Ford E-350 battery questions

[CodyClassB]

My Ford 2015 E-350 battery will need to be charged every 2-3 weeks. The battery is brand new so I assume something in the truck is using the battery while it is off.

Questions:

1. Is it safe to install a battery switch and turn off the battery when not in used? I was told that "newer trucks require power to keep the electrical components/sensors to be active". If the battery is disconnected for a long time, it will damage there components? True or false? My truck model year is 2015

2. Is it safe to connect a battery maintainer through cigarette lighter ? The cigarette lighter is always on.

Thanks

[Grit_dog]

Yes you can disconnect battery without hurting a thing.
No, you won't hurt the battery by having it hooked to a maintainer.

More importantly, figure out the issue because it's likely not normal.
How many batteries does the rig have?
Are you talking about the start battery, house battery(s) or both?

If it has multiple batteries, is the start battery hooked to the house for charging? Could be the RV draining it, as the "truck" shouldn't.

Bottom line, just hooking a charger to it or disconnecting the battery doesn't fix the problem, it just puts it off.

[Dusty_R]

DrewE wrote:
It's definitely safe to wire through the lighter plug, and often convenient.

Disconnecting the battery won't harm anything--it's a necessary procedure for various vehicle maintenance and repair activities, after all--but is less desirable in as much as it resets the computer and undoes any fine-tuning it may have done to its internal settings based on the operation of your engine and transmission. If your dash radio is connected to the chassis battery, it would naturally also reset the time and presets and so forth. In an RV the dash radio might well be connected to the house battery, depending on the whim of the RV maker.

If your RV is connected to shore power while its sitting, or if you have solar to keep the house battery charged (assuming this is an RV), you might want to consider installing a Trik-L-Start. It's a sort of built-in maintainer for the chassis battery, powered by the converter or whatever charges the house battery.

The Trik-L-Start is a nice and easy way to go. That is if you keep your mh pugged in to 120 volts when stored.

[theoldwizard1]

CodyClassB wrote:
My Ford 2015 E-350 battery will need to be charged every 2-3 weeks.

Not unusual. There is typically around 0.100A draw when the ignition is off.

CodyClassB wrote:
Is it safe to connect a battery maintainer through cigarette lighter ? The cigarette lighter is always on.

Despite what others will tell you, no battery likes to be on a charger/maintainer, 24/7, weeks on end.

Simple solution is to connect the charger/maintainer to a cheap mechanical lamp timer and set it to run about 4 hours per day.

[theoldwizard1]

jdc1 wrote:
Your computers will have to reload every time you disconnect that battery. As for the battery maintainer?

I would not use the word "reload". I would say re-initialize.

It may drive a bit "different" while it learns to adapt, but, no you will not hurt anything.

Worst case, you may fail an emission test if you take it in right away for that test. It will need several hundred miles of all types of driving to "re-learn" its "sweet spot".

[path1]

Have you checked out if you have something like an IOD fuse, description listed below

" ignition Off Draw (IOD) fuse is used to prevent battery discharge during shipping or long-term storage of the vehicle."

qq

[DrewE]

It's definitely safe to wire through the lighter plug, and often convenient.

Disconnecting the battery won't harm anything--it's a necessary procedure for various vehicle maintenance and repair activities, after all--but is less desirable in as much as it resets the computer and undoes any fine-tuning it may have done to its internal settings based on the operation of your engine and transmission. If your dash radio is connected to the chassis battery, it would naturally also reset the time and presets and so forth. In an RV the dash radio might well be connected to the house battery, depending on the whim of the RV maker.

If your RV is connected to shore power while its sitting, or if you have solar to keep the house battery charged (assuming this is an RV), you might want to consider installing a Trik-L-Start. It's a sort of built-in maintainer for the chassis battery, powered by the converter or whatever charges the house battery.

[ron_dittmer]

I disconnect my chassis battery when the vehicle is being stored. The only trouble with that is when I have to go in for a smog test. I have to drive the motor home for an unknown amount of miles before the computer no longer thinks it was just reset. The smog people won't pass a vehicle that was recently reset.

[jdc1]

Your computers will have to reload every time you disconnect that battery. As for the battery maintainer? My 2000 F350 sits for weeks at a time. I installed a "Battery Tender" and plug it in when I'm not using the truck. The batteries will last longer, staying fully charged while sitting. As for plugging into the cigarette lighter? It will do the same thing as connecting it directly to the battery itself.