Ranger Mods

Good observations there tezza. I found similar conditions with mine and enabled dual battery mode as mine was reaching well over 15v when say coasting downhill, then just over 12v when accelerating uphill. Wasn't impressed.

Since then I've actually adjusted the dual battery mode to the 14v setting - the latest Forscan gives you the choice of several target voltage levels. This seems to work well for me and my setup, mainly because the second battery has zero load unless I have the fridge on or I'm travelling.

The whole 'smart' battery system is there purely to improve fuel economy... minimal load when accelerating and maximum charge when decelerating or coasting. It's certainly not there to maximise battery life.

I've heard that comment elsewhere too Gerry regarding it all being about fuel economy. Seems the gains would be pretty minimal, but the observations I've made are consistent with "charge only when coasting / decelerating" mantra. My only thought regarding battery life is that we spend good money of AC / DC and DC / DC chargers that have a float cycle, and I've always assumed that is about prolonged battery life and ensuring you don't over charge the battery. When I had my Prado, I put the diode in to boost charging voltage to 15V to keep my dual battery charged (and it did increase voltage by close to 1V), as I didn't have a DC to DC charger then, just an isolator. I did notice that I started going through main batteries more regularly after I did that.

So my next test was to check out the BMS settings in Forscan and trial them. I'll keep you posted.

Gerry what version of Forscan has the multiple choices? I'm running the latest from the Forscan Website (2.3.12 Beta) and I only get the two choices Single - 12V and dual - 16V.

I tested using dual battery, and as expected, the alternator kept pumping out 14V above 80%. Trickled it down to about 1A though. I got to about 87% after 2 hours of charging and decided that was enough. I imagine it would have kept going and kept the voltage at 14V at 100% SOC, which I don't think is a good thing for the battery long term.

Tezza, I'm running the latest version as well and I'm sure it's in there. Can't remember exactly where though, but I think it was separate to the Dual Battery mode On/Off bit. Maybe someone here can jump in and help out, otherwise I'll have to have a look on the weekend.

Oh ok, I'll have a poke around then.

tezza4x4 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2018 9:29 pm Gerry what version of Forscan has the multiple choices? I'm running the latest from the Forscan Website (2.3.12 Beta) and I only get the two choices Single - 12V and dual - 16V.

I tested using dual battery, and as expected, the alternator kept pumping out 14V above 80%. Trickled it down to about 1A though. I got to about 87% after 2 hours of charging and decided that was enough. I imagine it would have kept going and kept the voltage at 14V at 100% SOC, which I don't think is a good thing for the battery long term.

It should be in the BCM under Dual Battery Mode ( Target state of charge ). I added it as a test to see if it made any difference to peoples needs. Basically it was just a wild idea I has one night, I have never got around fully monitoring the changes.

I assume it would still be in the latest beta but let me know if it has been removed and I will chase it up.

Hi Stewart, yeah just double checked and it's not there. This is all I see in the BCM

Will flick them an email and find out why it has been removed.

saeb wrote: ↑Sun Aug 27, 2017 4:07 pm Critical SOC is 11.52 Volts

The battery voltage is constantly watched in Single and Dual battery modes and if it will adjust the climate fan speed,

I have noticed my climate fan speed does fluctuate at times, I do have dual battery enabled.

There are settings in the BMS that are to do with the control of the climate fan. Even though you are running dual battery mode the BMS still does its thing.

You will notice if you are on a phone call it will also drop the fan to low.

A note for all. I'm going to change the way SOC is shown in Forscan.

Currently the BCM is set to 75% SOC in single battery mode and 100% in dual battery mode. I'm looking at implementing the change to be at 5% steps so if people do not want to run at 100% they have options. Only option will be between 75% to 100% no matter what, some vehicle run at a lower SOC but our default appears to be 75%.

Gerry, you would currently be running at 87% so by your monitoring it is pretty close.

In test I had;
Disabled 12 Volt (Single Battery)
Partially Enabled 13 Volt
Partially Enabled 14 Volt
Partially Enabled 15 Volt
Fully Enabled 16 Volt (Dual Battery)

and an example would change to;
Disabled 75% - Single Battery
Partially Enabled 81%
Partially Enabled 87%
Partially Enabled 93%
Fully Enabled 100% - Dual Battery

or enter your own %

Yes you are correct Stewart, in that I am still running at the 14 volt setting and SOC seems to settle at around 85%. If the battery is a bit drained it will still push 14.8V though and then usually settle at around 14.1 as the SOC slowly increases.

UPDATE: The battery this morning showed SOC 49% (haven't had it out for a week or so) and the charge voltage didn't go above 14.2. I did around 130km with a few stop/starts during the day and when we arrived home it was charging 14.1V with SOC at 69%.

hey guys im new to this and im running the latest version of forscan with the extended licence. (2.3.13 beta) however when i connect to BCM i dont see anything about a dual battery mode or a state of charge etc. all im seeing is the battery monitor. plz help thanks. ive got a pretty big 1150 cca AGM battery installed to deal with my kinda loud audio and i need the alternator to be putting out a stable constant voltage else well, my system's fried.

saeb wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:18 pm A note for all. I'm going to change the way SOC is shown in Forscan.

This will be great. As the default is way to low for my liking.

When should we expect to see the change in Forscan Stewart?

Not sure how long it is going to take unfortunately. I never see their timeline and have been told it will happen but they have other things to finish off first. I will do a quick calculation method so it can be changed by users manually.

Hi Guys, I'm using FORscan 2.3.14 beta with the extended license and I can't see where to set the dual battery mode. I can see three battery fields, Battery, Battery Saver Time and Battery Sensor, in Central configuration main in Engineering2 Mode. Am I looking in the wrong place or do I need to go back to an older version of FORscan?
I also can't find where to change the hex value for Tyre size. Screen shots attached. Any help would be appreciated.

I've tried rolling back to 2.3.12 beta without any success. I feel like I'm missing something...

What OBD2 dongle are you using? It looks like your not finding all of the modules. You need an Obdlink MX or a USB dongle to be able to see the Ford specific stuff.

PX1 is different Gerry. What he sees is what he gets.

Have you looked in BCMii main to see if there are any presets? Screen shots
Also click on the spanner and see if anything is listed there.

I'm looking at the same asbuilt CC info as you but I do not see the change in asbuilt so it is elsewhere. Forscan may or may not support it in a PX1, hence you see different screens to most.

Wheel sizes are in that list you were looking at. There are 3 presets from memory for a PX1 and you will just have to move it to the largest.

It is in Ford IDS but I do not have a PX1 sitting around to confirm where it is in any of the packages.

Thanks for the info, I thought that was the case. I'll test the OBD cable on a mates PX2. I can't see the IDS anywhere at all. The BCMii has presets for some items like the shit light, which I was able to disable, and a lot of items are "not supported". I'll take some more screen shots.

Most if not all setting for a PX1 are in the BCM and the IPC is used to back this module up.

Ford IDS is Ford service specific, you will not have the software or hardware. I have both but no PX1, feel free to catch me in Berwick if you have dramas.

Thanks, I might take you up on the offer. I'm really keen to get the dual battery sorted before a road trip with the fam to Darwin in June.

saeb wrote: ↑Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:18 pm A note for all. I'm going to change the way SOC is shown in Forscan.

Currently the BCM is set to 75% SOC in single battery mode and 100% in dual battery mode. I'm looking at implementing the change to be at 5% steps so if people do not want to run at 100% they have options. Only option will be between 75% to 100% no matter what, some vehicle run at a lower SOC but our default appears to be 75%.

Gerry, you would currently be running at 87% so by your monitoring it is pretty close.

In test I had;
Disabled 12 Volt (Single Battery)
Partially Enabled 13 Volt
Partially Enabled 14 Volt
Partially Enabled 15 Volt
Fully Enabled 16 Volt (Dual Battery)

and an example would change to;
Disabled 75% - Single Battery
Partially Enabled 81%
Partially Enabled 87%
Partially Enabled 93%
Fully Enabled 100% - Dual Battery

or enter your own %

No one would have probably seen this option in the past as it was in a test version I had done.

I'm waiting for the new implementation and once I give the ok it will be added to a beta.

Loags wrote: ↑Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:32 pm Thanks, I might take you up on the offer. I'm really keen to get the dual battery sorted before a road trip with the fam to Darwin in June.

Send me a PM when and if you need it, then we can go from there.

saeb wrote:

Loags wrote: ↑Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:32 pm Thanks, I might take you up on the offer. I'm really keen to get the dual battery sorted before a road trip with the fam to Darwin in June.

Send me a PM when and if you need it, then we can go from there.

Thanks for your time today, I think setting the battery to "no battery monitor" was the key for dual battery mode. The battery voltage sat at 14.4 to 14.6 for the 40 minute drive home. Once home I re-enabled battery monitor. After 30 or so seconds of engine running battery voltage dropped to 12.2 then up to 13 then 14 then back down to sub 12.5 and seemed to settle at mid to low 12 volts. Also of note there was negative current most of the time with spikes of high positive current. .

I then set the battery to no monitor again and voltage was 14.4 to 14.6 with positive current. Current started hight, >10 amps, then settled to 1 or 2 amps positive. Next I'll see what it does with the second battery and caravan connected.


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