Recommendations for 12v Dead Access to Frunk

[redgrandam]

You are.

Seems I wasn’t. I haven’t tried it on a Mach E yet though.

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[generaltso]

Seems I wasn’t. I haven’t tried it on a Mach E yet though.

Plenty of people have. It doesn’t work.

 

[bshaw]

Plenty of people have. It doesn’t work.

Don’t know why someone would think a video from another car brand would prove anything about the MachE. I suppose Ford cribbed the idea for a frunk release port in the bumper, but otherwise used completely different components (relay) to implement.

If I recall, there is a thread on here where a guy wired 8 AAs in series to actually get 12V and that worked on the MachE. So, like said above, that is a viable option if you have those materials.

 

[SlicerOnSteam]

I had a really great USB bank with jump starter. I used it to as the exclusive way to start my lawn mower for a couple summers because it was just as cheap as a new mower battery.

I would say that a common error with those devices is people's misunderstanding of how they work. A lot people say they connect them up to a dead car and they do absolutely nothing. Well, that is 100% correct. The directions say that a flashing green light means it's literally telling you that it's not doing anything. It has to detect a 12v system before it will engage its boost and a car that's low enough won't do that, so they have a little override button on them that switches the flashing green light to a solid green and then it's ready to boost. A flashing red light means the safety has detected a short circuit and turned off the boost. A flashing green light means open circuit trying to detect 12v and no boost yet. Solid green means either 12v detected or override was pressed and the boost is on.

Ironically it's the cheaper and less safe boosters that don't have these issues and "just work" - but the problem is with no safety circuits those little boxes can just melt when something goes wrong. I think most online retailers stopped selling any without safety circuits. The nice one I used on the mower eventually melted on me anyway. But it was just the 12v booster attachment that melted, the power bank itself still works fine.

I suppose you could say the takeaway is get one good enough to have the safety, but don't pay too much for it because it will eventually melt - pushing that much current through small electronics has to catch up eventually.

You can actually go super cheap and be fine as long as you don't need it to boost a dead V8 in bitter cold: https://www.amazon.ca/SAKAKI-Compressor-Emergency-Portable-Yellow-Jump/dp/B0CSDM496K

 

[zvez]

Seems I wasn’t. I haven’t tried it on a Mach E yet though.

that would be great you might actually be able to keep it in the little panel where the wires are. Be interesting to see if it works on mach es

 

[GatorGrowl]

Too bad they don’t make something small enough where you could put it behind the door with some Velcro on the charging port??

I wonder if something like this would work. https://a.co/d/jbfGWne

Might try it and let yall know.

 

[Jerrytball]

I wonder if something like this would work. https://a.co/d/jbfGWne

Might try it and let yall know.

I’ve added to my list. Let me know.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Any 12V source will be suitable for opening the frunk. It's not like jumping an ICE car where you need to support a surge of current to the starter.

That is not 100% correct, a 12V battery charger will NOT work to open the frunk. Most don't output with zero sensed voltage, or don't put out enough amps.

It needs to be a 12V BATTERY not a CHARGER. Jump pack are okay (on the lithium ones you will have to use the override button or function). GOOLOO jump packs are what I'd recommend, but as mentioned you need to store it in a different vehicle besides the Mach-E in order to access it if the 12V battery goes completely dead.

Most people don't need to worry about having this, it's overkill. Just deal with it on the rare case it happens.

 

[generaltso]

that would be great you might actually be able to keep it in the little panel where the wires are. Be interesting to see if it works on mach es

It doesn’t.

I wonder if something like this would work. https://a.co/d/jbfGWne

Might try it and let yall know.

That doesn‘t either. Not enough amperage.

 

[Jerrytball]

I wonder if something like this would work. https://a.co/d/jbfGWne

Might try it and let yall know.

I forgot to ask, but that doesn’t work even with a jumper box, unless the batteries dead you can’t just connect jumper cables to that connector behind the bumper and it’ll pop open, correct? The battery has to be dead, right?

 

[generaltso]

I forgot to ask, but that doesn’t work even with a jumper box, unless the batteries dead you can’t just connect jumper cables to that connector behind the bumper and it’ll pop open, correct? The battery has to be dead, right?

Correct. And even then, the jumper box needs to have an override function.

 

[Jerrytball]

Correct. And even then, the jumper box needs to have an override function.

I’m not sure what you mean on the override that battery example that I’ve got should that suffice?

 

[generaltso]

I’m not sure what you mean on the override that battery example that I’ve got should that suffice?

Most jumper boxes have a built-in safety function that requires some voltage before the clamps are energized. This is to prevent you from touching them together or connecting them to the wrong terminals. The better ones have an override button that let‘s you disable that safety feature, which would be necessary if the 12V battery was completely dead. That override is also necessary to pop the frunk since there is no voltage on the bumper leads. I don’t know if the one you have has that function.

 

[Jerrytball]

This

 

[Jerrytball]

I don’t know if that feature is in there, but here’s a safety write up of that jumper.

• 10 INTELLIGENT SAFTY PROTECTIONS: This jump starter battery pack is super safe to use with 10 intelligent safety protections against overcharge, short circuits, reverse polarity, power surging and sparking, and so forth. You can detect the errors by simply checking the lights and the beep sound from the smart jumper clamps.

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