Powerboost - 12V Battery Drain things to think about

[RancidRacer]

As a member that has been closely following all these battery threads since I acquired my '23 KR PB in May '23, I continue to appreciate the group wisdom, especially from Snakebitten and Gros Ventre. After Ford replaced my 12v under the hood under warranty and I still had issues, I replaced it with an Interstate H7 and solved that issue. Just this past Tuesday, I was at my dealer for the 10K service. I asked them to check the 7.5Ah battery under the rear seat (as I had noticed my resting voltage running about 0.1V too low) and they found that battery to be faulty and replaced it under warranty. I absolutely would not have been knowledgable enough to recognize this, nor would I have had the blue-tooth volt monitor installed, without the incredible group wisdom that I gained from this forum. A salute to Ryan Stroeder for his composite post, and always thanks to HammaMan for his on-going comments. I continue to enjoy everything about my Powerboost. It performed flawlessly in the recent ~6" of ice and snow of three weeks ago.

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[HammaMan]

All vehicle choices come with tradeoffs. The rather simple solutions to rectifying the 12v issues of the PB is probably one of the easiest fixes there is in terms of rectifying a shortcoming. Pretty much anyone can handle it.

Ram - defective PCM software and something is seriously wrong with their engine wiring harnesses.
GM - Defective fuel pump system leaving trucks stranded. Also the 6.2s throw a bearing randomly out of the blue locking up or throwing a rod. Then there's the lifter issues too.

Yeah, I'll take stiffening the 12v batt route.

 

[RyanStroeder]

All vehicle choices come with tradeoffs. The rather simple solutions to rectifying the 12v issues of the PB is probably one of the easiest fixes there is in terms of rectifying a shortcoming. Pretty much anyone can handle it.

Ram - defective PCM software and something is seriously wrong with their engine wiring harnesses.
GM - Defective fuel pump system leaving trucks stranded. Also the 6.2s throw a bearing randomly out of the blue locking up or throwing a rod. Then there's the lifter issues too.

Yeah, I'll take stiffening the 12v batt route.

Can we stiffen in -40 up here in the north!? I wish

 

[HammaMan]

Can we stiffen in -40 up here in the north!? I wish

I mean https://www.google.com/search?q=moving+services

 

[RyanStroeder]

I mean https://www.google.com/search?q=moving+services

That's actually hilarious

 

[Gros Ventre]

As a member that has been closely following all these battery threads since I acquired my '23 KR PB in May '23, I continue to appreciate the group wisdom, especially from Snakebitten and Gros Ventre. After Ford replaced my 12v under the hood under warranty and I still had issues, I replaced it with an Interstate H7 and solved that issue. Just this past Tuesday, I was at my dealer for the 10K service. I asked them to check the 7.5Ah battery under the rear seat (as I had noticed my resting voltage running about 0.1V too low) and they found that battery to be faulty and replaced it under warranty. I absolutely would not have been knowledgable enough to recognize this, nor would I have had the blue-tooth volt monitor installed, without the incredible group wisdom that I gained from this forum. A salute to Ryan Stroeder for his composite post, and always thanks to HammaMan for his on-going comments. I continue to enjoy everything about my Powerboost. It performed flawlessly in the recent ~6" of ice and snow of three weeks ago.

I wasn't clear as to how that smaller battery functioned. I've since learned. It's paralleled with the main battery except when the start mode is triggered. Then it powers the electronics in the truck while the main battery only starts the engine. I infer from that that a faulty one might not show up for awhile. When I hit the start button, the engine dos not necessarily start, but the truck's system voltage pops up, usually, to around 15.1VDC driven by the Traction battery. So it is easy for it to hide under other power sources.

 

[Catsmeow995]

As someone who has been at war with his 21 powerboost and finally solved the issues related to battery drain (fingers crossed!). I wanted to share with others some things to consider if your truck is entering deep sleep, remote functions disabled, 12 V battery low warning, approach lighting disabled etc...

Check out @Snakebitten or @HammaMan posts for other ideas (both are great contributors to the community and I thank them)

Primary Battery (2021-2022): BAGM-48H6-760
Primary Battery (2023-2024): BAGM-94RH7-800
AUX Battery: BHAGM-AUX1-B

0. The new trucks draw, as per Ford documentation, between 25 and 50 mA when parked. Add onto that any remote connection or updates processes and you will come to the understanding that you simply cannot (without clever hacks like @HammaMa) leave the truck for long periods of time with battery drain occuring.

1. Look out for additional drain items. For example, a Blackvue 2 channel dashcam will pull almost 900mA when in Parking Mode. This will annihilate any battery if left for long.

2. The Powerboosts have two 12V batteries, the main AGM under the hood and the AUX under the rear seat. IF YOU COMPLAIN TO THE DEALER ABOUT BATTERY ISSUES THEY DO NOT TEST OR CHECK THE AUX BATTERY AS PER CORPORATE PROCEDURE. This can be a real problem, if Ford is replacing the AGM but the aux is also dead and in parallel, your problems will return. One suggestion is to isolate the batteries yourself and either test them or have them tested.

2b. As per item 2, this means that when you are charging the main battery (like a normal truck would be charged), you are charging two batteries in parallel. If you are seeing strange charging behaviour, please consider isolating the batteries and charging.

3. Learn how to charge/boost your AGM battery correctly with the BMS system. Terminal connections need to allow for current to pass through the BMS sensor on the main AGM battery for the system to detect current flow. This forum link is an excellent place

4. There are TSB's related to BMS incorrectly managed the battery and may possibly help. TSB 24-2442 comes to mind.

4b. Some members have had luck with charging the batteries fully then resetting the BMS immediately. see here

5. If charging is an issue and you don't drive often, do a search on this forum for the fan speed setting at 5 charging hack.

6. Consider a bluetooth battery voltage monitor (although these typically add another ~35mA draw to battery, food for thought) so that you can learn your truck's behaviour. A battery tender for extended parking should also be considered.

7. Consider an H7 (no mod needed) or an H8 (mod required) if it is suitable for you.

8. Finally, if you live in a warm climate and are comfortable with making some alterations, please reference the impressive work done here

I'd like to leave this post up to hopefully help someone else from going through 4 (i'm now on the fifth) AGM batteries and the frustration associated. If anyone has additional clarifications items or corrections, I am more than happy to edit his post once it's up.

Thank you

The last time I was @ the local Ford Dealer he assured me that is there is only - 1 battery under the hood & not one under my seat - I will check tomorrow! But when I called parts he said your 2021 PB only has a battery, mine doesn’t have the 7.2 KW option either.

 

[Snakebitten]

The last time I was @ the local Ford Dealer he assured me that is there is only - 1 battery under the hood & not one under my seat - I will check tomorrow! But when I called parts he said your 2021 PB only has a battery, mine doesn’t have the 7.2 KW option either.

If you have a Powerboost, you have a 7AH AGM under the rear passenger seat.

Has nothing to do with ProPower Onboard with the Powerboost. Instead, ProPower taps the 300V battery under the truck.

 

[Davexxxx]

It would scare me to death to park a powerboost in the garage (no parking is a non-starter). I know that I have risk factors with other lithium products in the garage, but think they are more manageable when compared with a bunch of little lithium batteries joined together to create a big lithium battery.

Now I just flashed my ....... Someone let me know why I should not think this way.

My homeowners and auto ins are with the same co.

I got a hybrid discount.

Sooo ....

 

[hatallica]

Definitely still works on 2022 Powerboost with all software updates applied. Ford has NOT gimped the DC/DC converter battery charging hack yet.

Maybe I am looking at the wrong metric? I am currently tracking:
Ford --> BCM --> Vehicle Battery Voltage
and
Ford --> BECM --> Control Module Voltage

Both jump to 15V while the truck is on, regardless of fan settings.

Ford --> BCM --> Vehicle Battery Current: this hovers in the low single digits of amps (2-5A) with commuting temperatures around 25F. Just recently started to monitor, so no empirical evidence about temperature dependence. My experience matches Ford's vague warning:

 

[Davexxxx]

Maybe I am looking at the wrong metric? I am currently tracking:
Ford --> BCM --> Vehicle Battery Voltage
and
Ford --> BECM --> Control Module Voltage

Both jump to 15V while the truck is on, regardless of fan settings.

Ford --> BCM --> Vehicle Battery Current: this hovers in the low single digits of amps (2-5A) with commuting temperatures around 25F. Just recently started to monitor, so no empirical evidence about temperature dependence. My experience matches Ford's vague warning:

Yeah, the fan speed thing didn't work for me either.

I can only imagine that some of these quirks that work for some but not for others, has to do with which version software has been applied and we all get them (or don't) at less than the exact same time.

 

[RancidRacer]

One additional tip/trick I'd like to add. This two-step start technique has started my truck on more than one occasion before I solved my battery problem for the long term. Thanks to Snakebitten for this one.

Push the start button without having your foot on the brake pedal. You should see a message on the dash that voltage has been sent to all systems. Then put foot on brake pedal and push start button again. My truck has never failed to start with this technique.

 

[Gros Ventre]

One additional tip/trick I'd like to add. This two-step start technique has started my truck on more than one occasion before I solved my battery problem for the long term. Thanks to Snakebitten for this one.
Push the start button without having your foot on the brake pedal. You should see a message on the dash that voltage has been sent to all systems. Then put foot on brake pedal and push start button again. My truck has never failed to start with this technique.

Once I replaced by main engine 12VDC battery (@ 4 Months after delivery in summer 21) I have had zero problems without anything other than foot on brake and push the button. Oh yeah, it was -3ºF this morning.

 

[HammaMan]

One additional tip/trick I'd like to add. This two-step start technique has started my truck on more than one occasion before I solved my battery problem for the long term. Thanks to Snakebitten for this one.

Push the start button without having your foot on the brake pedal. You should see a message on the dash that voltage has been sent to all systems. Then put foot on brake pedal and push start button again. My truck has never failed to start with this technique.

I haven't seen anyone mention 2 step for nearly a year now. Speculation is that it was resolved via an OTA.

 

[RancidRacer]

I haven't seen anyone mention 2 step for nearly a year now. Speculation is that it was resolved via an OTA.

Certainly true that I have not had to use it in quite some time. As you say, an OTA may have been the resolution.

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