Can The Lightning Cool Its Own Battery in Hot Weather When Not Plugged In?

[Maxx]

this kicks in roughly every 15 hours or so

Do you mean every 15 minutes when plugged in? was it the same interval unplugged?

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[shutterbug]

Do you mean every 15 minutes when plugged in? was it the same interval unplugged?

No. I mean every 15 hours. I have no way of tracking of how frequently it does this when not plugged in.

 

[Zprime29]

Hottest day so far, feel bad for you guys up in Phoenix. Battery gauge is about as far right as I've ever seen it.
Here's what I saw when I got into my truck to go home.

Only dropped to 117 after getting on the freeway. Home weather station indicated 114.

 

[MTBAZ]

Another Phx owners with no shade where I park and I don't leave it plugged in. I have an ER and have never found the fans running without it plugged in or stated. Just reporting my experience.

Would having the proximity setting enabled allow the truck to start preconditioning? I turned this off when I first got the truck and noticed the exterior lights going on/off all the time but I don't recall if it started preconditioning.

Not to add another highjack to this thread, but has anyone seen a battery temp indicator hotter than the acceptable window? How does the truck react... I assume it limits power (aka lower current from the battery) but I have yet to see the indicator this high or notice any power limits. I guess I don't race my truck enough.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Yes, the battery will cool itself when not plugged in if needed, but it has a higher threshold than when plugged in to not use as much power. This shouldn't have any impact on battery life, but you may have some power reduction when you first start driving if it is really hot.

Source: Mach-e experience from last summer.

Yes the Lightning cools itself. But not as frequently as a Tesla does. The settings appear to be much different to reduce vampire drain. Only time will tell on the effect on the battery.

If left in the heat, I can confirm the Lightning will vampire drain just like a Tesla does whereas normally it doesn’t drain much if at all.

Source: Lightning Lariat w/ OBD battery monitoring for 2 weeks in 100-110F Florida and Tesla owner for 7+ years.

 

[Zprime29]

If left in the heat, I can confirm the Lightning will vampire drain just like a Tesla does whereas normally it doesn’t drain much if at all.

It can't be very much. I left in a parking lot in full sun in Phoenix from Jun 22 through Jul 1 and it still showed the same SoC when I returned. That was 10 days in 100F+ and less than 1% (or whatever the cuttoff is that Ford uses to round/truncate). Did the OBD draw anything or was it self powered?

 

[Yellow Buddy]

It can't be very much. I left in a parking lot in full sun in Phoenix from Jun 22 through Jul 1 and it still showed the same SoC when I returned. That was 10 days in 100F+ and less than 1% (or whatever the cuttoff is that Ford uses to round/truncate). Did the OBD draw anything or was it self powered?

It draws, it’s BLE. And I compared it to drain when I was in the Northeast.

We’re not talking massive amounts. The Tesla and the Rivian are immediately noticeable. It’s nowhere close to those. But as an example the truck can sit 3 weeks in 60-70F without losing a significant amount where as I measured a 4-5% drain over the course of a week and a half when the temps were over 100F. The truck was also left in direct sun with no shade.

Even then, vampire drain is not a concern on this truck compared to say a Tesla or Rivian.

 

[Zprime29]

where as I measured a 4-5% drain over the course of a week and a half when the temps were over 100F

4-5% SoC? That's hard for me to believe since my truck was left in similar weather and experienced no drain. I left it with 78% and 10 days later it still showed 78%.

Do you mean a percentage of something else?

 

[Yellow Buddy]

4-5% SoC? That's hard for me to believe since my truck was left in similar weather and experienced no drain. I left it with 78% and 10 days later it still showed 78%.

Do you mean a percentage of something else?

No, 4-5% SOC. If anything Phoenix is worse than Florida, the biggest difference being humidity. But idk if that would have a huge impact.

Have you hooked the truck up to see if there’s any errors?

 

[Zprime29]

I haven't been able to find my ODBII reader, will likely end up ordering a new one so that I can find the old one.

4-5% SoC loss over 10 days seems abnormal vs no noticeable loss over 10 days. I haven't seen anyone else complain about vampire drain....well at all really. Even in the cold temps up north in the winter, and note that it takes more power to warm the battery than it does to cool it. Something ain't right but I have no idea what.

 

[mr.Magoo]

Source: Lightning Lariat w/ OBD battery monitoring for 2 weeks in 100-110F Florida and Tesla owner for 7+ years.

It can't be very much. I left in a parking lot in full sun in Phoenix from Jun 22 through Jul 1 and it still showed the same SoC when I returned. That was 10 days in 100F+ and less than 1% Did the OBD draw anything or was it self powered?

Maybe I can shed some light on this, the OBD adapter isn't the culprit here, it's consumption is negligible.
Keeping the modules awake / constantly waking them up is.

I did some testing a while ago trying to figure out if you indeed could keep logging, with the truck off, without too much impact on the overall system.

You can't.

In my test (granted, I logged more than just SoC) it drained the LVB (12V) to the point where the DCDC charger kicked in after only 5-6hrs, this happens once the LVB reaches 40% SoC.
Very simplified math would get you: 35Ah *0.6 = 21Ah *12V = 250W * 4 (6hr blocks in a day) = 1kW
So, you lose about a kW a day keeping the modules alive, this energy has to come from somewhere, i.e. the HVB.

During your 10day OBD session you should have received accessory drain warning messages in the FordPass App.

 

[RickLightning]

Maybe I can shed some light on this, the OBD adapter isn't the culprit here, it's consumption is negligible.
Keeping the modules awake / constantly waking them up is.

I did some testing a while ago trying to figure out if you indeed could keep logging, with the truck off, without too much impact on the overall system.

You can't.

In my test (granted, I logged more than just SoC) it drained the LVB (12V) to the point where the DCDC charger kicked in after only 5-6hrs, this happens once the LVB reaches 40% SoC.
Very simplified math would get you: 35Ah *0.6 = 21Ah *12V = 250W * 4 (6hr blocks in a day) = 1kW
So, you lose about a kW a day keeping the modules alive, this energy has to come from somewhere, i.e. the HVB.

During your 10day OBD session you should have received accessory drain warning messages in the FordPass App.

Bingo!

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Maybe I can shed some light on this, the OBD adapter isn't the culprit here, it's consumption is negligible.
Keeping the modules awake / constantly waking them up is.

I did some testing a while ago trying to figure out if you indeed could keep logging, with the truck off, without too much impact on the overall system.

You can't.

In my test (granted, I logged more than just SoC) it drained the LVB (12V) to the point where the DCDC charger kicked in after only 5-6hrs, this happens once the LVB reaches 40% SoC.
Very simplified math would get you: 35Ah *0.6 = 21Ah *12V = 250W * 4 (6hr blocks in a day) = 1kW
So, you lose about a kW a day keeping the modules alive, this energy has to come from somewhere, i.e. the HVB.

During your 10day OBD session you should have received accessory drain warning messages in the FordPass App.

This is helpful, but something is still missing. I logged in freezing temps (a week vs two) and it just sat for a week in 85-96F. But I would think I should have seen about half the loss given the timeframe.

The extreme heat in Florida was the first and only time I've seen that drain which is why I thought it was the higher temp limits. But FL is nowhere the oven that Phoenix is. So I have no idea...

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