Happy Anniversary 12v battery failure

[awilli1010]

Yesterday was my 3 year anniversary of owning my lightning. Today my 12v battery failed! Nice, real nice. I know lots of folks are already or coming up on their 3rd year of ownership. Hopefully all goes well for everyone. This is my first out of pocket expense. Love my truck!

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[beast]

And this is why I have decided to change the battery every two years to avoid this situation

 

[TaxmanHog]

Thanks for the reminder, I need to hop over to the auto parts store, have them do a basic load test, if it's marginal I'm replacing it, I DO NOT like surprises.

 

[sstevetx]

I picked one up (Motorcraft BAGM-H3) from RockAuto for $125 shipped including taxes and core. Came last week and I installed it over the weekend. My truck just hit 3 years and Texas heat is brutal, so changed it just in case. Rock Auto technically allow a core return ($18 I believe), but you have to pay shipping to get it back to them. You can take it to O'Reilly's for a $10 gift card though. You can Google a Rock Auto referral code to get 5% off

RockAuto Link

 

[DCAZEV]

Here in AZ, with the extreme heat, the average vehicle battery (ICE Vehicles) only lasts 24 - 36 months. Especially, if the vehicle sits outside and is not garaged. . Many people here in AZ simply replace the battery as a "pre-emptive" strike to avoid being stranded. When the battery goes, it simply goes with no pre-warning.

 

[BSull]

Thanks for the reminder, I need to hop over to the auto parts store, have them do a basic load test, if it's marginal I'm replacing it, I DO NOT like surprises.

My local Autozone refused to test mine. Said it was company policy not to test EV 12v batteries.

 

[TaxmanHog]

My local Autozone refused to test mine. Said it was company policy not to test EV 12v batteries.

Interesting, I'm heading out to Advanced Auto locally, if they have the same policy, I'll just pull it out and bring it to the counter, then they can test it. I'm still likely to swap it regardless of potential decent health remaining, you just never know when it could fail after the warranty period.

 

[Lytning]

Lead acid batteries of the AGM variety especially are a crapshoot how long they last, I've had them last 7 years and I've had them go bad after 9 months. Never can tell when they decide to fail.

I have an Optima Red Top AGM battery in my 1967 Pontiac GTO that is 21 years old! It does not get load stressed near as much as the Lightning 12 volt battery, but that is still an amazing battery life.

 

[MaintGrl]

I have an Optima Red Top AGM battery in my 1967 Pontiac GTO that is 21 years old! It does not get load stressed near as much as the Lightning 12 volt battery, but that is still an amazing battery life.

Ya, Last battery I replaced, 2 yrs ago was the one in my 96 Ranger XLT, it was 13 yrs old...

 

[ka-chow]

Any tips when changing these batteries out? Anything special we need to do?

 

[Lytning]

Y'all should call Guinness book of world records and Ripley's Believe it or not then go buy a lottery ticket. I've been working in this industry over 40 years and have never seen or heard of any type of lead acid battery last that long except for IFLA.

We replace red and yellow top Optima batteries about every year or two at work. I'll never buy one that much is certain. On any given month we have stacks of them waiting for recycling and the oldest one I can remember was 3 years old, most of them barely a year.

My GTO has no power accessories, and I rarely drive it at night. Basically, all the battery does is start the engine. It has a Powermaster high torque mini-starter with 4:1 gear reduction. I disconnect the battery terminals when I am not driving it. I bought the battery directly from Optima in 2004. Optima moved production to Mexico in 2007, and likely made other changes to reduce cost ... and shorten life.

 

[chl]

Y'all should call Guinness book of world records and Ripley's Believe it or not then go buy a lottery ticket. I've been working in this industry over 40 years and have never seen or heard of any type of lead acid battery last that long except for IFLA.

We replace red and yellow top Optima batteries about every year or two at work. I'll never buy one that much is certain. On any given month we have stacks of them waiting for recycling and the oldest one I can remember was 3 years old, most of them barely a year.

My 2001 Ranger had a Motorcraft 100 month battery (8-1/3 yrs) that lasted more twice that - it was around 17 years when I finally had to replaced it with another 100 mo. battery. It was kind of pricey at $182 or so I thought at the time (2018).

I did keep it on a solar trickle charger placed on my dash, which will extend the life of any lead-acid battery - they last longer when kept fully charged - its a chemistry thing.

That's the problem with the Lightnings' 12V system - the truck does not keep the battery fully charged even though it could by using the HV battery and the on-board DC-DC converter. The programming has been updated, but originally it let the battery get down to 40% for 48hrs before activating the DC-DC, as I recall.

Poor design.

AGM batteries do not like to go below 50% so they (Internet experts) tell me.

My plan is to do like others and check it when I get close to the 3 yr B-to-B warranty date and have Ford replace it if it's on its last legs.

Then keep the replaced one on a trickle charge somehow - maybe use a solar dashboard charger and run a wire to the battery compartment.

One nice feature of my 2012 Nissan Leaf was a solar panel integral with the roof to trickle charge the 12V when outdoors. Mine is in my garage so it is on a $35 battery tender. BTW, that 12V battery is now nearly 14 yrs old and still works fine.

 

[K6CCC]

I had one of the portable Lithium jump start batteries in my ICE pickup. It's now in the Lightning. Used it twice a couple weeks ago (a few days apart) on two different ICE vehicles. But it's available if the Lightning 12V battery needs help...

 

[TaxmanHog]

In my older trucks I've had great life-span on the battery's, including the F250, those two 12v's in parallel lasted ~ 8 years (OEM) and that includes an episode where I ran the pair flat leaving it parked for over a month with an aftermarket GPS plugged in and active while in the garage, it was August, warm and dry, at the time I was able to ride the Harley to work 5+ weeks in a row.

After getting it jumped started, I was able to drive it for a couple hours to recharge the pair, they lasted 6 years from that incident!!

OTOH

We've seen several failures of the H3's, IMHO they are undersized and overworked per the 40% drop & charge service cycle, I ain't trusting it, YMMV.

 

[rdr854]

Yesterday was my 3 year anniversary of owning my lightning. Today my 12v battery failed! Nice, real nice. I know lots of folks are already or coming up on their 3rd year of ownership. Hopefully all goes well for everyone. This is my first out of pocket expense. Love my truck!

Are these covered under the Ford Platinum/Premium Care Service Plan?

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