Truck in the driveway for 5 days; charging suggestions with Level 1 Charger?

[William Munny]

Truck will be in the driveway for five days. I am in NY so it will be cold but not brutally cold; forecast now says lowest temp will be about 25.

I only have a Level 1 charger (I live in a Town that has free charging spots, so I usually charge there). I use the Level 1 Charger every once in a while to get about 20-30 miles overnight when I need it.

What are your charging suggestions for these five days? Plug in when I leave, but "stop" charging and restart to only charge over night? Leave it plugged in the whole time? Something else?

Thanks for suggestions, and a reminder, this is level 1 charging outside.

Sponsored

 

[RickLightning]

I'm confused. You're taking a road trip with the truck, or not? "Plug in when I leave" implies you're leaving it. Well, "STOP" doesn't stop, it pauses, so that's not a strategy. If it needs a charge, I'd make sure you're set to 90% and plug it in.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I don't understand the question. I bring my L1/L2 charger everywhere with the vehicle and plug it in everywhere I get permission to plug it in. Why wouldn't you?

 

[William Munny]

Sorry guys, it was a foolish way to start the post. We are going away but leaving the lightning behind in favor of the gas vehicle.

 

[Mike G]

Sorry guys, it was a foolish way to start the post. We are going away but leaving the lightning behind in favor of the gas vehicle.

In that case just leave it plugged in to the level 1 charger the whole time you're away. The truck will top up the LVB when it needs to. Pretty sure that's what the owner's manual says you're supposed to do in the winter anyway, regardless of whether you'll be away for a while or not. It absolutely does not hurt the truck to be left plugged in.

 

[The Weatherman]

What @Mike G said.

 

[chriserx]

5 days unsupervised, I'd just leave it unplugged unless you're remote or have cameras, or don't care if the charger turns up missing.

 

[tls]

Why would anyone even take the trouble to steal a Ford mobile charger? They're worth like $5. If that's your worry, don't worry about it.

There's no other reason I can think of to not just plug your truck in and leave it on the L1 charger while you're away.

 

[MaintGrl]

ABC

 

[K6CCC]

or don't care if the charger turns up missing.

If that's actually a concern, it should not be overly hard to put a chain around it and lock it to something.

 

[Henry Ford]

There is no wrong answer. It's a truck that was designed for all conditions. Plug it in if you want. Leave it unplugged if there are roving gangs of EV charger thieves in your area.

I frequently leave my truck unplugged in an airport parking lot in all weather conditions. The biggest threat is hail in the summer. I've only had one battery module replaced.

 

[SunPowered]

If leaving the Ford level 1 charger plugged in, and if there is any concern about theft, then elsewhere in this forum there is a thread on exactly the topic of secure level 1 charging by leaving the charger inside the frunk and running the leads through the frunk's 12v battery port (at the firewall) with pics, to down and out from under the truck. This can be useful whenever a random 120v charging opportunity presents itself, but also if you have any concern in your own driveway while away.

 

[chl]

Why would anyone even take the trouble to steal a Ford mobile charger? They're worth like $5. If that's your worry, don't worry about it.

There's no other reason I can think of to not just plug your truck in and leave it on the L1 charger while you're away.

Cost of the FMPC is $500, value: debatable.

I'd leave it plugged into the L1 and hope that's adequate to keep the battery warm - some say it barely does the job and the HVB may end up doing most of that.

I'd also keep the LVB on a trickle charger as well. Many posts about that.

I keep my 12v battery on a trickle charger to avoid premature death (its, not mine).

Deep discharge, which the lightning algorithm allows, is not good for longevity of these batteries, and the high charging currents seen when the battery is low, are another bad feature of the lightning system of 12v battery management.

This post form the Mach-e forum goes into depth about these 12v AGM batteries:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-recondition-service-your-12v-battery.11069/

And this one about the different ways to charge up the battery to get OTAs:

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/how-to-get-failed-otas-to-install.29749/

Also several threads here about putting trickle chargers on the battery and how to make it easier by adding a trickle charger wire:

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/charging-12v-battery.16979/

Have a safe trip!

 

[tls]

We're talking about a trip of a week, not 3 months. The Ford portable charger will do fine if the truck starts at any reasonable state of charge.

Vastly better portable chargers can be had for about a hundred bucks. Nobody's going to steal the thing.

 

[Maquis]

Why would anyone even take the trouble to steal a Ford mobile charger? They're worth like $5. If that's your worry, don't worry about it.

Never underestimate a meth-head.

Sponsored