Battery tender leads thru charge port cover

[Big guy]

I believe I agree with you. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Ford had designed in a "battery tender" type system. If the drive battery can supply power to an entire house for days imagine how long it could trickle charge its own 12 volt battery even if the truck wasn't plugged in. If you were storing the truck for several months go ahead and disconnect the 12 battery. Or have Ford leave a 110 volt battery tender lead hanging out thru the charge door area or somewhere weatherproof. No different if you were going to leave an ICE truck stored for several months. You use a battery tender.
We only disconnect the battery when we store a Classic car because we don't have access to 110 v for a battery tender. Thx again for the input.

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[SFsparkie]

I ran the wire through the top so the hole will not be visible if I remove it. Also shown the cover for the J1772 port with tie wrap pull strap and a “can’t drop it tail”.

 

[Big guy]

I ran the wire through the top so the hole will not be visible if I remove it. Also shown the cover for the J1772 port with tie wrap pull strap and a “can’t drop it tail”.

Good idea running it thru the the top to hide the hole.

 

[EvilUser007]

Curious what the need is for the battery tender? If the truck is on the charger will it wake up to charge the 12v as needed if it is not actively charging?

If you set your charge limit to 50% and plug it into the EVSE and leave it like that for a year, shouldn't the truck wake up to charge the 12V as needed and keep the HV battery temperature controlled and healthy?

The catch is the LV battery only charges when the truck is actively charging or being actively driven. I had a case where I parked the truck at 80% SOC, plugged in , and set to keep at 60%. The HV battery did not deplete to <60% in the 6 weeks it sat and, thus, the LV battery never got charged.
Came home to a DEAD (so dead could not be salvaged) LV battery. Batteries don't like to be left dead for long :-(.

TL;DR. I'm getting a battery tender/NOCO

 

[Steely]

The catch is the LV battery only charges when the truck is actively charging or being actively driven. I had a case where I parked the truck at 80% SOC, plugged in , and set to keep at 60%. The HV battery did not deplete to <60% in the 6 weeks it sat and, thus, the LV battery never got charged.
Came home to a DEAD (so dead could not be salvaged) LV battery. Batteries don't like to be left dead for long :-(.

TL;DR. I'm getting a battery tender/NOCO

Ok I understand
Seems like a missed opportunity in the software to keep things healthy and prevent inconvenience to the owners. If the truck is on level 2 charge why would they ever put it to sleep and stop monitoring systems?

 

[RickLightning]

The BMS (Battery Management System) is designed to keep the 12v from dying. The Mach-E BMS has been modified several times, and now doesn't let the 12v get below something like 60%. I believe the Lightning BMS is similar, at a certain point, the HVB will charge the 12v, even when the vehicle is not charging, or plugged into a charger.

That said, these systems are not designed to deal with an always on 12V feature like a dashcam or similar, and will report a 12v drain when they sense it.

I am currently installing a dashcam, equipped with parking feature designed to stop at a selected voltage, and I am picking 12.4, the highest setting. I will carefully monitor the 12v when I enable that feature.

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