So with new batteries

truck not used yesterday

30w solar panel on dash facing south

wired with a quick disconnect sae connector direct to the battery

sunny day yesterday

45 degrees over night

end of day voltage yesterday was 12.7

this morning the voltage was 12.34

so I am loosing almost .5 volts over night.

Full sun today so I’m sure I will be at 12.7 by end of day.


I understand that the computer will shut stuff down when volts falls below 12, but having a battery at 11.99 volts most of the time if the vehicle sits a few days is not good for battery life.

I bought new batteries a few days ago because in the last 30 days I go the message a few times that the batteries were disconnected to save power or something to that effect . I had to jump start with an ion jump pack twice.

the old batteries were 4 year old motorcraft 850cca flooded batteries. The prior batteries were 2 year old motorcraft 750cca batteries.

I think a few more days of checking end of day vs morning next day voltage …then…I will probally shut off the spy feature. I don’t need an app to tel me where my truck is or if it’s locked or not. I can key fob remote start if I want and don’t need the app to remote start. Etc, etc

then I will compare end of day vs morning voltage and see if it makes a difference.


maybe I’ll do a chart.

I’m concerned because of the need to jump start twice on the old batteries and feel the 850cca batteries should have lasted longer if it were t for the ford spy system battery drain .

I could be wrong.

 

It isn't just that it is reporting things to the app - it actually does that relatively infrequently. It's ALL the electrical components that have KAM (Keep Alive Memory) that are consistently draining some power. The radio unit, instrument cluster, all the various modules that make the truck run, all draw a little bit of power to maintain their KAM so the truck doesn't have to 're-learn' everything each time it starts, and allows devices to come on faster. If you want to stop the power drain, you would have to basically disconnect the battery.

The advantage to the app is you don't have to be in range of your key fob for the remote start to work. My wife and I use it frequently at work during the winter.

In my experience and opinion (take it for what it's worth), more CCA is ALWAYS better, and 850's are the MINIMUM I would put in ANY vehicle. If it will physically fit, I typically go for a 950 CCA battery or bigger. On today's vehicles, a 750 is just too small to get any longevity out of. Even my old 6.0's had 850 or 950 CCA batteries.

 

this makes sense

the more cca’s the easier we will survive daily batterie drains .

if the computer turns on battery saver at 11.99, that’s a 40% state of charge.

 

Bought off Amazon. Each battery monitor is ~40

Each phone can monitor up to 4 monitors.

For the boat I have an old phone that monitors trolling motor (3) batteries.

Bluetooth Battery Monitor，Wireless 12V 24V Automotive Battery Load Tester with Charging & Cranking Test & Alarm for Solar Power Systems/RVs/Motorcycles/Boats/Cars/Trucks

 

but the dual ford 6.7 batteries will count as one since they are both connected on positive side…they will always read the same.

 

It’s also interesting that you don’t get a ford pass notice every time the system goes into battery saver mode. That would probally scare the crap out of people.

 

They read the same on my app and in lock step on my gauge. In fact when I first got the monitors I measured the battery levels daily with a vohm meter. Always got the same readings. I winter in Florida and haul a boat down with me. When I first started letting the truck sit I was getting the messages on the Ford app that the battery voltage was low and was shutting off certain features. It was then I noticed the battery levels in both batteries being low from sitting as it's not used as a DD. Instead of measuring by hand daily I put the monitor on and use it to tell me when to trickle it back to acceptable level. Since then I installed a small trickle (smart) couple amp that keeps the batterie levels maintained.

 

interesting

i don’t get that message in the ford pass app on my 2019.


so at this point I am leaning to throwing the 30w solar panel on the dash if I’m not going to use the truck for a few days. I know it will start with out the solar charger , but I’d rather not have r voltages drop below 12v .