Open Doors Without Power?

[Jimrpa]

Not sure I’ve seen this addressed. How do you get into the passenger compartment when there’s no power? It’s been documented how you can get into the front trunk to free the koi from their imprisonment, but what about rescuing the rhododendron trapped in the car proper?

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[macchiaz-o]

Not sure I’ve seen this addressed. How do you get into the passenger compartment when there’s no power? It’s been documented how you can get into the front trunk to free the koi from their imprisonment, but what about rescuing the rhododendron trapped in the car proper?

Once you rescue the koi, you'll remove two plastic panels to reveal the 12V battery terminals. The wide one behind the koi, and the one on the vehicle's left side. Then you can jumper to the 12V battery and unlock/open the doors.

If the rhododendron had hands, it could rescue itself. The interior door handle levers can be pulled to mechanically open the doors even without 12V power.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

On the production car there is a port on the front bumper (near the right side). Opening that port allows access to charging terminals that can be used to power the car, open the doors, etc.

I did notice that on many images of the car the port isn't shown. But it is there on production cars.

 

[generaltso]

Darren Palmer has also said that doors contain super capacitors, so you should be able to open them for some amount of time even after the 12 volt battery dies.

 

[methorian]

Also - the doors have rather large capacitors which allow them to function for a while after the battery has been drained.

 

[generaltso]

Opening that port allows access to charging terminals that can be used to power the car, open the doors, etc.

Sort of. The terminals in the bumper can't be used to power the car. But they can be used to open the frunk, which in turn gives you access to the 12v battery that can be jumped or powered from an external source to power the rest of the car.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Darren Palmer has also said that doors contain super capacitors, so you should be able to open them for some amount of time even after the 12 volt battery dies.

Also - the doors have rather large capacitors which allow them to function for a while after the battery has been drained.

This is true on Lincoln's implementation of e-latch.

While Darren said this once in a video last year, I don't think it's ever been said again. The design and mechanism is not the same as Lincoln's. It's possible the capacitors did not carry over.

The official Ford videos and the owners manual make no mention of the caps. Only the 12V jumper option is described. It's not described in the in-SYNC manual either (at least it wasn't when I looked a few weeks back).

 

[TheVirtualTim]

Sort of. The terminals in the bumper can't be used to power the car. But they can be used to open the frunk, which in turn gives you access to the 12v battery that can be jumped or powered from an external source to power the rest of the car.

Thanks... I saw the process regarding connecting a 12v battery to the terminals under the front cover and misunderstood.

I thought it the power terminals under the cap were routed to the 12v battery... in reality those wires just power the front-trunk release solenoid.

For those interested, the process is on page 59 of the Supplemental Owner's Guide.

 

[generaltso]

The official Ford videos and the owners manual make no mention of the caps. Only the 12V jumper option is described. It's not described in the in-SYNC manual either (at least it wasn't when I looked a few weeks back).

I wouldn't take its absence from the manual to mean anything. Since it should be transparent to the user, they may just not mention it there. I guess we won't really know until somebody gets one, disconnects the 12v battery, and tries to open a door.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I wouldn't take its absence from the manual to mean anything. Since it should be transparent to the user, they may just not mention it there. I guess we won't really know until somebody gets one, disconnects the 12v battery, and tries to open a door.

Right. It may be there but undocumented for now. Or it might not be there.

This test will be interesting. Apparently disconnecting the battery while the doors are locked will set off the panic alarm from a backup battery... Or so it says in the manual anyway.

I suppose you'd disconnect the battery while the doors are unlocked for this test. It would still verify whether power is available to the door buttons.

Whoever tries this, let us know how it goes.

 

[generaltso]

Whoever tries this, let us know how it goes.

I'd be happy to give it a try, but since my build week isn't until January 11th, I likely won't be the first.

 

[macchiaz-o]

I'd be happy to give it a try, but since my build week isn't until January 11th, I likely won't be the first.

I kind of don't want to try this experiment. But being in Phoenix, battery replacements are forced every 1-3 years. So I'll be forced to find out eventually.

Maybe since it's an AGM battery it will last a wee bit longer. We shall see.

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