Ranger Mods

Hi,
I have smart charge disabled and do not have a second battery.

Recently I connected an Ultragauge and programmed the reading of the battery SoC (%). Even when the battery has been fully charged with an external charger, the % is ~60%. ECM Voltage with engine off is >12.4 V and with engine on 14V or so. Is the % EoC reading normal, an indication of poor battery, a limitation of the UG programmed reading...?

Cheers,

Jose

I don't think it does, best I got was 83% but normally it was 70%.

I tried a 15Amp CTEK charger on mine for 3 days, that was when it got to 83%.

That all changed when I fitted a quality battery and it now reaches 100% with Dual Battery mode enabled.

I have brought the subject up before, with OME batteries being down to 12v after sitting over night, That's why a few auto elects claim they have a lower volt starter motor as other vehicles would not start at that voltage, normal batteries hold at lest 12.6v

As per Ross, I believe it will come down to the quality of the battery.

UG is reading fine. Do a full charge and if you are happy its charged then reset the BMS with Forscan.

It will also depend on your charger, calcium batteries charge at a different voltage to others.

What kind of battery is the OEM?

jalito wrote: ↑Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:17 am What kind of battery is the OEM?

What ever battery is fitted to the vehicle at time of purchase when new is an OEM battery.

Original Equipment Manufacturer.

Reviving an old thread ....

Today I had my first good look with Forscan and the ODB2 scanner sold by Stewart here. I found that the default target SOC is 75% and that is what mine was set to. I changed it to 85%, but am after opinions if I should set it higher.

My car is a standard 3.2L auto PX2, just under a year old. Twice I have complained to the dealer about poor SOC and both times they have said it's all normal. The car has never failed to start or been sluggish doing so, but frequently I would get the message that the system was shutting down to save resources (the motor was not running). I have a battery monitor and it is rarely above 12.3V before I start it in the mornings, more often lower. I tested how long I could leave high beam on for and it was about 6 minutes before shutting down ..... virtually no reserve at all.

Anyway, with the new 85% settings I'm expecting it to be better. Should I choose a different setting?

The original Calcium battery needs 16v to reach a full charge and that won't happen.
I run mine on 90% and when I go away and need to charge extra batteries I change it to DBM
I still achieve 100% soc on 90% because I have a quality AGM battery fktted

Thanks for the answer. So is your 90% setting with just a single battery? Any downside with the higher rating?

There are many comments about poor battery performance, and it appears that the reason is a combination of crappy battery and low charge setting. I'm wondering why Ford thinks 75% is a good figure. Surely the fuel savings would be insignificant.

I run 90% or 14.4 volts with a single AGM battery and intended to change it to DBM when going away.
Well I have been away over a week now and the car is easily keeping 3 AGM batteries charged on the 90% setting , and the car battery is @ 100%, other batteries may also be 100% but I have no way of telling. I don't have a DC2DC charger or solar, just the Ranger. When you think about it if both my 2 Waeco freezers and the van fridge/lights etc draw 30 amps the alternator should do it easy, it rated up to 120amps.
All my freezers/fridges are compressor types and draw little power.
I can't see a downside in setting the battery to DBM if you have the original Calcium battery, that type of battery needs 16v to charge properly and besides is is a crap battery so no loss.
I wouldn't enable DBM with a single quality battery as a constant high voltage wouldn't do it any good.
These are my personal opinions from my own experiences playing with the Ranger.
Hope it helps.

Alternator is 210 amp. You can confirm this by the large 210 on the alternator sticker, top side up.

Most I have ever seen is 133 amp draw at idle.

Thanks for that info Stewart, that would explain how I managed to run all my lights last night and the alternator still kept all the batteries charged.

An old post, but an FYI my PX2 alternator is rated at 150A as per the stamp

Not much adds up with these as the service manual states 110amps from memory.