Drained Battery?

[FrankM5]

Okay i installed a pair of LED side markers on the car. Purple/white to red and black/blue to black. So they turned on and everything and i'm like cool so then i was in the car, 15 mins with the ignition on and me being inside i went to get something from the trunk and noticed my license light flickering so i'm like hmm strange and then i tried to turn on the car and it doesn't start so im like wtf. On the digital dash the voltage was at 10 volts. So now i jumped the car and checked voltage it was at 14 now. But now i noticed when i shut off the car and locked it, the nav screen was taking a bit to get out of the blue mustang screen and power off. it seemed to get very dim but was still on and we waited 4 mins and the same thing. But then i tried to lock the door from the passenger side after opening it and it shut off perfectly. i know this is a lot if anyone has questions let me know. Thanks

Sponsored

 

[ORRadtech]

How old is the car? How long did it sit on dealer lot? How often does it get driven?
The stock batteries in these don't usually last long at all. If you're still under warranty take it in. If not take the battery to most any auto parts store and have it tested. My bet is it's in need of replacement.
You could try charging it on a good battery charger. That might help for a while but it's my experience that once one goes flat they're pretty much done for.

 

[boos550t]

OP looks to have a 2019

My 2016 battery died last September. A 2019 battery shouldn't be dying.

 

[ORRadtech]

OP looks to have a 2019

My 2016 battery died last September. A 2019 battery shouldn't be dying.

You're right, it shouldn't. But if you search you'll find the Ford batteries crap out pretty early. My '18s battery made it about 19 months.

 

[Andrew@Lethal]

Did this all start right after you installed the LEDs?

 

[FrankM5]

You're right, it shouldn't. But if you search you'll find the Ford batteries crap out pretty early. My '18s battery made it about 19 months.

Yeah its a 2019 GT 401a package, not sure what caused this i daily drive the car. I thought i maybe had a shortage with the side markers but turns out they're Non-Polarized Plug (no need to worry about positive and negative connections) is what is stated on the sellers page so if thats true im truly confused what made the car drop to 10 volts. I jumped it after the car wouldn't start last night and it started fine. Today it started up fine at 14.5 volts... i did have a photo somewhere of the dash displaying 12.5 volts about a month ago. So not sure if this was an issue that was waiting to happen. But right now i went to turn on the car and it went down to 12.5 volts again.
And Yes the car started up just fine after install

 

[ORRadtech]

If you're looking at the dash voltage guage with the car running you're not looking at the battery voltage, you're looking at the charging voltage. Your alternator puts out about 14.5V depending on what the battery control module is calling for to run the car and charge the battery.
To get a truer idea of your batteries health you should charge it fully then turn your headlights on for about 10 seconds (to remove the surface charge) then measure the voltage with a good multimeter.
If you do that and still get 12.5 volts then your battery is at a 90% state of charge.
And while that would be a decent result it doesn't really tell the full story about the battery condition. The best way to find that out is take it to an auto parts store and get them to check it. They will usually give you a slip of paper with its general condition and its specific values.

 

[milner_7]

my 16 battery just died. I went to check on the car the other day and got a message saying it went into shut down mode to save power and the car needed to be started. I tried to start it and no juice. Weird thing though is the started was engaging every few seconds and I had to unhook the battery. Tried to charge it but no dice. Its on a charger all winter and has been every winter since 2017. Bought a new battery and all is good.

Sponsored