Stranded, Stop Safely Now, 12volt battery dies

Angelnx1985

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So I'm pretty sure this has been talked about several times in the forum. Time for me to present my story. Before you ask, it is a First Edition, and yes it was built before Feb 3rd. I checked the Vin and it was built Dec 2020.

To start, I took a road trip from L.A. to Chicago to be with family and my girlfriend. The initial trip was fine, up until I was going downhill in the rockies towards Denver. First sign of trouble was indicating Power Train Failure, service vehicle soon, orange wrench indicator, Stop Safely Now. Pulled over to the side and tried starting. After about 10 minutes, it started up again. Awesome, relieved and was able to reached to Chicago. By the way, the service vehicle soon indicator showed up even long before I began my road trip, keep that in mind.

So after about a week just as I was ready to head to a pub, the MME fails to start. Same deal, Stop Safely Now. Figured I try again after 10 minutes, still no luck. I tried jump starting the car with my own battery pack, no luck. I call roadside and at this point I need to get it towed to ford. So while I'm waiting, I'm noticing the panels and screen were slowly dying. The tow comes and we tried jumping with his charger. It helped lit up the panels because at this point the panels are nearly dead and so is the doors. So now we tow it to ford. It took them a while to get to my car. I tried explaining to them about the TSB that may needed to be addressed but they didn't know what they were doing. They think I may have the drained my 12volt battery by leaving the lights on overnight. "You kidding me right now?!" So they are trying to get a new 12volt battery factory direct but no luck. They decided to perform CPR on battery, letting it fully drain and latter-step the voltage back. They got that fixed and they were able to perform 6 updates, assuming one of them was the necessary fix for the 12volt. Awesome, driven it around town for two weeks, no problem.

Now the serious issue begins. I'm all packed, ready to go and head back west, same way through the rockies because I had plans for Vegas. So I reach to Denver, stopped in to EA to fully charge to 80% so I won't have range anxiety going uphill. After the charge I Stop in to get some food. I come back and...here we go again! Stop Safely Now, red battery, red exclamation mark car! Same deal, tried jumping the battery to no luck. Same deal with the tow, tried jump starting, no luck. So now the vehicle is towed to ford dealer that is able to see my vehicle the earliest. At this point I'm stranded and need to head back to LA. So I leave my keys in lockbox and as I was making my way back to my car just to make sure it's locked, I've noticed there was a popping noise coming from back of the car, feeling some vibration. I'm scared at this point..and then I'm noticing that the vehicle is now in deep sleep mode. That didn't happened the first time around.

So that's where we're at right now folks. Right now I booked a one way flight back to LA because I need to begin my new job. We will see what ford says this time. In meantime I'm going to call CS and explain to them what's going on. I just reached 10,000 miles with my MME and this sucks. I've never had this many problems for a brand new car. Yes it is a 1st gen I get that. I'm praying that this gets resolved once and for all. I am thankful that it happened in Denver and not in the rockies.

Sorry for the super long intro, but I hope you all find this informative and entertaining. I will keep you guys updated as I get more info. Cheers!

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Angelnx1985

Angelnx1985

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Ouch. Sounds like the software bug or battery module issue.

Glad you didn't get stranded anywhere you couldn't get help.

And welcome to the forum!
Thanks so much! We will see what they say about the car. Judging from everyone else having this issue, I think the energy module may have to be replaced.
 

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When charging you have to make sure car is not in accessory mode.
 
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When charging you have to make sure car is not in accessory mode.

... Really?... If the car has any sort of features, please use them folks. Engineers put this together, if it breaks give it back to them. These are big investments that are expected to perform to spec, if we don't break them, they can't fix them for future customers.
 


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When charging you have to make sure car is not in accessory mode.
This would be the first time I've heard this...

That being said... I would have to ensure our First Edition built 2020, would have to be completely OFF before initiating a charge. But once the charge was started.. I would be able to sit in the vehicle in ACC or RUN without issues.

I'd like for @Ford Motor Company to verify if ACC mode is NOT recommended during charging.
 
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Angelnx1985

Angelnx1985

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... Really?... If the car has any sort of features, please use them folks. Engineers put this together, if it breaks give it back to them. These are big investments that are expected to perform to spec, if we don't break them, they can't fix them for future customers.
Yeah I agree, I've never heard of this either. My understanding is that the vehicle is engineered to have accessory mode or run on without any issues. Like other vehicles these days, if the 12v is running low, the car would prompt you to run the car or turn off.

That being said in my defense, more than half the time during my road trips I leave the car off because there's always a Walmart and I always drop by to restock my trip supplies and just chill outside. But again in my opinion, especially with how vehicles are made these days, it shouldn't matter if the car is on or off during charging, nor given any warning.
 

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This is likely a continuation of your 12V battery issues. Try to get a jump start directly to the battery with a large battery pack or another vehicle (not those portable jump packs that fit in a glove compartment), or call roadside assistance again. After that try to put it on a battery charger overnight. If you get it working again, avoid using accessory mode. Call dealer and order a new battery.

Clicking noise is the contactors in the pack opening up and shutting off the pack after the 12V died.

The early build cars sat for a long time before being released so it's not a surprise that the 12V batteries are going bad.
 

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When charging you have to make sure car is not in accessory mode.
This is simply not true. Car knows when its plugged in and charging so it wouldn't let you run it in accessory mode if that was bad for the car. Just like it doesn't let you drive away. If you're having issues with that, take it to get serviced.

Yeah I agree, I've never heard of this either. My understanding is that the vehicle is engineered to have accessory mode or run on without any issues. Like other vehicles these days, if the 12v is running low, the car would prompt you to run the car or turn off.
When I was trying to figure out the cause for my breakdown I saw the message that said something to the effect of power-saving mode for running accessories. By the time tow truck came to pick it up the next day, the 12v battery was totally dead.
 

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So does the 12v still get disconnected from the HV during DCFC charging? If so this is not a deep cycle heavy duty 12v battery. just the Cabin air could quickly kill it.

Mine still warns me about '12v power drain service soon', esp. if I run the A/C w/ accessories on. for more than 5 minutes! I ignore it and it goes way after a day or two.
 

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When charging you have to make sure car is not in accessory mode.
So the DC-DC Inverter magically doesn't work in ACC mode when plugged in to charge on DC? It does when I plug in at home on the AC charger.

I agree. I would like to have an official statement from Ford on this one.
 

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The 12v battery is supposed to be monitored and maintained either via the EVSE if the car is plugged into AC power or via the high-voltage battery if the car is not plugged into AC power.

It maintains several modules on the car even if the car is off ... it's always being drained, but if the software is working as intended then it will always be maintained. The early cars that had this issue (mine was one) needed a software fix. It seems as though your car doesn't actually have the fix.

To charge the 12v battery take two panels out of the frunk area ... the trim panel behind the storage compartment (in front of the windshield), then remove the panel along the left-side (driver's side). This reveals the charger terminals.

It is an AGM battery. So use an AGM battery charger and it really should be a 10 amp charger (not a trickle charger ... that wont work.)
 

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This would be the first time I've heard this...

That being said... I would have to ensure our First Edition built 2020, would have to be completely OFF before initiating a charge. But once the charge was started.. I would be able to sit in the vehicle in ACC or RUN without issues.

I'd like for @Ford Motor Company to verify if ACC mode is NOT recommended during charging.
I am not the authority you are seeking but I can confirm you are able to charge the HVB while in Accessory Mode. The LVB is maintained during your charge session as well.

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To charge the 12v battery take two panels out of the frunk area ... the trim panel behind the storage compartment (in front of the windshield), then remove the panel along the left-side (driver's side). This reveals the charger terminals.
I'll add that you should connect the negative jumper to a chassis ground and not the negative terminal on the battery. Connecting to the terminal will bypass the current sensor and mess up the BMS (may cause low power warnings).

If the 12V battery isn't being maintained while charging your car has an issue that needs to be fixed at the dealer via reprogramming.
 
 




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