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Saving Battery Msg


Hardp
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  • 2 weeks later...

I personally think the threshold for battery save is too high.  My girlfriend's 2012 Focus does this too after a few minutes.  It has no problem starting, even in cold weather.

 

The threshold might be too high, but that battery seems too small. Forget sitting in the car too long after you stop to finish listening to the radio or talk on the phone without leaving the car on... which I guess is okay, just had to get use to not turning the car off.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

HardP, it's probably to late but it means you're about to lose your 12-volt battery.  The same thing happened to me last year, and then the 12-volt died a day, or two later.

 

I'm on my 2nd 12-volt battery and about it be on my 3rd, because my 12-volt died on Monday, the January 18th.  Almost a year after the battery was replaced.

 

Steve

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HardP, it's probably to late but it means you're about to lose your 12-volt battery.  The same thing happened to me last year, and then the 12-volt died a day, or two later.

 

I'm on my 2nd 12-volt battery and about it be on my 3rd, because my 12-volt died on Monday, the January 18th.  Almost a year after the battery was replaced.

 

Steve

 

 

Not necessarily. I have been getting that message, inconsistently, since I have owned this car.

 

I had the dealer load test the battery, passed. And double checked it at a battery store... passed but weak... probably about a year left was their guess.

 

My plan is to replace the battery eventually with something a little better than the OEM. 

 

MyFord Mobile has a low battery warning (never received a message on this), but I seem to recall one user complained that by the time you get that message it is probably too late. I have a meter plugged in my power outlet and just keep an eye on it... have a hard time getting rid of a functional battery even though I do not trust it. 

Edited by meyersnole
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Before my battery died last year, I received a few "low battery warnings" just prior to it dying.  When my replacement battery died yesterday, I didn't receive the "low battery" warning until I recharged the 12-volt with a battery charger.

 

They didn't find any drains on the battery after last year's service appointment for the dead battery, although now I'm not confident that they did a thorough job as my replacement battery died nearly 1 year later.  January 9th 2015 and now January 18th 2016.  Now that's a crazy coincidence.  I feel it has something to do with maybe the colder weather.

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Well the cold weather means the battery has less capacity, and it already seems to struggle for anything past basic usage... it is a pretty small battery. If you want to sit in the parking lot listening to the radio it is best to just leave the car on (big battery engaged).   

 

Battery only lasting a year does seem excessive even for the small battery. My comment was just that the saving the battery message did not mean the battery was about to die or mine would have over 2 years ago when I first saw it. 

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Since I had all of the computers flashed with the newest calibrations (at the time in May), I have, on occasion, noticed the car charging itself while tossing stuff in the rubbish cans in the garage.  I figure it is topping off the 12v (and it will now actively engage charging if it starts getting low).  But the annoyance of not being able to run the radio for more than a couple minutes is still there, so if I'm going to be in a parking lot waiting on someone, I will just leave the car in run mode and try to use the 12V battery as little as possible.

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If I'm sitting in the car, it's always running, so I don't think it's depleting because of the radio.  I wonder if the "blue tooth" to my phone is not disconnecting after the car shuts down?  I can't think of anything else that would be possibly be draining that battery when the car is off.  Or I have the "short" in the trunk that a few people have experienced.

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The car has a lot running when it is off.  Alarm system, key fob transceiver, data radio, an unknown number of microprocessors.  And if you use the app to check on the car it puts a spike on the 12 volt battery in excess of 10 amps (my measurement limit).  The only way to truly turn the car off is to disconnect the 12 volt battery.  Don't close the trunk if you do.

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For sure the first thing anyone should do with these cars is invest about five bucks in a volt meter to keep an eye on things.  I keep mine plugged into the console outlet.  I've noticed mine going down so I just bought an Optima.  Will install soon @ about 45k miles.

Post details when you get it installed.

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  • 1 year later...

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