Ranger Mods

Gday All.

I recently removed the under bonnet battery and had a 200AH DCS lithium installed in the Tub as the primary/only battery.



The Ranger was running fine for a few weeks but then it started playing up. It would completely cut out for a split second, (headlights off,dash goes black, warning chime about hill descent control and the windscreen wipers would cycle once).
This would happen every morning and always in the same spot about 200 metres from my house. It would usually only do it once or twice then the car would be fine after it had been driven for a while.

I hooked up Forscan and I saw these errors:

From what I read the puddle lamp error is because I removed the sportsbar. I disabled puddle lamp which I think got rid of that error but I need to check again to see if it came back.
I'm not sure what the Antenna/indicator error is?, indicators are fine.

While I was there I disabled "Battery Monitor" and so far after 1 week I haven't had any issues. Can someone explain how the battery monitor function works and could that have caused my issue?

Lastly should I change any other settings for my Lithium battery setup?
Is there a way to increase the alternator output? I read something about turning the smart function off.

Vehicle was never designed to run directly off a Lithium battery so who knows what issues may re occur. At this point if the the battery reaches 100% SOC in dual battery mode then the alternator would switch off also.

Quick fix may be to leave parkers on or set DRLs to headlights, this may help to keep alternator on. Else try unplugging small red plug under the original positive battery terminal which may or may not exist anymore.

Antenna error is one of the 5 antennas for the remote and tpms that is faulty or damaged wiring.

Hi Stewart.

Vehicle was never designed to run directly off a Lithium battery

Yeah I didn't see a lithium option in the battery settings on Forscan

I'm interested to see if the "cutting out" problem returns after turning off "battery monitor" but so far so good.
Do you know much about that setting and how it works?

At this point if the the battery reaches 100% SOC in dual battery mode then the alternator would switch off also.

I didn't change it to dual battery mode(should I?) but yes the battery reaches 100% , I can check it via an app on my phone. Charges really fast while driving and even at idle it's at least 1%/minute.
I have a 65L fridge running 24/7 and it draws about 5%/day.

PatMcrotch wrote: ↑Mon May 16, 2022 1:10 am
I didn't change it to dual battery mode(should I?) but yes the battery reaches 100% , I can check it via an app on my phone. Charges really fast while driving and even at idle it's at least 1%/minute.

Wow, what's the highest current you've gotten into the battery? at 1% a minute that works out to be 120A if my calculations are correct.