“Plug in to maintain 12V battery” alert

[Lord Polymath]

Glad this was posted. My Mach E is 2.5 yrs old and I have never gotten that "Plug in to Maintain 12V Battery" warning until today. It happened at 79% SOC. I drive the car almost every day, usually about 20-30 miles a day, and plug in the car 3-4 times a week. Good to know others have been seeing the same thing and that its a recent issue. Maybe a software bug in a recent update?

Got it the first time today. 81% charge. I don't understand why the car can't maintain the LVB - if it is indeed low. Like you mentioned it might be bug, but it makes me nervous.

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[Penny]

I received the same warning on FordPass on Sept 14, while the main battery charge state was about 74%. I obediently plugged my Mach-e in to my home charger and changed the charge setting from an 80% charge limit to charge to 100%.

When I next started it up to drive, I got that message on the in-car screen mentioned by earlier posters, about a 12V battery issue and should 'service soon' - but it flashed by and was gone so quickly I'm not sure what it said and couldn't figure out how to bring it up again.

Fingers crossed, so far I haven't had another message nor had any difficulty starting. Also would like to know what is meant by 'difficult to start' - what would 'difficult to start' look like; that you have to concentrate hard while you press the start button, or press the button especially hard, ? Is this an understatement, don't they actually mean 'might fail to start and leave you stranded.

 

[MariaM19]

I got the same message on FordPass yesterday, was around 38% SOC at the time. Have been plugged into my L1 charger ever since but hadn't driven until this evening. Saw the same service soon message pop up and go away quickly. Also had the 5.1.1 update on 9/28. Anyone here still having it show up for them? Or is it safe to assume this was a weird bug?

 

[Xweb]

Just showed for me in the fordpass app, as well. 82% charge. Hopefully it is just a flook, but I plugged it in just in case.

 

[vinny2487]

Same thing happened to me, car at 80%. I got the message in the app but nothing when I turned on the car. First time this has happened to me. However, I did get the cheap start up tones and the infotainment showed a prompt about powering down screen to converse battery. Drove to the gym, let it sit for an hour and started up again with the normal tones.

Not sure if this is relevant, but I got 5.1.1 on 10/4 and got the "plug in to maintain 12v" on 10/9. I didn't use my car all weekend and the only time I turned the car on was to move it in and out of the driveway Sunday because I was doing some work.

 

[Mnath]

Just this morning my frunk would not open. This was with no messages. Then later in the morning, I got a phone call that turned into a 2 hour call, which I was parked with the car off and Android auto connected, as I usually have to open the door to disconnect the blue tooth and shut off my music, calls, phone...I tried to start the car and it would not start on the first try, but then it started. Drove home, which was a mile, and frunk opened fine. I'm not sure what the correlation was between my frunk not opening and the 2 hr call I took with the car, including accessories, off. I find it strange that the frunk would not open BEFORE this call.
My 2023 Mach E is still a mystery to me at times, even with numerous other owners reporting the same issues.

 

[Lookitsdrew]

What kind of

I got my first message last night.

CarScanner App
I just started using CarScanner with a OBD2 adapter that will go to sleep after 30 minutes of no activity. I closed the CarScanner app on my android phone, but I just found out that the CarScanner app will keep pinging the adapter in the background. You need to make sure in the CarScanner app to disconect from the adapter.

What kind OBD2 scanner do you use?

 

[worachj]

What kind of

What kind OBD2 scanner do you use?

Vgate vLinker MC+ that I purchased on EBay. It has the old shell but should be the same as the newer version that you can get from Vgate or on Amazon. I've noticed no problems.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195715368924

https://www.vgatemall.com/products-detail/i-5/

 

[Lookitsdrew]

Vgate vLinker MC+ that I purchased on EBay. It has the old shell but should be the same as the newer version that you can get from Vgate or on Amazon. I've noticed no problems.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/195715368924

https://www.vgatemall.com/products-detail/i-5/

Great, is there any subscriptions fees to use the app?

 

[worachj]

Great, is there any subscriptions fees to use the app?

No it's free. The CarScanner Pro version I believe is $4.99.

 

[Parasmoney]

I got the message over night and my 12v battery was actually dead. Never got any warnings about service car soon or anything. What can cause that? Temp was in the 50s over night, the car was not plugged in as the battery was still at 70%.

 

[RickMachE]

I got the message over night and my 12v battery was actually dead. Never got any warnings about service car soon or anything. What can cause that? Temp was in the 50s over night, the car was not plugged in as the battery was still at 70%.

Lack of use for weeks.
Lack of charging for weeks.
Constantly checking vehicle status via app.
Plugging in 12v accessories and leaving them plugged in.

 

[Parasmoney]

Lack of use for weeks.
Lack of charging for weeks.
Constantly checking vehicle status via app.
Plugging in 12v accessories and leaving them plugged in.

I had a hunch that a software update might have drained it.... Just checked the status in the app and indeed an update was imaged over night. Should the software updates require the car to be plugged in? I was able to get the battery jump starter with a portable jumper. Not giving any faults at the moment. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

 

[Jerrytball]

I plug in my ‘21 daily with charge limit set to 70% pretty much every day since I’ve owned this car. Received the 4.2.6 last Friday, and car ignored my charge settings and went to 100%. Yesterday I get an alert to “Plug in to maintain 12V battery” despite it being at 96% SOC. I don’t have a battery scanner so can’t confirm the 12v is low or not. I’ve had the car randomly tell me to service my 12V before when I turned on but that hasn’t shown up in a while.

Dealer says they checked battery at my 10K service appointment and it passed as normal. although I doubt they actually did. Anyone who has had these errors let me know how they handled with dealer?

I bought that little code reader I’ve seen on the Internet lately, blacktec 430. No subscription you don’t have to really do anything, pay anything extra. It gives you a lot of good information although you can’t clear codes with it.

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