Jump Start Guide in Owner Manual

sockmeister

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Of course, this begs the question, why not? Ford went through the trouble of putting those wires there. It sure would have made life a lot easier if you could just jump start the car with those wires. You wouldn't even need to get into the frunk.
I thought about that. And I think the danger there is that it goes 2 ways -- if you can charge it, then surely you could potentially connect something to it, or short the cables, and drain the 12v if you were malicious. That port isn't locked.
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GoGoGadgetMachE

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I've seen it in person, and can confirm that a single 9v would definitely fit in there. I guess the only "danger" is it contacting those terminals inadvertently, and then discharging itself?
it's easy enough to either put a plastic cap on the terminals if you have one (a lot of "industrial" 9V come with a little cap on them for example) or even just put the battery into a small sandwich bag.
 

louibluey

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... you can't jump or charge the 12v from there.
Is it practical / doable to run a fused 12 V battery wire to the front bumper place? There would need to be a small fuse near the battery terminal. Also, some kind of insulated connector/cover because it would be always "hot".
 

sockmeister

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Is it practical / doable to run a fused 12 V battery wire to the front bumper place? There would need to be a small fuse near the battery terminal.
I don't see why not. You certainly could, but I think that would give any old passerby access to your 12v battery, which probably isn't ideal. Maybe if that port could lock.
 

sockmeister

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it's easy enough to either put a plastic cap on the terminals if you have one (a lot of "industrial" 9V come with a little cap on them for example) or even just put the battery into a small sandwich bag.
Right, or tape it or something. Plastic bag is probably best. I don't know if that little port is waterproof; I'm sure it gets wet from time to time.
 


jhalkias

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Of course, this begs the question, why not? Ford went through the trouble of putting those wires there. It sure would have made life a lot easier if you could just jump start the car with those wires. You wouldn't even need to get into the frunk.
I can think of a few . . . they seem pretty small gauge wire (probably all that is necessary for the frunk popping, but would need to be heavier to actually do a jump, if they were direct contact to the battery, would need better insulated to avoid a short, they are not "live" unless the 12V battery is dead (they won't do anything if a thief tries to break into your Mach E without the 12V being dead), and I am sure other reasons I have not thought of.

The bigger question for me is one that @ChasingCoral posed . . . once you are in the frunk, easier access to the positive terminal jumper would have been smart with a small access panel rather than removing that entire big piece of plastic.
 

generaltso

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it's likely due to the size (gauge) of the wires and the current load expected in that scenario.
Sure, but the gauge of the wire was likely selected based on it's current purpose. They could have used larger wire if it's purpose was for jump starting. They also could have kept the existing relay that disconnects those wires when the 12v battery isn't dead.

But that's not what they did, so I guess none of this really matters. I have no doubt that they thought that jump starting the 12v battery would be so infrequent that they weren't too concerned about making it easy.
 

generaltso

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The bigger question for me is one that @ChasingCoral posed . . . once you are in the frunk, easier access to the positive terminal jumper would have been smart with a small access panel rather than removing that entire big piece of plastic.
Yeah, that would certainly make the whole process a lot easier. The cover even has little icons on it to show you where the battery jump points are. But I'm not sure how that's useful if there's no way to get to them without removing the entire cover.
 

ChasingCoral

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Either inside that little bumper port, or, perhaps one of those magnetic underbody secret spare key storage thingies.
Spots like these are hard to find in cars with so many non-ferrous metals and plastics and aerodynamic undercarriages. We'll have to get creative.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Jump Start Guide in Owner Manual IMG_6079

Ford Mustang Mach-E Jump Start Guide in Owner Manual IMG_6090
 

ChasingCoral

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Is it practical / doable to run a fused 12 V battery wire to the front bumper place? There would need to be a small fuse near the battery terminal. Also, some kind of insulated connector/cover because it would be always "hot".
For a trickle charger, yes. For a wire capable of jump starting, doubtful.
 

ChasingCoral

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I can think of a few . . . they seem pretty small gauge wire (probably all that is necessary for the frunk popping, but would need to be heavier to actually do a jump, if they were direct contact to the battery, would need better insulated to avoid a short, they are not "live" unless the 12V battery is dead (they won't do anything if a thief tries to break into your Mach E without the 12V being dead), and I am sure other reasons I have not thought of.

The bigger question for me is one that @ChasingCoral posed . . . once you are in the frunk, easier access to the positive terminal jumper would have been smart with a small access panel rather than removing that entire big piece of plastic.
TWO entire big pieces of plastic. Rear and left luggage compartment (beauty) covers.
 

sockmeister

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Spots like these are hard to find in cars with so many non-ferrous metals and plastics and aerodynamic undercarriages. We'll have to get creative.
I was thinking about that. But is the large flat undercarriage area not made out of steel, then? Yeah, might need to get creative, or maybe use the old zip-tie method somewhere.
 

ChasingCoral

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I was thinking about that. But is the large flat undercarriage area not made out of steel, then? Yeah, might need to get creative, or maybe use the old zip-tie method somewhere.
No, most of the bottom seemed to be non-ferrous materials. I didn't do a thorough check, though.
 

CHeil402

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No, most of the bottom seemed to be non-ferrous materials. I didn't do a thorough check, though.
How about inside the cover with the terminals to open the hood? Is inside there magnetic? Or even a worst case you could probably make it stick to the end of the cables themselves.
 

ajmartineau

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When you add a hitch for your “bike rack,” you can stash the 9v there.
I prefer to get Ford to do an OTA to increase the times/states when the MME checks on and charges the LVB. Check it when plugged in and not plugged in, when charging and not charging, also when driving and not driving. ... and when in sentry mode.

Ok... I have an idea for next year’s MME. Is it possible to add a LVB monitor that would send a signal to the car to wake up and charge the LVB when it get to x.x volts? Other OEMs have this figured out, must copy them.

In the end, I’ll wait to see what Ford does for @ChasingCoral and others that are plowing the way for us.
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