right now.

I hope this helps and if you have other questions we are here to try and help you out.

Have a good one,

Andy

 

[Wilklersticks]

You'll get an app update eventually, it'll say battery saving, remote features, and leave it at that. Well, drive more too.

Does the truck get locked for at least 9 hrs on a regular basis?

For sure. I lock it religiously when not driving and it routinely sits at least over night locked, if not for a few days (since I work from home).

System doesn't do a BMS Relearn like every single night when locked, so the timing of that trip with likely full charge, and that night happened to be the BMS relearn, may not have matched up.
So it may not have known it was fully charged, used current SOC%, and system told Ford to tell app modem turning off.
But if rarely locked - never getting a SOC% update.

SOC% is one reason for DSM, that's a calculated value from Relearn info and sensor readings, Battery age, I'm convinced internal resistance like any battery tester can get, ect.
So it actually may have overcharged 1 cell that was the worst of the 6, from a long trip charge.
That's when my OEM 12VB bit the dust fast - 4 days of extended driving, no cold involved.
Pretty sure I was already down 1 cell, killed a 2nd.
Lasted 15 months. FLA, not AGM like yours.

It being worse in the cold seems to indicate yours is probably on the line of decent/problem battery. Only 1 direction to go of course.

You may have a parasitic drain that happened to strike the night before the problem morning - but probably the regular undercharged nature of the system, and timing, and age.
There's the regular expected micro-drain during sleep mode, 25-50 mA, but the drain during the going-to-sleep max 60 min could be excessive. Service manual has no comments on what's expected then as modules turn off.

You have a BT voltage reader on the battery, since you mentioned getting readings?

The battery typically lives between 40-60% regardless of my driving habits. However, it bottomed out in the 30s regularly during the DSM moments. I recently had it checked, like mentioned, and when it came back from the dealer, it was 95% (I assume while they were doing over night testing), down to 75% by the time they returned the vehicle, and back to living in the 50s within 2 more days.

The numbers are reported in percent, though, so I can't see the voltages unless I'm in the vehicle with a voltage meter plugged into the cigarette lighter. It's at 15v while running and dips into the 12s when not, typically around 12.5 that I've seen, but I hadn't sat there and stared before.

Since my last long trip with full charge end of Oct, Nov till now has been in battery saver max mode for lights/power ports - but no DSM.

 

[Tim's23Mav]

Good day @Tim's23Mav

Batteries have different construction methods and need different levels of charging to charge properly/not get damaged by over charging.

AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat, uses fiberglass inside.

FLA means Flooded Lead Acid, or the car batteries old normal construction. Uses a acid bath around the lead plates. Needs checking and topping up with fluids on occasion.

Cheers,

Andy

Thanks

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