Let me start by saying my battery has shown absolutely no sign of any problem. So...

I'm in the process of relocating a VHF radio from on top of the dash to inside the center console (where the ashtray would be). The radio is currently mounted in the tray in middle of the dash on my 06 Lariat. The power, ground and antenna cables run from under the dash up through a hold there. Yesterday with the console faceplate off, I cut the power, ground and antenna wires for the radio so I could pull them back down into the dash and relocate them to the radio's new position. (I had not disconnected the battery).

I taped off the exposed ends of the wires as I'm not ready to complete the install yet and put everyting back together. Went to start the truck and nothing! The battery would not turn over the engine and there was a rapid fire constant clicking noise from behind the back seat?

Called the dealer and hadn't a clue! I also noticed the speedometer read 12mph - sitting still in the garage. And if I tried to start the truck the spedo needles vibrated rapidly for a few moments. (He volunteered that the clicking sound could be from some kind of sensor mounted on the back cab wall??)

OK - borrowed a buddy's truck and went off and bought a battery buddy - remote jump start battery. When connected this returned power to lights, radio, etc but still was not enough to turn the engine over.

I let the truck sit for about 5 with the battery budy plugged into electricity to charge it and also connected to the truck battery - hoping to charge it. Finally after this recharge period the truck started just fine. I disconnected the jump battery, turned off the truck and tried again. Perfect start. I went to bed happy.

When I woke up this morning, stone cold dead battery! Tried to jump start (having charged the new jump batery overnight) and nothing. Borrowed new battery from buddy and installed it. Nothing. Tried to jump it - again power to lights, etc. but not enough to turn engine over. We have it on charge now...

Have is suddenly lost a cell - i.e. is it bad battery or is there a problem elsewhere???

PS - my buddy's new heavy duty battery has been sitting in the garage since July so we are assuming it's just needing to charge.

 

It is the battery. You need to change it. Here was my experience.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...l-get-you.html

 

Wow!
Thanks Bluejay. Sounds just like what's happened to me. Hoping that once the new battery gets a good charge it will start - but you're right, there was absolutely no sign or warning the battery was bad.

 

When the gauges and speedometer start acting up, that is a givaway sign. Or if you have an Edge/Gryphon and it goes dead. Mine did neither one.

 

bah, mine just got me too. I find it hard to believe that the factory batt took a crap in three years.

 

Mine was the battery. Put a new one in and i t started right up. Mine too was only about 3 years old. Can't believe they go like turning off a switch. Any other battery Ive had trouble with usually gives you a sign of going dead - not this one!

Fabian - where'd you get that awesome animated sig???

 

My battery just took a dump in my 06 F150. The truck sat for about a month without being started.So one day I went to start it and the battery was dead.I charged the battery and the truck started.After that I didn't start the truck for another week and the battery was dead again.This time the battery wouldn't take a charge.So I had to buy a new one.The factory battery was crap anyway.The factory battery only has 650 cold cranking amps which isn't much up in here in the north east.The battery I replaced it with has 880 cca's.
I got to get a battery tender or start my truck more often.

 

Instead of the normal boil your battery, battery tender. Take a look at one of these :
http://www.batteryminders.com/batterycharger/home.php

I have 2 of them for my motorcycles, for when they sit. The Wing sits all winter long, the Concours might not get started for 60 days some times, and this always keeps the battery up to snuff.

The Concours is a 2002, and still has the factory battery in it, but it is the old style maintenance battery, where you check the water level.
This is the one I run heated gear on with driving lamps, with a small stock alternator ( I am not nice to the battery by any means ).
Keep meaning to do the ZZR1200 alternator upgrade on it, some day ( 6 years without issue, it is a case of why do it )

 

Interesting that you say "boil the battery", battery tender, SSCULLY. The one I have says it's specifically designed NOT to do that. It's charging voltage is supposed to drop as the battery comes up to charge in a way that prevents gassing. I'm pretty sure it functions much the same as the battery minder in your link. And, the price is quite a bit less. Here's a link to one source of the one I have: http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-...-021-0128.html I've been quite happy with it.

- Jack

 

Jack

The BatteryMinder that is closer to the one you have is this one :
BatteryMINDer Plus 12 Volt 1.3 Amp Battery Charger
http://www.batteryminders.com/batter...o-p-16134.html
Street price on it is 45.00, and this is a de-sulfate battery tender, and does AGM and normal / deep cycle batteries ( no gel ).

The Battery Tender that would be close to the BatteryMinder I have is this one :

http://batterytender.com/product_info.php?products_id=7

This one cannot be used with AGM or Gel batteries, and has a fixed top end rate at 5 A, and has no de-sulfate cycle in it. The BatteryMinder desulfate cycle is a PWM frequency of 100 +/- 10 Hz.

The DC voltage output in the users manual had me confused.
It is marked as a 12 V charger, but does 12,8 and 6 volts ?

BatteryMinder is 13.4V @ 24*C +/- 0.25 VDC

BatteryTender Plus
The User manual only shows where it will ID a sulfated battery ?
The Batteryminder had more features then the BatteryTender when I went shopping for one, that is why I got it. If I did not have the down time on the bikes, I could use my 20 YO trickle charger on them, if they sat longer then 45 days.

I like Deltran's web site on the FAQ
I got about a year on the cheap batteries on my road track bike ( severe heat & vibration, and running the alternator at the top end all the time ). these were the junk piles from BatteryPlus ( didn't matter, brand name Yuasa got the same life span ).
why is it amazing to get 3 years out of a battery on a bike ?

I will say BatteryTender has a 10 Yr warranty were BatteryMinder is a 5 year.

 

I just posted in General Discussion & the 2004 Forum about my battery experience. Something is wierd as I replaced my battery 7/08 & it was the factory original - build date for my truck is 11/18/96! I've had the truck since 10/00 & never replaced it so I figured it was 8 years old but this was definitely the original battery.
Is it really true that driving mostly highway miles extends battery life? I was driving 200 miles weekly just between my mother's & home plus the local driving I did so I averaged 250-300 miles/weekly. That didnt seem excessive to me but maybe it helped? What do you think?

 

Hi Cowlady -

I think driving highway miles is definitely good for your battery. While driving, it stays at a near full charge for most of the time.

In start and stop (park) driving, it's constantly being subjected to deep drains during starting and then rapid recharges once started. Batteries don't like to be "cycled" - not even the "deep cycle" batteries. The closer you can keep any lead acid battery to full charge all the time, the better.

A battery that is treated gently can easily go 8 years or maybe longer. The other thing that CAN hurt a battery is excessive heat, and that causes the electrolyte to "boil". The battery "gasses", the electrolyte level drops and becomes more concentrated and the effect on the plates becomes uneven. The result is internal shorts that kill it.

Steve - I'm still digesting your last post. I'll probably respond sometime tomorrow. I hadn't picked up on the "desulfinating" differences, and, maybe that's important.

- Jack

 

Thanks, and i made it a while back. Gonna have to make a new one with all my new mods coming up.


Yea my 06 is doing the same thing except i drive my truck all the time....
It was just dead one morning so i did a quick charge to start the truck and took off to work. It has been dragging all week when it starts the truck, it almost loses all power because my gauges "reset" after the truck fires up then go to thier indicatory positions.
I have been to busy to change it out, and today i had to drive about two hours for a wedding and funny thing is it started up fine when i was ready to leave. got back and stopped at a store and it started fine again. I have my charger and about 50 ft of cord under the back seat just incase until i get time to swap it.
Ill let it go another week and see what it does, maybe i just let it get way too low one day and havent ran the truck long enough to give it a good charge.

I did put a charger the first day at work, a slow two amp charge till it was at 100percent via the charger display it bearly cranked over after having the lights on for 20 or 30 seconds.
Ill probably pick up a new batt tomorrow or monday.

 

Steve - I just finished reviewing both the Battery Tender and the Battery Minder. I think I'm now sold on the small, plug-in the wall, Battery Minder. Not only does it de-sulfinate a battery, it will also maintain more than one battery connected in parallel, which is what I have in our travel trailer. So, as you said, the Battery Minder has more features.

I never came across the Battery Minder when I looked for a device of this type before, probably because I searched on "Battery Tender".

Thanks for pointing out the differences.

- Jack

 

Jack,

Dad put a SAE charging input under the hood of the Itasca for the house batteries ( under the stairs ) , so he can just drop the hood, and plug in the charger from the front. Next to it is an input for the Engine battery.

He has one of the old models ( as do I ) for his RV and bikes. This did not have the AMP selection or the multi battery types on it ( which back then, didn't matter that much ), but was just a higher AMP version fo the wall wart version.

I only caught this when looking to replace my wall wart boiler, from the others at the riding clubs. Guys were about 50-50 split between the Battery Tender and the Battery Minder.

Don't know if it is really what you need, or what size for the batteries on the TT. Take a look over both 12 V models to make sure.

Hope it works out for you, if you decide to go with it.

Steve

PS : I like the comment. Most of mine seem to go that way, like yourself