2 FFE's, 10 days vacation, 1 depleted and 1 just below 12v..

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Chrispy294ss

Active member
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
34
Location
Vancouver BC Canada
I have:
-2013 with 75,000kms, new battery 4 months ago.
-2017 with 10,000kms, bought in June this year.

Just got back from a 10 day vacation.
Friend drove to airport.
2013 stays outside. Temp were approximately 0-8 C
2017 stays in attached garage. Say 10C daily consistently.

2013 resting volts 1.5v
2017 resting 11.8v. I didn't try to start this one.

Chargeres on both right now.

I had taken the older one to leave it at airport for 5 days in 2015, 10-15C and it got me home then.

I'm probably going to have Ford dealer look at it.
Hopefully there is an update to help with parasitic losses it seams all these eleelectric cars seem to do to beat up on the 12v batteries.

Interestingly, that trip to airport said I had 52% remaining when parked. 5 days later it still reported 52% when I returned and got me home without any issues.

Any of you older focus owners experience this and have you got any meaningful diagnosis from your Ford dealer?

Regards,
Chris
 
The dealer will likely recommend replacing the 12V battery.

There was a few software updates throughout the years in an attempt to address the battery drain, but sadly it still happens now and then.

A lot of us (ok I used to when I had the FFE) keep a battery jumpstarter in the car. Like any one of these (Amazon search).
 
Thank you for the reply and link.
I'm wondering if pulling the F1 fuse for the duration of an airport stay would give the 12v battery a break. I don't remember anyone mentioning this.
I have pulled then reinserted this fuse to fix a non-responsive telematic module... I think that's what it's called.
I realize that this then prevent remote starting....
However, it happen that on a week away from my 2013 the app said that remote start wasn't available due to length of time unused or something to that effect.
I intentionally never opened my app on my phone this past vacation, but you never know about apps maybe running in the background?
I suppose disconnecting the negative post connection under the hood might be the ultimate HAL 9000 silencer. ;-)
Although I would lose settings.. Oh well, better to have the car start than be stranded if landing at some ungodly hour.
Regards,
Chris
 
Chrispy294ss said:
Thank you for the reply and link.
I'm wondering if pulling the F1 fuse for the duration of an airport stay would give the 12v battery a break. I don't remember anyone mentioning this.
I have pulled then reinserted this fuse to fix a non-responsive telematic module... I think that's what it's called.
I realize that this then prevent remote starting....
However, it happen that on a week away from my 2013 the app said that remote start wasn't available due to length of time unused or something to that effect.
I intentionally never opened my app on my phone this past vacation, but you never know about apps maybe running in the background?
I suppose disconnecting the negative post connection under the hood might be the ultimate HAL 9000 silencer. ;-)
Although I would lose settings.. Oh well, better to have the car start than be stranded if landing at some ungodly hour.
Regards,
Chris
Yes the car will go into a "hibernation mode" when you're away for any length of time (and don't access the car). My C-Max also does that. It wakes up when you touch the door handle.
 
Read thru this thread: http://www.myfocuselectric.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3812 The way the FFE is designed many modules can access the 12V at all times and not having a dead battery depends on them all behaving and shutting down when they are supposed to. IMHO I consider this the major design flaw of the FFE. There's more detail in the thread above, you can do a 12V draw test by measuring the current draw on the battery after sitting for 40 minutes. If more than 50mA is observed the official ford procedure is to start pulling fuses until you find what is drawing the excess current and replace that module. The problem is there is no data logging and no way of knowing what isn't shutting down if the problem is intermittent unless you happen to catch it in the act. Is it possible you left your parking lights on in the FFE? I ask because I think that's the only thing the user can leave on and drain the battery. The battery in your '13 may be weak and in need of replacement but if it was at 1.5V after just 10 days, there is absolutely a load on it that would draw it down to that low of a voltage. If it was just the battery going bad I would be very surprised to find the voltage that low. I would expect it to be at least 6-7 volts.
 
Very interesting link.

Used a digital smart charger.
Thursday overnight. Resting voltage read 12.55v.
Friday did not charge car. Took readings through the day Friday, between 12.55v to 12.75v.
Saturday charged car to 90%. Did not drive the car. Readings through day read the same as Friday.

Some additional info.
My telematic link may have been not working while I went on vacation....
Also I had one scheduled go time set which would have occurred twice during vacation. Car was not plugged in during vacation.
I'll try some testing next time my car is not going to be driven for a reasonable period of time.

Thanks for all your help.

Regards,
Chris
 
triangles said:
Go times are skipped if not plugged in right?

They are, but does the system check to see if power is present at some point / points along the way.
If the telematic module is acting up, i.e. not communicating to the app, could this cause some sort of continual loop for the head unit?
Big assumptions, I know.

It will be hard for me to check too, as I'll have to wait for the telematic module to act up.... Although it seems to do this about once a month or so.
I've gotten quite good at removal and reinsertion of the F1 fuse.

I'll report back if and when it acts up again.

Regards,
Chris
 
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