Auto start-stop not available, “Battery Charging”

Love my new truck. Started seeing this today when I come to a complete stop. Got about 550 miles on it.

Doesn’t bother me. And, FWIW, I’ve read elsewhere to just turn it off and go for a half hour stop-free drive in the country to let it recharge. Unfortunately I can’t do that right now, and I’m wondering if anybody else has seen this and how normal it is

 

It is perfectly normal especially if it’s early in your drive there’s a thread on here that posts all the reasons the auto stop start will not engage one being the defroster on one being for battery recharge there’s several others not sure exactly where it is on this forum

 

Mine almost always says the same thing. I’ll keep watching. Truck is a week old. Most of my trips have been short drives to work thus far.

 

Short drives and cold weather will definitely keep the battery charge low. Also if you have a lot of draw like seat heater, steering wheel heater, hvac, there will be slightly less power going to the battery to charge it up.

 

Nice to find this thread. I was very surprised to see this message on my 2023 coming off the highway from a 5 hour drive. The first red light I got to it would not work due to battery. Seems impossible to me if everything is functioning properly.

 

My '23 has only "auto shut off" probably 5x's with 7K miles on it. It always says battery charging. Even over the summer months and after 2+ hr highway drives. I have also put a trickle charger on it make sure it was topped off.

Don't get me wrong it has auto shut off. But truly only a hand full of times over the past 8-9 months.

Anyone experience "bad battery from factory"?

 

My battery level sits low and I wondered about a bad batt as well. Mine has 12,000 miles. Seems kinda like why have this feature if it’s useless and can’t be used. I know there are bypasses out there for it. Maybe I’ll just bypass it. I do get tired of turning it off every time I start the truck.

 

It’s completely normal. Mine works all the time in hot months and hardly ever in cold months. Your battery is fine and its working the way it’s supposed to

 

Are you pushing the brake hard enough at a stop sign to actually engage the auto shut off? I drive like an old man so my truck rarely shuts off at a stop sign but if I push a little harder it will shut off. I'd rather not have the feature at all here in MN.

 

haha yeah man I drive like that also and had to figure that out (to push hard). I actually use the brake hold button which I love and that automatically does it. I think I would rather not have it as well. I might permanently disable it. After reading all these threads it sounds like it’s normal and maybe it’s a quirk with these trucks.

 

Yes I press brake hard enough. I actually intentionally press hard to check and see if it will auto shut off. Mine says charging even on the hottest of days in the midwest 98% of the time. Winter I totally would expect. But mine is always charging year round. Truly only probably 5x's has it auto shut off since purchase if April. At most 10x since purchased with 23mi on it.

 

mine also it’s “charging” way more often than actually working. Def seems like they did a crap job implementing this feature.

 

Hmmmm... not sure what to tell you on that. Mine only occasionally gives me the charging message. Maybe stop by a Batteries Plus or auto parts store and have them test the battery? Most places do it free.

 

I'm having a similar problem but what is annoying is the engine will shut off for only like 2 seconds and then restart because "battery charging" only to repeat the same thing at the next light.

I'm digging though the tech docs and the troubleshooting procedures, I have the needed scan tool so I can dig into it further but haven't yet.

One thing it may be bad to actually trickle charge or recharge the battery, it may confuse the computer to the exact state of charge. In fact I found that after a battery swap or charge the integrated current sensor should be reset and that's a scan tool level function.

I'm going to ask about it at next service, if they are willing to do basic checks under warranty, I'll have them go though it, but before I pay 100's for tech diag time I'll just get a 2 day TIS and go though the troubleshooting chart myself.

 

Has anyone tried to undo the battery terminals, clean them, and reseat them? Maybe there is a poor connection from the factory that is causing the battery sensor to misdetect the battery charge.

 

Yeah I have everything is good and tight, however I caution the negative battery current sensor is a weird type of clamp the metal is soft and its easy to dork up. A new current sensor is almost 200 bucks.

 

The process for checking the battery condition seems to be as follows though, but a scan tool is required that can talk to the stop start computer.

You start the truck and turn the headlights on (Apparently this set the charge at a constant charge rate)

Monitoring battery current, once the battery current going into the battery drops below 5amps, charge for another 5 minutes.

Shut truck off for 30 seconds or more. Restart the truck with the lights and any other loads shut off. Check the computer for the minimum voltages while cranking and there are 2 pids that indicate if the voltage dropped below the required threshold. If so then you need to charge/replace the battery and reset the integrated current sensor.

 

Right, but I mean, it may be tight but corrosion or something else could be affecting the connection. Maybe cleaning the terminals, especially the negative terminal may improve this issue.

 

Yeah I don't have to guess, I have a scan tool I can see what the current sensor is saying is going though the connection and I have confirmed with my current clamp.

 

I kind of want to see what the dealer has to say. The good thing is the computer actually has a wealth of data on what's going on exactly. Battery Seems to be in OK condition. It may be bad logic for us short trippers that don't constantly drive 30 minutes or more.

 

It's normal to see that message. I would prefer not to see any messages or alerts unless it's IMPORTANT. Currently all the info messages they provide are mostly just a distraction.

 

Found this tidbit in some searches:

• If the cable is disconnected from the battery terminal, stop and start control is prohibited until refresh charge is completed.
  
  In this case, let the vehicle idle to complete the refresh charge. The refresh charge is complete when the Data List item Status of Battery Charge Control changes from "Refresh Charge Mode". (Usually, idling the engine for 5 to 60 minutes with the battery fluid temperature at 11°C (52°F) or higher, the refresh charge will be completed.)

Also mentions a refresh charge is done every 30 hours of operation

Other reasons for prohibit due to power

When using specified battery:

• Below 7.74 V when starter begins operation and below 7.6 V when cranking

When using non-specified battery:

• Below 8.92 V when starter begins operation and below 8.92 V when cranking

Battery integrated current value meets one of the following conditions:

• -19123 A-sec or less: "Status of Battery Charge Control" is Charge Control Coordination Mode, Stop and Start Standalone Mode, Low Temperature Mode or Temperature High/Low Mode
  
  
• -1152 A-sec or less: "Status of Battery Charge Control" is Stop and Start Restriction Mode

Battery fluid temperature -15°C (5°F) or less, or 75°C (167°F) or higher

Unfortunately without a scan tool is hard to see what's going on.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure why anyone would want to use the auto stop/start feature. It's just added wear and tear for minimal fuel or emissions savings. It gets shut off every time I start my truck.

Matt

 

Me too.

 

I used to shut mine off every time I started the truck. But, since you have to press the brake pedal pretty firmly to get the auto-off to engage it's easier to just ignore it. I typically never sit at a stop with the brake pedal pressed down hard. It is annoying to constantly see the message "press brake harder to engage auto-shutoff" but it's either that or seeing the amber warning light lit up constantly.

 

Is it possible to attach a trickle charger so that HV battery is freshly charged when heading out each time, and especially if parked a few days?

 

Mine has recently gone to "charging" frequently because of the cold. The max mine can run the vehicle is 90 seconds with climate control on in any conditions.

 

I think they call that a plug in hybrid

I'm sure you could get it to work if you had a charger that could charge at 288 volts.

 

Mine says battery charging all the time or climent restricted so it only shuts off like one in every 20 stops. I am going to have the dealer check it out.

 

My autostop only worked once when I was driving it home from the dealership. I get that message all the time but it hasn't been an issue in 16 months. I would rather not use it and if it came back on, I would just turn it off.