Hi all, just wanting to get a second opinion before I book the car into Ford for a (potential) battery issue.

I've been reading on here about SoC, etc - and since first getting the 'Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery' message on my FordPass app a while ago have been using a smart trickle charger recommended on here to keep the 12V battery topped up.

I have noticed that the 'top-up' has been lasting gradually less and less time, and today I have just had the 'Remote Features Disabled to Preserve Battery' pop up on my phone today (Thursday) after only charging the 12V battery fully on Monday, and using it on a short trip yesterday.

Am I right in thinking that this isn't normal? The Stop/Start does seem to be working fine though...

12 minutes ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

Am I right in thinking that this isn't normal? The Stop/Start does seem to be working fine though...

No that doesn't seem normal. For one thing it's not normal that Stop/Start actually works 🤣

When you connect up your battery charger are you connecting the negative lead to the chassis earth, and NOT to the battery negative terminal ?

If the battery is quite run down then you can expect it to a full 24 hours of charging with a 4Amp Smart Charger to get the battery back to around 75% state of charge.

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

No that doesn't seem normal. For one thing it's not normal that Stop/Start actually works 🤣

When you connect up your battery charger are you connecting the negative lead to the chassis earth, and NOT to the battery negative terminal ?

If the battery is quite run down then you can expect it to a full 24 hours of charging with a 4Amp Smart Charger to get the battery back to around 75% state of charge.

I'm charging it with the positive terminal connected to the battery, and the negative connected to the chassis earth.
 

I'm using the Maypole charger recommended on here for it - it usually seems to think the battery is fully charged after 3-4 hours (which to me doesn't seem long enough?)

1 minute ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

I'm using the Maypole charger recommended on here for it

Oh no !!!

Who recommended that ? I hope it wasn't @StephenFord 🤣

Actually the Maypole is quite a decent charger (I have one myself), BUT, pay no attention to the indication saying it's charged. What it is actually showing is it has reached a steady level charging voltage, but you should charge for a minimum of 12 hours.

11 minutes ago, unofix said:

... but you should charge for a minimum of 12 hours.

My daily driver (2005 Focus) I charge monthly and after 2 hours, it displays that it's fully charged, I keep it on for another 2 for good measure. My other car which hardly gets driven (2001 Toyota Yaris), I also charge monthly and it shows fully charged after about 6 or 7 hours, as suggested, I keep it going for a total of 12 hours. I've never had a 'battery' issue with either car...

A 2023 is almost certainly an MHEV, so the stop/start uses the Lithium battery afaik.

16 minutes ago, unofix said:

What it is actually showing is it has reached a steady level charging voltage, but you should charge for a minimum of 12 hours.

Yes, pretty much the same story with other brands of charger I've used on my Mk 8 Fiestas.

1 minute ago, StephenFord said:

I've never had a 'battery' issue with either car...

But they're not recent Fords!😀 Our SEAT which is now 10 years + on original battery is no bother either.

2 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

But they're not recent Fords!😀 Our SEAT which is now 10 years + on original battery is no bother either.

I love 'old' cars LOL I often read the struggles folk have on here with 2 or 3 yer old cars having battery issues. During lockdown, the Toyota was totally neglected for almost 5 months. When I eventually got into it, it started perfectly on 1st twist of the key 😂 There's an old adage, they don't build them like they use to - they certainly don't, oh, and it passed it's annual MOT on Tuesday, all I did for preparation was wash it...

I'll leave it on charge for a full day tomorrow (and see how long that lasts!), meanwhile I've booked it in with Ford for the 17th Jan - so fingers crossed it lasts that long!

Even stranger is that I've just turned the car round on the drive ready for charging tomorrow, and now everything is working okay. Very confused!

My Ford Pass app seems to constantly come up with remote features disabled.  Stop/start works fine, that was the first thing to go when I had battery issues in my last Fiesta.  I wouldn't trust myself with a battery charger, I'm not labelled as Frank Spencer for no reason 

11 minutes ago, Bashful said:

  I wouldn't trust myself with a battery charger,

Then I'm afraid you are going to have big problems ahead. You need to learn how to properly use a battery charger or get a bike !! 🤣

As mentioned above by Alex, the mHEV uses the lithium battery for the Stop/Start so that is not an indication of how good or bad the normal 12V vehicle battery is.

32 minutes ago, unofix said:

You need to learn how to properly use a battery charger or get a bike !! 🤣

Unfortunately true with "modern" cars.

50 minutes ago, Bashful said:

I wouldn't trust myself with a battery charger

There are plenty of threads on here on the topic, the chargers come with instructions and you can always ask if you have any issues. 

I've charged the car for over 12 hours this weekend, and am just wanting to double check something about the 12V Cigarette Adapter socket on the car?

Is it supposed to stay on if the engine is off and the car is locked? I have a dashcam plugged into this socket, and since it's now got some charge, I'm assuming it's leaving that socket powered correctly? I've read that Ford models seem to do this - but just wanted to make sure that isn't the cause of the battery drain.

I've not noticed this in 9 months of ownership, but it's possible the battery has always been a little flat!

14 hours ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

I've charged the car for over 12 hours this weekend, and am just wanting to double check something about the 12V Cigarette Adapter socket on the car?

Is it supposed to stay on if the engine is off and the car is locked? I have a dashcam plugged into this socket, and since it's now got some charge, I'm assuming it's leaving that socket powered correctly? I've read that Ford models seem to do this - but just wanted to make sure that isn't the cause of the battery drain.

I've not noticed this in 9 months of ownership, but it's possible the battery has always been a little flat!

You could check the dashcam footage to see if it's recording all night.

On a 2023 car, I would expect it to cut off the sockets and go into 'deep sleep' mode if it senses the battery voltage dropping too low.  If you have the FordPass app that should tell you if it's going into deep sleep.

On 12/12/2024 at 6:58 PM, unofix said:

No that doesn't seem normal. For one thing it's not normal that Stop/Start actually works 🤣

When you connect up your battery charger are you connecting the negative lead to the chassis earth, and NOT to the battery negative terminal ?

If the battery is quite run down then you can expect it to a full 24 hours of charging with a 4Amp Smart Charger to get the battery back to around 75% state of charge.

Is this a good point for the negative lead when charging?

I've charged once my car so far and I used this point instead of the chassis. I believe it goes right through the BMS so it should be fine.

1 hour ago, AFS said:

Is this a good point for the negative lead when charging?

Yes, that will be just fine 👍

2 hours ago, AFS said:

Is this a good point for the negative lead when charging?

Yes, used that (frequently!😀) for the last 6 years on my Mk 8/8.5 Fiestas.

Just an update on the situation with my Fiesta:

Fully charged the car over last weekend, think it had around 18 hours of charge all in, which should have been enough to fully charge the 12V battery(?)

Did a few short runs this week, and just now the car has stated it's low on battery again.

Am I correct in thinking this isn't normal?

2 hours ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

Am I correct in thinking this isn't normal?

That does seem 'not normal'

You would think that 18 hours would fully charge the battery but in fact probably only gets it back to around 78% depending on how discharged it was in the first place.

The factory fitted batteries on these cars have proven to be of poor quality and unreliable for many people. You can have a fight with your local Ford dealer and see if they will replace it, but in most cases they will say it's fine. Or you can just take the hit and buy a good quality Yuasa battery, fully charge it and things should be much better. It will still need a charge every 5 to 6 weeks, it's just the way modern cars are sadly.

7 minutes ago, unofix said:

That does seem 'not normal'

You would think that 18 hours would fully charge the battery but in fact probably only gets it back to around 78% depending on how discharged it was in the first place.

The factory fitted batteries on these cars has proven to be of poor quality and unreliable for many people. You can have a fight with your local Ford dealer and see if they will replace it, but in most cases they will say it's fine. Or you can just take the hit and buy a good quality Yuasa battery, fully charge it and things should be much better. It will still need a charge every 5 to 6 weeks, it's just the way modern cars are sadly.

I've stuck the car on charge to give it another go, but am not convinced that it'll make much difference - would it be worth getting a mulimeter to measure the actual charge in the battery? For it to discharge this quickly suggests something strange.

I've seen that apparently, the Ford Warranty does cover the 12V battery - but do you think they would contest that the battery is fine anyway?

My other concern is that the battery is discharging due to a 'parasitic draw', but I'm not sure if that's worth the trouble at this point. Ford have said that it'll cost me around £180 for a diagnostic if it's found not to be a warranty issue - I can imagine replacing the 12V battery would be far cheaper than that cost!

19 minutes ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

would it be worth getting a mulimeter to measure the actual charge in the battery?

Yes, most definitely.

19 minutes ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

Ford Warranty does cover the 12V battery - but do you think they would contest that the battery is fine anyway?

Oh yes !!! They will fight you every step of the way. It will be all your fault because (a) You don't use the car enough (b) You don't drive enough miles (c) The battery test says it's fine (d) The customer is always wrong.

19 minutes ago, AmbitiousCubone said:

My other concern is that the battery is discharging due to a 'parasitic draw',

A common concern but in fact a very rare occurrence.

Poor quality battery, and the vehicles charging system not being fit for purpose are the real reasons. You can replace the battery with a better quality, many here use Yuasa batteries, and you maybe able to adjust the vehicles charging form the factory default of 80% up to a more acceptable 95% by using FORScan.

 

With the ecoboom that's one thing I've not had any problem with 🤞 ....perhaps because it was purchased with a Mercedes Benz branded battery shoehorned into the battery box.

It's fortunate that I don't need to regularly use a charger; my nearest power socket is 70m away from where I have to park.

Also factory battery here.

I travel a lot abroad and thus many times the car sits in a garage for days, so, not ideal battery usage.

It used to be so that the remote controlled features were getting deactivated in 3-4 days. After I fully charged it I never saw that message again.

Now I am on a long trip (3 weeks) and didn't have time to charge pre-trip (last time was a month ago), the features got deactivated in a week. Well, not terrible considering that the car is in Finland and it was -20C the first couple of days that it was parked. It's parked in an enclosed garage which helps but it's non-heated. Good thing is that there's a plug in the parking place so I can charge it if it's flat when I'm back.

Okay, I've bought a digital multimeter to check the condition of the battery and the numbers/SOC concern me a little.

I did a large (120 mile round trip) to visit family yesterday, brought it home and left for an hour. Voltage was at 12.42V at around 6PM, which is 80% SOC and consistent with what I'd expect.

It's dropped this morning (08:50 AM) to 12.30V, which is below 70% SOC. I'm guessing that's not supposed to happen on these batteries? A 10% reduction, when it hasn't moved or done anything, sounds quite high.