Ford Ranger Controlled Charge System

[Curious]

Hi Guys, I’m from FYRLYT Pty Ltd and I have some info re the correct fitting of ancillary electrical equipment (EG: spotlights etc) to the new 2013 Ford Ranger with the ECU controlled modulated voltage alternator output.
This came about because a customer rang us and said a 4X4 shop had told him he could not fit FYRLYT 150 watters to his new Ford Ranger because the new charging system would fail with the current draw of the halogens. However he did offer to sell him some much more expensive HIDs that apparently would not cause a problem with the Ford Ranger charging system.
As I knew little (NIL) about this system I visited “Stillwell Ford” of Medindie and told them the situation. I had all my test equipment with me so the service manager (Peter) offered the help of the mechanic /electrician whom had done the latest course at Ford head office on the new charging system.
He informed me the new charge system uses a coil sensor that senses all current draw (amps) that are being drawn through the NEG earth cable and signals the ECU to raise or lower the output of the alternator to keep the voltage at approx 14.2 volts when under load, to as low as 12.6 volts when under virtually no load. EG: engine running, batteries fully charged and no lights or accessories on (fridge etc) or under hard acceleration.
This sensor is attached to the NEG battery cable right next to the clamp that attaches the earth cable to the battery negative post. It is black and approx 20mm x 30mm
It is absolutely imperative that all ancillary equipment that is added to the vehicle has the negative wire of the accessory bolted to the body end of the battery earth cable (downstream of the ECU sensor) or vehicle chassis and NOT to the negative battery post.
This will allow the ECU to recognise that there is a higher load required and will change the output current accordingly. However, if fitted to the NEG terminal the ECU will have no idea that you have applied an extra load to the system. The electrician at Stillwell Ford informed me this was the most common failure of people fitting their own accessories without knowing the requirements of this system.
The positive wire of your accessory can still go direct to the Positive post of the battery as normal.
We did load and voltage output tests in the workshop on a current model 2013 FORD RANGER. This vehicle had dual batteries with a ”Pirahna” charge module, electric winch and two 100watt halogen spotlights fitted.
With the assistance of the Ford electrician we did the following tests. All with engine at idle.
Battery voltage / engine OFF = 12.86 volts
Start engine @ 5 seconds = 14.50 volts
@ 1 minute 20 seconds = 13.20 volts
@ 2 minutes 30 seconds = 13.61 volts
@ 3 minutes = 13.80 volts
@ 4 minutes = 14.00 volts
@ 6 minutes = 14.45 volts
Voltage stabilised
14 minutes = 14.45 volts
Switched on low beam headlights and tail lights. Volts dropped to 14.38 volts for 1.5 seconds while the ECU recognised the load then returned to 14.41 volts. Approx 180 watts draw / 12.5 amps.
Then switched on high beam plus 2 x 100 watt halogen driving lights. Volts dropped to 13.80 volts for 1.5 seconds then returned to 14.30 volts. Approx 510 watts draw / 35 amps.
Then added 2 x 150 watt FYRLYTs to the above load. Volts dropped to 13.80 volts for 1.5 seconds then returned to 14.30 volts. Approx a total of 810 watts / 56.6 amps.
All at idle RPM, quite impressive I thought.
So we can see from this that it is a very good system that responds within 1.5 seconds to any change in demand. This vehicle comes with a 140 amp alternator so it can easily handle several of these lights if required.
So the moral of this story is make sure you attach your negative wire downstream of the ECU amp sensor and don’t believe everything a sale guy tells you as he may just be trying to sell you product where he makes more profit. So do your homework.
Hope this is of some help to somebody with a Ford Ranger or vehicle with a similar charge system.
I would also like to thank Stillwell Ford for their assistance in this test.

 

[mac_man_luke]

sounds like you've got that all sorted.

Only thing i dont like about it is it tends to leave the battery in a low state of charge, eg mine is often stitting at 11.8v

 

[Curious]

sounds like you've got that all sorted.

Only thing i dont like about it is it tends to leave the battery in a low state of charge, eg mine is often stitting at 11.8v

I have the same post running on "myswag.org" in the electrical section
There have been a lot of excellent responses today and they have raised some more questions.

I have arranged with Stillwell Ford to do some extended tests on Tuesday on a demo model Ranger for full charging profiles over several hours.

Is your vehicle a 2011/12 PX model ?as the charging system is different to the 2013 model.

I will also post tuesdays test results here.

 

[mac_man_luke]

Mine is a March 2012 build.

If there are differences might be worth dropping in to see if there are any software updates for mine.

Not cause an issue yet but could.

 

[JC807]

thanks for posting all that up, you never know who will stumble across this information and thank you later!

 

[Curious]

Hi Guys, back again after the tests at Stillwell Ford on Tuesday.
The results were most surprising (see attached test sheet)
The vehicle was hooked up to the computer readouts where we could monitor, Battery volts. Battery change amps, Battery % of charge. We also used an Amp clamp meter and a digital volt meter.
After starting the test it became apparent that the computer reading for “battery charge amps” only gave us the amount of amps going to the battery to bring it back to a 100% charged state. It did NOT include the total amp output of the alternator to supply engine run and any ancillary equipment.
To get this reading we added an “AMP clamp meter” to the neg cable to the engine from the battery downstream of the battery charge monitor unit on the neg battery post. This allowed us to monitor all amp output over and above the battery recharge requirements which started at 62 amps down to 1.58amps, 2hours 48minutes later at 100% charge.
We also had a digital volt meter across the battery to cross check the computer reading of the Alternator volts output.
From the tests it became apparent that what I stated in the first post and what I was led to believe was that the battery monitor needs to sense all load going through it, is in fact not entirely correct.

It appears from the aspects that I was able to monitor that the battery charge monitor does exactly that. Its only job is to monitor the amount of amps required to bring the battery back to 100% charge state. This became obvious when at 1138am I added the 3 x FYRLYTs (450Watts) to the system and the “clamp amp reading” went up by 30 amps and the battery charge amps remained at 3.97amps.
My conclusion, ( I may be wrong) is that the alternator operates as does all alternator systems in sensing the ancillary load requirements and the “battery monitor” only controls how many amps are needed over and above the ancillaries to charge the battery to 100% and for how long.
Even though I never saw the volt reading go below 13.90 volts during the test I would not be surprised as stated by others on this forum to see battery volts around 12.6 volts with the battery at 100 % fully charged and only the engine running, as there would be minimal current draw. However as soon as you apply a load EG trailer, lighting, fridge etc then the volts will rise as the alternator amps output changes.
The only reason I can assess why NOT to put your ancillaries NEG /EARTH wiring to the NEG battery post is that it would completely stuff up the computer monitors assessments of the battery state of charge and input current to supply the battery and when. There is no doubt this would cause all sorts of havoc with your battery charging. So make sure all ancillary equipment is attached downstream of the monitor on the NEG battery post.
This is by no means a comprehensive test, but it gives some idea what is going on.
I don’t own a Ford Ranger so I can’t do more tests for you. Hopefully others who do own them may be able to add to this data.
I hope this has given some insight into the workings of the system as we all, including Stillwell Ford learnt something from this.

Thanks Guys.

Test data sheet PDF below photo, click to open.

 

[peterfordranger]

Hi

Thank you for your information. Its a great help to ppl that own these vehicles and plan on doing DIY installs on the electrical system.
I'm currently looking to add a winch, some lights, and a dual batt system.

Cheers

Peter

 

[yotaboy1964]

Hi Curious, I am currently looking at a 2012 Ranger that has had a battery isolator fitted to the negative side of the battery and the voltmeter readings range from 12.2 to 15.1 after startup and continue to fluctuate after 15min of running. i believe the problem is with the isolator installation but i also cannot see the battery monitor like in your photo. Do you know of other people having a drama with isolator fitments?

 

[Curious]

Hi Curious, I am currently looking at a 2012 Ranger that has had a battery isolator fitted to the negative side of the battery and the voltmeter readings range from 12.2 to 15.1 after startup and continue to fluctuate after 15min of running. i believe the problem is with the isolator installation but i also cannot see the battery monitor like in your photo. Do you know of other people having a drama with isolator fitments?

Does the isolator disconnect the main battery from the vehicle or is it for a second battery?
If isolating the main battery from the vehicle, and I see no reason to do this unless the vehicle is going to be left for an extended period of time, as with modern cars there is always something drawing current and the battery would die.
I can see no reason why an isolator should have any effect on the charging system other than if the main battery is disconnected from the vehicle ECU for a period of time the ECU will default (reset) to factory specs until it relearns the vehicle needs. Once the battery is reconnected and the vehicle run for a while the charging volts should settle down but it could easily take more than 15 minutes. ( depends on battery condition, equip current draw, current state of charge at time of start up) The volts you stated do not appear abnormal from what I observed and have been led to believe from other readers about their vehicles.
Note: my tests were done on a 2013 model Ranger which Ford informed me had changed from the previous model as I believe they had some issues that the 2013 model addressed.

 

[CampingTechAust]

Hi Curious,

Great post. Thanks for going to the effort of testing.

Your point about wiring ancillary equipment to chassis ground in these vehicles is very important.
If the equipment is wired across the battery (ie positive terminal and negative terminal of the battery) the current shunt can be shorted out and cause all sorts of faults with the system such as the vehicle going into limp mode when the lights are turned on!

 

[mac_man_luke]

Easy solution for it all now. Go to ford and get smart charge disabled.

 

[yotaboy1964]

The isolator is only for the main battery, there is no second battery. This is standard practice in the mining industry - all site vehicles have to have a battery isolator as part of the Mine Site Req's. I have now found the shunt unit - semi-sealed in heatshrink and tape - but not sensing any load on the battery. I have modified this by cutting the original earth lead and reusing the shunt terminal and extending the leads to the isolator (which is mounted in the bullbar) but after leaving the engine running for 10 minutes, the charge rate had settled at between 12.2 and 12.4v. No matter how much load I put on, it remained the same so I left it running for a good half an hour to see what would happen - it never came back up. I tested the battery and sure enough, it was needing charge. After reading a bit more about the shunt system, I unplugged it from the harness and found the charge rate ran at about 13.4v but the battery warning lamp was on. i then reconnected the harness with the engine still running and the voltage began to rise until it peeked at about 14.78v. This tome is a tad high but i left it like this for a while to see if it would drop as the battery state improved. After shutting it off to test the battery and let things settle, I switched off the isolator. Battery showed improvement so i switched on the isolator and started the engine once again - charge rate went high then began dropping and, as before, settled at about 12.2 and never came back up - load or no load - for more than 30 min. I unplugged the harness to the shunt and reconnected it - up it came. I am going to suggest to the person in charge of this vehicle to take it to Ford and get them to switch off the sensing function so it can operate like a normal system because obviously the isolator operation is causing it some problems.

 

[Curious]

It would appear the charge sensor is faulty and is settling at at too low a voltage for some reason. The 14.75 v peak is not unusual but it does not stay there. I have seen over 15 volts in some vehicles.
Have you had the battery tested.
Maybe it has sulphated up or dropped a cell thereby misleading the charge sensor due to different resistance in the battery. Just a thought. I am not a sparky so someone else reading this may be able to comment whether this would give the problem you have.

If not then have it bypassed as previously posted.

 

[Pork Hunt]

Good work on the testing yotaboy1964.
I have read that smart charge can be disabled, but there must be an advantage for it to be there.
I was putting a tow bar on my 2014 ranger and the tjm harness was a complicated bit of soldering and re wiring so I went to Ford for a factory loom.

Nearly $500 to get 600mm of wire and a module plugged in. They program the ecu to allow the cars safety features to integrate with the trailer.
How does that work???

I am dreading the day when the little wires that hang off the rear diff rip off .

 

[Tink]

Good work on the testing yotaboy1964.
I have read that smart charge can be disabled, but there must be an advantage for it to be there.
I was putting a tow bar on my 2014 ranger and the tjm harness was a complicated bit of soldering and re wiring so I went to Ford for a factory loom.

Nearly $500 to get 600mm of wire and a module plugged in. They program the ecu to allow the cars safety features to integrate with the trailer.
How does that work???

I am dreading the day when the little wires that hang off the rear diff rip off .

The Ranger has anti sway control for trailers and that would be what they were programming.

As for what advantage is a variable voltage alternator. Not much at all. It is done to save fuel. How much is anybody's guess but it would be pretty minimal.

 

[Lock88]

New member 2012 PX Ranger

Hi there!

Thanks for the great post. I have been having issues with the charge system in my 2012 Ranger for some time now, had it disabled recently. Will be heading back to Ford with this new information.

 

[Curious]

2014 Ranger alt troubles, still.

Hi guys , back again. Last week I had a look at a customers 4 months old 2014 Ranger where it would not raise the charge rate when loaded with an accessory. EG Driving lights.
First I noticed the negative wires from the lights had been connected directly to the neg battery terminal. This was moved to body earth connection.
The battery had a standing voltage of 12.6 volts. and when started would go straight to about 14.5 volts and quickly reduce to 12.6 volts after the surface charge was put back on the battery after starting. If the lights were switched on when the alternator was putting out the 14+ volts all was well but if the battery charge had returned to 12.6 volts. (minimum amp input) and the lights were switched on the volts to the lights would drop to 11.5 volts. The alternator would not raise its output to the extra load. We tried several options but in the end the customer took the vehicle back to Ford where he was told they were still having problems with the ECU controlled charge system and they would disable the system in the computer ecu so it would charge as normal. One would have thought by now the system would be bullet proof but apparently not. This fixed the problem. So if having a charging problem on a Ranger after fitting accessories of any kind I think it would be advisable to have the ecu charging disabled to not get caught out with a flat battery.
Cheers

 

[netless]

Hi Guys, I’m from FYRLYT Pty Ltd and I have some info re the correct fitting of ancillary electrical equipment (EG: spotlights etc) to the new 2013 Ford Ranger with the ECU controlled modulated voltage alternator output.
This came about because a customer rang us and said a 4X4 shop had told him he could not fit FYRLYT 150 watters to his new Ford Ranger because the new charging system would fail with the current draw of the halogens. However he did offer to sell him some much more expensive HIDs that apparently would not cause a problem with the Ford Ranger charging system.
As I knew little (NIL) about this system I visited “Stillwell Ford” of Medindie and told them the situation. I had all my test equipment with me so the service manager (Peter) offered the help of the mechanic /electrician whom had done the latest course at Ford head office on the new charging system.
He informed me the new charge system uses a coil sensor that senses all current draw (amps) that are being drawn through the NEG earth cable and signals the ECU to raise or lower the output of the alternator to keep the voltage at approx 14.2 volts when under load, to as low as 12.6 volts when under virtually no load. EG: engine running, batteries fully charged and no lights or accessories on (fridge etc) or under hard acceleration.
This sensor is attached to the NEG battery cable right next to the clamp that attaches the earth cable to the battery negative post. It is black and approx 20mm x 30mm
It is absolutely imperative that all ancillary equipment that is added to the vehicle has the negative wire of the accessory bolted to the body end of the battery earth cable (downstream of the ECU sensor) or vehicle chassis and NOT to the negative battery post.
This will allow the ECU to recognise that there is a higher load required and will change the output current accordingly. However, if fitted to the NEG terminal the ECU will have no idea that you have applied an extra load to the system. The electrician at Stillwell Ford informed me this was the most common failure of people fitting their own accessories without knowing the requirements of this system.
The positive wire of your accessory can still go direct to the Positive post of the battery as normal.
We did load and voltage output tests in the workshop on a current model 2013 FORD RANGER. This vehicle had dual batteries with a ”Pirahna” charge module, electric winch and two 100watt halogen spotlights fitted.
With the assistance of the Ford electrician we did the following tests. All with engine at idle.
Battery voltage / engine OFF = 12.86 volts
Start engine @ 5 seconds = 14.50 volts
@ 1 minute 20 seconds = 13.20 volts
@ 2 minutes 30 seconds = 13.61 volts
@ 3 minutes = 13.80 volts
@ 4 minutes = 14.00 volts
@ 6 minutes = 14.45 volts
Voltage stabilised
14 minutes = 14.45 volts
Switched on low beam headlights and tail lights. Volts dropped to 14.38 volts for 1.5 seconds while the ECU recognised the load then returned to 14.41 volts. Approx 180 watts draw / 12.5 amps.
Then switched on high beam plus 2 x 100 watt halogen driving lights. Volts dropped to 13.80 volts for 1.5 seconds then returned to 14.30 volts. Approx 510 watts draw / 35 amps.
Then added 2 x 150 watt FYRLYTs to the above load. Volts dropped to 13.80 volts for 1.5 seconds then returned to 14.30 volts. Approx a total of 810 watts / 56.6 amps.
All at idle RPM, quite impressive I thought.
So we can see from this that it is a very good system that responds within 1.5 seconds to any change in demand. This vehicle comes with a 140 amp alternator so it can easily handle several of these lights if required.
So the moral of this story is make sure you attach your negative wire downstream of the ECU amp sensor and don’t believe everything a sale guy tells you as he may just be trying to sell you product where he makes more profit. So do your homework.
Hope this is of some help to somebody with a Ford Ranger or vehicle with a similar charge system.
I would also like to thank Stillwell Ford for their assistance in this test.

 

[netless]

Here are some readings from my 2018 Ford Everest [same electricals as PX Ranger] - It is now possible to enable various levels of Dual Battery using Forscan software - all readings are from the BCM module - so AMPS is into and out of the cranking battery only.
What I'm really interested in is the erratic charging behaviour of the single battery mode - any explanation, or confirmation that this is normal would be most appreciated.

I'm still trying to understand exactly what is going on with the dual battery setting and its effect on the alternator behaviour and resulting state of charge. First some background. Everest Trend 2015 currently with 800CCA 80Ah AGM [Century DIN75LH] battery fitted. Initially the dual battery system was fitted by a local Auto Elec - simple isolating solenoid and a "trick" to tell the alternator that it has a load from some non existent heated seats. I have never understood this, nor had a satisfactory explanation, however I believe whatever it was may now be removed since Ford installed the above battery and reset the BCM module - as the alternator voltage suddenly was no longer constant 14.4 V - also see attached Forscan output from FCIM module.

So.... I've run some tests measuring Volts, Amps & SOC for Single Battery, 90% Dual Battery & 100% Dual Battery - See attached output

Single battery charges to around 85% SOC and then the alternator starts to cut in and out with charge fluctuating [+ -] 20 Amps in a very erratic manner. Is this normal? - have others experienced this erratic charging behaviour? I would have expected a smoother response from the alternator.

Dual Battery 90% has a similar behaviour - but charging to about 95%. It would appear that the BCM is monitoring the SOC and cutting the alternator voltage when the target SOC is reached.

Full Dual Battery 100% Shows much smoother charging with a constant 24/7 14.4 Volts & Amps slowly reducing as the battery slowly reaches maximum charge as you would expect. It did not reach 100% SOC this run - bit over 90%, but it did before & I expect with constant 14.4 V charging it will eventually reach 100% again.

So my questions to the more auto electrical astute are:

1. Ford appears to feel that charging the battery to only 80% SOC is good for the battery - Is this true? I would have thought repeatedly undercharging the battery may not have been such a good idea?

2. Is long term continual charging [14.4 V] of a sealed AGM battery not a good idea - with overcharging resulting in gassing and loss of [non replaceable] electrolyte in these valve regulated sealed batteries? As my dual battery is very part time - mainly not in the car, except for trips, would I be better to run mostly in single battery mode or part dual battery [what level?] for better battery care & fuel economy? Or just leave it dual battery full time.

3. I have now installed a DC-DC charger for the second battery - do I even need dual battery mode now?

4. Have others noticed the erratic charging behaviour in single battery mode? Is this normal?