I had a battery go dead on me, they were cheap Wal-Mart’s that lasted 2 years. I replaced them with hopefully better NAPA sealed batteries, along with all new cables and military style terminals.

The issue I see on my torque pro app looking at battery volts. This was on start up this morning. I do use a block heater for about 2 hours before starting. Oil temp was about 86 degree when I started the engine. Engine started up great zero issue.

When I turned the key to run to the volts on the Torque Pro read 11.7v. I had checked the batteries with a multi-meter the night before, With the key off they were showing 12.3v. I did not check with Key on.

After the engine starts the volts stay at 11.7v for at least 1-2 minutes. It will then slowly rise to 12.2-12.3v. Then not until around the 2-3 minute mark will the volt meter go up to 14.1v and stay there until I shut the engine off.

I’m going to confirm these reading with a multi-meter. I’m assuming that the computer is doing some kind of smart charging? Anyone have an idea what this could be? Is it normal for these truck?

 

It's operating as designed. The alternator is just barely keeping up with the glow plugs' current draw.

 

Would a high amp alternator help this? My commute to work is very short. I doubt the batteries are getting fully recharged in the 10 minute drive to work, Sometime coming home it takes 15 minutes.

Would the 160amp 6.0 alternator help?

 

I'd buy a good external battery charger, before a higher output alternator. A dual setup like yours probably looks at 15 or 20 amps as a "trickle". Hook it up and leave it charging overnight once a month.

 

As Cleatus stated it’s working as designed, the GP’s pull a lot of amp as soon as they shut off the alternator catches up. If you decide on a tender as Tedster suggested look at the NOCO 2 Bank 8amp Genius charger. I permanently installed one on my truck with a NOCO Plug in the bumper on the passenger side. I plug it in when I get home, you’ll see the voltage change as it goes through the 8 stages and keeps the batteries charged. The unit itself is a beast, 8 POUNDS, and each battery gets 4 amps on a separate line, so you can see if there’s a problem with an individual battery.

It does the following:

Step 1 & 2: Analyze & Diagnose
Checks the battery’s initial condition, including voltage, state- of-charge and health, to determine if the battery is stable before charging.
Step 3: Recovery
Initializes the Recovery desulfation process (if needed) for deeply discharged or sulfated batteries by pulsing small amounts of current.
Step 4: Initialize
Starts the charging process with a gentle (soft) charge.
Step 5: Bulk
Begins the Bulk charging process based on the condition of the battery and returns 80% of the battery’s capacity.
Step 6: Absorption
Brings the charge level to 90% by delivering small amounts of current to provide a safe, efficient charge. This limits battery gassing and is essential to prolonging battery life.
Step 7: Optimization
Finalizes the charging process and brings the battery to maximum capacity. In this step, the charger utilizes multi-layered charging profiles to fully recapture capacity and optimize the specific gravity of the battery for increased run time and performance. The charger will switch to Maintenance if the battery tells the charger that more current is needed.
Step 8: Maintenance
Continuously monitors the battery to determine when a maintenance charge should be initiated. If the battery voltage falls below its target threshold, the charger will restart the Maintenance cycle until voltage reaches its optimal state and then discontinues the charge cycle. The cycle between Optimization and Maintenance is repeated indefinitely to keep the battery at full charge. The battery charger can be safely left connected indefinitely without the risk of overcharging.


NOCO Genius GENM2 8 Amp 2-Bank On-Board Battery Charger

Amazon

Amazon

 

I have a friend that used to have the same problem. Every week and a half to two weeks he would have to put his pick up on a battery charger over the weekend. It would get to the point where the pickup would not start.

My advice, although probably not what you want to hear, is to quit driving a vehicle that has no chance of getting warm for such a short commute. It's about the worst thing you can do for it other than never change the oil. Get yourself a cheap beater car for the commute.

 

Love good advice! And the educated short story.

Denny

 

great idea. Where did you mount it?

 

Removed......

 

. Looking at the front of the truck, passenger side upper left corner under the tool tray between the radiator and grill. Fabricated a bracket, it basically hangs there.




The problem with wiring it parallel is if you decide to use the charger year round then the block heater is also plugged in and working. I put a NOCO plug on the passenger side bumper. Driver side is the block heater, Passenger side is the charger.

 

That all sounds pretty normal but I have to wonder why you'd bother with the block heater in southern California.

I used to have a short commute to work also and what I would do is purposely run a 20 mile or so freeway loop on saturday or sunday to get the oil hot and the batteries charged back up. Sometimes longer but the point is I would go out and drive it at highway speed on purpose.

A higher output alternator might help with that, sure. A cheaper "fix" might be one of these overdrive pulleys on your stock alternator. It is not cranking out much at idle with the stock pulley.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-3G-6G-...72.m2749.l2649


He doesn't show what the 110amp alternator does with the smaller pulley on it but the difference on the 140 is pretty significant improvment at idle.

 

Removed.........

 

As Colorado mentioned, the NORCO 2 bank (4a/bank, total 8amps) is likely the best approach, especially in your particular driving scenario - not enough road time to keep the batteries properly charged. I too have the same NORCO tender in my 2002 F250. I also replaced the OEM alternator (110v) with the large case 6.0 unit (I think 140a) when it failed. Up until then I had numerous battery issues with the PS battery failing even though I put in a lot of road time in the truck for work and the alternator was working. I basically concluded the OEM was not the optimum setup for my truck. I think the use of lead acid batteries really cries for the use of a quality battery tender to truly get a minimum of 5 years with the dual battery setup. I know numerous folks here on FTE have had better experience than I have.
Go for the battery tender, you can use it elsewhere if you upgrade to a higher output alternator.

 

Like everyone else has said the GP system is functioning like it is supposed to it sounds like. I am running into the opposite, the 230 amp alternator on the plow truck is tripping the GPR off almost immediately after starting cause the voltage pops up too quickly so lots of white smoke for first few seconds of running.

I second the battery tender to keep the batteries topped off as best you can. Regarding getting the engine warm, plugging it in like you do will help, also consider a winter front for the grill to retain some heat under the hood for the short trip you do have. Honestly unless you have some crazy power demand, a LN 230A or similar alternator is pretty overkill. If your stock alternator fails, a 140A 6.0 unit with an overdrive pulley should be more than enough.

 

Thanks guys!
I'm leaning toward the battery tender idea, I allready plug in an engle fidge everynight into a 3 outlet extension cord. So adding a tender is easy enough.
Why would you need a 2 bank NORCO when the batteries are not isolated from each other?