[Guide] Better Jump Point Access (Battery Access)

[21st Century Pony]

Seems to be a good size. I’ve seen sizes from 1.5 to 2.5” mentioned. No problem getting a good bite on the jump points with a 2” opening? Understood that clamp size varies among cables or charging devices.

Mine are 2-inch as well.

FYI - member dtbaker61 suggests adding a 3d hole between these two for the high voltage battery cutoff switch. I'm sure 1st responders would appreciate that if ever needed... it's the rectangular green thingy under the driver's side cover with the red pull-up tab on its side.

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[garyd9]

Seems to be a good size. I’ve seen sizes from 1.5 to 2.5” mentioned. No problem getting a good bite on the jump points with a 2” opening? Understood that clamp size varies among cables or charging devices.

 

[rreddy3]

Looks good. Did you use one of the templates on the forum, or create your own? Only extra I'm going to include, as noted by others in the thread, is an access point for the HVB disconnect switch.

Not to beat this to death, but it's clearly unfortunate Ford did not include jump point and HVB disconnect access ports without having to rip have the frunk trim bits apart.

The baby 12v battery is the beating heart of all EVs, not just Mach e.

No 12v/LVB juice = no joy.

Logic dictates that OEM access points should have been provided to allow kick starting these things when they fail that doesn't involve ripping apart half the trim under the hood. If Jim had experienced such a failure on his now legendary Lightning family vacation trip out west that allegedly pushed the supercharger deal over the goal line, we wouldn't still be cobbling together homemade 12v access solutions, no matter how good they may be.

Ford, Jim, are you listening? BTW, if people didn't like or love these cars, they wouldn't put so much effort into making improvements to them that should have with a modicum of foresight been included in the first instance by Ford.

 

[Fins160]

You'd need to have some large clamps to have an issue with the 2 inch holes.

Just personal preference, mine are 2.5" and I appreciated the extra space using my heavy duty, long-reach jumper cables this week. I don't see any downside to the slightly larger size.

 

[garyd9]

Looks good. Did you use one of the templates on the forum, or create your own? Only extra I'm going to include, as noted by others in the thread, is an access point for the HVB disconnect switch.

I used the measurements from the first post in this thread as a starting point for my pilot holes. I did move the negative hole very slightly closer to the front of the car (just to give the cap more room.) I might not have needed to move it, but I figured that I only had one chance to get it right.

Just personal preference, mine are 2.5" and I appreciated the extra space using my heavy duty, long-reach jumper cables this week. I don't see any downside to the slightly larger size.

No real downsides other than having to have room for a slightly larger hole. I happened to have a 2" hole saw, so that's what I used.

 

[rreddy3]

I have a couple of hole saws I think. Obviously need to check their size.

This truly is a 'measure/layout 3 times and count once' deal.

 

[garyd9]

Caps for the access holes... These are 3D printed with two colors of ABS filament. (Voron V2.4 with ERCF filament changer.) The cap's top texture is a texture inherited from my build plate.

Here's a closeup of one of the caps. You might notice at the bottom of the cap a gap was designed in for a fingernail or tool to be inserted to lift up the cap.

 

[ipca204]

Caps for the access holes... These are 3D printed with two colors of ABS filament. (Voron V2.4 with ERCF filament changer.) The cap's top texture is a texture inherited from my build plate.

Here's a closeup of one of the caps. You might notice at the bottom of the cap a gap was designed in for a fingernail or tool to be inserted to lift up the cap.

you should sell those!

 

[dtbaker61]

Nice mod! Was curious if a 2 inch diameter is enough to fit most jumper cable connectors?

yes

 

[dtbaker61]

Mine are 2-inch as well.

FYI - member dtbaker61 suggests adding a 3d hole between these two for the high voltage battery cutoff switch. I'm sure 1st responders would appreciate that if ever needed... it's the rectangular green thingy under the driver's side cover with the red pull-up tab on its side.

Thanks Martin, yes, the third hole I think is very important... and it would be nice to paint it the standard Orange for HV, and perhaps a 'disconnect' icon for first responders and tow truck drivers.

as far as the LV 12v connection points.... Holes are a good start, but I have moved on to adding 'heavy duty' cables directly to the connection points to enable moving more current in or out of the HV. I wanted to enable V2L for the Mach-e. We can handle 2000watt export no problem when the MME is on and pulling power out of the HV battery.

https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...uty-12v-cables-for-import-export-power.37415/

 

[sparkout]

The clamps that came with the charger. Then I reinstalled the plastic pieces so no one can touch the clamps by accident. I put the connector up next to the WW fluid fill for access, as shown in my photo.

What is an extremely out dated job 1? I have a March 2021 delivery date. Does that make it out dated?

 

[MoonRiver]

I did this mod a few weeks ago, and so glad I did! My ICE vehicle (2010 Honda Odyssey) battery was dead this morning as I was heading into work. The MachE is my wife’s and I didn’t want to take it and leave her without a vehicle. My jump pack wasn’t working, so my only option was the jump from the MachE. Having this already done saved me tons of time in the Arizona heat not having to remove and replace all the frunk trim pieces. Jumped the van in 5min, was on my way, made it to work on time! Thanks to the forum for the awesome how-to!

I asked the other day if I could use Mach e to jump start another car. I was then told not to. I guess it's because its battery is not strong enough plus the complicated BMS being involved.

 

[HughJazzol]

@dtbaker61 Is there a template that shows the location of the 3 holes?
It's been talked, suggested, and applauded, but it would be helpful to have a template.

 

[dtbaker61]

@dtbaker61 Is there a template that shows the location of the 3 holes?
It's been talked, suggested, and applauded, but it would be helpful to have a template.

there are a couple different thread, and a couple different templates. the problem is that its a little hard to square up a starting point and AXIS... which is why I measured relative to the + and - markings on the cover.... you can loosen the edge fasteners and peek under as you drill your pilot holes.

I left the cover in place, but popped the edge clips and tipped in up a little as I cut the holes....

 

[garyd9]

Caps for the access holes... These are 3D printed with two colors of ABS filament. (Voron V2.4 with ERCF filament changer.) The cap's top texture is a texture inherited from my build plate.

Here's a closeup of one of the caps. You might notice at the bottom of the cap a gap was designed in for a fingernail or tool to be inserted to lift up the cap.

I had always intended to share this model, but somehow managed to forget. Because everyone has different size holes (heh), I'm sharing this as a fusion360 export. You'll want to change the parameters so the "hole_diameter" + "nib_diameter" is just slightly bigger than your hole diameter.

So, in the image below, the hole_diameter is 51.2 and the nib_diameter is 2.5, meaning that (if your filament has no shrinkage) the cap will slide into a hole that's 53.7mm. Of course, you don't want to actually slide in easily - you want a bit of friction to hold it in place, so this size would be better for a hole of perhaps 53.0mm. But, wait! If you're using ABS or ASA filament (which I'd strongly suggest for heat resistance), you have to assume that the printed cap will shrink a bit... How much? Well, that can be different for any specific brand/color of filament.

In other words, you should get some numbers you like, print a single cap, and test fit it. Then adjust from there.

If you have a multi-color printer, you'll want to save the caps as a mesh (stl file) and bring it into your slicer. In your slicer, you'll need to split the model into objects so you can set the colors you want. Each cap has three objects: the main cap, the mustang logo, and the plus or minus sign.

If you don't have a multicolor filament, I'd suggest hiding the "mustang fill" (both of them), the "positive sign fill" and "negative sign fill" bodies before saving as a mesh. This will leave hollows in those areas. It's not as fancy as multiple colors, but it still looks nice:

If you don't have fusion360 (and therefore can't load the f3d file), I strongly suggest you download it. For personal use, it's completely free.

I won't provide .step or .stl files for these, because everyone's hole size will be slightly different. Even two people using the same hole saw will end up with different hole sizes just as a result of how their hands shake while drilling. As well, everyone will have different levels of shrinkage on their 3d printer. The friction fit that these caps use is dependent on nearly perfect sizing, so you absolutely NEED to be able to adjust the parameters.

That being said, I really want to redesign the "nibs" to not be a friction fit, but instead snap into place more like a clip or one of the plastic "pins" that hold our cars together. This would allow a bit more flexibility in sizing. On the other hand, it will require a certain amount of overhang/bridge printing (and would also would require a non-brittle filament that can be flexed without breaking.)

Perhaps I'll get around to that some day.... In the meantime, these look really good...


I wasn't able to upload the zipped f3d file to the forum, so here's a google drive link instead:

(google drive link)

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