Gauge cluster memory issue.

[AZ_Ryan]

Told ya….


yup!


No…it’s not.

An alternator never brings your battery up to 100%. It’s not good enough on these new cars. My wife’s new Lincoln went into battery Protection Mode one day. We called Lincoln concierge, and within an hour a tech shows up. Turns out it was a friend of mine I know for over 20 years. He works for the tow company that has a contract with Ford. He said his entire day is spent jump starting batteries that go dead or dormant on new cars. he bought a new Nissan Kicks and said his battery drains all the time too. All he had to do was put the jump pack on for a minute to wake the battery up. I since have bought that same jump pack.

I once had an alternator fry on my 72 Camaro at work. Drove it home 45 minute ride no problem. Had an alternator go bad on my 91 Z28, didn’t make it around the corner.

Nowadays….if you don’t put your car on a battery tender, expect low voltage issues at some point.

When I put either of our NEW cars on the Battery Tender, it will have the full charge red light on for sometimes a full day before going into flashing green trickle.

Whether you like it or not, Modern car manufacturers do not supply a battery and recharging system that is equal to the drain modern electronics put on them. This was told to me by the tech who has to drive all over town jumping new cars.

Just because the charge isn't up to 100% doesn't mean you need to put a battery tender on your car every day to daily drive it. If that tech was right then everyone would have a dead battey after a few months. I've been daily driving mustangs for 10 years in the Arizona and never had an issue like that.

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[Starship Enterprise]

But it’s a dry heat….

No the battery doesn’t have to be 100%. But needs to be at least 80% for updates.

and yes daily driving keeps your battery charged, but not at 100% as you agreed, but being that the battery never sees 100%, the charge ceiling eventually gets lower, until an 80% charge shows as 90%. That’s why when you get a new battery, the car needs to go through an analysis procedure so the module reads and the alternator properly charges the battery. (Some procedures are as simple as just locking the car for 8 hours undisturbed.)

And I don’t put the tender on every day, but if the car isn’t going to be driven for more than 3-4 days…yes.

It’s playing the long game…..My 06 Mustang had a relatively new battery completely die because it sat for too long of intervals in the garage. I got a new battery and a Tender, and maintained it. That battery lasted over 10 years and only failed because the neg ground literally corroded off. the battery itself was still good.

But in these new cars….why do you think they program “Low Voltage Protection Mode” into them? They know the electronics that run 24/7 put such a drain on them, that if the voltage gets too low, everything needs to go to sleep. Most of the time, it’s not a true dead battery, but put to sleep and sometimes, it needs a jump to even wake the system up.

That’s why you’re just seeing battery issues now…over a year of the battery not seeing a true 100% charge gave it a memory and lowered it’s charge ceiling..

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Ok. Voltage check of the battery shows 12.3v at rest. It started at 14v on startup, then dropped to 13.5v for the duration of my drive. Obviously those are too low, so that seems to confirm a low battery condition as mentioned.

I broke out my battery tender that I use on my classic. Is it safe to use on this car without removing the battery?

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Absolutely! Just remove the red protective plastic cover and attach the pos. To the flat blade underneath, and slightly back and to the left is a ground post sticking up. I just attached mine…took 4 seconds. I put a folded towel over the hood latch receiver and just set the hood on top so it doesn’t close all the way and possibly pinch the cord.

Look, I agree…. in a perfect world we shouldn’t have to do this. But we do. And your Arizona heat is really hard on a battery on top of everything else. I can virtually guarantee if you put your battery on the Tender regularly, even one night a week, you will have a healthier battery and even have retrained a weak one.

Good luck!

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Absolutely! Just remove the red protective plastic cover and attach the pos. To the flat blade underneath, and slightly back and to the left is a ground post sticking up. I just attached mine…took 4 seconds. I put a folded towel over the hood latch receiver and just set the hood on top so it doesn’t close all the way and possibly pinch the cord.

Look, I agree…. in a perfect world we shouldn’t have to do this. But we do. And your Arizona heat is really hard on a battery on top of everything else. I can virtually guarantee if you put your battery on the Tender regularly, even one night a week, you will have a healthier battery and even have retrained a weak one.

Good luck!

Thanks for the help. I was all set to connect it to the main battery terminals like a moron.

How long does it typically take yours to charge?

 

[Starship Enterprise]

If using the Deltran Battery Tender, with the state of your battery, the first few times expect a full red charge light for a solid 14-20 hours! Then it will go into flashing green final charge for about 3-4 hours, then solid green. After you do it a few times, expect a full red light charge for only 6-10 hours, easily a good overnight charge if using daily.

Note the charging times and as you see progressively shorter charging periods, you know you are seeing a healthier battery.

Now for me I’m topped off in 4-8hours…..

When I first put the trickle charger on my wife’s brand new Lincoln, it was full red-light charge for like 48 hours the first few times! Now it tops off in about 6 hours.

I also highly recommend making a reminder card and put it on the driver seat. I did after absent mindedly starting my last Mustang and backing out of the garage only to see in horror it was still connected.

 

[LouG]

Ok. Voltage check of the battery shows 12.3v at rest. It started at 14v on startup, then dropped to 13.5v for the duration of my drive. Obviously those are too low, so that seems to confirm a low battery condition as mentioned.

I broke out my battery tender that I use on my classic. Is it safe to use on this car without removing the battery?

They don't look low to me. What are you expecting to see?

 

[Starship Enterprise]

12.3v is just below 80%. If the car is trying to take an update it will fail.

 

[dusman59]

Make sure tender is for AGM

 

[AZ_Ryan]

If using the Deltran Battery Tender, with the state of your battery, the first few times expect a full red charge light for a solid 14-20 hours! Then it will go into flashing green final charge for about 3-4 hours, then solid green. After you do it a few times, expect a full red light charge for only 6-10 hours, easily a good overnight charge if using daily.

Note the charging times and as you see progressively shorter charging periods, you know you are seeing a healthier battery.

Now for me I’m topped off in 4-8hours…..

When I first put the trickle charger on my wife’s brand new Lincoln, it was full red-light charge for like 48 hours the first few times! Now it tops off in about 6 hours.

I also highly recommend making a reminder card and put it on the driver seat. I did after absent mindedly starting my last Mustang and backing out of the garage only to see in horror it was still connected.

I have the Costco Deltran charger. Right now the light is solid amber.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

They don't look low to me. What are you expecting to see?

Well I know from wrenching that a fully charged battery should be 12.6v or more. When running you should be above 13.5v.

I googled 12.3v, and it says that is about a 70% charge.

 

[dusman59]

Maybe after getting a full charge on the battery perform a BMS reset. This might only be needed if the battery was very low or a weak battery needing replacement.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Make sure tender is for AGM

The Deltran battery Tender is OK for AGM. As long as the charge rate is 1.25 amp But newer charts also show the 800 and 750 mah working for AGM.…so go figure…lol. Though there has been some worry about anything lower than a 1.25 amp charge being too low for the AGM to recognize properly.

But you brought up a good point to look out for in inferior chargers. Ryan’s instruction sheet mentions an AGM, so it must account for it.

Ryan, what’s your Tender’s charge rate?

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Maybe after getting a full charge on the battery perform a BMS reset. This might only be needed if the battery was very low or a weak battery needing replacement.

Good call…can’t hurt.

 

[dusman59]

I remember early on MY2024 production was halted for various reasons. There were thousands parked for months and I questioned about the batteries. Many said that they should be in shipping mode. When many of these cars arrived at dealers battery issues appeared for some customers in one form or another.

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