Dead Battery

[Willwork4truck]

"That's never going to happen to me cause I regularly (weekly) charge it overnight..."

Ol' Murphy heard me say that so this morning, I go and open the door to the 2019 Limited (stock) and the power running boards don't deploy, and there's no warning bells/chimes/lights on the dash. Hmmm.

So I's checks the battery and when it usually is down to 12.1 or 12,2 volts after a few days, today is was: 2.3 volts! WTF!

I know my digital microprocessor charger doesn't work if the battery is below 8-8.5 volts, so I had to go get the ol' lead acid jump pack, hook it up for 10 minutes to "fool" the charger with a surface charge (11.6v after 10 minutes), then it started to charge.

These OEM lead acid batteries and the parasitic drains are a PITA! If I hadn't checked, for sure wifey would have wanted to go somewhere...

 

[Willwork4truck]

It's not just RAM guys:

2021 Ford F-150 batteries going dead due to phantom battery drain​

Phoebe Wall Howard
Detroit Free Press


Some brand-new 2021 Ford F-150 pickups being delivered to dealerships and customers are experiencing dead 12-volt batteries due to phantom battery drain, the Free Press confirmed on Monday.

A car dealer in Texas said a random dead battery happened to him at the dealership, requiring use of his old F-250 pickup to charge the new F-150 to even get it to the service department.
The technician said the battery seemed fine so it was charged and returned to the lot, said the dealer, who was not authorized to talk with the media.
F-150 customers exchanged notes in private online discussion groups as they've tried to determine the cause and figure out a solution.
"A population of vehicles built before we began shipping to dealers require a software update to prevent batteries from losing their charge," said Ford spokesman Said Deep told the Free Press. "Our dealers were notified last week and customer letters will go out next week as part of a customer satisfaction program for this matter."

Cause unknown​

Ford declined to provide details about the situation, specifically why the 12-volt batteries are losing juice or how many vehicles are suspected of having this problem.

In private online forums for 2021 F-150 owners, discussion has focused in recent weeks on the issue of battery durability and a potential explanation for the situation.

Owners have compared notes on who was having battery issues and when.
One owner confirmed his truck was built Nov. 24 in Dearborn. He wrote, "My truck went into deep sleep mode once and the only way to bring it back to life was a jump start. Had to use the physical key in the fob to open the door."
Another F-150 owner said his truck was built Jan. 18 in Dearborn. "Dead as a doornail today. Drove the truck this past Sunday on a 100 mile trip."

End of copied portion of article

And on the F150 forum, an October 20, 2020 post: (https://www.f150forum.com/f118/2020-f150-dead-battery-486997/)

10-20-2020, 04:04 PM
#1

2020 F150 Dead Battery

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I have a new 2020 F150 Ext cab STx 4wd with the 2.7 V6.and after sitting in the garage for 2-3 weeks with out being started the battery was completely dead. Has anyone else experienced this? The dealer told me this is "Normal". This seems crazy to me. Anyone else that has had this happen? So if you go on vacation and leave your truck in Long Term Parking, you can expect to have to have a jump start to get home?? Keep in mind this is a brand new truck/battery. Does this get worse as the vehicle ages?" (End of copied post)

 

[5thGenLoco]

45k on my 19, no issues. But definitely going to keep an eye on it now. OE batteries don't seem to be high quality from any manufacturer.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Update. Nearly 24 hours later (4 amp charger so it's not blasting the current in), the battery still shows less than 70% full, with voltage steady around 12.8-13 from the charger. Fortunately I have a barely used group 24 marine battery that's charged up that I will take along in case the OEM has a dead cell.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Update. Nearly 24 hours later (4 amp charger so it's not blasting the current in), the battery still shows less than 70% full, with voltage steady around 12.8-13 from the charger. Fortunately I have a barely used group 24 marine battery that's charged up that I will take along in case the OEM has a dead cell.

Woohoo, now about 30 hours continuous slower charging and it's finally on the top bar of 5 bars... Still taking the spare battery with me on the trip though. Ol' Murphy is out there.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Final charger update… 48 freakin’ hours on the 4 amp charger and it’s still flashing on the top bar of the 5 bars… I did not think it would take more than 24 hours to go to “green”!

I am aware of the charging profile for lead acid batteries, how it takes hours to get that last 10-15% in, but sheesh!

Now for the 3.5 hour straight highway trip to Autonation to sell it, hopefully that should top it off. Just in case it is dead tomorrow morning I have a spare charged-up group 24 marine battery and a jump pack…

 

[Willwork4truck]

Final update: The 3.5 hour trip (95% highway) must have topped it off as it started up fine overnight and the dash voltage reading was running 14.2 or 14.3 the whole trip, I was satidfied that the battery would survive long enough to sell it (which it did). I know that peeps are having problems with the OEM lead acid (sealed flooded) battery.

My 2 cents would be to go get an AGM from your local battery store and stick with that. True they are about 1.5x the price of basic lead acid starting batteries however you likely won't have the % loss when not being driven like lead acid batteries do (AGM is a type of lead acid but most folks just call them AGM).

Since mine was a (factory) 730 CCA, the Battery Plus store choices were:

Vehicle Specific

Duracell Ultra Gold Battery for 2019 Ram 1500 V8 5.7L 730CCA Car and Truck
SLI94RH7M
5.0 star rating 240 Reviews
Type: Standard

• 36 Month Free Replacement Warranty
• Long lasting and durable for use in passenger cars, trucks and vans; Commonly used in Mercedes, Chevrolet, Porsche, Dodge, BMW and Volkswagon vehicles
• 12 volt premium flooded battery with 790 cold cranking amps for ample starting power for all months of the year

Brand: Duracell Ultra
Voltage: 12
Format: BCI Group 94R
Lead Acid Type: Starting
Cold Cranking Amps: 790

$159.99
Core Deposit: $18.00

OR

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Vehicle Specific

Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM Battery for 2019 Ram 1500 V8 5.7L 730CCA Car and Truck
SLI94RAGM
5.0 star rating 207 Reviews
Type: Standard

• 48 Month Free Replacement Warranty
• 2 complete batteries in 1! 100% starting power AND 100% reserve power for your power demands
• AGM Technology - non-spillable, non-gassing & maintenance-free

Brand: Duracell Ultra
Voltage: 12
Format: BCI Group 94R
Lead Acid Type: Dual Purpose (Starting/Cycling), Starting
Capacity: 80AH
Cold Cranking Amps: 800

$239.99

*Since mine was about stone dead at 2.3 volts on Friday morning (after 2 weeks on non-driving), if I were to have kept the truck it would have to be on a 1.5 amp maintainer nightly or get a regular charge overnight weekly from a 2/10 amp type charger.

 

[JJRamTX]

My battery died around 11K miles (towed to dealer and they said it charged back up fine), 13K miles (towed to dealer and they said it charged back up fine), and then 16K miles (Towed to dealer and updated the Software on the truck and they finally replaced the battery) No problems since at 49K miles and counting...

 

[Willwork4truck]

Nice that they honored the warranty but not nice that it took 3x...

 

[mophead]

Final update: The 3.5 hour trip (95% highway) must have topped it off as it started up fine overnight and the dash voltage reading was running 14.2 or 14.3 the whole trip, I was satidfied that the battery would survive long enough to sell it (which it did). I know that peeps are having problems with the OEM lead acid (sealed flooded) battery.

14.2 - 14.3 might be a tad low while running/ alternator charging it, but I don't know what the spec is , so could be fine. I'd prefer to see 15.5 +. That's half the story. The better half is about 10 minutes after shut down, I want to see 13.8 and no lower than 13.6. From an hour to the next day I'd prefer 12.8, but 12.6 minimum. It manages that for a couple of days with warm temps, I'm happy. A good battery loses about 1% a day. Of course all of this is dependent on an alternator that's up to snuff.

Glad you were able to sell and not have to bother with it anymore.

 

[Willwork4truck]

14.2 - 14.3 might be a tad low while running/ alternator charging it, but I don't know what the spec is , so could be fine. I'd prefer to see 15.5 +. That's half the story. The better half is about 10 minutes after shut down, I want to see 13.8 and no lower than 13.6. From an hour to the next day I'd prefer 12.8, but 12.6 minimum. It manages that for a couple of days with warm temps, I'm happy. A good battery loses about 1% a day. Of course all of this is dependent on an alternator that's up to snuff.

Glad you were able to sell and not have to bother with it anymore.

Ours always was down to 12.1 or 12.2 within 24 hours at rest. Something was wrong with that. But it’s not my issue anymore.

 

[mikeru82]

Ours always was down to 12.1 or 12.2 within 24 hours at rest. Something was wrong with that. But it’s not my issue anymore.

Nope, now it's the next owners problem. Which is just one of the dozens of reasons I no longer buy used vehicles
Of course, the dealership may end up changing the battery if the truck sits on the lot for any length of time.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Nope, now it's the next owners problem. Which is just one of the dozens of reasons I no longer buy used vehicles
Of course, the dealership may end up changing the battery if the truck sits on the lot for any length of time.

Yes, they were going to CPO it (so they said) and that would be a likely issue. Once a lead acid starting battery goes that low it's a 50/50 bet (IMHO) that it will hold much longer.
I had a CRV a few years ago that the 1 year old battery went dead due to a dome light, even after a full recharge it only lived another maybe 3 months. Probably a bad cell.

Because I usually had it (RAM) on a charger weekly (except for the last 2 weeks), it "disguised" the problem. Never did change the down to 12.1 or 12.2 volts at rest though...