New Battery or Charge Issue?

[JacobH]

I have a 21 powerboost and recently I've noticed a few issues with the battery or charging system. Last year my truck left me dead at work so I replaced the battery with an AutoZone equivalent H7 to which it then left me dead on the side of the road with what the dealer said was a "disconnected ground wire". less than a year later I am now getting the older style chimes and woke up to "Remote features disabled to preserve battery" on my ford app. Called the dealer and they said my battery was at 38% so I'm now set up for them to reset the bms tomorrow morning to hopefully fix the issue. I drive 30 min to work, averaging about 60 miles a day so I know I'm driving enough. I'm almost certain I did the manual reset after I installed the new battery last year so I'm not sure that's the issue. I don't have an OBD2 scanner and honestly I don't think I want to spend $140 for one today lol.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what this might be? I've noticed the older chimes once in a while but now its basically constant so I know there was a power issue.

Sponsored

 

[{tpc}]

Does your truck sit on the weekends? Or did it sit for a prolonged amount of time? (vacation) You might try leaving it on a charger for a couple of nights when you get home and see if that corrects the issues.

I have had issues with mine (current) and my older one, in these instances. The older one it did happen more frequently though.

 

[Jmitchelltfo]

Search for Aux battery on here. There is quite a bit of info available.

Fan speed 4-5 is another trick to make sure your DC/DC charger is putting enough voltage into your batteries while driving.

Easiest way to keep an eye on your resting voltage is buy a $30 bluetooth monitor for your 12v system.

 

[JacobH]

Does your truck sit on the weekends? Or did it sit for a prolonged amount of time? (vacation) You might try leaving it on a charger for a couple of nights when you get home and see if that corrects the issues.

I have had issues with mine (current) and my older one, in these instances. The older one it did happen more frequently though.

It does is sit on the weekend a lot but last weekend I was driving around for about 2 hours but yes normally it does just sit on the weekends.

I might run by autozone soon and let them look at the battery just to double check. The dealer did say it was at 13 amps so I think the battery is still good but im gunna let them at least charge my battery a little.

Search for Aux battery on here. There is quite a bit of info available.

Fan speed 4-5 is another trick to make sure your DC/DC charger is putting enough voltage into your batteries while driving.

Easiest way to keep an eye on your resting voltage is buy a $30 bluetooth monitor for your 12v system.

Ill have to look into that too, I would assume the OBDlink would also tell me this so I might just have to bite the bullet for one.

Edit: I should also say adding an aux battery might be a little more in-depth than I would be willing or even able to do lmao. Looks like there is a bunch of info and tbh I aint that smart . Setting up a second battery would be nice so ill keep lookin into it but i doubt id want to get into doing a bunch of wiring and screwing with my overcomplicated truck.

 

[Jmitchelltfo]

It does is sit on the weekend a lot but last weekend I was driving around for about 2 hours but yes normally it does just sit on the weekends.

I might run by autozone soon and let them look at the battery just to double check. The dealer did say it was at 13 amps so I think the battery is still good but im gunna let them at least charge my battery a little.


Ill have to look into that too, I would assume the OBDlink would also tell me this so I might just have to bite the bullet for one.

OBDlink will have a way to monitor DC/DC set point (14.3-15.2v on fan speed 4-5) for charging along with more high and low voltage readings you can shake a stick at.

Your aux/main battery is more than likely the culprit for your "remote features disabled" warning, unless your pickup was sitting unused for more than a week.

 

[JacobH]

OBDlink will have a way to monitor DC/DC set point (14.3-15.2v on fan speed 4-5) for charging along with more high and low voltage readings you can shake a stick at.

Your aux/main battery is more than likely the culprit for your "remote features disabled" warning, unless your pickup was sitting unused for more than a week.

The smaller battery is the factory one in the back but I did replace the main battery last year with a Duralast platinum H7 which should still be good. But I assume I got that message bc the battery is low on charge.

I could get the OBDlink today for $140 on amazon but to me its a little hard to justify that price right now unfortunately but i'm not sure yet.

also see my edit on previous post.

 

[RyanStroeder]

It does is sit on the weekend a lot but last weekend I was driving around for about 2 hours but yes normally it does just sit on the weekends.

I might run by autozone soon and let them look at the battery just to double check. The dealer did say it was at 13 amps so I think the battery is still good but im gunna let them at least charge my battery a little.


Ill have to look into that too, I would assume the OBDlink would also tell me this so I might just have to bite the bullet for one.

Edit: I should also say adding an aux battery might be a little more in-depth than I would be willing or even able to do lmao. Looks like there is a bunch of info and tbh I aint that smart . Setting up a second battery would be nice so ill keep lookin into it but i doubt id want to get into doing a bunch of wiring and screwing with my overcomplicated truck.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/powerboost-12v-battery-drain-things-to-think-about.33304/

 

[Jerome10]

When I had a bad OEM battery it passed on the quick test, but then I had to leave with dealer for an hour or 2 for them to do a more comprehensive test, which failed. I wanna say they called it a "rotunda"(?) test.

Maybe this new battery has a similar issue?

Alternator??

Are the Duralast decent batteries? Could they be made by the same OEM manufacturer as Motorcraft and therefore have the same issues?

 

[Calson]

The Ford F-150 have parasitic loads that quickly drain the battery. Only real fix is to buy a Ram or a Chevy or a Toyota or do as I have and use a battery maintainer 100% of the time. The battery maintainer is a $50 (plus extension cord) is a solution that will work 100% of the time.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Depends on the battery you install. Most seem to handle things just fine. I put in a NAPA, off the shelf (H7 as it turned out) battery November of '21. Not a peep out of the truck electrical system to date. That's three Wyoming winters (eg subzero frequently) and happens to include a three week everything off and just sitting period recently. It started up just fine after those three weeks. Again not a single peep out of the electrical system.

 

[JohnTrigger]

JacobH,
your powerboost has an aux 12V battery behind the rear seat. If it is bad, and it very well could be, it will equalize the 12V system by pulling down the voltage on your engine compartment H7 battery. I’d isolate that aux battery and test it, replace if needed.

 

[JacobH]

Quick Update:

Sitting at the dealer now getting my aux battery replaced. They apparently wouldn’t check the aux battery normally but I insisted they do and was told it was completely dead and needed to be replaced. Hopefully this will fix it, I’ve been having to plug my truck in once a week or I’ll get notifications on my phone that my truck is in power saving mode.

 

[Jmitchelltfo]

I hope your pickup wasn't down this whole time.


I won't say " I told you so" but.......a few minutes with a multi-meter and you could have answered this question when you first had the issue, instead of waiting weeks for the dealer to scratch their heads or asses.

If you are interested in aux battery upgrades just search for "LFP" or "14 ah AGM"

Either of those options will help you considerably.

 

[JacobH]

I hope your pickup wasn't down this whole time.


I won't say " I told you so" but.......a few minutes with a multi-meter and you could have answered this question when you first had the issue, instead of waiting weeks for the dealer to scratch their heads or asses.

If you are interested in aux battery upgrades just search for "LFP" or "14 ah AGM"

Either of those options will help you considerably.

It certainly was not lol, infact it was bc of you and the other commenters that I called and had them update my appointment to check the battery shortly after first posting and talking to you all. The dealer checked the battery and put it on order but never got back in touch with me when it arrived and I kept forgetting to call them. I’ve just been driving it with a dead aux battery this whole time and plugging it into a charger/tender on the weekends.

let’s hope I don’t have this problem again for a few more years. I still might go for the upgrade though.

 

[Ecosheesh]

Check wiring harness under passenger seat. There's 2, Unplug the one closest to door and look for burnt ground connector. Happened to me twice.

Sponsored