Hi everyone,

I have a 2011 F-350 SDuty - gas. I plowed with this truck again this past winter and all was good. After I took the plow off in mid April the truck would start in the driveway but if I drove it to work, parked turned off.... it would have a dead/weak battery and not start.

Put it on a smart charger and it goes up to 90% charged. I go off to work again and sometimes it will be dead when I try to re-start it in a couple of hours.. any ideas why it is draining...


thanks,
Mike

 

My 2011 F250 was doing the same thing. The odd part is that it would start using the remote start but not with the ignition.

I just replaced the batteries a few days ago so I'll know if they hold up or not.

 

thanks PhotoDon,
Hope the new batteries solve your issue.

 

The battery is 650 cca but only reaches about 550 cca now... probably due to having to plow for the past two years. just wondering why the battery is draining... it's only 3-4 years old.

 

not sure were you are, but 3-4 years is a long time for a battery, prob just a bad cell.

 

Smart chargers are excellent, but if presented with a battery that is deeply discharged it's better to use a charger that is sized closer to the battery and let it cook for a little while at 100%. Smart chargers usually have protection circuitry that allows for continual charging but isn't suited for deeply discharged or sulfated batts. My DelTran for example automatically switches to float after approx. 6 hours, the idea is to avoid boiling out a battery.

 

Hi Tedster,

Thank you, that's a good point.

Mike