Engine Battery

[Gros Ventre]

I have followed the travails of the OEM battery and discussions of whether to install a larger battery. I recently installed some gauges on my truck. They required me to install a diode type lighting system. I put in a low wattage diode variable lighting dimmer (pulse width modulating). The easiest way to power it was from an always on source. This meant that I had to remember to turn it off when I shutdown my truck. As it has happened, I have forgotten turn it off maybe a dozen times now. So it has remained on over night and into the next day. I've never had any indication of a battery problem on my truck. I had replaced the OEM battery at four months while on the road for Thanksgiving with a stock, off the shelf, drop in NAPA battery. This was because of some weird warnings. I've had zero problems, warnings, etc now thru three Wyoming winters (eg -20º to as low as -40ºF). I've long thought that the OEM batteries are the problem people see, not the programming of the truck. On reflection I have concluded the whatever warnings or problems one sees, the OEM battery is the single, most likely cause.

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[Jmitchelltfo]

If either of my batteries ever gives me a problem I will probably go with a Napa under the hood and one of these under the rear seat.

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[FaaWrenchBndr]

If either of my batteries ever gives me a problem I will probably go with a Napa under the hood and one of these under the rear seat.

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Be sure and check the dimensions of that battery for the auxiliary position. I don’t think it’s gonna fit.

 

[sPHYNX_76]

My electrical gremlins went away the day I changed my new stock battery to an H8 (5.0 coyote)

Stock battery struggles to maintain overnight charge.

 

[PaulGrun]

In engineering one of the most difficult problems to diagnose and solve is a so-called double fault - that’s where two things may have gone wrong usually related, but you don’t know that.. You chase and chase and chase a bug trying to root cause it; you think you’ve got it nailed, but dang if it isn’t still there, but maybe with slightly different characteristics. Back to square one you go.
It’s maddening. And even worse for Ford engineers trying to debug a raft of electrical gremlins based on statistical data being sent back to the factory and all lumped together as “electrical system malfunctions”. Finding the common denominator among all those statistics is amazingly hard.
I suspect that the early F150 electrical bugs were a double fault - a good helping of bad batteries explained /some/ of the problems, combined with an overly passive battery management strategy.
That led us out here in consumer land to behave oddly. Some folks advocated replacing the battery at the first sign of trouble as a sure fire fix for whatever ails ya, and others saying “drive it more” or recommending a battery maintainer while others thought (correctly in my view) that you shouldn’t have to baby a brand new truck in this day and age.
Even the dealerships were baffled, offering a wide array of solutions, folklore, and wisdom.
Anyway, after Ford released the update to the charging strategy, and after a goodly number of batteries had been replaced, the wave of complaints seems to have dissipated significantly (but not completely).

 

[Gros Ventre]

I followed the battery travails after I had some indications of same and because I was out on the road just dropped in a catalog battery. It took me about year and a half before I concluded the central issue was the Ford OEM battery. After I installed a dashboard voltmeter, the charging strategy seemed fine even if you don't like 12.8VDC as the programmed full charge voltage (as opposed to 13.2VDC). The proof is in the pudding so to speak and since all of my gremlins disappeared with the replacement battery, it was clear that the battery was the only issue in my case. As to your thinking, I got it, reminds me of what I call Chasing Grounds on a ship. I take your point about expecting Ford to make good on their battery, the problem was they ran testing on my OEM battery saying it was fine. Well it wasn't, there was still something wrong with it and the replacement battery fixed that. Along the way I didn't have to go back to my dealer repeatedly at the cost of a one time replacement battery. Your point about engineering is on the money. I used the knowledge and skills from a career in Nuclear Navy Propulsion Plants where I "chased my share of grounds."

 

[Gros Ventre]

With regard to "chasing grounds" on a ship... Standard Navy practice in new construction is to have all cable runs include a 10% number of wires in a run that are "spares." In other words when you have a wire problem you don't have to figure out how install a new wire in a run that may span several compartments and watertight bulkheads. You can just select one of the spare wires and cut it into the circuit where needed. Of course the Navy does that as a means of getting ships out to a lifetime of 40-60 years. Ford does not build to that kind of horizon...

 

[snapper9601]

In engineering one of the most difficult problems to diagnose and solve is a so-called double fault - that’s where two things may have gone wrong usually related, but you don’t know that.. You chase and chase and chase a bug trying to root cause it; you think you’ve got it nailed, but dang if it isn’t still there, but maybe with slightly different characteristics. Back to square one you go.
It’s maddening.

This

As one of the finest troubleshooting engineers I ever worked with said, "It isn't what you want it to be, it is what is!"

 

[Je1279]

With regard to "chasing grounds" on a ship... Standard Navy practice in new construction is to have all cable runs include a 10% number of wires in a run that are "spares." In other words when you have a wire problem you don't have to figure out how install a new wire in a run that may span several compartments and watertight bulkheads. You can just select one of the spare wires and cut it into the circuit where needed. Of course the Navy does that as a means of getting ships out to a lifetime of 40-60 years. Ford does not build to that kind of horizon...

We are lucky to get a few spare fuses...

 

[gadourym]

I just had my battery changed for the second time last week. In both cases, by battery wasn't holding a charge. I still believe there is some sort of drain on the battery that causes it to fail but if Ford wants to throw a new battery in every year or so then so be it. The truck is 3 years old and only 62,000 miles. Last time the battery was changed in early 2023, I had a stuck update that was draining the battery nightly. They had to replace the APIM that time too.

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