Had to Jump Start...Bat?? Let's Troubleshoot

[galaxy]

Well, here’s a weird one.

Car has been sitting plugged up since last drive about 4 days ago. CTEK charger working perfectly, and the #7 light was on just like normal, as you’d expect. Have never seen the charger anywhere but 7. Just a little while ago, out of the blue, I saw the charger was back down to 2. No idea how long it’s been there nor when it reverted to 2. Unplugged and reset the charger, and it will still not advance past two. Has been about an hour now. Guess I’ll let it sit and run, but why on earth would it back off that far?

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[Egparson202]

Does the car start? I’d be tempted to go burn some gas in an attempt at normalization.

 

[galaxy]

False alarm. Still don't know why it would do that. But...I didn't get a chance to start it, but I did turn on the ignition, bright headlights, and fan on hi for a few minutes. Plugged it back up and off it went. Back to normal. Interesting.

 

[Egparson202]

False alarm. Still don't know why it would do that. But...I didn't get a chance to start it, but I did turn on the ignition, bright headlights, and fan on hi for a few minutes. Plugged it back up and off it went. Back to normal. Interesting.

File it under “Mysteries of Mustang charging system”.

 

[Postal Bob]

Well, here’s a weird one.

Car has been sitting plugged up since last drive about 4 days ago. CTEK charger working perfectly, and the #7 light was on just like normal, as you’d expect. Have never seen the charger anywhere but 7. Just a little while ago, out of the blue, I saw the charger was back down to 2. No idea how long it’s been there nor when it reverted to 2. Unplugged and reset the charger, and it will still not advance past two. Has been about an hour now. Guess I’ll let it sit and run, but why on earth would it back off that far?

Is your car locked with the key fob? If not, it's constantly searching for the fob nearby. If you bring the fob anywhere near the car, it gets ready to be started.
On my car/charger, which is always locked, if I have the fob, and simply unlock the doors, you see the charger lights drop down to their starting colors. Within a few minutes of locking the car again, it'll will go to fully charge.
And this situation also happens if you access your car's info through the FordPass app. When doing so, you're activating the modem, which uses power temporarily.
Also, if parked outside and temperatures drop a lot, the charger will kick in as the battery loses a small amount of power when temps get really cold.
Bottom line, charger/tender is working as it should. Just make sure car is locked when not in use, and key fob is nowhere near car. And remember, when the car isn't used in 14 days with the doors locked, it goes into a deep sleep mode, and you can't acces any info through FordPass app. You have to turn on ignition to get it out of deep sleep mode.

 

[Egparson202]

Thanks @Postal Bob That was helpful.

 

[RagmopInKona]

I've often wondered if battery tenders are double edged swords for the same reason. Sure, they can keep a battery alive for much longer, but do they artifically keep it alive? IDK. Speculating. My stock battery that started this thread was five years old next month and lived on a tender. Would the impending failure been more identifiable or predictable if it didn't live that life? But then would it had ever made it five years without? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Batteries last longer than 5 years long before tenders.
It tis the luck of the draw. reading anything more into it. is pointless.
The pro's of the tender is not grab'n the keys to go for a cruise only to hear click, click, click or nothing. Too many small power draws on vehicles today to expect a battery to not go flat in a few weeks. My 1973 can go months, only draw is maybe the aftermarket radio's station memory. today's rides, with handful of computer modules are not designed to sit for weeks on end.

 

[galaxy]

False alarm. But still weird.

Is your car locked with the key fob? If not, it's constantly searching for the fob nearby. If you bring the fob anywhere near the car, it gets ready to be started.
On my car/charger, which is always locked, if I have the fob, and simply unlock the doors, you see the charger lights drop down to their starting colors. Within a few minutes of locking the car again, it'll will go to fully charge.
And this situation also happens if you access your car's info through the FordPass app. When doing so, you're activating the modem, which uses power temporarily.
Also, if parked outside and temperatures drop a lot, the charger will kick in as the battery loses a small amount of power when temps get really cold.
Bottom line, charger/tender is working as it should. Just make sure car is locked when not in use, and key fob is nowhere near car. And remember, when the car isn't used in 14 days with the doors locked, it goes into a deep sleep mode, and you can't acces any info through FordPass app. You have to turn on ignition to get it out of deep sleep mode.

The car was not locked. The fob was not close by; it was in the house. Piecing together the puzzle, I recalled that sometime on Wednesday, the power went out briefly. I didn't catch it in the act, but the assumption is when the power came back on, that's when it started over the charging cycle and stopped at 2 for whatever reason. I noticed it later that evening and couldn't get it past two until I played with the car. As mentioned, that's when it went along it's merry way.

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