Deep Sleep Mode - 12v battery drained dead [update: Mach-E jump started]

[generaltso]

Any chance one could charge the 12V battery with those leads...?

Unfortunately, no.

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[Bookworm214]

Any chance one could charge the 12V battery with those leads...?

No. All this connection does is open the frunk. That's it.

 

[dbsb3233]

If you can't get into the car, you'll have to connect a 12v power source to the leads in the little compartment in the front bumper. That will open the frunk, and from there you'll have to remove the rear and driver's side plastic panels to gain access to the 12v battery to jump start it.

Does the rear panel really need to be taken off too? I haven't touched them in mine yet but it seems like the + is the main one you need full access to under the side panel, and maybe the exposed - pole (which is just frame ground) might be accessible from there?

Or can you not even get the side panel off without removing the rear first?

Also seems like connecting the - to any metal frame spot might work?

 

[generaltso]

Does the rear panel really need to be taken off too?

From the reports I've read, you can't get the side panel off without removing the rear first. But I don't have my MME yet, so I can't confirm from personal experience.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Any chance one could charge the 12V battery with those leads...?

No. Those leads only provide power to the front trunk release solenoid. Once inside the frunk you have to remove the rear trim piece (behind the storage compartment) and then the driver-side trim piece (The driver-side trim piece marks the + and - symbols indicating the position of the charging terminals.

The trim panels are press-fit (they basically "snap" in) vertically ... lift straight-up to pop them out (Don't pull sideways).

The low-voltage battery is a 35 amp hour AGM battery. Use an AGM battery charger to charge it ... ideally something that can supply about 10 amps or more. I used a trickle charger that could only supply 4 amps and it really wasn't enough (the car was trying to wake up but didn't have enough power). I switched to a 10 amp charger and it was happy.

Once the software update was applied to my car it's been happy ever since.

If you aren't able to get it over to a dealer right away then leave the car unplugged when not actively charging and you wont have a recurrence of a low 12v battery. (But do get it fixed via software update).

 

[Finkerton]

No. Those leads only provide power to the front trunk release solenoid. Once inside the frunk you have to remove the rear trim piece (behind the storage compartment) and then the driver-side trim piece (The driver-side trim piece marks the + and - symbols indicating the position of the charging terminals.

The trim panels are press-fit (they basically "snap" in) vertically ... lift straight-up to pop them out (Don't pull sideways).

Thank you to everyone who responded and helped (especially @TheVirtualTim) -- got the frunk open and it jump started successfully. Letting it sit there with power on (turned off the auto power-off at 30 minutes) -- I assume it will charge and keep charged the LVB at all times when the car is turned on (otherwise it wouldn't really be able to support those dual 20A 12V sockets, you'd run through the LVB real quick).

I've had less luck getting a Ford dealership (all of whom are selling the ME but claim they don't know how to service it) to be receptive to updating the software. Got one to agree to take it with the condition that it may be several days or "a while" before I get it back. Will push them to call the Zone Rep to get access to the necessary software update since it's not tied to the VIN.

 

[back_at_it_19]

No. Those leads only provide power to the front trunk release solenoid. Once inside the frunk you have to remove the rear trim piece (behind the storage compartment) and then the driver-side trim piece (The driver-side trim piece marks the + and - symbols indicating the position of the charging terminals.

The trim panels are press-fit (they basically "snap" in) vertically ... lift straight-up to pop them out (Don't pull sideways).

The low-voltage battery is a 35 amp hour AGM battery. Use an AGM battery charger to charge it ... ideally something that can supply about 10 amps or more. I used a trickle charger that could only supply 4 amps and it really wasn't enough (the car was trying to wake up but didn't have enough power). I switched to a 10 amp charger and it was happy.

Once the software update was applied to my car it's been happy ever since.

If you aren't able to get it over to a dealer right away then leave the car unplugged when not actively charging and you wont have a recurrence of a low 12v battery. (But do get it fixed via software update).

If and when this happens, if you unplug the mme, would the hvb eventually charge the 12v? Or no bc it needs 12v to open the dc-dc?

 

[TheVirtualTim]

If and when this happens, if you unplug the mme, would the hvb eventually charge the 12v? Or no bc it needs 12v to open the dc-dc?

It depends on how low the 12v battery is drained. The module that monitors the state of charge on the 12v battery is using that same 12v battery to run the module. (Fun fact ... the module that handles OTA updates *also* runs on the 12v battery. So you wouldn't be able to do an OTA until the low-voltage battery is charged.) So if the 12v battery is TOO low, it wont even have enough power to monitor itself correctly and start a charge (you'd have to put a 12v AGM battery charger on it to bring up the state of charge). But if it has enough power it will pull power from the HVB to bring up the charge on the 12v. This works correctly when the car is not plugged in ... even on a car that needs the software update.

If you're car has the issue but the dealer doesn't know how to get the software update (and should be reaching out to their Ford rep for help) or if you just can't spare the time to take it to the dealer for a few days ... then you can leave the car unplugged except for when you are actively charging the HVB. It will correctly maintain itself when NOT plugged in.

 

[dtbaker61]

Thank you to everyone who responded and helped (especially @TheVirtualTim) -- got the frunk open and it jump started successfully. Letting it sit there with power on (turned off the auto power-off at 30 minutes) -- I assume it will charge and keep charged the LVB at all times when the car is turned on (otherwise it wouldn't really be able to support those dual 20A 12V sockets, you'd run through the LVB real quick).

I've had less luck getting a Ford dealership (all of whom are selling the ME but claim they don't know how to service it) to be receptive to updating the software. Got one to agree to take it with the condition that it may be several days or "a while" before I get it back. Will push them to call the Zone Rep to get access to the necessary software update since it's not tied to the VIN.

glad you figured out Frunk jump...
access to the LVB connection points to charge/jump LVB is a bit of a PIA, unless you DIY access holes in the side cover panel
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-add-access-ports-for-lvb-connection-points.4107/

rumor is that Dealers *should* be able to verify updates by VIN in a system they call OASIS or some such... but there is no direct way that Owners can tell which fixes have been applied... there are no 'release notes' for major releases or bug fix updates that I am aware of.... but it sure would be nice if we could get an email/newsletter/report by VIN, perhaps in our Ford.com account, showing what version our vehicle is at, and release notes for each update?!

 

[JSW]

Any chance one could charge the 12V battery with those leads...?

nfortunately, no.

If and when this happens, if you unplug the mme, would the hvb eventually charge the 12v? Or no bc it needs 12v to open the dc-dc?

In my experience, it will, depending on how low the 12v has dropped.

 

[Finkerton]

rumor is that Dealers *should* be able to verify updates by VIN in a system they call OASIS or some such... but there is no direct way that Owners can tell which fixes have been applied... there are no 'release notes' for major releases or bug fix updates that I am aware of.... but it sure would be nice if we could get an email/newsletter/report by VIN, perhaps in our Ford.com account, showing what version our vehicle is at, and release notes for each update?!

My MME came five days ago and the dealer swore up and down that there were no updates or service bulletins tied to my VIN. So either they didn't bother and lied to me, or (as others have suggested in this thread) this is not an update that is tied to VINs, at least right now. Or, if they really do need to specifically request access to some of the software updates, maybe it doesn't show up until they actually have access to apply it.

 

[Finkerton]

Coming from my Chevy Bolt, there was a single OTA, once, and all other times (before and after that OTA) the car software had to be updated at the dealership. I know from other threads that Ford is beta testing an OTA update right now. Do we think that this car is like (I think, never had one) Tesla, in that all of the car software can be updated OTA?

Given how clueless dealers are around here, and how they're saying that "it may be a while" to get the car back to me for a simple software update, I'm just wondering what the likelihood is that the upcoming OTA will fix this (or an upcoming one later), in which case I may just hold on to it and not leave it plugged in when not actively charging. In the meantime dealers might actually get their act together with respect to servicing them.

 

[back_at_it_19]

My MME came five days ago and the dealer swore up and down that there were no updates or service bulletins tied to my VIN. So either they didn't bother and lied to me, or (as others have suggested in this thread) this is not an update that is tied to VINs, at least right now. Or, if they really do need to specifically request access to some of the software updates, maybe it doesn't show up until they actually have access to apply it.

 

[back_at_it_19]

Supposed to appear in dealer OASIS.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

Did anyone ever confirm (or at least find support) that this TSB is actually for the LVB drain issue? I'm not doubting you at all, it just feels like the speculation surrounding the stop ship/QC holds earlier this month...some educated guesses, but no hard evidence either way (which I assume we'll never get )

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