Timewellspent Posted March 25, 2015 at 03:18 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 03:18 PM I have tried to search this, but not finding a clear answer. My car will be sitting for about 10 days and I am wondering if it is best to leave the car plugged in or to just get it fully charged and unplug before leaving town. Any pros/cons for one way or the other? Thanks, DK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevedebi Posted March 25, 2015 at 05:19 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 05:19 PM I have tried to search this, but not finding a clear answer. My car will be sitting for about 10 days and I am wondering if it is best to leave the car plugged in or to just get it fully charged and unplug before leaving town. Any pros/cons for one way or the other? Thanks, DKIf it in your garage it won't hurt to leave it plugged in. But a 10 day period should not cause problems. It is the 12v battery you need to worry about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timewellspent Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:32 PM Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:32 PM If it in your garage it won't hurt to leave it plugged in. But a 10 day period should not cause problems. It is the 12v battery you need to worry about.Yes, it is in a garage.I know it won't hurt to leave plugged in, but is there a plus/minus to doing it one way or the other? Will the 12v do better being left plugged in or have no effect? I would hate to come home to a dead battery. What would cause it to drain when not being used? No go times set. Regards, DK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevedebi Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:54 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:54 PM Yes, it is in a garage.I know it won't hurt to leave plugged in, but is there a plus/minus to doing it one way or the other? Will the 12v do better being left plugged in or have no effect? I would hate to come home to a dead battery. What would cause it to drain when not being used? No go times set. Regards, DKThe cars has various sensors that have to be powered up, such as the door sensors for the keyless doors and (I think) an alarm. Those take a small amount of power. The system charges the 12v battery once the HVB is fully charged, but I don't know if it then monitors the 12v periodically. Maybe someone else could chime in here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:57 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 08:57 PM (edited) The car may or may not charge the 12 V battery when the car is connected and the HVB is fully charged. Sometimes when I wake up the car by connecting to MyFord Mobile and request an update, it will decide to charge the 12 V battery. Other times, it does not. For the HVB, it is better to leave it at a lower SOC than 100% for extended periods of time (which would mean that you don't want to leave the car plugged in). Edited March 25, 2015 at 08:57 PM by larryh Hybridbear and lonzo71 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openair Posted March 25, 2015 at 09:19 PM Report Share Posted March 25, 2015 at 09:19 PM (edited) For 'long term storage' (30 days or more) it is recommended to leave it with the HVB at 60%. Since you're only gone ten days you could leave it plugged it or not. The issue with the 12v battery is often exaggerated from peoples experiences with 2013's that use to run a fan off the 12v until that was fixed. If you don't check MFM everyday while you're gone, I wouldn't worry about the 12v for ten days. Even though it's only ten days, if you aren't too paranoid about the 12v and are at all concerned about the long term health of the HVB (it is warrantied but the warranty allows for an up to 30% drop before replacement) it would be optimal to leave it unplugged with the HVB around 60%. I did this for an eight day store with no problems with the 12v. Edited March 25, 2015 at 09:36 PM by openair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybridbear Posted March 26, 2015 at 12:39 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 12:39 AM Setting Go Times throughout the trip with the temp set to "off" should wake up the car so that it can charge the 12V battery if needed. Checking in on it periodically (maybe once or twice daily) via the MFM app or website can also wake it up to assess the 12V charge and charge if needed. Our car usually starts drawing power from the EVSE when it wakes up to communicate with MFM. lonzo71 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timewellspent Posted March 26, 2015 at 01:03 AM Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 01:03 AM First off, thank you all for your input. I was just going to go with the 60% and unplug, but after seeing Hybridbear's post, I think I am going to just leave it plugged in and use the website to check on the status of the car. Just to confirm that doing this won't drain the battery, but actually "trick" the car into charging the 12v. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric4539 Posted March 26, 2015 at 04:29 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 04:29 AM I don't drive my car daily. After each drive I plug it in, and after it's charged I leave it plugged in. It has been 3 days since I last drove the car and tonight when I went into the garage it was charging the 12v so I don't worry about leaving it plugged in. Using the MFM app will wake the car up as Hybridbear explained. You can test it by standing in your garage and logging into the app from your smartphone. You'll hear the clunk as the car connects to the charger and your charge port ring will light up. I think you'll be fine leaving your car for 10 days plugged in. I worry about my 12v battery losing charge if I don't leave it plugged in and if I don't drive my car for several days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larryh Posted March 26, 2015 at 09:45 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 09:45 AM The car does draw power from the charger when it wakes up and when you contact MyFord Mobile. However, it is not necessarily charging the 12 V battery when it does that. If it decides to charge the 12 V battery, it will continue to draw power from the charger for two hours. Sometimes it does that and sometimes it does not. lonzo71 and Hybridbear 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonzo71 Posted March 26, 2015 at 10:59 AM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 10:59 AM Hate to say it but...wow.... 30+ days, unplug the 12V. Less than 30 days, everything should be ok, but you could do whatever and anything could happen when you get back...yep, think I got it. :future: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevedebi Posted March 26, 2015 at 04:16 PM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 04:16 PM Setting Go Times throughout the trip with the temp set to "off" should wake up the car so that it can charge the 12V battery if needed. Checking in on it periodically (maybe once or twice daily) via the MFM app or website can also wake it up to assess the 12V charge and charge if needed. Our car usually starts drawing power from the EVSE when it wakes up to communicate with MFM.I've been wondering about this. What does the car do when a GO time comes and yet no preconditioning is needed (no temp set)? If a temp is set, then of course it would wake up, but if no temp is set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff_h Posted March 26, 2015 at 10:57 PM Report Share Posted March 26, 2015 at 10:57 PM (edited) I've been wondering about this. What does the car do when a GO time comes and yet no preconditioning is needed (no temp set)? If a temp is set, then of course it would wake up, but if no temp is set? This is what I did last year when we took her car to FL for 9 days - I set a GO Time halfway through the period for my car in the garage back home, and checked MFM around that time and saw the "Ready to Go" status and figured things were still well (and I figured that once the GO Time was complete that the system would assess the 12V battery and charge it for a while if needed), and they were fine when I got back home. I didn't worry about leaving it plugged in, but that's just me. Edited March 26, 2015 at 10:58 PM by jeff_h Hybridbear 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timewellspent Posted April 8, 2015 at 08:37 PM Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2015 at 08:37 PM Well I left the car plugged in and it sat for 11 days without being driven. I did check in on the car 2 times from the website. When I got home the car started up just fine! Because I have a BlackBerry and there is no mobile app, I brought my laptop into the garage just to see what happens when I check the car from the website. Once I hit the update button for the battery, the car did make a clunk and the port light lit up. I didn't wait to see how long it continued to charge after doing this, but it does wake the car up and start to charge. jeff_h 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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