12 volt battery and software updates.

J

jeff

New member
Jan 13, 2022
5
1
Ellensburg, WA
Sitting in my lightning yesterday in the car wash, going through some of the screens and found an update needing to be installed. I scheduled the update for any day at 8pm. Woke up this morning to a message saying the update failed, but no reason given. Tried several times to manually update with no success. There is plenty of wifi so that's not it. Called Ford. They determined it is the 12 volt battery with too low of charge. Rescheduled for tonight with instructions to drive it for half an hour just prior to 8 pm.

That brings up some questions.

1. If ford can tell the 12 v battery is low, why doesn't the truck tell me?

2. While it sits there, why doesn't the big battery maintain the charge of the 12 v?

3. How does driving the truck charge the battery if there's no alternator.

4. Am I going to get stranded by a low 12 v battery if there's not even enough juice to run an update.

5. How can I tell the status of the battery. I can't find any monitor for that.

Hope someone has some answers.
 
  1. jeff said:
    Sitting in my lightning yesterday in the car wash, going through some of the screens and found an update needing to be installed. I scheduled the update for any day at 8pm. Woke up this morning to a message saying the update failed, but no reason given. Tried several times to manually update with no success. There is plenty of wifi so that's not it. Called Ford. They determined it is the 12 volt battery with too low of charge. Rescheduled for tonight with instructions to drive it for half an hour just prior to 8 pm.

    That brings up some questions.

    1. If ford can tell the 12 v battery is low, why doesn't the truck tell me?

    2. While it sits there, why doesn't the big battery maintain the charge of the 12 v?

    3. How does driving the truck charge the battery if there's no alternator.

    4. Am I going to get stranded by a low 12 v battery if there's not even enough juice to run an update.

    5. How can I tell the status of the battery. I can't find any monitor for that.

    Hope someone has some answers.
    Click to expand...



  1. AMEN! I wonder the same thing - Seems like an oversight of monitoring/notifications on a pretty critical component in the chain. Hopefully a SYNC4a/FordPass update will address.
  2. It should be - I’m curious on this too.
  3. My understanding is that the “big” battery should be using the onboard inverters to charge the 12V - simulating what an alternator does.
  4. Good question - I am considering carrying a battery booster with me.
  5. Nor can I - I think it maps back to question 1.
 
I also received this update but it has failed to load (download/update) 3 times now. I tried to manually update but have always received a message on the app that the update failed. Called Ford, gave my information and they told me the 12 volt car battery was dead and that is why the update will not load. I asked if I could bring it in as it is a new 2023 Lariat with 3400 miles, corporate connected me to the local dealer and told them my issue and "case number". The local dealer told me they would "rush" me in and set me up for an appointment on AUGUST 3RD? Today is June 19th! Not thrilled with local dealer, Mullinax Ford; Olympia WA.
 
edmac555 said:
I also received this update but it has failed to load (download/update) 3 times now. I tried to manually update but have always received a message on the app that the update failed. Called Ford, gave my information and they told me the 12 volt car battery was dead and that is why the update will not load. I asked if I could bring it in as it is a new 2023 Lariat with 3400 miles, corporate connected me to the local dealer and told them my issue and "case number". The local dealer told me they would "rush" me in and set me up for an appointment on AUGUST 3RD? Today is June 19th! Not thrilled with local dealer, Mullinax Ford; Olympia WA.
Click to expand...
You can buy a cheap battery charger on Amazon for under $30 and might be worth it even if you only use it once vs waiting 6 weeks. My local dealer is the same, super long wait for anything, but even worse because they don’t do appointments. You have to leave your vehicle with them for the full 5-7 weeks which is just ridiculous. (Two Rivers Ford, TN)
 
Anytime you are charging your 12v battery is being recharged. So charge your truck on a 110 or slow 240 and you are always charging the truck and the 12v battery.
 
Most of us don't get why the 12v 'small' battery is even needed in any EV, much less how it would hinder a software 'update'... kinda crazy, hunh??
Yep, my first experience with this was buying our second used 2014 Nissan Leaf, which the owner admitted 'would not only not drive, but would not even come on...'. I already owned a Leaf, and had done some research, and rightly figured that it was simply that little 'ol 12v battery. $100 for replacement battery solved the problem - she 'fired' right up, and purred like a kitten.

Any EV needs the 12v battery to 'start' the process of turning 'ON' the vehicle, since the vehicle's initial electronics are all 12v-based devices, switches, etc. Those, then, are needed to engage the 'traction' battery(otherwise known as the High-Voltage Battery), that actually DRIVES the motors, and the vehicle.
Yes, once the traction battery is engaged, it 'can' also charge the 12v battery, for sure... I am NOT sure, though, that just because you are 'charging' the vehicle, you are therefore automatically also charging the 12v battery. There are manual/electronic switches that must engage to allow any flow of voltage from the Traction battery to the 12v battery, and believe me, that's not something you want to necessary 'automatically' happen - it may need to only happen when BOTH systems are 'ON'. Your 12v system is not necessarily 'ON' when you are charging - the onboard Charger is powered and engaged by the incoming charging voltage, itself.

Now, why an 'update' can't be done simply because the battery falls to a certain 'low' threshold, that Ford has identified, is not something most of us 'non-engineers' probably will understand. There must be some underlying engineering, power, and software reasons. If your 12v battery is 'normally' sitting at 13 or more volts, but it is only at 11.9volts when the update is to begin, apparently the system is designed to keep the software update from making some type of draw that the battery falls to such a low state that the update can't complete, AND, at the same time, the truck is now in 'limbo' since it is 'between' two software releases. I don't know, and that's purely supposition on my part.

Yes, I carry a battery charger, and a set of jumper cables, both for that very reason that somehow, someplace, someday, that little 12v battery is going to give me a big headache.
 
How do we get Ford to add the 12 v battery voltage and SOC readings to the screen or menu somewhere. I would think they could easily deploy with a software update?
 
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