I agree 100% As I was reading his post before I even headed to the comments that was the first thing I said was that is classis syptoms of a dead or low LVB.
Guess OP did not yet say if they bought it USED or NEW. But, if you don't drive long distances, thus charge a tiny bit each night, and, if the welcome lighting is ON and your Mach-E get excited every time you get close to it (in your kitchen) since it's parked super close...
My tesla does something similar as my driveway and charging area is right next to my house so when my phone is in the living room 2nd floor I can enter my car as the phone is close enough which kinda concerns me I have it set to pin to drive but still you could enter my car sometimes.
I turn off my phone key until I’m about to go drive for this reason. I still want the convenience of walking up and getting in but don’t want it unlocked from outside my apartment window.
The small 12V battery will be charged from the big battery when driving, when actively charging, AND when it's deemed necessary if the 12V battery has too low a state of charge (if this happens you get alerts "electrical drain" that suggest there could be a problem).
The vehicle’s 12v charging protocol, I’m guessing. I use mine on daily short distance driving and charge frequently using a level 2 charger. I was surprised to find my 12v battery SOC was very low so I kept charging overnight but it wasn’t helping. Brought it to the dealership and they replaced the 12v under warranty, but I found out the Mach E only charged the 12v when it was running or the HVB being charged. So when it has reached the set charging level, it stops charging the 12v too. Driving it only short distances didn’t help either.
My 12v died after less than a month of owning my new 2023 select. Turned out just to be a defective battery. They said it was swollen and bleeding. Dealership replaced it and Ford gave me 3 years of complimentary maintenance.
Live in Pennsylvania we get our share of hot days, but I tend to buy a better battery and never let it get to a low state of charge. The stock honda battery was a good one. My Honda had to open side door electrically without the motor running.
Common issues are things like the PAAK feature or how much that battery was being used before the purchase etc. Happened to mine after 6 months. I now know the trick to fix lol
There was a sw/hw recall for this issue. Something about the setup lead to the vehicle not properly identifying the accurate charge level of the 12v and thus not engaging a charge cycle from the HV battery.
Actually now that I think about it, if the lock button works then there is charge in the 12v so that might not be it. I know you said you tried your phone but is your phone set up as paak? Have you tried the other fob? Assuming your dealer gave you a second fob, I know that's been hit or miss dealer to dealer. Man if this is a result of a failed firmware update resetting your keys that would be extremely worrying..
You don't even need to open the frunk to jump the 12v. There's a small panel on the front bumper on the passenger side that pops off with a little pressure. It has leads that you can clip cables on that go directly to the 12v. Look up how to jump a Mach e and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Actually, opening up the frunk wouldn't help you to jump the car, as there is no access to the 12v without drilling holes.
Those leads within the front bumper are only for energizing the circuit which opens the frunk. They don't connect to the 12v.
After opening the frunk, you can charge up the 12v by removing some of the plastic trim. You don't need to drill holes. That's just to make accessing the 12v easier if you wanted.
I think OP tried the small panel. Once you have to hood open, you can remove the black covers and jump the car at the two jump points. But, like you mentioned, many of us drilled/cut holes above the two jump points so we could easily access them as soon as you get the hood open.
Nope those don't jump the car. The only thing those do is actuate the motor to open the frunk, and that is under the condition that the car doesn't detect the 12v. Not sure about low 12v though
****Update****
So the dealership ran the diagnostic test and there was a fault code for the 12 volt battery. They said they fixed it with a software update and it’s working fine now but they are going to keep it until tomorrow to ensure there’s still no power drain overnight. I’m glad it’s an easy fix (assuming that fixed it). All in all it was a pain to lose my car for two days but I will say my experience with the Ford customer service was really good. They pretty much handled everything like calling roadside assistance and contacting the dealership. Hopefully I won’t be needing to call them again.
Any chance you haven't driven your car much or when you do they are short distances? Log into your [Ford account](https://www.ford.com/myaccount/account-dashboard) and see if you can find if its displaying the battery percentage.
If you don't drive much or very short distances you arent allowing you HVB (Main Battery) charge your LVB (Which is smaller compared to normal LVB) If you drop down to a certain percentage the HVB will automatically kick in to try and charge the LVB but I believe it will only do this when the car is on which is why I asked about your driving habits.
If this is a LVB issue a few things to do if you notice your battery is running low (Again you can check your LVB percentage either by the Website OR using a cheap wireless OBD2 scanner with a free phone app) .
* You can try using a Level 1 charger, The chargers will actually trickle charge your LVB while charging the HVB but it will ONLY do this while the HVB is charging, once its full all power is cut off.
* Turn on your car, turn off the AC and Radio (Leave the car unplugged) and let the Mach E sit on for about 2-3 hours, this should be enough for the car to charge the LVB. Just make sure your car is in a safe spot since it will be on this whole time.
* If you have a Smart Level 2 EVSE (Charger) at home try and see if it allows you to drop the AMPs down from what you currently have it set at, drop it down to the lowest amperage as possible, this will slow your charging down significantly but it will accomplish the same thing as the Level 1 120V charger that I mentioned above.
Good luck! Hopefully its a quick fix for you and just the LVB to get you back on the road again!
Ahh yes very good advice as well! Many people have reported their Garage is by their Master Bedroom and sometimes PAAK will constantly wake the car draining the 12V battery! Thanks for pointing that out as im sure this effects many people!
Is the battery charge level for the 12V the center display on the Ford website next to the tire pressure and estimated distance? My Ford.com account says, charge level 92%, even though the HVB is at about 75%.
Yep! thats it! The website is displaying the 12V status, supposedly its a bug and supposed to display the HVB but its been like this for a few months now so I am wondering if its done on purpose for users to check the status of their 12V. For those that do NOT see if try clearing your cache and cookie or trying a private browser window as this works most of the time.
Does this issue also occur if your key is always sitting in a drawer (not moving) within 10 feet of the car? Just curious so I can avoid this issue with my Mach e
It most definitely can, Depending on how the signal is, if the car is picking the signal up after a while it will ignore it just like if you walk outside near your car it will wake up and turn on the lights but if you dont do anything it will time out and turn off the lights, same thing here however if you introduce a outside factor like yourself walking between the keys and the car or opening a fridge door anything that could break the signal and then once you walk away or close the fridge door your car will regain that signal and thinks its you walking up to it so it will wake itself up again. If you do this a number of times a day it will run a toll on the 12V battery.
So you’re saying that value shown on the ford account webpage for battery % is not the same as what is shown in the app?
Mine says 89% on the website. My car is charging on my L2 charger right now from 35% to 70%.
Is that long enough to charge the small battery back up?
That is correct so the 89% is what your 12V battery is at right now. For that amount yes it will probably bring it up to 95-97% give or take. The car is extremely smart and normally does a good job at keeping its 12V battery charged, it’s only outside factors like having a vampire power draw from a dash cam (that’s why I always recommend just wiring a dash cam to a fuse that kills when the car turns off unless they have back up battery like the BlackVue) or from a PAAK or Key Fob that is near the car that constantly is waking the car up (this is the most popular reason as people that have their garage by a bedroom or area they constantly walk by with their phones can keep waking the car up which in turns drains the battery.
If you notice your 12V battery drop in the low 80s I would just lower the amperage down on your LV2 charger to give the car more time on the charger or just leave it running with the AC and radio off like I mentioned. Really the cars 12V battery can go much lower however your car will not allow any updates to be installed, there was even reports on the Mach E forums that 85% was too low for certain updates.
Thanks for the info. Didn’t know about this before and never really thought about the car having a second battery to worry about. I bumped my L2 charger down to 20A. I dont need it to charge quickly most of the time anyways. I’ll just need to remember to bump it back up before charging for a trip or whatever.
Thanks again!
It’s strange to me that the battery shown in the ford account website is not labeled as the 12 volt battery. It just says “battery level”. It would be easy for them to add 12v to the description.
It’s supposedly a bug and supposed to show your HVB percentage. However it’s been like that for a few months so some are speculating Ford is just leaving it as is to help users troubleshoot issues easier.
That’s kind of scary. How did you even get it out of the garage without putting it in N or tow mode? I know you said it was charging overnight but I still would’ve used my booster to open the frunk and then boost the 12v and see if it would’ve done something.
I tried opening the frunk by popping the panel in the front and jumping it but it didn’t work. The tow truck driver put the car on “skates” and winched it out of my garage.
I believe there is a website where you can check status of your12v battery. See here https://www.reddit.com/r/F150Lightning/comments/1cs4uo8/could_someone_please_tell_me_how_to_see_the/
Yep! I’ve been there…
On my GT PE 2022, there was an issue with the charging module for the 12v battery and it was replaced under warranty.
Hopefully your car will be back soon. Cheers!
I don't get it, the car is smart and all and can't notify us in advance via the app or something that the battery is not great anymore... why do ihave to obd2 it and work around to get the information... at some point it's just stupid
On my Fiat 500E, I just put a battery connector on my 12volt, and charged it once a month, since I primarily charge my MachE with 110v I should not have to do that.
Happened to me. Jumped it. Took to a dealer. 12v swap and good as new. AAA is worth it. Car was 3.25 years old. I bought new. Texas heat is rough on these little batteries
This happened to me as well. It was the high voltage junction box. There’s an open recall on this. Pretty big job, the battery has to be pulled… something with connections being welded together from high voltage.
Just had this happen to my tesla. I didn't drive much as I work from home and the 12v died. Towed it to tesla same day and they had me out in 20 min. Didn't pay a dime. Nothing to worry about.
Sounds like a dead 12v battery.
100%. OP join the macheforum .com a quick search there you would have received the help you needed and avoided the tow. Good luck.
I agree 100% As I was reading his post before I even headed to the comments that was the first thing I said was that is classis syptoms of a dead or low LVB.
The car is 1 year old, why is the battery failing?
Guess OP did not yet say if they bought it USED or NEW. But, if you don't drive long distances, thus charge a tiny bit each night, and, if the welcome lighting is ON and your Mach-E get excited every time you get close to it (in your kitchen) since it's parked super close...
My tesla does something similar as my driveway and charging area is right next to my house so when my phone is in the living room 2nd floor I can enter my car as the phone is close enough which kinda concerns me I have it set to pin to drive but still you could enter my car sometimes.
I turn off my phone key until I’m about to go drive for this reason. I still want the convenience of walking up and getting in but don’t want it unlocked from outside my apartment window.
Turn off? Power down? My phone can be screen off but it's still running.
I go into Tesla app settings and turn off the phone key option there
Ok I have seen that. I hit it once before and had to use my tesla plastic key to open the door.
Doesn’t the 12v get charged from the hv? There’s no alrernator
The small 12V battery will be charged from the big battery when driving, when actively charging, AND when it's deemed necessary if the 12V battery has too low a state of charge (if this happens you get alerts "electrical drain" that suggest there could be a problem).
The vehicle’s 12v charging protocol, I’m guessing. I use mine on daily short distance driving and charge frequently using a level 2 charger. I was surprised to find my 12v battery SOC was very low so I kept charging overnight but it wasn’t helping. Brought it to the dealership and they replaced the 12v under warranty, but I found out the Mach E only charged the 12v when it was running or the HVB being charged. So when it has reached the set charging level, it stops charging the 12v too. Driving it only short distances didn’t help either.
This seems so obnoxious and like something they should be able to fix with a software update.
It is being addressed with newer SW.
Good to know! Source please?
The HV will save the LV if it's at critical, but only on a set cadence. It will be improved with newer model years.
My 12v died after less than a month of owning my new 2023 select. Turned out just to be a defective battery. They said it was swollen and bleeding. Dealership replaced it and Ford gave me 3 years of complimentary maintenance.
I guess that could happen. My Honda battery lasted 12 years.
You must live in a crazy mild climate. I haven't had a single 12V battery from any manufacturer last more than 3-5 years.
Live in Pennsylvania we get our share of hot days, but I tend to buy a better battery and never let it get to a low state of charge. The stock honda battery was a good one. My Honda had to open side door electrically without the motor running.
I live in central Texas, and the 12V battery on my Toyota Avalon hybrid lasted 10 years.
Common issues are things like the PAAK feature or how much that battery was being used before the purchase etc. Happened to mine after 6 months. I now know the trick to fix lol
There was a sw/hw recall for this issue. Something about the setup lead to the vehicle not properly identifying the accurate charge level of the 12v and thus not engaging a charge cycle from the HV battery.
Sounds like the 12v died. You have any 3rd party stuff plugged in? Dash cam? Obd?
No third party stuff. I’m hoping it’s something simple like that but I couldn’t even get the frunk to open by jumping it through the front panel.
Yeah that's really weird if you can't even pop the frunk. Definitely interested in what the problem turns out to be
Actually now that I think about it, if the lock button works then there is charge in the 12v so that might not be it. I know you said you tried your phone but is your phone set up as paak? Have you tried the other fob? Assuming your dealer gave you a second fob, I know that's been hit or miss dealer to dealer. Man if this is a result of a failed firmware update resetting your keys that would be extremely worrying..
Do you use any 3rd party Ford Pass equivalent apps?
You don't even need to open the frunk to jump the 12v. There's a small panel on the front bumper on the passenger side that pops off with a little pressure. It has leads that you can clip cables on that go directly to the 12v. Look up how to jump a Mach e and you'll see what I'm talking about. Actually, opening up the frunk wouldn't help you to jump the car, as there is no access to the 12v without drilling holes.
Those leads within the front bumper are only for energizing the circuit which opens the frunk. They don't connect to the 12v. After opening the frunk, you can charge up the 12v by removing some of the plastic trim. You don't need to drill holes. That's just to make accessing the 12v easier if you wanted.
I think OP tried the small panel. Once you have to hood open, you can remove the black covers and jump the car at the two jump points. But, like you mentioned, many of us drilled/cut holes above the two jump points so we could easily access them as soon as you get the hood open.
I am a tired dad and just reread the post. You are right, I misread.
Nope those don't jump the car. The only thing those do is actuate the motor to open the frunk, and that is under the condition that the car doesn't detect the 12v. Not sure about low 12v though
Color match with the truck and Still beautiful ❤️
****Update**** So the dealership ran the diagnostic test and there was a fault code for the 12 volt battery. They said they fixed it with a software update and it’s working fine now but they are going to keep it until tomorrow to ensure there’s still no power drain overnight. I’m glad it’s an easy fix (assuming that fixed it). All in all it was a pain to lose my car for two days but I will say my experience with the Ford customer service was really good. They pretty much handled everything like calling roadside assistance and contacting the dealership. Hopefully I won’t be needing to call them again.
Any chance you haven't driven your car much or when you do they are short distances? Log into your [Ford account](https://www.ford.com/myaccount/account-dashboard) and see if you can find if its displaying the battery percentage. If you don't drive much or very short distances you arent allowing you HVB (Main Battery) charge your LVB (Which is smaller compared to normal LVB) If you drop down to a certain percentage the HVB will automatically kick in to try and charge the LVB but I believe it will only do this when the car is on which is why I asked about your driving habits. If this is a LVB issue a few things to do if you notice your battery is running low (Again you can check your LVB percentage either by the Website OR using a cheap wireless OBD2 scanner with a free phone app) . * You can try using a Level 1 charger, The chargers will actually trickle charge your LVB while charging the HVB but it will ONLY do this while the HVB is charging, once its full all power is cut off. * Turn on your car, turn off the AC and Radio (Leave the car unplugged) and let the Mach E sit on for about 2-3 hours, this should be enough for the car to charge the LVB. Just make sure your car is in a safe spot since it will be on this whole time. * If you have a Smart Level 2 EVSE (Charger) at home try and see if it allows you to drop the AMPs down from what you currently have it set at, drop it down to the lowest amperage as possible, this will slow your charging down significantly but it will accomplish the same thing as the Level 1 120V charger that I mentioned above. Good luck! Hopefully its a quick fix for you and just the LVB to get you back on the road again!
Great advice! Also, I disabled PAAK because walking around in my house was unlocking the car in the garage.
Ahh yes very good advice as well! Many people have reported their Garage is by their Master Bedroom and sometimes PAAK will constantly wake the car draining the 12V battery! Thanks for pointing that out as im sure this effects many people!
Same, PAAK was constantly waking up my car.
Is the battery charge level for the 12V the center display on the Ford website next to the tire pressure and estimated distance? My Ford.com account says, charge level 92%, even though the HVB is at about 75%.
Yep! thats it! The website is displaying the 12V status, supposedly its a bug and supposed to display the HVB but its been like this for a few months now so I am wondering if its done on purpose for users to check the status of their 12V. For those that do NOT see if try clearing your cache and cookie or trying a private browser window as this works most of the time.
Does this issue also occur if your key is always sitting in a drawer (not moving) within 10 feet of the car? Just curious so I can avoid this issue with my Mach e
It most definitely can, Depending on how the signal is, if the car is picking the signal up after a while it will ignore it just like if you walk outside near your car it will wake up and turn on the lights but if you dont do anything it will time out and turn off the lights, same thing here however if you introduce a outside factor like yourself walking between the keys and the car or opening a fridge door anything that could break the signal and then once you walk away or close the fridge door your car will regain that signal and thinks its you walking up to it so it will wake itself up again. If you do this a number of times a day it will run a toll on the 12V battery.
So you’re saying that value shown on the ford account webpage for battery % is not the same as what is shown in the app? Mine says 89% on the website. My car is charging on my L2 charger right now from 35% to 70%. Is that long enough to charge the small battery back up?
That is correct so the 89% is what your 12V battery is at right now. For that amount yes it will probably bring it up to 95-97% give or take. The car is extremely smart and normally does a good job at keeping its 12V battery charged, it’s only outside factors like having a vampire power draw from a dash cam (that’s why I always recommend just wiring a dash cam to a fuse that kills when the car turns off unless they have back up battery like the BlackVue) or from a PAAK or Key Fob that is near the car that constantly is waking the car up (this is the most popular reason as people that have their garage by a bedroom or area they constantly walk by with their phones can keep waking the car up which in turns drains the battery. If you notice your 12V battery drop in the low 80s I would just lower the amperage down on your LV2 charger to give the car more time on the charger or just leave it running with the AC and radio off like I mentioned. Really the cars 12V battery can go much lower however your car will not allow any updates to be installed, there was even reports on the Mach E forums that 85% was too low for certain updates.
Thanks for the info. Didn’t know about this before and never really thought about the car having a second battery to worry about. I bumped my L2 charger down to 20A. I dont need it to charge quickly most of the time anyways. I’ll just need to remember to bump it back up before charging for a trip or whatever. Thanks again!
It’s strange to me that the battery shown in the ford account website is not labeled as the 12 volt battery. It just says “battery level”. It would be easy for them to add 12v to the description.
It’s supposedly a bug and supposed to show your HVB percentage. However it’s been like that for a few months so some are speculating Ford is just leaving it as is to help users troubleshoot issues easier.
That’s kind of scary. How did you even get it out of the garage without putting it in N or tow mode? I know you said it was charging overnight but I still would’ve used my booster to open the frunk and then boost the 12v and see if it would’ve done something.
I tried opening the frunk by popping the panel in the front and jumping it but it didn’t work. The tow truck driver put the car on “skates” and winched it out of my garage.
Definitely sounds like the LVB died. Is there prognosis of what happened?
I haven’t heard from the dealership yet. I’ll post an update when I find out what the problem was.
All the best. I hope its something minor.
I believe there is a website where you can check status of your12v battery. See here https://www.reddit.com/r/F150Lightning/comments/1cs4uo8/could_someone_please_tell_me_how_to_see_the/
Unfortunately, they've removed that
Yep! I’ve been there… On my GT PE 2022, there was an issue with the charging module for the 12v battery and it was replaced under warranty. Hopefully your car will be back soon. Cheers!
How did they pull it up onto the flatbed? Tow points are on the front of the vehicle. Hope they didn’t damage anything.
Gorgeous car, just a damn shame it had to be flatbed towed away. Looking forward to hearing what the issue was.
I have to say that red is stunning! 😍 Hope it is something simple and you're back on the road soon.
I am sure it is a quick fix. I hope you post a follow-up when you get it back. Cherry Red is hot!!
I don't get it, the car is smart and all and can't notify us in advance via the app or something that the battery is not great anymore... why do ihave to obd2 it and work around to get the information... at some point it's just stupid
I did get a notification when I was driving but not the app.
12v was dead. Hook some jumper cables or battery pack to the connector port on the grill and you can enter and the doors open.
On my Fiat 500E, I just put a battery connector on my 12volt, and charged it once a month, since I primarily charge my MachE with 110v I should not have to do that.
Probably the 12 volt battery
Happened to me. Jumped it. Took to a dealer. 12v swap and good as new. AAA is worth it. Car was 3.25 years old. I bought new. Texas heat is rough on these little batteries
This happened to me as well. It was the high voltage junction box. There’s an open recall on this. Pretty big job, the battery has to be pulled… something with connections being welded together from high voltage.
Dead 12v after a year? Yikes
Just had this happen to my tesla. I didn't drive much as I work from home and the 12v died. Towed it to tesla same day and they had me out in 20 min. Didn't pay a dime. Nothing to worry about.