[ChasingCoral]

 

[odo1957]

I am heading to FL for the next 4 months and leaving my Ford F150 Lightning vehicle in my garage in Western NY. The garage is not heated but connected to my house. Temperatures in my garage could reach single digits in the dead of winter. I also do not have internet access at this location in the winter months. The ford Owners Manual says to do the following for long term storage: Battery Systems

Maintain the high voltage (HV) battery state of charge at approximately 50%.
Once achieved, disconnect the 12-volt (12V) battery to reduce system loads on the HV battery. Note: Before disconnecting, be sure to have your key fob and access to a copy of your Owner's Manual outside of the vehicle.

So my question is, if I charge the vehicle to 50% and then disconnect the 12V battery, do I leave the vehicle still plugged in in my garage? Do I have to set up a charging schedule or will the fact the vehicle is plugged in maintain it to 50%? If I need to set up a charging schedule, please provide specifically what I would need to do. Will this charging take place if the 12V battery is not plugged in and there is no internet connection? Please reply as soon as possible! Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Voltz]

Is a battery tender in the frunk plugged into an outlet in the frunk jumping to the 12V battery in the frunk akin to the self-licking ice cream cone?

Too bad the truck would have to be 'on' for four months.

 

[R.I.P.]

I am heading to FL for the next 4 months and leaving my Ford F150 Lightning vehicle in my garage in Western NY. The garage is not heated but connected to my house. Temperatures in my garage could reach single digits in the dead of winter. I also do not have internet access at this location in the winter months. The ford Owners Manual says to do the following for long term storage: Battery Systems

Maintain the high voltage (HV) battery state of charge at approximately 50%.
Once achieved, disconnect the 12-volt (12V) battery to reduce system loads on the HV battery. Note: Before disconnecting, be sure to have your key fob and access to a copy of your Owner's Manual outside of the vehicle.

So my question is, if I charge the vehicle to 50% and then disconnect the 12V battery, do I leave the vehicle still plugged in in my garage? Do I have to set up a charging schedule or will the fact the vehicle is plugged in maintain it to 50%? If I need to set up a charging schedule, please provide specifically what I would need to do. Will this charging take place if the 12V battery is not plugged in and there is no internet connection? Please reply as soon as possible! Thank you in advance for your help.

With temperature that cold, you want to protect your high voltage battery. I would certainly not remove the 12 volt battery, I would leave the vehicle plugged in with the maximum charge rate set to as close to 50% as possible. I know a Tesla can be set to 50%, I am not familiar with whether you can do that on the lightning or not.

You want the vehicle to stay plugged in, with its 12 volt battery in place so that it can protect itself from those temperatures.

 

[ChasingCoral]

With temperature that cold, you want to protect your high voltage battery. I would certainly not remove the 12 volt battery, I would leave the vehicle plugged in with the maximum charge rate set to as close to 50% as possible. I know a Tesla can be set to 50%, I am not familiar with whether you can do that on the lightning or not.

You want the vehicle to stay plugged in, with its 12 volt battery in place so that it can protect itself from those temperatures.

There was just a discussion about cold impacts to Lithium ion batteries on the recent Inside EVs Podcast. Cold does not damage the battery as long as you warm it up before charging or driving. Excess heat will damage a battery so summers are another matter.

 

[ChasingCoral]

I am heading to FL for the next 4 months and leaving my Ford F150 Lightning vehicle in my garage in Western NY. The garage is not heated but connected to my house. Temperatures in my garage could reach single digits in the dead of winter. I also do not have internet access at this location in the winter months. The ford Owners Manual says to do the following for long term storage: Battery Systems

Maintain the high voltage (HV) battery state of charge at approximately 50%.
Once achieved, disconnect the 12-volt (12V) battery to reduce system loads on the HV battery. Note: Before disconnecting, be sure to have your key fob and access to a copy of your Owner's Manual outside of the vehicle.

So my question is, if I charge the vehicle to 50% and then disconnect the 12V battery, do I leave the vehicle still plugged in in my garage? Do I have to set up a charging schedule or will the fact the vehicle is plugged in maintain it to 50%? If I need to set up a charging schedule, please provide specifically what I would need to do. Will this charging take place if the 12V battery is not plugged in and there is no internet connection? Please reply as soon as possible! Thank you in advance for your help.

Follow Ford’s instructions. Preferably plug a trickle charger in to keep the disconnected 12v happy. Don’t bother plugging in the J-1772. With the 12v disconnected the charging circuitry should not function. All of the moon-drive functions of the truck require the 12v battery to run the computers.

 

[odo1957]

There was just a discussion about cold impacts to Lithium ion batteries on the recent Inside EVs Podcast. Cold does not damage the battery as long as you warm it up before charging. Excess heat will damage a battery.

Thanks. Actuallly I did a bunch of research and came to the same conclusion. I also talked again with Ford support who said that the safest way to proceed was following the owners manual instructions (Put in garage, charge to 50% and disconnect 12V battery). This would not damage the battery and would also not void any warranty. We will see.

 

[R.I.P.]

There was just a discussion about cold impacts to Lithium ion batteries on the recent Inside EVs Podcast. Cold does not damage the battery as long as you warm it up before charging. Excess heat will damage a battery.

...one piece missing from that. The battery needs to be warmed before charging or discharging, essentially moving electrons in either direction. That means that driving on a battery that is too cold will hurt it just like trying to charge it when it is too cold.

 

[ChasingCoral]

...one piece missing from that. The battery needs to be warmed before charging or discharging, essentially moving electrons in either direction. That means that driving on a battery that is too cold will hurt it just like trying to charge it when it is too cold.

Agreed.

 

[THEsocalledfan]

...one piece missing from that. The battery needs to be warmed before charging or discharging, essentially moving electrons in either direction. That means that driving on a battery that is too cold will hurt it just like trying to charge it when it is too cold.

I hear that and am sure it is true, but what the hell are those of us who work in cold climates supposed to do when we go to work? I park in a parking lot with no access to even a 110v outlet. I have to drive my cold battery truck home everyday; this is just the way it is. I have to think they engineered for this somehow. Last week, it was like -20F one day.....

 

[ChasingCoral]

I hear that and am sure it is true, but what the hell are those of us who work in cold climates supposed to do when we go to work? I park in a parking lot with no access to even a 110v outlet. I have to drive my cold battery truck home everyday; this is just the way it is. I have to think they engineered for this somehow. Last week, it was like -20F one day.....

They did engineer for this. Driving with a battery cold-soaked to -20F won't kill it. It just causes more wear on the battery. It's just like DC fast charging, which causes more wear on the battery than L1/L2 charging. Just drive gently when you first start to drive and don't drive straight to a DC fast charge session.

You might want to watch some of the recent Out of Spec Studios videos on their testing under extreme cold:

 

[KElkhorn]

I hear that and am sure it is true, but what the hell are those of us who work in cold climates supposed to do when we go to work? I park in a parking lot with no access to even a 110v outlet. I have to drive my cold battery truck home everyday; this is just the way it is. I have to think they engineered for this somehow. Last week, it was like -20F one day.....

I have had to park mine outside without being plugged in a few times (we had -40 last Thursday).
I did notice that the truck limits the power available, instead of going up to 100 it will drop to limit what's available. Lowest I've seen mine is about 72.

 

[R.I.P.]

I have had to park mine outside without being plugged in a few times (we had -40 last Thursday).
I did notice that the truck limits the power available, instead of going up to 100 it will drop to limit what's available. Lowest I've seen mine is about 72.

Protecting itself, that is good!