Maintaining 12V While Camping

[Dana3502]

I am going to be at a festival for 5 days with my Mach-E sitting by my tent, not being driven. Since it is the only secure place to keep belongings, I will likely end up opening and closing the doors pretty frequently. I don't plan to use PAAK, I will put the fob in a faraday pouch when not needed, and I will shut off anything I can that draws on the 12V. Though I'm making every effort to conserve my LVB, I feel like I should periodically run my car to keep the LVB charged. I really have no clue, though, as to how often and how long I should let it run. Please let me know your suggestions, especially if you have experienced car camping in your Mach-E.

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[RickMachE]

You should NOT run your car. The 12v is maintained. Keep in mind that if the festival has 120v outlets, your Ford Mobile Charger could be charging the car.

 

[Mach-Lee]

No action needed. The 12V battery will automatically recharge itself if necessary.

 

[Dana3502]

No action needed. The 12V battery will automatically recharge itself if necessary.

Thanks for the info. Is this something that has changed fairly recently? I read through your pinned post on the 12V battery and I believe it said it only charges while the HVB is being charged or the car is running.

 

[Dana3502]

You should NOT run your car. The 12v is maintained. Keep in mind that if the festival has 120v outlets, your Ford Mobile Charger could be charging the car.

I will definitely take my mobile charger, but a very small percentage of the 60,000 campers will have electricity and they are paying dearly for that amenity. But hey, I have something they don't.... a big a$$ battery to charge my phone, fans, and flashlights!

 

[Mikerson]

These are the relevant sections of the FAQ the OP is referring to. I'm guessing these should be updated since my understanding is that there has been a change to the LVB control strategy (the SOC value when recharge is triggered) to prevent "so many problems."
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[HuntingPudel]

As long as your High Voltage Battery has a decent State of Charge the car will take care of topping up the Low Voltage Battery. Just make sure to charge the HV Battery up shortly before arriving at your camp site. At that point, if you want to it won't hurt to start the car and run it for half an hour or so, but it's not necessary.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Thanks for the info. Is this something that has changed fairly recently? I read through your pinned post on the 12V battery and I believe it said it only charges while the HVB is being charged or the car is running.

Normally yes, unless the 12V battery gets extremely low.

These are the relevant sections of the FAQ the OP is referring to. I'm guessing these should be updated since my understanding is that there has been a change to the LVB control strategy (the SOC value when recharge is triggered) to prevent "so many problems."
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I should probably update that, the threshold is now more like 45-50% with current software, so there is less concern about 12V battery damage, but Ford hasn't deployed these updates to every older Mach-Es. They've basically fixed my 12V gripes in the current vehicles.

But to assure the OP, myself and others have left the Mach-E unplugged and parked for weeks at a time with no issues. No dead battery.

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