Charging the 12 v battery

[Rose bud]

I just saw a video on the channel…Electric van man…he said he charges his 12 v battery with a solar panel hooked up to his OBD port. He does not have a lightning. Can this be done with a lightning? If so does it need a specific OBD brand or capacity?

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[joshtb86]

i tried this - there was no voltage being produced at the battery, so i dont think it works

 

[djryan13]

Seems like a strange way to connect directly to battery. I would not put unnecessary power into the OBD. Just hook up a quick connect terminal to battery terminals. But why you want to charge it anyway?

 

[RickLightning]

I just saw a video on the channel…Electric van man…he said he charges his 12 v battery with a solar panel hooked up to his OBD port. He does not have a lightning. Can this be done with a lightning? If so does it need a specific OBD brand or capacity?

There is no reason to do this.

With a gas vehicle, the 12v battery cannot be charged by the motor since the vehicle is off. With the Lightning, the 12v battery is charged, when needed, by the high voltage battery.

I setup both vehicles with 12v charging cables to use my trickle charger. Since Ford updated the BMS software, the only time I use them is when I go on a long trip, I charge the one I leave, since I can.

 

[blb228]

I'm not sure about electric van man and creating an OBD friendly solar charger: but I picked up this dewalt obd2 maintainer: https://amzn.to/4haM9Fo and I feel it's worth. I have had significant less electrical glichi-ness since using this overnight about once every ~2weeks. I used to have weird dings and dongs occurring at random times, extremely slow bootup on my sync system pretty often, heck - my truck is even staying in Sport Mode more now than it ever has before and I don't think it's because of a Ford OTA update. I already had several 4 and 5ah dewalt batteries so ~$40 for this was worth a try and I'm glad I did.

 

[chl]

Seems like a strange way to connect directly to battery. I would not put unnecessary power into the OBD. Just hook up a quick connect terminal to battery terminals. But why you want to charge it anyway?

Be sure to be down stream of the BMS:

 

[chl]

I'm not sure about electric van man and creating an OBD friendly solar charger: but I picked up this dewalt obd2 maintainer: https://amzn.to/4haM9Fo and I feel it's worth. I have had significant less electrical glichi-ness since using this overnight about once every ~2weeks. I used to have weird dings and dongs occurring at random times, extremely slow bootup on my sync system pretty often, heck - my truck is even staying in Sport Mode more now than it ever has before and I don't think it's because of a Ford OTA update. I already had several 4 and 5ah dewalt batteries so ~$40 for this was worth a try and I'm glad I did.

All the weird behavior usually turns out to be 12v battery related based on all the posts here and elsewhere.
Some kind of 12v battery maintainer will likely solve them.

 

[Rose bud]

There is no reason to do this.

With a gas vehicle, the 12v battery cannot be charged by the motor since the vehicle is off. With the Lightning, the 12v battery is charged, when needed, by the high voltage battery.

I setup both vehicles with 12v charging cables to use my trickle charger. Since Ford updated the BMS software, the only time I use them is when I go on a long trip, I charge the one I leave, since I can.

Unless I am understanding wrong…many people have commented on the 12 v bat. not being that good. Not being charged by the HVB. I thought this method might be the easiest to maintain the 12 v. He had a solar panel on his dash and he plugs it into the OBD and keeps the 12 v topped off. No cutting into the plastic in the frunk area. No need to even open the frunk.
I may not use my truck for several days especially in the winter. I do keep it plugged into the charger and set it to precondition at least twice/week. I was just hoping this would be a viable option for maintaining the 12v.

 

[djryan13]

With truck off, you can probably test the pins to see if any have direct connection to battery and find out which pins solar panel is charging from by testing those outputs of panel?

 

[Rose bud]

I'm not sure about electric van man and creating an OBD friendly solar charger: but I picked up this dewalt obd2 maintainer: https://amzn.to/4haM9Fo and I feel it's worth. I have had significant less electrical glichi-ness since using this overnight about once every ~2weeks. I used to have weird dings and dongs occurring at random times, extremely slow bootup on my sync system pretty often, heck - my truck is even staying in Sport Mode more now than it ever has before and I don't think it's because of a Ford OTA update. I already had several 4 and 5ah dewalt batteries so ~$40 for this was worth a try and I'm glad I did.

This seems to be a viable solution. i do have many dewalt tools and batts. Since another member says the solar hookup by electric van man doesn’t work. I have no way of hooking up a maintainer without 40 feet of cord to nearest electric outlet. I don’t really want to cut holes or run wires as others have suggested. And I’m scared (shouldn’t be but…) to hook up wrong with the other ways of using a maintainer. I’m not having any problems now but winter is coming and my battery is 3 years old. Thank u for an other way of keeping the battery topped off.

 

[RickLightning]

Unless I am understanding wrong…many people have commented on the 12 v bat. not being that good. Not being charged by the HVB. I thought this method might be the easiest to maintain the 12 v. He had a solar panel on his dash and he plugs it into the OBD and keeps the 12 v topped off. No cutting into the plastic in the frunk area. No need to even open the frunk.
I may not use my truck for several days especially in the winter. I do keep it plugged into the charger and set it to precondition at least twice/week. I was just hoping this would be a viable option for maintaining the 12v.

Having your truck precondition at least twice per week if you're not using it is simply a waste of electricity.

 

[Rose bud]

Having your truck precondition at least twice per week if you're not using it is simply a waste of electricity.

I guess I am misunderstanding then. So if the truck is plugged in to charge but charging is complete…the 12v will continue to be topped off?

 

[RickLightning]

I guess I am misunderstanding then. So if the truck is plugged in to charge but charging is complete…the 12v will continue to be topped off?

No, it will not.

The 12v will be topped off during active charging. When you remote start, the vehicle is not actively charging for the entire period, and in fact may be devoting all the energy from the charger to the high voltage battery. Sure, maybe you're charging the 12v during that period of time - but at what cost? Preconditioning uses quite a bit of energy.

And, the 12v is supposed to be kept topped off now with the modified BMS.

I don't use it for WEEKS (not days) at a time. THEN, I'll put it on a Battery Tender, because I can. But a few days off then driving, then a few days off? It's fine.

 

[chl]

No, it will not.

The 12v will be topped off during active charging. When you remote start, the vehicle is not actively charging for the entire period, and in fact may be devoting all the energy from the charger to the high voltage battery. Sure, maybe you're charging the 12v during that period of time - but at what cost? Preconditioning uses quite a bit of energy.

And, the 12v is supposed to be kept topped off now with the modified BMS.

I don't use it for WEEKS (not days) at a time. THEN, I'll put it on a Battery Tender, because I can. But a few days off then driving, then a few days off? It's fine.

The thing is the 12v battery is NOT actually "topped off" to 100% from what people have measured.
So sulfates will accumulate on the plates and the battery will slowly die.
Even if used every day.

Also measured in the truck are the high charging currents the battery is subjected to when being charged by the truck much higher than the recommended charge current for a 35AH AGM battery. That can result in excessive heat and the bulging/venting/loss of electrolyte some owners have experienced,

A maintainer is barely using any electricity at all, when it is transferring energy to the 12v battery maybe 10W and when in float mode maybe 2W. Where I live 1000W is about 17cents at the highest.

If on 24/7 estimates say barely $1 per month at worst. Pennies.

A new battery is over $100 wholesale - if under warranty no problem, when not, ouch!

Then there is the fun of the day your 12v battery will not boot up your truck and you are miles away from a tow or jump.

And there are lots of posts about the crazy errors that occur when the battery is weak and starts off-loading systems on the truck to save energy.

Maybe if you use your truck frequently you might get more than the 3 year lifetime out of the Lightning battery.

But the average person drives under 40 mile per day in the US so they say.

A $40 battery maintainer and $1 per month added to my electric bill (at most) seems like a good investment in battery insurance, compared to the alternative.

But you do you.

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