So I had something interesting happen this morning.....

[blackbeasst]

plugged up as normal last night and came out this morning and unplugged her ready to go to work. after unplugging in jumping in i press the brake and hit the power button. nothing happened and then the touchscreen showed that it was powering down to save battery. after a WTF moment i tried starting again, nothing.

i grab my level 2 and plug it back up and everything on the dash powers up but it won't start. couple rounds of unplugging/plugging and i finally see the SSN on the dash. by this time im freakin out cause we only have my FFE and my wifes pilot and theres no way she can take me to work and vice versa. also interesting is that when i tried to start it the lights would flash on and off non stop like i was in a 70's disco nightmare!

FINALLY, after plugging/unplugging/cussing/standing on my head and holding my mouth right, it starts up............but my touchscreen is off. finally grab my phone and look on the app and see that my 12v is low.

1: is that normal for a 4 month old car?
2: why would i see the SSN message?

im scared to go start it again here at work until everyone gets here for fear of the disco coming back :lol:

but i'll update when i go out in a few and try it.

 

[jmueller065]

You got the SSN message because of the low 12V. The car isn't very happy with low volts on the 12V bus.

Some have seen 12V battery issues some have not (there are a few people around here that have started carrying 12V jumper kits in their car due to this problem--even if it has never happened to any of them).

Use a good voltmeter and check your 12V (or get that dohicky that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and reads out the battery voltage--like this guy: Cigarette Lighter Voltage Digital Voltmeter )

If you were able to get it started enough to drive to work I would guess that it was able to charge up the 12V battery while on your drive in and you should be fine. Nonetheless I'd grab a voltmeter somewhere and measure it.

After all this you may want to take it to the dealer: They may end up replacing your 12V battery.

 

[blackbeasst]

You got the SSN message because of the low 12V. The car isn't very happy with low volts on the 12V bus.

Some have seen 12V battery issues some have not (there are a few people around here that have started carrying 12V jumper kits in their car due to this problem--even if it has never happened to any of them).

Use a good voltmeter and check your 12V (or get that dohicky that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket and reads out the battery voltage--like this guy: Cigarette Lighter Voltage Digital Voltmeter )

If you were able to get it started enough to drive to work I would guess that it was able to charge up the 12V battery while on your drive in and you should be fine. Nonetheless I'd grab a voltmeter somewhere and measure it.

After all this you may want to take it to the dealer: They may end up replacing your 12V battery.

i went back out and was able to start it no problem. however the touchscreen/radio/what have you, is still off and wont turn on.

how does the 12v go dead after 4 months? and do other things use it besides the cig lighter in the center?

 

[Rogerschro]

You got the SSN message because of the low 12V. The car isn't very happy with low volts on the 12V bus.

i went back out and was able to start it no problem. however the touchscreen/radio/what have you, is still off and wont turn on.

how does the 12v go dead after 4 months? and do other things use it besides the cig lighter in the center?

This is not just related to Electric cars, it happens to ICE vehicles too. You just got a defective battery. Take it back to your dealer and get it replaced. If after this it happens again, then you may actually have a problem with the software or hard connections (I've heard the ground may be poor) for charging the 12V system. If it makes you feel any better, I have seen similar comments as this on the Focus sites, saying their battery died after a short time owning the car, MFT won't respond etc. It is just a case of bad battery. I'm sure you will be fine. The remedy is the same for the electric as the ICE, get a jump/ new battery.

 

[blackbeasst]

You got the SSN message because of the low 12V. The car isn't very happy with low volts on the 12V bus.

i went back out and was able to start it no problem. however the touchscreen/radio/what have you, is still off and wont turn on.

how does the 12v go dead after 4 months? and do other things use it besides the cig lighter in the center?

This is not just related to Electric cars, it happens to ICE vehicles too. You just got a defective battery. Take it back to your dealer and get it replaced. If after this it happens again, then you may actually have a problem with the software or hard connections (I've heard the ground may be poor) for charging the 12V system. If it makes you feel any better, I have seen similar comments as this on the Focus sites, saying their battery died after a short time owning the car, MFT won't respond etc. It is just a case of bad battery. I'm sure you will be fine. The remedy is the same for the electric as the ICE, get a jump/ new battery.

thanks roger. i'll see what the dealer has to say. just kinda freaked me out when the car wouldn't start at all, and then after plugging it in and unplugging a couple times i was able to get it to start.

 

[blackbeasst]

guess the 12v recharged itself. everything was back to normal when i went to lunch. touchscreen and all. now i gotta find a dealer that can offer me a loaner for a day.

 

[NightHawk]

Yep I saw the low 12v battery warning the first week after I got my FFE.
I then used my premium Sears 12v battery charger in my garage and it showed the level was down under 10%, so I charged it up to full.
I then bought a low cost 12v digital voltmeter that plugs into a 12v accessory port so I can monitor the 12v battery level daily.
For the past month its stayed about 12.4V even if the car hasn't been used for several days.
When it was too low it was well below 12.0V that one time.
I figure the 12v battery might have been low after sitting on the dealer lot for months and they should have done regular full charges like I did.

I plan to do a full 12v battery charge with my Sears charger once a month to keep the 12v battery in good condition.
Also since I can see the voltage easily now inside the car I will catch it early before it would be unable to go into ready to drive mode due to too low a voltage. I also keep a small 12v battery jumper kit in the back for emergency use, it has its own 12v battery that I charge up once a month with its own 110v power cord.

The 12V battery will charge while the HV battery is charging, but not after the HV battery is fully charged even while plugged in. It will charge a little in accessory mode (I measure voltage ~13.5V) and charge fully in ready to drive mode (~14.5V) but those modes will time out after awhile so you can't get a longer time 12v charge unless you are driving for a 30+ minutes. Hence why I plan to use my external Sears 12v charger once a month since I only drive the car for a longer (~25mile) trip once a week.

I say the reliance on the small 12v battery is the weak link in electric car designs today. They should give higher priority to maintaining this critical element by monitoring and charging it up as needed to maintain it even when in OFF mode, since there is still apparently some load on the 12v battery at all times for the wireless communications with the car that allow remote start and info updates.

Here is the little 12V LED voltmeter accessory I got from amazon, its a handy little device for the FFE:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092KVYGI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[jmueller065]

NightHawk: Have you tried setting a go time for one day a week and measured the voltage then to see if it charges during the 20 or so minutes it keeps the car alive?

 

[NightHawk]

NightHawk: Have you tried setting a go time for one day a week and measured the voltage then to see if it charges during the 20 or so minutes it keeps the car alive?

Yes I tried a Go time one day last week and during that time the 12v level was high ~14.5V like it is in ready to drive mode, so that would provide a short charge period too.
But the car has to be kept plugged in for the Go Time to work and I'm afraid that it might discharge the 12v battery a bit more while plugged in and not actively charging the HV battery for extended periods so I normally only have the car plugged into my 240V/30A charger when I do a full charge for about 3 hours, then I unplug it the rest of the time.

In any case after I did a full 12v battery charge with my external Sears charger 3 weeks ago, the 12v battery has since stayed above 12.4V in OFF mode even if I haven't used the car for several days.
I'll keep monitoring but looks like it will be OK now, I might just do once a month external charger check and full charge to be sure the 12v battery stays in good long term shape since I don't drive the FFE daily for longer trips.

 

[jmueller065]

Interesting, whenever I leave to go on vacation I leave the car plugged in to my Level 2 for the whole time. I'll sometimes leave a couple of go times programmed for the duration of the vacation. So far, knock on wood, I've never had a problem with the 12V battery being low.
The longest I've left the car in this state is about 10 days.

 

[NightHawk]

I'm not certain that I get any extra 12v battery discharge with the charger plugged in.
I have to perform more testing since I just got the new L2 charger installed a little over a week ago.
The initial 12v battery discharge issue I had the first week I was using the L1 charger cable for charging.
That week I may have left it plugged in for a day or two, but also unplugged so not sure when the discharge happened back then.

In any case since I did a full 12v battery charge after that first week and now that I'm monitoring the 12v level daily with my plugin voltmeter accessory, I should be able to tell early on if I get any excessive 12v discharging.
I just completed a nearly week test of the battery mostly in OFF mode since the last drive and full HV charge and today the 12v level is still nominal about 12.4V which will easily get the car in ready to drive mode.

Next week I'll test it with the L2 charger plugged in all time after I take a 50mile round trip and full overnight charge.
I'm also curious about how much electricity is drawn on my 240V line when its plugged in for an extensive period after the charge is complete. I can compare my house total KWh draw each hour that my utility company provides to read online on a chart each day from smartmeter data. I'll compare one night with the car unplugged and another night with the car plugged in but fully charged. From what I've been able to see so far is the L2 charger may be consuming up to 40W just sitting unplugged idle - I don't have any switch to turn it completely off except if I shut off at the circuit breaker for that circuit.

 

[kmaluo]

This is a random problem for me. My 12V died twice, and it was always after charging overnight. The battery itself is fine, it's just that the car will sometimes discharge the 12V when plugged into a level 2 for extended periods. If you can tow it into Ford with the dead battery, they have a software fix. I tried getting the fix applied with a charged 12V, but they wouldn't do it. I just carry a 12V battery jumper kit now.