Is there a reason why it doesn't keep the 12v topped off when charging?

[Mach-Lee]

Seriously? It would just charge until both 90% LVB and charge limit of HVB are satisfied, and then it would shut off as usual. No energy wasted at all.

Charging the 12V battery up to 90% can take several hours sometimes. People would wonder why their car is taking so long to finish charging.

But then the traction battery would sense that that 12v battery was low and charge the 12v. That would activate the DashCam again, and the magic box would allow it to run until 11.5 again.

endless loop

this kills the 12v battery.

So maybe the Mach E only charges the 12V when you are charging so this kind of thing doesn't happen.

Yup, that will do it. That's why I don't recommend dash cams that run when the car is off. You're going to cycle your battery to death.

If my car is plugged in and the HVB reaches my 85% target but my LVB is at 60%, why not top off the LVB? Especially, if updates rely on a certain LVB SoC.

The energy needed to maintain the LVB is negligible. If my car is plugged in, why not use it as a trickle charger?

So you have to understand the Mach-E doesn't have a trickle charger. It's either on or off. Full beans or no beans. Only way you can do something like that is to Level 1 charge on 120V so the car takes a long time to finish.

I'm not disagreeing that they should improve the 12V strategy, there are just engineering limitations that make it so it can't operate like you think. If they do an OTA pre-charge, you're probably going to have to let the updates install on a schedule rather than the instant you see them pop up. And they would only go to 90% full, the last 10% takes too long.

Process has to be:

Wake up modules > Charge 12V battery at full amperage (20A idle load the whole time) > 12V reaches 90% > Shut down modules

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[ChehRob]

My boat was moored in the marina, and until I got a trickle charger it almost made my life miserable. A heavy rain storm and the bilge pump would use up all the battery power and I would end up with a cockpit full of water and a phone call from the marina. High tech trickle charger built into the boat, a couple hundred dollars and life suddenly got better. Ford needs to fix this.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

My boat was moored in the marina, and until I got a trickle charger it almost made my life miserable. A heavy rain storm and the bilge pump would use up all the battery power and I would end up with a cockpit full of water and a phone call from the marina. High tech trickle charger built into the boat, a couple hundred dollars and life suddenly got better. Ford needs to fix this.

I suspect we might see a better hardware solution at model refresh. In the meantime, perhaps some software tweaks can happen or are in the works.

 

[2021-MMEx-RT1]

Yup, that will do it. That's why I don't recommend dash cams that run when the car is off. You're going to cycle your battery to death.

After that, the DashCam is plugged into the '12V' plug in the center console. It goes off after ~10 min?

 

[Mach-Lee]

After that, the DashCam is plugged into the '12V' plug in the center console. It goes off after ~10 min?

Yes, the 12V ports are safe to use because they automatically shut off.

 

[Teslaeata]

I'm just curious, is there an actual reason why it doesn't keep the 12v battery topped off when you're plugged in?

This seems like a no-brainer to me. If you're charging the main battery, why not charge the 12v battery at the same time? I feel like if this would occur, it would be really easy to mitigate failed updates due to a low 12v.

Of course this is an issue I'm running into now with the weather being cold. We "remote start" the car in the morning and the heated steering wheel and seats are on. Drop off our son at pre-school and come home. It's just over a mile. And now I have PU 6.6 waiting and it keep failing because I assume the 12v is low.

Super annoying.

By design, 12V battery charges irrespective of whether the HV battery is charging or not.

So long as HV batt is over 15% charged, the DC/DC converter which charges the 12V battery will do so irrespective of whether you’re plugged in & charging or not, whether the car’s turned on & in Ready mode or not.

Once the state of 12V battery charge reaches as low as 40% the clock starts ticking and within 48 hours the battery management system will command 12V battery charging to begin.

However, if 12V battery charge rate drops to 30% charging is programmed to start straight away.

So, don’t worry about 12V state of charge, it’s pointless, just let it happen.

12V batteries do fail, they always did and always will but there will be signs, don’t worry about when it’ll be, it’ll spoil you life and enjoyment of the Mach-e!!

 

[Mach-Lee]

However, if 12V battery charge rate drops to 30% charging is programmed to start straight away.

Except when that doesn't work. I've seen a couple ('21 job 1) get down to the 20's without recharging. Auto recharge is not to be relied on.

 

[jmatero]

I've been stuck with the message "6.6.0 failed to install. Ford will make a new update available ASAP" for a few weeks now. Anyone else?

 

[ChasingCoral]

Charging the 12V battery up to 90% can take several hours sometimes. People would wonder why their car is taking so long to finish charging.

Or the car might charge outside the schedule because the LVB is actually the one being charged.

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