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Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 6:43 pm
by a1bert
Last nite, Saturday, was playing with Forscan, saving the Asbilts, before i had finished, had flattened the car battery, had radio and fan off, 30 minutes, would this be normal.?
Only diff i can tell with the batt going awol near the end is my chimes have changed tune, lucky i was on the cross over to jump start again

Re: Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:09 pm
by RossPat
The battery must have been close to flat before you started.
If I am doing Forscan or Ultraguage adjustments I always connect a charger.
Forscan isn't draining much, it's all the car electronics doing that.
The OEM battery isn't much good plus if Smart charge is enabled then the battery will only be about 70% charged anyway.

Re: Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2020 12:54 am
by Goochie
I've been doing a lot of electrical/programming work on my car recently that's involved sitting in it with the ignition on for hours on end without the engine running (A/C and lights turned off). After a period of time that seems like about 30minutes I get a message on the infotainment screen prompting me to turn off to save battery power. However, it's never gone flat enough to cause a problem.

I have the standard factory battery and the car is 2 years old this month.

The chimes change tune when the battery is nearly flat, thats a symptom I had last year and wondered what it was but found the answer on this forum.

What you describe is quite different to my experience - I'm confident that I could wander outside right now, turn the ignition of and leave it on for an hour then managed to start it OK.

Re: Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:44 pm
by saeb
Current draw is quiet high with ignition on. Extended programming or a already low SOC on the battery will mean a dead battery.

I have times when remote programming that I need a vehicle started and left running while dong certain things. Not something I recommend, ideal solution above is to connect a charger.

Re: Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2021 5:01 pm
by NathanSA
saeb wrote: Tue Jun 09, 2020 10:44 pm Current draw is quiet high with ignition on. Extended programming or a already low SOC on the battery will mean a dead battery.

I have times when remote programming that I need a vehicle started and left running while dong certain things. Not something I recommend, ideal solution above is to connect a charger.
Hi Stewart,

Old thread but...

What kind of charger are you using?

I have a CTek MX3.6 that i put on the battery as i wanted to check out the module updates option in test version Forscan.
I still got a message on the instrument cluster after a few minutes to turn off vehicle to save battery.
Normally when doing As built type changes i dismiss the message and save and exit the function on Forscan and turn the ign off and on again.
As i had a charger on i left it but just dismissed the message.

So i waited to see what would happen and the vehicle turned itself off...
I wasn't in any module doing changes, just waiting to see what the Ranger would do.

My Ranger doesn't have a BMS but still has some (what appears to be random) ideas about saving the battery.
Sometimes the message will come on after having just stuck the key in the ignition and turning it to On. :?:

So with all this i'm not sure i will ever be safe to program the modules even with a charger on.

Re: Forscan flattened my battery

Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 7:42 pm
by saeb
https://www.projecta.com.au/battery-cha ... ry-charger

Your 3.8amp charger is not going to cut it. The vehicle draws more than this just with the ignition turned on with interior lights on.