Do these 12v battery issues exist in the 2025 model?

[StevenC56]

Ordered an Interstate H3 from one of my local Costco stores today. $149.99. Costco shows that it has a 3 year prorated warranty, but Interstate's website shows 36 month replacement.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/product-search-results/2024-ford-f-150-lightning-l4-l

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[chl]

Ordered an Interstate H3 from one of my local Costco stores today. $149.99. Costco shows that it has a 3 year prorated warranty, but Interstate's website shows 36 month replacement.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/product-search-results/2024-ford-f-150-lightning-l4-l

Perhaps a $40 battery maintainer with an AGM mode like the NOCO GENIUS1 would be a good idea to keep he new battery happily fully charged for a long productive life.

 

[StevenC56]

Perhaps a $40 battery maintainer with an AGM mode like the NOCO GENIUS1 would be a good idea to keep he new battery happily fully charged for a long productive life.

Already have the Genius 5 I used to try and rescue to factory battery. (Unsuccessfully)

 

[chl]

Already have the Genius 5 I used to try and rescue to factory battery. (Unsuccessfully)

Yes once they go, usually gone for good. I have rarely heard of anyone using the repair mode to bring one back, though it's worth a try.

I had a flooded battery that had dried out and all the chargers said was dead - it came back when I added distilled water and charged it for a good 24 hours.

But when a sealed AGM battery has lost it's electrolyte from overcharging and venting it's pretty much impossible to repair.

And if it was constantly and deeply discharged, the plates will have sulfates that have become 'premanent' - the repair modes are trying to cause to sulfates to be driven off the plates and back into the electrolyte using a high frequency oscillating voltage/current, but it's likely too late by the time the battery dies.

An ounce f prevention is a better option for sure.

 

[StevenC56]

What's kind of weird is that other than the automatic software updates not installing, the truck operates totally normal in all aspects.

 

[chl]

What's kind of weird is that other than the automatic software updates not installing, the truck operates totally normal in all aspects.

Yes...until it reaches a point where the battery will not boot-up the truck - then it's tow truck time or a jump start if available.

When the truck is on, it uses the DC-DC converter with the battery to run 12v system stuff, so things will work 'normally' until some level of weakness is reached.

Sometimes the load becomes too much when the battery is really weak and then weird errors pop up, because the system is off-loading some modules, maybe even the communications among the system modules stops functioning properly, an OBD scan will find all sorts of errors....

OTA's not installing AND weird malfunctions or error messages is usually a sign of a bad battery from all the posts and battery replacements mentioned on the forum.

Sometimes the culprit is some electrical malfunction - bad heating element, short circuit somewhere, a bad wiring connector corroded from the weather or road salts, etc.

Watch out for any of the above.

 

[StevenC56]

Oh, I'm changing it for sure with the Interstate H3 I just ordered. Im just saying there a zero symptoms other than the software abort every niight. It's funny however that when I called Ford they were adamant that I just needed to drive more. When I asked if it could just be a failed battery, they said no LOL!

 

[chl]

Oh, I'm changing it for sure with the Interstate H3 I just ordered. Im just saying there a zero symptoms other than the software abort every niight. It's funny however that when I called Ford they were adamant that I just needed to drive more. When I asked if it could just be a failed battery, they said no LOL!

OMG, it would be funny if it weren't so serious when the 12v battery goes.

When I had the update fail back in mid-2024, it was a cryptic message, so I called customer support and they told me it was the battery needed to be at 85% or more and to drive for an hour...I did but didn't solve the issue, so I did a long slow HVB charge overnight and first thing in the AM manually started the update that was pending and had failed - went through fine...so then I got a maintainer and have been using it ever since, with no update fails or other weird events - knock on wood.

It seems though one of the most recent updates has glitched my PPOB so it shuts off way before the reserve has been reached, another owner posted a thread about that...then while testing the PPOB for the issue, my frunk opened up for no apparent reason! No idea why, but there was another thread about that happening too...

It's like having a teenager, you never know what they are going to do next!

 

[StevenC56]

Back to the drawing board on replacing the battery affordably. Costco says Interstate cancelled my order and they are on back order. They say 3-4 weeks before they can get one.

 

[StevenC56]

Maybe I'll just do the H4 conversion. At least you can get the H4's quite a few places.

 

[joshtb86]

Is there any reason a higher capacity battery cannot be used? Just because it was designed this way?

 

[chl]

Is there any reason a higher capacity battery cannot be used? Just because it was designed this way?

The only question I'd have is the 12v BMS assumes a 35Ah battery, so will it fully charge a larger one or stop when the coulomb counting says it is at 35Ah?

Some people who have done the upgrade have not seen any issue with that...yet.

The battery tray has to be slightly modified to fit the larger battery as well.

I just went with a maintainer that has an AGM mode for about $40 with my original battery.

 

[Athrun88]

People were singing the praises of Ohmmu at first until things went sour. Some members have gone up to the H4 with no ill effects (for now) but who knows what could happen in the long term. Like chl, I opted to go with a maintainer as well (Noco Genius 5) and hooked that up recently.

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