Hi Luke and all.

Did your OTA update totally fix your issue in the end?

I've had the following recently, and will seem very familiar to you all after reading this entire post.

1) remote features disabled to preserve battery messages on app

2) unlock car, no outside lights, no interior lights

Both after 2 days of 60 mile commutes.

Stop start works straight away, and never have problems starting.

I just feel with this new lights not coming on issue, my situation is approaching yours, and my car might not start one morning.

Any new developments / thoughts on this?

On 10/27/2023 at 10:40 AM, Plimp92 said:

Hi Luke and all.

Did your OTA update totally fix your issue in the end?

I've had the following recently, and will seem very familiar to you all after reading this entire post.

1) remote features disabled to preserve battery messages on app

2) unlock car, no outside lights, no interior lights

Both after 2 days of 60 mile commutes.

Stop start works straight away, and never have problems starting.

I just feel with this new lights not coming on issue, my situation is approaching yours, and my car might not start one morning.

Any new developments / thoughts on this?

Drop me a private message and we can have a phone call if you want? 

The OTA did fix some of the issues but of course if the battery is low/dead it won't install the updates. 

Hi Luke, great thanks a lot.

First of all I will do some battery voltage tests. I don't believe for a minute my main 12v battery is actually low.

Starts ok, and stop start works upon the first try.

This morning though, unlocked no interior or drl lights and drove fine to work. (30 miles)

Walked into work and 45 mins later got the remote features disabled message. 

I will do a battery voltage test tomorrow morning, and get back to you. Thanks for the offer by the way.

One of the reasons stated for the message to appear on the app is battery voltage less than 9.5v. Dont believe this for a minute cos the car wouldn't even start surely 

On 11/9/2023 at 8:48 AM, Plimp92 said:

Hi Luke, great thanks a lot.

First of all I will do some battery voltage tests. I don't believe for a minute my main 12v battery is actually low.

Starts ok, and stop start works upon the first try.

This morning though, unlocked no interior or drl lights and drove fine to work. (30 miles)

Walked into work and 45 mins later got the remote features disabled message. 

I will do a battery voltage test tomorrow morning, and get back to you. Thanks for the offer by the way.

One of the reasons stated for the message to appear on the app is battery voltage less than 9.5v. Dont believe this for a minute cos the car wouldn't even start surely 

No worries - and the car will turn features off to reserve power for engine starting. However anything below 10/11 it would struggle so 9 might not be correct. Plus Stop/Start is the first thing to be disabled when the battery is lower than needed. 

Let us know mate

State Of Charge

Hi all,

Quick update.

Been to work 30 miles each way. Starts fine but no lights upon unlock on the first drive.

2nd day and the lights come on. Drive it fine.

Leave it for 2 days ish, and no lights next time you open it.

No degradation really from the last couple of weeks, but repeatable behaviour.

I'll repost when it gets colder as that might change things.

Mention at next service for me at the moment 

On 10/27/2023 at 10:40 AM, Plimp92 said:

Hi Luke and all.

Did your OTA update totally fix your issue in the end?

I've had the following recently, and will seem very familiar to you all after reading this entire post.

1) remote features disabled to preserve battery messages on app

2) unlock car, no outside lights, no interior lights

Both after 2 days of 60 mile commutes.

Stop start works straight away, and never have problems starting.

I just feel with this new lights not coming on issue, my situation is approaching yours, and my car might not start one morning.

Any new developments / thoughts on this?

Hi

I've seen this issue crop up again with loads of owners as the cold snap bites and I've become somewhat of a unoffical expert on the matter. The ulitmate solution would be to ensure the car is fully up-to-date and then replace the battery. The OEM battery is too small for the car. To compare, a 1.0 petrol Fiesta comes with a bigger battery as standard (100% verified with my mums 2018 ST-Line-X model). No amount of miles will ever keep it charged up enough as its simply just not big enough. 

Ford won't admit nor attempt to replace the batteries under warranty or out of warranty as they would have 1000s of current owners claiming for batteries. My guess is they went for a smaller battery to keep the weight down over the front wheels and/or cost. The Fiesta battery is larger and mounted way further back than the Focus battery.

The way I tackled this was to log the issue with Ford Customer Care (took 11 months in total but my car was fairly new, so they it was a new issue for them to investigate and sort) and they should issue you some compensation which will then in turn pay for the newer battery. The battery I used to replace the OEM was Halfords EFB096 Start Stop Car Battery 5 Year Guarantee | Halfords UK. Starts every time and even in minus 5 weather that we've had recently. No alerts in the app, all the lights come on when unlocking and stop/start works after 2 mins of driving (I know stop/start is annoying but its a good indication that the car has a good amount of charge in the battery). The car had sat for 3 days and worked like a charm in the cold weather. 

I would highly recommend ditching the OEM battery and going for the one above or simliar. Feel free to message me and can have a chat on the phone if thats easier. The car is fantastic just let down so badly by the battery. I'm in a owners club and loads of us have done the same and replaced the battery for a bigger better model. The 096 Halfords model was a popular choice and so far its totally transformed the car and made it what the car should have been from the start. 

That's the same battery as the Yuasa YBX7096 I fitted in my car, worth getting whichever is the cheaper of the two at the time.

But I felt the same, the factory fitted battery is built to a cheap spec and is too low capacity to last. I still expect to change the Yuasa out in maybe 5 years, but it will hopefully last longer than the Factory Varta did. I'd expect an aftermarket Varta would probably also fair better.

Ditto....

On 5/13/2023 at 1:31 PM, unofix said:

New battery installed and BMS reset (method 2 above).

 

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

Ditto....

 

Perfect. You'll never see the OEM battery at 14.4! haha. 

Replaced my original battery with a Yuasa YBX7096 battery about a month ago and stop/start is still working.

I bought the car at 8 months old and the stop/start rarely worked even then on original battery.

1 hour ago, MarkRS9 said:

about a month ago and stop/start is still working.

I'm sorry to hear that, don't give up hope it will stop working soon 🤣

This is a good bit of info all thanks!

An update on my situation.

No change whatsoever. Use the car for 3 days in a row, and it's fine.

Leave it for one single day, and remote features disabled appears on the app, and drls do not illuminate on unlocking.

Always starts, no stop start issues.

Does fitting a different battery affect warranty?

6 minutes ago, Plimp92 said:

This is a good bit of info all thanks!

An update on my situation.

No change whatsoever. Use the car for 3 days in a row, and it's fine.

Leave it for one single day, and remote features disabled appears on the app, and drls do not illuminate on unlocking.

Always starts, no stop start issues.

Does fitting a different battery affect warranty?

As long as you fit an EFB battery that is the same capacity or larger and is secured back properly then no, it doesn't affect warranty.

Highly recommend Yuasa YBX7096 or the Halfords EFB096 (both made by Yuasa) if you want to try it, however if stop start is working, I'm not sure if it will help, as usually stop start is the first thing to get disabled with a low battery.

What size battery is fitted to your car? The 60Ah Ford branded Vartas seem to be most affected, that's what I had and why I moved to a larger 75Ah one.

Hi Alex.

Varta 60ah

Tested voltage sitting at 11.85v

Just opened the door and the drls came on.

Tested battery, locked car, came in house and remote features disabled came on.

I can also confirm this, my exact issues are;

1) remote services disabled message.

2) no drls number plate lights or puddle lights upon unlocking.

None issues;

3) stop start works NORMALLY every single time.

4) car starts with no hesitation and no slow starter motor sound

 

4 minutes ago, Plimp92 said:

Hi Alex.

Varta 60ah

Tested voltage sitting at 11.85v

Just opened the door and the drls came on.

Tested battery, locked car, came in house and remote features disabled came on.

I can also confirm this, my exact issues are;

1) remote services disabled message.

2) no drls number plate lights or puddle lights upon unlocking.

3) stop start works NORMALLY every single time.

 

That's way too low. I find it really strange it's not disabling stop start though.

It must have enough cranking amps available to start,

Then, the alternator must quickly restore the voltage enough to enable stop start shortly into the journey right?

I think you're all onto something with the battery.

Battery has marginally enough charge when finishing a drive cycle, then minor quiescent drain takes it down. Cranking amps still good enough to start, then the charging system works efficiently to get it up to speed quickly.

Thoughts? 

I'd probably try a new battery if it was me, especially given Luke's feedback, I got my YBX7096 from Tayna, half the price of the Halfords one at the moment. I always mention both as sometimes Halfords have offers on, I replaced the battery in my mum's Kuga with a Halfords one a few years ago, because it was on offer at the time.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/yuasa/ybx7096/

You might get a new battery under warranty if you push Ford hard enough, but it will still be another Ford branded 60Ah Varta that may only last a year or two. For £100 I'd just stick a better one in and save myself the agro.

Thanks mate.

Yuasa = £120

Halfords = £196

These are ok for the MHEV right?

I have the 1.0l ecoboost MHEV

In fact, I wonder if that's why stop start works? Cos its off the 48v.

I.e. it doesn't use the starter motor to restart the engine, it's the BISG. 

4 minutes ago, Plimp92 said:

Thanks mate.

Yuasa = £120

Halfords = £196

These are ok for the MHEV right?

I have the 1.0l ecoboost MHEV

In fact, I wonder if that's why stop start works? Cos its off the 48v.

I.e. it doesn't use the starter motor to restart the engine, it's the BISG. 

Ah yeah, I was forgetting the MHEV used the 48V for stop-start. That will be why it's still working then.

Yes this should be fine for the MHEV. It's the biggest battery you can fit in the Mk4 Focus, it's the size Ford fit as standard to the diesels.

It's slightly taller and heavier than the 60Ah Varta, but the clamp still fits.

Brilliant thanks all, and thanks for the quick replies for a bit of on the fly testing there Alex.

3 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I was forgetting the MHEV used the 48V for stop-start. That will be why it's still working then.

Yes that will be the reason that the Stop/Start still works. Kind of ironic that it should work, thus further preventing the alternator from being able to get some charge back in to the regular 12V vehicle battery. Once again a classic case of poorly thought out software and systems working against each other.

I think it's time to replace the 12V battery with something decent like the Yuasa YBX7096

As a reminder all, what's the procedure for resetting the battery system monitor thing again?

Ideally without forscan

On 12/15/2023 at 12:21 PM, Plimp92 said:

As a reminder all, what's the procedure for resetting the battery system monitor thing again?

Ideally without forscan

Check out this guide mate. Only for MK4/4.5 however. I created it for our owners group a few weeks ago. Collated a lot of info from this thread (thanks).

Battery Monitoring System Reset Dec23 V.1.0.pdf

8 minutes ago, LukeJQuinn said:

Check out this guide mate. Only for MK4/4.5 however. I created it for our owners group a few weeks ago. Collated a lot of info from this thread (thanks).

Battery Monitoring System Reset Dec23 V.1.0.pdf 105.21 kB · 1 download

BMS reset should ONLY be done when replacing the battery.

DO NOT BMS RESET just because you charged it!!

The car will figure out the SoC within 24 hrs, or you can force an SoC reset by disconnecting the negative terminal for a few mins.

BMS Reset will set the battery age to 0 and you cause the car to adapt its charging profile thinking it has a new battery which will accelerate battery degredation as it pushes the battery much harder than it should.