12v outlet

[taylorcustom]

cant find any info on the 12v outlet in the cargo area is it powered by the 12v battery or the main battery. i want to charge my wheelchair back there everynight while the car is plug in?

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[RickMachE]

All 12v is powered by the 12v battery.

No, you cannot charge your wheelchair with it while the car is plugged in, it's not designed for that usage.

 

[taylorcustom]

Thank you thats what I thought but that would be really convenient since I only use it when I'm at work and it's already back there all night

 

[moog]

All 12v is powered by the 12v battery.

No, you cannot charge your wheelchair with it while the car is plugged in, it's not designed for that usage.

If the vehicle is "ON" all 12volt power is "sourced" from the HV battery.

The vehicle must be left "ON", and the shut down timer would have to be turned off to run off the HV Battery.

However, I don't know what the draw is on your wheelchair, and using the 12V to charge it may not be a good idea depending on the wheelchairs draw.

 

[RickMachE]

If the vehicle is "ON" all 12volt power is "sourced" from the HV battery.

The vehicle must be left "ON", and the shut down timer would have to be turned off to run off the HV Battery.

However, I don't know what the draw is on your wheelchair, and using the 12V to charge it may not be a good idea depending on the wheelchairs draw.

The OP clearly wasn't planning on leaving the vehicle on all night. And, all 12v power comes from the 12v battery, which is charged by the HVB. But you can't plug your car into a charger, off, and plug in a 12v draw all night long.

 

[moog]

The OP clearly wasn't planning on leaving the vehicle on all night. And, all 12v power comes from the 12v battery, which is charged by the HVB. But you can't plug your car into a charger, off, and plug in a 12v draw all night long.

This is also correct.

Let's flesh it out further.

If the car is parked in a secure location (locked garage, etc) and is left "ON" overnight, every night.
There should be no "harm" done to the vehicle other than "draw" on the HV battery.

If OP wanted to charge his wheelchair in the trunk via the 12V outlet, there should be no issues......EXCEPT for verifying the draw on the wheelchair vs the output of the 12V outlet.

That is the unknown.

I guess in a worse case scenario he blows a fuse for the 12V outlet.



You can power various (lower wattage) AC items via inverters from the 12V outlets during a home power outage so long as the car is left "ON".

Has anyone ever stated that there would be any issues/"damage" for leaving the car "ON" for long term other than battery charge loss/degradation?

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I don’t think there would an issue leaving the car on. Of course you should turn off the headlights and HVAC, as well as the 30 minute shutoff timer (that is, unless the wheelchair can charge sufficiently in 30 minutes, in which case it would be ideal). Might also be a good idea to leave the driver window open just in case things go really sideways and the battery drains. (Not likely, but easy enough to take that precaution.)

 

[music_cities]

You can adjust the timeout for the 12V using forScan. I wonder, for example, if the 12V wheelchair would recharge in an hour, whether it would be worthwhile investigating setting the timeout to 60 minutes?

My understanding is that Ford has recently improved the automatic system of charging the 12V from the HVB, so maybe this would be ok.

Of course, it depends on the amp draw of the wheelchair.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/usb-12v-outlet-timer-forscan.32779/post-735443

 

[Mikeonejones]

cant find any info on the 12v outlet in the cargo area is it powered by the 12v battery or the main battery. i want to charge my wheelchair back there everynight while the car is plug in?

2 years ago I went on a 2 week road trip in my mach e gt. I had a portable camping fridge plugged into the 12 volt outlet in the trunk. I also had a fifty foot orange extension cord in the trunk. When I was at a hotel or visiting someone I would ask if I could plug my refrigerator into thier outdoor outlet using the extension.
Then I would close the trunk on the extension cord.

Another thing I have done is keep a few things charged/powered, in my car,using my Ecoflow Delta in my trunk. I would charge the Delta, as needed, with the extension cord.

 

[Pioneer898]

I have a clarifying question. I thought that when the car was charging (not on), it would maintain the 12v battery? Is that not true?

ETA: Nvm, I found my answer in the 12v FAQ. Seems pretty silly to me that plugging in the car doesn't always keep the battery topped off. I wonder how many tows and dealer visits they could save by making this simple change.
Also I realize this doesn't change the fact that the outlets turn off if the car is not on, but it would be cool if they didn't turn off, and instead the car just kept the battery charged always.

Does plugging in the car keep the 12V battery charged?

NO! That is one of the biggest misunderstandings of the Mach-E 12V system that I see. The 12V battery is only charged when the vehicle is ON or CHARGING. If the vehicle is plugged in and NOT charging, the 12V battery is NOT charged. So if the vehicle was not driven or charged very long or very recently, the 12V battery is not going to be full. Some people think plugging in works like a 12V trickle charger, that is NOT the case.

 

[music_cities]

I have a clarifying question. I thought that when the car was charging (not on), it would maintain the 12v battery? Is that not true?

ETA: Nvm, I found my answer in the 12v FAQ. Seems pretty silly to me that plugging in the car doesn't always keep the battery topped off. I wonder how many tows and dealer visits they could save by making this simple change.
Also I realize this doesn't change the fact that the outlets turn off if the car is not on, but it would be cool if they didn't turn off, and instead the car just kept the battery charged always.

Search for more recent posts in the forum. My understanding is that now with new software updates if the 12v battery drops too low it will trigger a recharge from HVB using the dc-dc converter. Or maybe this was always a feature, but it’s been enhanced to trigger more aggressively. If that’s true, one should be able to draw continuously a low power 12v device even if the car is turned off. But I’m just going by foggy memory, don’t blame me if you try it and drain your 12v to zero.

 

[Pioneer898]

Search for more recent posts in the forum. My understanding is that now with new software updates if the 12v battery drops too low it will trigger a recharge from HVB using the dc-dc converter. Or maybe this was always a feature, but it’s been enhanced to trigger more aggressively. If that’s true, one should be able to draw continuously a low power 12v device even if the car is turned off. But I’m just going by foggy memory, don’t blame me if you try it and drain your 12v to zero.

Yeah, I think I saw something about that. A recent update that increases the minimum SoC before the HVB kicks in. I just struggle to understand why they wouldn't just have a DC-DC converter that literally always keeps the battery charged from the HVB. Customers shouldn't have to deal with any of this stuff. If I have a car that has a battery that could run a house for a week, I shouldn't have to baby it.

If it was my project (I know it isn't) they'd have a 12v supercapacitor as the "battery" and it would always be fed by a 2kw DC-DC inverter from the HVB. 24/7 no conditions, hard-wired. 12v never needs to be replaced, and nobody ever talks about 12v issues again. But then, I guess these forums would be pretty quiet haha

 

[Pioneer898]

I lieu of that, I think a small solar panel somewhere on the car would be pretty cool to trickle the battery. I bet they could even make the "grill" pattern with a solar panel and have as much as 50w of solar on the front

 

[RickMachE]

I lieu of that, I think a small solar panel somewhere on the car would be pretty cool to trickle the battery. I bet they could even make the "grill" pattern with a solar panel and have as much as 50w of solar on the front

I know people that have put a solar panel on their dash to charge the 12v battery. On the F-150s and Lightnings, there is a tray that you could set it in.

 

[Pioneer898]

I know people that have put a solar panel on their dash to charge the 12v battery. On the F-150s and Lightnings, there is a tray that you could set it in.

Yeah, maybe this one's different, but in my experience the windows block so much UV that solar doesn't work super well inside the car. In my fiesta I tried to use a 100w panel in the back window. It fit great in otherwise wasted space, but it barely put out any juice. Outside the car it was

(To clarify, it was on the surface below the back window laying flat, not blocking it)

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