[Stay Focussed]

This message keeps appearing. At the last service (3 weeks ago) they charged the battery; however within a week the message appeared again. I'm told (by another Ford dealer) that my mileage is too low to recharge the battery and that it's a common problem. When in this mode the passenger door does not operate keyless (which is annoying).
I'm retired and my mileage is probably only about 30 miles/week. Has anyone else had this problem and is there a way around it other than going for longer drives (and increased fuel costs...)?

 

[TreborB]

Yes, get yourself a CTEK MS5 battery charger, brilliant. WATCH OUT for prices like the inflated one at ECP, Euro Car Parts. Shop around, approx £70.
Don't know about other makes but BMW definitely turning down warranty claims on batts that won't now accept full charge due to lack of veh use, hence stop/start etc won't work

 

[Stay Focussed]

Yes, get yourself a CTEK MS5 battery charger, brilliant. WATCH OUT for prices like the inflated one at ECP, Euro Car Parts. Shop around, approx £70.
Don't know about other makes but BMW definitely turning down warranty claims on batts that won't now accept full charge due to lack of veh use, hence stop/start etc won't work

Thanks for the advice, I'll take a look at the charger. Takes me way back to my youth and having to charge my ancient (original) Mini every couple of weeks or so!
Out of interest have you any idea what sort of mileage needs to be driven to avoid this problem?

 

[frembrit]

That would depend on the state of charge or if the battery is faulty. I once drove from Somerset to Dover and got the 'Low battery' message (in my Mondeo) about 10 mins after I parked up with the radio on, and then it turned off the radio after another few mins. My car doesn't have stop/start nor keyless entry so not a massive problem for me.

It's the Smart charge system/set up that causes this...my understanding is (in basic terms) that it will only charge if the car is coasting in gear and you're off the accelerator. So driving with high revs does nothing or next to nothing depending on the electrical load (I don't know specifics). When it does charge it does it at a higher voltage than 'old' cars traditionally did, hence the need for 'Silver' batteries etc. I think that's about right, someone will correct me otherwise.
Once I knew that I manage my battery by going down hills in gear and no throttle and it seems to be mostly ok despite my reduced mileage these days. (32 miles to work and back once a week and maybe some shorter or similar trips in the same week, but do longer trips too every other week...doing about 6000 miles per year)

The charger will help. I have a CTEK charger and was charging my car regularly during lockdowns. I have this one HERE ...looks like on at a good price right now £58.57

 

[TreborB]

That Amazon price is a good price.
One of the problems is, that if these batteries are left in a "low charge" state for long periods of time, in many cases, no amount of charge will bring the battery up to a full charge condition or, if it does, the battery will not hold it - hence stop/start etc failure comes back.
Not sure what mlg one needs to do to stop this problem but I know a guy doing 4,000 miles per year had warranty on his battery that would not reach a full charge refused.
The CTEK MS5 (which also can do a refurb on the battery) is recommended/used by owners of Porsche and similar vehs that do little mlg, they use the charger at regular intervals. You can actually buy the CTEK at a far higher cost when they are badged up as Porsche or BMW products.

Low battery' message (on a Mondeo) about 10 mins after parking up is a typical Mondeo known problem, even when battery is well charged

 

[Stay Focussed]

Thanks for all your advice. I'll get a CTEK charger. One more question - I simply connect the relevant charger clips to the + and - battery poles? There's some electronic wizardry attached to the negative pole but presumably it won't be damaged during charging? (see attached pic).

 

[Stay Focussed]

Update to my previous post - looking online at the CTEK User Manual it says for vehicle mounted batteries connect the negative clip to the vehicle chassis remote from the fuel pipe and battery. Where would be a good place to clip to - the front of the engine bay?

 

[PURPLE_2L_LX]

I would connect both to the +/- of the battery as you originally intended. CTEK probably didn't think about
manufacturers adding sensors etc to the battery leads.

 

[TreborB]

Personally I would follow the CTEK guidance.
Any good earth point/post will be ok.
In the BMW manual it actually states NOT to connect to negative (earth) of battery terminal and a specific earthing post/pin is located under the bonnet

 

[frembrit]

I've connected directly to the battery mostly because that's where I've fitted the fly lead (Comfort connect cable), though have also used the croc clips and connected to the earth point. Both without issues.

That price on Amazon is a good price... I need to find some oil at a good price too now 😂

 

[Stay Focussed]

Thanks for all your advice. My battery is a Varta EFB (as standard on Focus Ecoboost engines). I understand that you use the 'normal' function on the CTEK as opposed to the 'AGM' function (the CTEK user guide doesn't specifically mention EFB batteries).
I'll find out next week if it all goes ok...

 

[Stay Focussed]

Just to wrap-up this thread, I got a CTEK charger as recommended, put the battery on charge (it took about 7 hours to fully charge) and so far it seems to have worked - even the keyless passenger door now works... With my low mileage it'll be interesting to see how long before it needs charging again, but at least I'm now fully prepared!

 

[TreborB]

Yes, the CTEK is great, you can leave it on as often as you need. Best to keep battery well/fully charged. Note my post April 7th

 

[paulius55]

You should not connect your battery charge negative directly to the negative pole on a modern Ford as it will bypass the Battery Monitoring System (BMS) and the car will not "know" that the battery has been charged. There should be a fairly visible earth connection near to the battery which you should attach the negative to. The real problem is that the system is set by default to not charge the battery fully, in most cases up to 80% State Of Charge (SOC), although it can be less. This is all done in the name of emissions as it reduces the drag of the alternator on the engine. It is very easy, and many of us have done it, to change the SOC target to 90% or 95% with FORSCAN and an appropriate lead. This allows the battery to be kept in a higher state of charge and ensures that the electrics all function properly.

 

[TreborB]

But of course as long as the battery is kept charged to manufactures production build specification all the electrics will function correctly.

 

[Stay Focussed]

I connected the negative to the earth point on the chassis (CTEK advises this in their instruction manual) for the reasons you state. I've heard of FORSCAN however I I'll wait to see how long the battery holds enough charge to keep everything working properly before deciding on any more action.

Naively I thought buying an almost new car would be a simple matter of getting in, driving it and having it serviced every so often...

 

[paulius55]

Unfortunately, the battery is rarely able to to be kept charged to a sufficient level by the manufacturer's production build specification and a variety of things will stop working as the SOC goes down, so you either top up with a battery charger or tell the car to charge the battery to a higher level. The situation will be worse in a cold winter when the electrical demands are higher and the battery chemistry is less efficient. It is highly likely that, with the standard system, the first time you get an ice covered screen and turn on the heated screen, nothing will happen and you end up scraping the windscreen.

 

[TreborB]

That's good. Thanks for the update
Please let us know how it goes.
All the best

 

[TreborB]

Paul, if a veh is used in an "average" manner with typical MLG of 10k per year there is no need to do anything but, yes, what you, and other suggest in other threads, if one does well below average MLG/use help to the battery will usually be required - hence why many owners use CTEKs or similar

 

[chris.rottner]

This message keeps appearing. At the last service (3 weeks ago) they charged the battery; however within a week the message appeared again. I'm told (by another Ford dealer) that my mileage is too low to recharge the battery and that it's a common problem. When in this mode the passenger door does not operate keyless (which is annoying). I'm retired and my mileage is probably only about 30 miles/week. Has anyone else had this problem and is there a way around it other than going for longer drives (and increased fuel costs...)?

Yes yes yes…. It’s been doing it for months… I’ve taken it back to Ford and they always say it’s how I use it!! 🤬🤬🤬 my sister bought the identical car to me we collected them same day the For Focus! She has never had a problem! No matter what usage u tell ford it’s always wrong! I am at a loss!