2013 CMax Hybrid SEL AGM battery?

[jestevens]

At least with an AGM battery if it goes completely dead you would be able to recharge it.. I've been lucky that my SEL never experienced the issue until the battery was truly ready for a replacement (> 5 years old).

[WhiteKnight]

I am going to post my experience here in case anyone comes to this thread in the future. The age on my battery in the 2015 CMAX I bought reads 60 months (five years). I'm not quite sure how a four year old car gets a five year old battery, but whatever. Using the forscan tool the state of charge on the battery reads between 10-20%. I used a multimeter to test the battery. To avoid the door open drain I crawled in through the back seat and measured it with all the doors closed and car turned off. The reading was between 11.9 and 12V. Given that there tends to be some slight natural impedance from the wires I'd say the real voltage is about 12v-12.1v. This jibes with Plus 3 Golfer's comment above "You can also, after the car has been off for several hours, measure the battery voltage with a meter with the car off. If you get around 12.0 volts or lower, I’d put the charger on as your SOC is likely around 20% or less."

 

I tried to charge the battery by letting the engine run. In an hour it improved the SOC from 17% to 20%. So trying to use the car to recharge an old battery is a waste of time and money. It might be possible to hook up a 1.25 amp battery tender to the built in 150W outlet and charge the battery that way, so it would give the battery a dual charge but that might be overkill; I haven't tried it 

 

The curious thing is that I have had no problem starting the car whatsoever. In fact, it got below 20 degrees F here recently and the car started like a champ. So a low SOC charge will not prevent one's car from starting. 

[JAZ]

FYI the 2015 models likely started building in August 2014, so the battery might indeed be 5 years old.

[plus 3 golfer]

WhiteKnight, there are 4 PIDs that supposedly measure the cumulative charge / discharge of the 12 V battery. See the attached screenshot. Can you check what your 4 readings are? I’m trying to figure out what the units are. Mine show cum charge at 41units and if I total up the cum discharge = 37. So, I assume my 12 V battery losses are four units. But what are the units. The capacity of a new 12 V battery is around 43 Ah.

 

Also, I believe your 60 months is the age of the HVB as the 12 V battery age PID in the BCM is in days. The screenshot shows my HVB battery age at 83 months which is correct as my car was built in Nov. 2012.

 

 

[ptjones]

Well that is a ton of info. :)  I think we have been this way 6 yrs. ago. :headscratch:  I think we figured out what the minimum voltage was for starting the car.

 

Paul

[pianewman]

Double post, sorry about that, but I'd like a response ASAP.

 

2013 Cmax, 100k miles. 3rd OEM 12V battery replacement in Sept...6 weeks ago...(battery #4)

 

College student car, max length drive time 1 hour, probably twice a week, otherwise very few short trips.

 

Entertainment system fail (again). Decided to put the battery on a BatteryTenderPlus, 1.25amp.

 

18 hours of charging, battery STILL not charged to 80%.

 

We're losing faith in this car, which has otherwise been flawless. We're keeping a lithium battery charger in the car, haven't needed to use it yet.

 

What can my son do differently to keep this battery charged???

Edited November 10, 2019 by pianewman

[SnowStorm]

The statement that 15B04 is VIN specific seems questionable to me (why would chaffed wires or out-of-date software not be a possible problem way back in 2013?) but if the dealer won't/can't help then here are some ideas:

1. Get a monitor that detects low 12v battery voltage and sets an alarm.  This one might work - configure it to keep the low voltage alarm LED on even if the voltage goes back up (alarm hold) and connect the voltage input to the 12v power port in the back of the car (it stays on all the time).  Then check it once or twice a day and if the LED is on, go to step 2 below.  You might start with the low voltage alarm limit at 10.5 volts - the nominal value for 0% SOC in a lead acid battery.  It can log data continuously as well, so you could look at the graph and possibly get some idea what is happening.
2. Turn the car ON (Ready To Drive) and let it sit for an hour or so.  Lock it with the other (!) key and go back inside.  You don't need to actually "drive" somewhere to charge the battery.  The car will just sit there and the ICE will start and run a very short time every 10 minutes or so to keep the HVB from going too low.  This suggestion, of course, is for when you can't use a charger.

The monitor mentioned above has its own internal battery so it won't be running down the 12v battery.  I don't have one so can't "recommend" it - its just the cheapest one found so far with the mentioned features.  Other loggers (without alarm) are:

• Blue Sky Components
• Measurement Computing USB-503
• Hantek 365

Again, info only, no experience. The Hantek is basically a logging multimeter that goes down to a 60mV range which should allow it to monitor 12v battery current by connecting across the ground strap like I did in this topic - about 2 amps per millivolt.

[SnowStorm]

More monitoring options:

• Bluetooth communications - lots of folks selling it from $22 to $30.  App available.
• Another Bluetooth but ships from US
• Fancy unit that can also monitor current (current draw of monitor not given but can be powered from separate battery if necessary). WiFi.

Again, can't recommend, just sharing search results.  There seem to be a lot more monitors out there now than when I built mine several years ago.  I guess we're not the only crowd with battery problems!

[fbov]

... 2013 Cmax, 100k miles. 3rd OEM 12V battery replacement in Sept...6 weeks ago...(battery #4) ...

Lead-acid battery life varies depending where you live. Mine is now 7 years old and still original, but, I live in Rochester, in the peak-life region, and this battery is clearly outliving expectations.

 

You live in Ft. Worth. You've gone through 3 batteries in 84 months, about 2 months short of expected life in very hot areas. Based on environment, there's not much you can do, just plan on looking at the battery every couple years. 

 

Then there's the aging characteristic. 

Reserve Capacity is likely more important to hybrid operation than CCA. More on this here:

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_heat_and_harsh_loading_reduces_battery_life

 

I see you cross-posted... why? It just splits the discussion. 

 

frank

[pianewman]

Cross-posted to speed up the response.

 

The 4th battery is 7 weeks old, so your response re: environment/battery life isn't on point. Now, after 36hours of 1.25a charging, isn't up to 80% charged.

 

Dealership is sounding helpful. Taking it in to them this afternoon. Ugh...22f expected tomorrow AM. Techs won't be happy about working on ANYTHING!

[plus 3 golfer]

Cross-posted to speed up the response.

 

The 4th battery is 7 weeks old, so your response re: environment/battery life isn't on point. Now, after 36hours of 1.25a charging, isn't up to 80% charged.

 

Dealership is sounding helpful. Taking it in to them this afternoon. Ugh...22f expected tomorrow AM. Techs won't be happy about working on ANYTHING!

Where are you getting the 80% from? What is the make and model of your charger?  I assume your battery is being charged in your vehicle and that the charger / tender has at least 2 states:  a bulk charge state that generally charges to 80% SOC at a constant current (1.25 A) and a float state.  So, no matter how long you leave the charger connected, the SOC will be around 80% in a 2 stage charger.  

 

In a three state charger, after the bulk charge state, there in an absorption state where voltage is held constant and the current decreases from the nominal bulk rate current which in this case is 1.25 A as SOC increases for the last 20 % SOC.  There is a variable battery drain that the charger is supplying in the absorption stage but it doesn’t know how much the drain is.  So, at some point, the SOC should reach a steady state SOC as the charger current equals the current drain.  For normal drain < 50mA, the SOC will likely be close to the 100%.  But what happens if the drain is 500 mA?  How high can SOC reach? 

 

After I turn off my car, if I only scan the BCM with FORScan, I can continue monitoring / recording battery voltage and current. I see battery current drains initially around 10 A declining to 3-4 A after several  minutes as modules are going to sleep. 

 

 

[pianewman]

BatteryTenderPlus, 1.25a. I own 2 of them. When I've used them previously, on all my cars, the LEDs initially show a constant "red", meaning it is charging at 1.25a. When it reaches 80% charge, the green light will start flashing, and I assume charging rate is reduced, until the battery reaches a "full" charge, red light off, green light on steady.

 

I've been doing this on my cars for 10-12 years, and the BatteryTenderPlus behavior has been consistent, on all the previous batteries in the CMax and our Fusion Energi. Ditto for 2014 Toyota Avalon Hybrid (AGM battery) and 2015 Leaf (AGM battery).

[plus 3 golfer]

The service manual says it’s a 3 stage charger. 0-85% bulk, 85-100% absorption, and then float.  So, assuming charger and “new” battery are good, the car likely has a battery drain that affects charging time / max. SOC.  I believe I read somewhere that Ford has a tool that can help locate the device / module with the current drain (maybe fused circuit with drain).  But the root cause like wire chafing can be very difficult to find.  Hope dealer can find the issue as I couldn’t “live” with the dead battery / no start issue.

[pianewman]

Plus 3 Golfer: Thanks for the further clarification re: BatteryTenderPlus charging protocol. I had come to the same conclusion, that there's a parasitic drain somewhere that's negating the charging capabilities of the BTP.

 

My son informs me that the auto-close hatch has been balky, and the feature that snugs the latch fully is no longer working 100%. He has to manually assist/push on the hatch after it contacts the latch, in order to fully close it. Otherwise, it will remain slightly open. I will alert the dealership to this, as there just might be something wonky in the latch closing feature that's causing the drain.

 

I have always made certain that the hatch is fully closed when I have the car, and of course, when the BatteryTenderPlus is charging.

 

Dealer tells me that there's a Ford rep on site this afternoon, and they'll seek his input. 

[Ineedtoknow]

I searched, couldn't find any threads on this.

 

Has anyone replaced the OEM 12V battery with an AGM battery? We continue to have battery failures, and I'm wondering if the AGM battery would be a better battery?

The battery dying is happening to me too. As I read in the replies I always thought It had to be caused by the entertainment electronics not shutting off properly. My radio CD player at times wants to either eject a CD or tries to read one with not having one inside. Sometimes the radio will still play audio with the car shut off and even after the door had been opened. It only turns off when the battery dries out.

Edited November 12, 2019 by Ineedtoknow

[plus 3 golfer]

Plus 3 Golfer: Thanks for the further clarification re: BatteryTenderPlus charging protocol. I had come to the same conclusion, that there's a parasitic drain somewhere that's negating the charging capabilities of the BTP.

 

My son informs me that the auto-close hatch has been balky, and the feature that snugs the latch fully is no longer working 100%. He has to manually assist/push on the hatch after it contacts the latch, in order to fully close it. Otherwise, it will remain slightly open. I will alert the dealership to this, as there just might be something wonky in the latch closing feature that's causing the drain.

 

I have always made certain that the hatch is fully closed when I have the car, and of course, when the BatteryTenderPlus is charging.

 

Dealer tells me that there's a Ford rep on site this afternoon, and they'll seek his input. 

Does he get a liftgate ajar message when this happens?  There is a lift gate ajar switch (contact) that lets the BCM know whether the liftgate is open or closed.  It's part of the latching mechanism.  It's possible that the liftgate ajar switch is faulty and intermittently tells the BCM that the liftgate is open when it is closed when the car is off.  This will certainly trigger higher activity in the BCM and higher current drain. Below is a TSB.

 

TSB12-12-06.pdf

[pianewman]

Yes, use the tender as you likely have a parasitic drain. I believe it was on the TDI or Passat forum, that a bad door switch when then car was off caused a module to remain active. In my examples, I used 50 mA as sleep draw which is the what Ford says is maximum sleep draw. It should be less than that. On your Energi, the 12V Battery is charged when the HVB is plugged in and charging.

 

Heat kills batteries. My first lasted 30 months in the Phoenix heat. I’ve got about 2 1/2 years of Phoenix heat and 2 years of east TN heat on the 2nd one.

https://blog-cdn.rvshare.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Life-map-of-batteries.jpg

Dealer CANNOT find the parasitic drain on the CMax. First night, plugged into equipment at the dealer, 12V was fully drained overnight. 2nd night, after performing a myriad of diagnostic tests, per Ford instructions, plugged into the SAME equipment, 12V showed no issues.

 

The APIM has failed, showing no sign of resurrection. Now the debate: to replace ($600part, $400 labor) with a new APIM, still with Sync 2, BUT...BUT...neither Ford NOR the dealership will provide any warranty whatsoever on the replaced part!!!! As my service adviser said to me (he's been very honest!), "Now you know why Ford has so many lawsuits pending. We replace at least 2 APIM's (on a variety of cars) a day, we have them lined up..."

 

I will go in and speak with the dealership mgmt about this. SA says I'm wasting my time, but at least he/she will hear my voice.

 

2017 Fusion Energi: To affirm Plus3golfer's assertion regarding HVB charging: YES, the 12V battery does indeed get recharged when the HVB is plugged in. I proved this yesterday. Energi had been driven over 200 miles, w/o being plugged in. After a 40mile highway run, I plugged in the BatteryTenderPlus, and it showed 12V charge BELOW 80%. After 2 hours on the BTPlus, STILL not showing 80%. I unplugged the BatteryTender, plugged in the HVB, and after charging (Level 2 charger, around 2 hours?), the 12V battery was fully charged.

 

We're very close to dumping the CMax. My son's fledgling career as a jazz trumpet in DFW just won't tolerate a car that is prone to 12V failure, even if there's a jump charger in the car. He doesn't have time to fool around (except when he's improvising on the trumpet...haha!)

[plus 3 golfer]

Again APIM has been known to cause parasitic drain. Perhaps, APIM finally had a “hard” failure and hence no drain. I believe when you plug-in, the charging algorithm is not the same as when the car is driven. IIRC, it’s also not the DC/DC normal HVB DC to 12 V DC charger but an AC to DC charger to use AC wall power not the HVB as the charging source.

 

Also, as I said (from monitoring my 12 V battery charging), the normal DCDC charging algorithm will not maintain a higher charge level unless you drive it about one hour a day give or take depending on Ah losses and current SOC. About once sometimes twice a week, we drive 1 1/2 to 2 hours round trips and maybe 4-8 drives each week of less than 1/2 hour. This maintains my 53 month old battery in the mid 40% SOC. If I don’t do the longer trips, my SOC will fall into the high 30% and likely lower with no longer trips. If I drive to Flagstaff from Phoenix in a week (about 6 hours round trip), SOC will be in the upper 50% when I return.

 

I believe if your drain has “disappeared”, the 12 V battery will be fine being driven as your son drives it. The SOC will likely be around the 10 - 20% range and only increase significantly when you plug it in.

 

How can there be no Ford warranty on a replaced Ford part? Are electronics warranties excluded or is the replacement a refurbished part (part pulled from wrecked car and reprogrammed by dealer)?

[pianewman]

Again APIM has been known to cause parasitic drain. Perhaps, APIM finally had a “hard” failure and hence no drain. The APIM had failed prior to taking the car in. Totally black window, lower left. The first overnight test, the battery lost all its charge. The 2nd night, no battery drain was noted.

 

I believe when you plug-in, (you mean on the BatteryTenderPlus???) the charging algorithm is not the same as when the car is driven. IIRC, it’s also not the DC/DC normal HVB DC to 12 V DC charger but an AC to DC charger to use AC wall power not the HVB as the charging source.

 

Also, as I said (from monitoring my 12 V battery charging), the normal DCDC charging algorithm will not maintain a higher charge level unless you drive it about one hour a day give or take depending on Ah losses and current SOC. About once sometimes twice a week, we drive 1 1/2 to 2 hours round trips and maybe 4-8 drives each week of less than 1/2 hour. This maintains my 53 month old battery in the mid 40% SOC.  If I don’t do the longer trips, my SOC will fall into the high 30% and likely lower with no longer trips. If I drive to Flagstaff from Phoenix in a week (about 6 hours round trip), SOC will be in the upper 50% when I return. So the SOC, even after a long drive, is only in the upper 50% range? The 12v battery is working that hard throughout the drive, unlike in an ICE vehicle? That's news to me!

 

I believe if your drain has “disappeared”, the 12 V battery will be fine being driven as your son drives it. The SOC will likely be around the 10 - 20% range and only increase significantly when you plug it in. So, a 10-20% SOC is normal range? Is that healthy for a 12V battery?

 

How can there be no Ford warranty on a replaced Ford part? Are electronics warranties excluded or is the replacement a refurbished part (part pulled from wrecked car and reprogrammed by dealer)? I'm baffled by this, as well. The SA emphatically stated NO WARRANTY, the part and install is provided by Ford approved "vendor." HUH? I will be seeing a dealer manager in the next day or two, as the service director says his hands are tied.

Edited November 18, 2019 by pianewman

[plus 3 golfer]

 

Again APIM has been known to cause parasitic drain. Perhaps, APIM finally had a “hard” failure and hence no drain. The APIM had failed prior to taking the car in. Totally black window, lower left. The first overnight test, the battery lost all its charge. The 2nd night, no battery drain was noted. Point 1

 

I believe when you plug-in, (you mean on the BatteryTenderPlus???) point 2the charging algorithm is not the same as when the car is driven. IIRC, it’s also not the DC/DC normal HVB DC to 12 V DC charger but an AC to DC charger to use AC wall power not the HVB as the charging source.

 

Also, as I said (from monitoring my 12 V battery charging), the normal DCDC charging algorithm will not maintain a higher charge level unless you drive it about one hour a day give or take depending on Ah losses and current SOC. About once sometimes twice a week, we drive 1 1/2 to 2 hours round trips and maybe 4-8 drives each week of less than 1/2 hour. This maintains my 53 month old battery in the mid 40% SOC.  If I don’t do the longer trips, my SOC will fall into the high 30% and likely lower with no longer trips. If I drive to Flagstaff from Phoenix in a week (about 6 hours round trip), SOC will be in the upper 50% when I return. So the SOC, even after a long drive, is only in the upper 50% range? The 12v battery is working that hard throughout the drive, unlike in an ICE vehicle? That's news to me! Point 3

 

I believe if your drain has “disappeared”, the 12 V battery will be fine being driven as your son drives it. The SOC will likely be around the 10 - 20% range and only increase significantly when you plug it in put in on an external charger / tender. So, a 10-20% SOC is normal range? Is that healthy for a 12V battery?Point 4

How can there be no Ford warranty on a replaced Ford part? Are electronics warranties excluded or is the replacement a refurbished part (part pulled from wrecked car and reprogrammed by dealer)? I'm baffled by this, as well. The SA emphatically stated NO WARRANTY, the part and install is provided by Ford approved "vendor." HUH? I will be seeing a dealer manager in the next day or two, as the service director says his hands are tied.

 

1) What I'm saying is that perhaps it wasn't a "hard" failure (completely dead module) until the 12 V battery was drained overnight and then recharged by dealer. You could pull the appropriate fuses for the APIM and see it you get a dead 12 V battery again.

 

2) No, not the battery tender but the charger used when you referenced your Fusion Energi when it is plugged-in. Just wanted to indicate (in case people are not aware) that with respect to charging the 12 V battery to 100% when an Energi is plugged in, the DC/DC converter is not used in charging the Energi but a charger in one of the HVB modules (iirc, the SOBDII aka the battery control module) is used.  The DCDC converter slow charges the 12 V battery and the PCM uses the BMS data in establishing and regulating the set point charging voltage. I believe the SOBDII gets the initial set point charging voltage according to the service manual from the PCM but don’t know what happens after that.  Perhaps the SOBDII simply maintains that set point voltage throughout and thus would charge faster than the DCDC converter.

 

3) No, the battery when the car is on is "not working".  It is being charged and not supplying load.  Again, it's the 12 V battery charging algorithm that limits the amount of charging - that's the way it works even if you drive for several hours. I posted a link in a previous post that has a graph showing the charging of the 12 V battery by the DCDC converter. A previous poster in this thread also validated this. “I tried to charge the battery by letting the engine run. In an hour it improved the SOC from 17% to 20%. So trying to use the car to recharge an old battery is a waste of time and money.”

SOC is measured as a % of the new battery capacity in Ah (not based on voltage).  The SOC for a battery that's lost capacity can never be charged to 100% SOC.  Also, normal  sleep load alone could drain the battery as much as 8 Ah in a week (50 mA x 168 hours) or a drop of around 18 % SOC. So, if the car is driven just a few times a week for few hours a week, it’s likely the SOC will continue to decline week over week.  At a charge rate of 3% per hour, it would take 6 one hour trips per week to likely ensure the battery would maintain its SOC.  However, driving 18 short trips of around 10 minutes per trip for about 3 hours total time will also likely maintain the SOC. See the link in a previous post of mine for a graph showing how the charging current starts above 10 A and drops rather quickly to under 1 A and continues to drop.

 

4) For my 53 month old battery, my guess is that upper 50% SOC (say about 24 Ah of the 43 Ah new capacity) represents the 80% absorption state threshold and takes about 6 hours to reach (very consistent with the 3% SOC per first hour charge rate and declining charge rates in subsequent hours). This is normal charging not fast charging (which is not good for lead acid batteries). Because your son's hybrid is not driven for many hours, the SOC may fall to a lower level over several weeks / a few months due to normal sleep drain even though the battery is fairly new.  Whether the SOC is 10%, 20%, 40% or higher depends on number of times and duration of times the car is on vs how many hours the car is off with sleep load draining the battery in a certain time period.  As the battery ages it will lose capacity.  

 

In my case , my 53 month old battery likely has lost about 10 - 13 Ah of capacity.  So, my maximum SOC would be around 75% SOC.  The PCM will likely enable charging to about 70-80% of the Ah capacity of a battery or 21 - 24 Ah (80% x 30Ah) in about 4-6 hours.  30 months ago, I drove about 29 hours in 3 days (about 6 stops / car off) and my SOC reached 92% and with float charge current around 0.02 A. So, my battery in it’s first 23 months lost about 8% SOC or 3.4 Ah of capacity. In the last 30 months, I likely lost another 7-10 Ah since we moved back to Phoenix.  

 

For the first 23 months my SOC was generally in the 10 - 20 SOC range.  With  regards to battery health, my battery was tested by Ford last week. It passed with “flying” colors with the printout showing well into the good range.  I can only speculate. What kills lead acid batteries is allowing the sulfate deposits which naturally collect on the plates as the battery is discharged to crystallize. Charging removes the deposits.  So perhaps, the chemistry is such that a slow drop in SOC with continual charging / discharging (lets call it mini cycling) prevents crystals from forming.  We know that greater  DOD reduces cycle life but that’s from full Ah capacity to a low Ah capacity. But Ford apparently is only cycling the battery via its charging algorithm maybe 3% in a normal on / off  charging / discharge cycle in my case. A lot of members have reported their voltage readings in the very low 12.0 volts which represents a low SOC and their batteries don’t die.  Bottom line 10-20 % SOC appears OK.

[pianewman]

Whew! Thanks for yet another very comprehensive overview of the charging parameters of the 2013 CMax. I really appreciate the tutorial.

 

The dealership could find no parasitic drain. They also doubt the failing/failed APIM had anything to do with the dead battery.

 

Also, service adviser insisted again that there is NO WARRANTY on a replaced APIM. UNACCEPTABLE! He actually agrees. I'll be speaking with the mgr of the dealership tomorrow. I doubt I'll get any satisfaction.

 

Bottom line: as I stated before, my 21-year-old son, while extremely attentive to (jazz trumpet) musical details, just isn't OCD enough to take on the continued anxiety of driving his beloved CMax. He's OCD, 24/7 with his grad school classes, directing a jazz lab band at UNT, playing gigs on the weekend...he just wants to get in the car and expect it to start. I agree with him.

 

Not sure what direction we're going from here, but the CMax will be sold/traded. UGH...car shopping...   

[ptjones]

It seems quiet a long time ago someone used a Solar Powered Charger to keep the 12v batt. charged by connecting it to 12v batt. in the back. This could be a cheap solution to your problem. Found this thread, pretty neat. http://fordcmaxhybridforum.com/topic/3587-5w-solar-charger-to-keep-the-12v-battery-fully-charged/?hl=solar Found these on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=solar+battery+trickle+charger+12+volt&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwsSwtYf55QIVApSzCh1KYAZhEAAYASAAEgJ-5_D_BwE&hvadid=241656089917&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9010901&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2068681012409707643&hvtargid=kwd-308865809253&hydadcr=7834_10379869&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_ouy8pmurt_e  and on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=trickle%20charge%20solar%20panel

 

Paul

Edited November 20, 2019 by ptjones

[pianewman]

Jeez...the saga continues...

 

Spoke with the dealer manager, voicing my concern about the APIM replacement having NO WARRANTY! He seemed baffled, as well, and promised to look into it. We'll see. APIM was NOT replaced.

 

I asked the dealership trade-in mgr to appraise the car, for them to buy it from me. HAHA! "Your car's in great shape, paint, interior, tires, and service dept says there are no problems with the car. We'll give you $3000 for it (100k miles on the odo) HAHAHAHA!

 

Here's the kicker. I went to pick up the car, They had deliberately left one door open, overnight, to provoke battery drain, and STILL NO significant battery drain. WHEN I GOT IN THE CAR, ALL 4 WINDOWS ON THE INFO SCREEN WERE FUNCTIONING, with radio, phone, and Nav fully functioning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

WTF??? They said the APIM had failed completely, and now, it has come back to life...

 

The car IS in great shape (prob. could use new struts...it's sloppier than I would like!), so now I'm not sure how to proceed.

 

Curious: I drove the car around 15 miles since I picked it up. Any predictions on what I'll find IF I decide to plug it into the BatteryTenderPlus??? They said it was at 100% when I picked it up.

[homestead]

It's Microsoft, just needed to be rebooted!

[pianewman]

It's Microsoft, just needed to be rebooted!

 

Tech clocked 5 hours (which the dealership did NOT charge me for!) , trying all the combinations of various module on/off that Ford directed, and the APIM did NOT come back to life...until I was on my way to pick up the car!!!! HAHAHA! 

 

Still baffled by all this, even with Plus 3 Golfer's gracious detailed explanation. (Truth be known, I really have no idea what the SOC is on an ICE 12V battery, but thinking the alternator keeps it hovering in the 60-80% range, maybe nearer to 90%, never 100%. All I know is, with a healthy ICE 12V battery, an overnight BatteryTenderPlus charge will bring it to 100%)

 

Now the discussion is: given the importance of my son's budding career in jazz (haha...possibly forever on the verge of serious unemployment!), we need to decide if the possible inconvenience of battery failure is worth the stress. His parents (my wife and I) are professional classical musicians (violin and piano), and fully understand that we can NEVER phone in sick, nor suffer the inconvenience of late arrival, when there are several hundred people in the audience awaiting our arrival!!!! 

 

It just may be that the way our 2013 CMax is now being driven is a pattern that depletes that 12V battery. Sounds weird, though!