12V Battery - Something has to be done!

[steveg95]

I do think Ford should provide some type of LV battery monitoring method so that the owner would KNOW that the battery is in distress or below some safe threshold.

But until they do, it's about $25 to install the feature yourself. I will not be unaware of a failing or tired AGM.

What can I install myself for this?

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[carbonizedbrett]

What can I install myself for this?

This is the one I'm using in my GV60:

QUICKLYNKS Auto Battery Monitor BM2 Bluetooth 4.0 12V Device Car Battery Tester https://a.co/d/e4Aq7KH

 

[steveg95]

This is the one I'm using in my GV60:

QUICKLYNKS Auto Battery Monitor BM2 Bluetooth 4.0 12V Device Car Battery Tester https://a.co/d/e4Aq7KH

Thanks!

 

[Maui]

I do think Ford should provide some type of LV battery monitoring method so that the owner would KNOW that the battery is in distress or below some safe threshold.

But until they do, it's about $25 to install the feature yourself. I will not be unaware of a failing or tired AGM.

I would love to do this but I feel like the act of monitoring this will influence the very outcome I am trying to avoid ?

 

[Flint302]

I'm at 3 1/2 years and no issue--I just had the dealer change out the battery because I don't want to play Russian Roulette on a cold winter night. This cost me about $200 total, $90 for the battery and the rest to put it in. I'm perfectly fine with this $200 insurance policy.

 

[steveg95]

I'm at 3 1/2 years and no issue--I just had the dealer change out the battery because I don't want to play Russian Roulette on a cold winter night. This cost me about $200 total, $90 for the battery and the rest to put it in. I'm perfectly fine with this $200 insurance policy.

I plan on changing mine at 3 years.

 

[Snakebitten]

I would love to do this but I feel like the act of monitoring this will influence the very outcome I am trying to avoid ?

I know that on the forum that the shear quantity and the depth of the low voltage knowledge can make it seem complicated.

But all we are really talking about is changing the battery before it fails.
Or, not finding out that the battery is dead at an inconvenient place/time.

If it were a flashlight, you'd be changing the battery because the light was dim, but it was still working. ?

Keep it simple.
Look at the voltage of your Mach-E battery from your IPhone/Samsung every few days and notice if it's lower than it usually is.
If it starts showing up at say.... 12.2V, or lower after the car has been sitting untouched for a few hours, then at least tell yourself to look into it.
Why is the battery below an intended voltage?

$25 peace of mind.
And this modern tech world we live in makes it easier to keep tabs than ever in history. You don't even have to open the hood or touch the car.

 

[Stanmckinney]

Some of us may not feel comfortable installing this. I know I don’t. Any tips or instructions?

 

[SonicBlue]

Predictably, many of the (nerdy) folks on here are focusing on the ability to monitor the battery. These are the folks who enjoy the challenge of EV ownership.

Whereas other folks like me are more focused on the underlying problems, namely: (1) the damned battery shouldn’t be routinely dying around three years, and (2) Ford shouldn’t make the damned battery so hard to access, both in getting the hood open and burying it under snap plastic panels and stabilizer bar.

It’s a really interesting difference in mindset. Some people accept the shortcomings and look for a workaround. Others do not accept the shortcomings and demand that it be better. I think this may ultimately boil down to a scarcity versus abundance mindset (which is what the “climate change” issue really boils down to) but that’s just a theory I’m tinkering with. Every day I look at boards like this like an anthropologist making contact with a new tribe.

 

[Snakebitten]

But it's not the challenge of EV ownership.
It IS the challenge of owning highly complex electronics laden vehicles that are designed to be awake while you are asleep.

I admit that I am pretty stubborn about not getting caught with an unexpected dead battery. But it takes more effort just to keep the tires on this thing aired up-down properly in changing weather. ?

$25 and 10 minutes to install

 

[ipca204]

Predictably, many of the (nerdy) folks on here are focusing on the ability to monitor the battery. These are the folks who enjoy the challenge of EV ownership.

Whereas other folks like me are more focused on the underlying problems, namely: (1) the damned battery shouldn’t be routinely dying around three years, and (2) Ford shouldn’t make the damned battery so hard to access, both in getting the hood open and burying it under snap plastic panels and stabilizer bar.

It’s a really interesting difference in mindset. Some people accept the shortcomings and look for a workaround. Others do not accept the shortcomings and demand that it be better. I think this may ultimately boil down to a scarcity versus abundance mindset (which is what the “climate change” issue really boils down to) but that’s just a theory I’m tinkering with. Every day I look at boards like this like an anthropologist making contact with a new tribe.

LOL, you can "focus on the underlying problems" all you want, but I would rather be the "nerd" who knows when it is time to change out the battery. Basically, the car is what it is, you can solve the issues or you can, like you, just bitch about it. "Demand" all you want, but I guarantee Ford is not coming out to "fix" your car...

 

[TheSteelRider]

The access to the 12v is just dumb. And getting locked out of the car is dumber. I rather have less space in the funk to be able to easily access my 12v. Your at the store and your ice dies. You open the door sit inside your car out of the RAIN and wait for someone to come and jump you. They come pop the hood and connect the cables and off you go. Mach-E you come out find car dead. Stand in the rain waiting for someone. Once there they help pop the hood. Then you start popping of panels. Dropping a few clips but to busy to find them. Doing all this while wet and your friend laughing at you for buying an EV. Telling you how easy it is to get to his battery. Final get car started and put panels back on. You then get back in your car all wet and pissed off you had no warning your battery was about to die. Next day you order a new battery which was out of stock. Final comes and you spend next couple of hours removing your old battery and trying to work it out of the tight spot that it fits in. Then you finally wiggle the new battery into place. Now you finally ready to drive your car. But wait now your PAAK stop working because of a phone update. Final you give up and call Uber to the bar to forget all your troubles over a bad Mach-E design. Lol

I know this is mostly just a funny post, but is quite literally almost exactly what happened to us. Ford's 12v LVB solution is insanely ridiculous

 

[SolarAB]

My 12V battery failed after three years, missed the warranty period by a week.

 

[Art]

FORD, listen up……….I love all the new improvements planned for 2025; cooled seats, heat pump, more center console space. Etc. But what I continually read in these forums is the overall nightmare that is the MME’s 12V implementation. Everyone lives in fear of the ‘somewhere-around-three-year’ surprise binary failure, which apparently occurs without notice. Even if covered under warranty, your customers shouldn’t be inconvenienced by a total and instant shut down of the entire car, and then the Byzantine means by which it must be corrected by the owner, or towed away back to a Ford dealer. The whole thing in place now for 4 (or is it 5?) model years looks like a last minute Rube-Goldberg solution to an overlooked problem!
Here are some suggestions:

- Change battery chemistry and/or construction to something that doesn’t just go from a ‘1’ to a ‘0’ with no advance warning. Also, these batteries ought to enjoy a 5-7 year lifespan instead of 3 years, just like ‘old fashioned’ lead-acid batteries currently do.
- Provide the means of gaging/viewing its SOC if that’s still necessary after you make some changes. Lead acid batteries in ICE cars usually warn us with slow engine cranking for example, giving us (usually) months worth of heads-up.
- Change the logic by which the HVB wakes up and recharges the LVB. Maybe this is already in place with recent OTA updates?
- Provide a mechanical override cable (like those often found in trunks) that will allow the front hood to be opened without having to ‘jumper’ it open through the front portal. I mean, who carries a 12V supply in their back pocket (because you can’t keep it in a car that can’t be accessed absent 12V power).
- Provide a snap-down lift-up panel under the hood so that it’s easy to access and/or remove the battery without having to dis-assemble 2/3rds of the other plastic panels.

Maybe all this has been suggested already throughout the MME’s first years. If so, why aren’t we hearing about specific changes to address the issue? I’ll shut up when I see some changes that actually do!

BTW…..otherwise I LOVE my MME, which currently is only 5 months old and has only 2,300 miles. It’s been problem free and a total joy to own! I’ll want to stay with it when my lease is up in 2027, but stupid issues like this one will give me pause…..

This discussion would go away if Ford went back to the old software that had the SOC of the 12V battery on the first page of the website and the large battery SOC on a second page.
I think MME owners are responsible for this change because they complained that they couldn't work the software.
I decided that since I own a 2021 MME to get a moniter ($13) to plug into the 12V receptacle. Be careful if you buy one of these. Don't leave it plugged in, some have reported fires due to the moniter. Treat it as a meter and then pull it out.

 

[Art]

FORD, listen up……….I love all the new improvements planned for 2025; cooled seats, heat pump, more center console space. Etc. But what I continually read in these forums is the overall nightmare that is the MME’s 12V implementation. Everyone lives in fear of the ‘somewhere-around-three-year’ surprise binary failure, which apparently occurs without notice. Even if covered under warranty, your customers shouldn’t be inconvenienced by a total and instant shut down of the entire car, and then the Byzantine means by which it must be corrected by the owner, or towed away back to a Ford dealer. The whole thing in place now for 4 (or is it 5?) model years looks like a last minute Rube-Goldberg solution to an overlooked problem!
Here are some suggestions:

- Change battery chemistry and/or construction to something that doesn’t just go from a ‘1’ to a ‘0’ with no advance warning. Also, these batteries ought to enjoy a 5-7 year lifespan instead of 3 years, just like ‘old fashioned’ lead-acid batteries currently do.
- Provide the means of gaging/viewing its SOC if that’s still necessary after you make some changes. Lead acid batteries in ICE cars usually warn us with slow engine cranking for example, giving us (usually) months worth of heads-up.
- Change the logic by which the HVB wakes up and recharges the LVB. Maybe this is already in place with recent OTA updates?
- Provide a mechanical override cable (like those often found in trunks) that will allow the front hood to be opened without having to ‘jumper’ it open through the front portal. I mean, who carries a 12V supply in their back pocket (because you can’t keep it in a car that can’t be accessed absent 12V power).
- Provide a snap-down lift-up panel under the hood so that it’s easy to access and/or remove the battery without having to dis-assemble 2/3rds of the other plastic panels.

Maybe all this has been suggested already throughout the MME’s first years. If so, why aren’t we hearing about specific changes to address the issue? I’ll shut up when I see some changes that actually do!

BTW…..otherwise I LOVE my MME, which currently is only 5 months old and has only 2,300 miles. It’s been problem free and a total joy to own! I’ll want to stay with it when my lease is up in 2027, but stupid issues like this one will give me pause…..

All Ford has to do is reimplement the old software that showed the 12V SOC on the first page of the website. The large battery SOC was on the second page.
I think they took it away because MME owners complained even though the larger battery SOC was on a second page.
I bought a 12V monitor ($13) that I use like a voltmeter. I plug it into the 12V receptacle and remove after viewing.

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