Front battery

[4seaer]

Does anybody know what keeps the front battery charged up? I know there’s no Alternator.?

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[Athrun88]

You mean the 12V battery? It gets charged by the HVB when the vehicle is in use.

 

[4seaer]

You mean the 12V battery? It gets charged by the HVB when the vehicle is in use.

Yes, the 12 V battery. What is the HVB?

 

[Athrun88]

Yes, the 12 V battery. What is the HVB?

Sorry, High Voltage Battery

 

[4seaer]

Sorry, High Voltage Battery

So it technically works as a regular battery and I’m OK to hook up accessories to that battery like auxiliary lighting?

 

[Athrun88]

My understanding is yes, technically it can be treated as a regular battery, but I've read in some places that it's more sensitive to what is connected to it. It's also a smaller size than a normal battery? But I've also seen people hook up aux lights and accessories and have no issues.

Whatever you have planned, do it for science!

 

[pullinggs]

Tread carefully here. When the 12V battery gets low a lot of weird things start to happen. Search this forum and you'll get a ton of posts to read on this.

You would be safer to leave the truck turned on while running those auxiliary lights, so why not just plug into one of the outlets instead?

 

[Athrun88]

Probably for a cleaner install. Good idea to have an in-line switch or something I'm sure.

 

[RickLightning]

So it technically works as a regular battery and I’m OK to hook up accessories to that battery like auxiliary lighting?

No.

It is a very small battery. You need to be very careful what you hook up to it directly, and you have to hook it up properly so that the BMS system can see the power being removed and charge it properly. Some lighting may be fine, some may draw too much power. There are threads on here, and you can Google for more info.

 

[Maxx]

If you do this, It is good to monitor LVB (12V) SOC with a car scanner or a voltage monitor through the cigarette lighter so you don't push it too far.

My understanding is that when the truck is in accessory mode, it is not charging 12V. It just sucks more power out of it. It has to be on to charge.

 

[priceb]

Ford publishes a modifiers guide with more details about connecting additional items to the electrical system. A link to the document is available in the following post:
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...iring-charging-information.11862/#post-377235

 

[thunderbayterry]

You mean the 12V battery? It gets charged by the HVB when the vehicle is in use.

I've always thought it is strange that the charge in the 12V battery isn't maintained (trickle charged when needed) when the vehicle is merely parked. Does anybody know why this is?

Twice in the winter my truck has died because the 12V went dead when parked in really cold weather for a couple days. It feels so STRANGE to have to use a battery booster to get the truck running! LOL! Then you drive it for a bit and then its just fine.

 

[Henry Ford]

I've always thought it is strange that the charge in the 12V battery isn't maintained (trickle charged when needed) when the vehicle is merely parked. Does anybody know why this is?

Twice in the winter my truck has died because the 12V went dead when parked in really cold weather for a couple days. It feels so STRANGE to have to use a battery booster to get the truck running! LOL! Then you drive it for a bit and then its just fine.

You probably have a bad battery. This is not normal behavior. My truck sits outside for days at a time in Michigan and never has issues.

My wife's Navigator constantly went into deep sleep mode. I had to put it on a trickle charger every week or two. After two visits to the dealership they replaced the battery. No issues since then. I don't know what it is about modern batteries that make them so hard to diagnose but the fix is the same for every car I've ever had when there is a battery issue: replace the battery.

 

[thunderbayterry]

You probably have a bad battery. This is not normal behavior. My truck sits outside for days at a time in Michigan and never has issues.

My wife's Navigator constantly went into deep sleep mode. I had to put it on a trickle charger every week or two. After two visits to the dealership they replaced the battery. No issues since then. I don't know what it is about modern batteries that make them so hard to diagnose but the fix is the same for every car I've ever had when there is a battery issue: replace the battery.

Thank you for your reply Mr. Ford, I'll look into replacing that 12v battery.

But I still wonder - does anyone know WHY the 12V battery isn't maintained (trickle charged when needed) when the vehicle is merely parked? To my un-informed mind, it seems it would be such a simple thing?

 

[bmwhitetx]

Thank you for your reply Mr. Ford, I'll look into replacing that 12v battery.

But I still wonder - does anyone know WHY the 12V battery isn't maintained (trickle charged when needed) when the vehicle is merely parked? To my un-informed mind, it seems it would be such a simple thing?

It does charge when it gets below a certain voltage for a certain amount of time. I’ve seen it occur a few times on mine. Lots of threads early on about this process, especially how it waits too long before it starts to charge.

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