fwunder
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
It has really bugged me why the WiFi hotspot seemingly required so much juice. In generator mode with no load the ICE would fire up for a minute or three every 30 minutes or so. Very frugal, but nevertheless, seemed odd to me that the modem would require that much power.
For a couple of reasons I would like to use the truck WiFi hotspot or the generator mode independently or together.
As a test two days ago I used the hotspot in generator mode with no load for eight hours. Via Ford Pass I started with 260 miles to empty and ended with 248 miles to empty - 12 miles or roughly 1/2 gallon. As predicted the ICE did fire up about every 1/2 hour for a minute or three. The general consensus seems to be ( correctly ) that the ICE cycle is triggered by the SOC of the HV battery. With no load ( HV generator ) why is ICE running cyclically? My simple untrained compost toilet observation says that it is charging the 12 volt battery OR it is charging the HV battery which, in turn, is charging the 12 volt battery! Bingo!
So, if my supposition is correct, we simply need to feed electrons to the 12 volt battery from an external source to let the HV charging system know it's not needed and thus keep the ICE from starting! Pretty tricky. That's what I tried today.
I used one of my 100 watt portable solar panels I use for camping and charging electric fence battery to feed truck 12 volt battery for six hours ( sunny ) today while keeping the WiFi modem active steaming live video to a laptop. I started with 208 miles to empty and ended six hours later with 208 miles to empty. Eureka!
Sorry to sound so excited. To me this is kinda a big deal. It means I can use the truck WiFi hotspot indefinitely as long as I can supply charging voltage to 12v battery. That could be solar, RV batteries ( back fed at night? ) or trickle charger from RV park pedestal or @ home when the damn cable goes out again.
The pictures below will show what I did today. One more thing...I lied. I did notice ICE fire up twice, inexplicably. Stayed on for less than a minute and did not effect miles to empty. Hmmm. Perhaps truck was phoning home trying to ask Ford engineer what was happening to its brain? You guys are lots smarter than me. Perhaps you can explain.
Some reference. The charge controller seemed to consistently supply 1-2 amps to battery @ 13.2-14.4 volts. The panel voltage was as high as 18.9 volts - sunny day. The truck battery measured 12.4 volts at the beginning of the test so the charge controller cranked for a bit. Not sure what the SOC chart for the Ford AGM is. I did select sealed lead acid ( agm ) as the battery in the Renology charge controller.
For a couple of reasons I would like to use the truck WiFi hotspot or the generator mode independently or together.
As a test two days ago I used the hotspot in generator mode with no load for eight hours. Via Ford Pass I started with 260 miles to empty and ended with 248 miles to empty - 12 miles or roughly 1/2 gallon. As predicted the ICE did fire up about every 1/2 hour for a minute or three. The general consensus seems to be ( correctly ) that the ICE cycle is triggered by the SOC of the HV battery. With no load ( HV generator ) why is ICE running cyclically? My simple untrained compost toilet observation says that it is charging the 12 volt battery OR it is charging the HV battery which, in turn, is charging the 12 volt battery! Bingo!
So, if my supposition is correct, we simply need to feed electrons to the 12 volt battery from an external source to let the HV charging system know it's not needed and thus keep the ICE from starting! Pretty tricky. That's what I tried today.
I used one of my 100 watt portable solar panels I use for camping and charging electric fence battery to feed truck 12 volt battery for six hours ( sunny ) today while keeping the WiFi modem active steaming live video to a laptop. I started with 208 miles to empty and ended six hours later with 208 miles to empty. Eureka!
Sorry to sound so excited. To me this is kinda a big deal. It means I can use the truck WiFi hotspot indefinitely as long as I can supply charging voltage to 12v battery. That could be solar, RV batteries ( back fed at night? ) or trickle charger from RV park pedestal or @ home when the damn cable goes out again.
The pictures below will show what I did today. One more thing...I lied. I did notice ICE fire up twice, inexplicably. Stayed on for less than a minute and did not effect miles to empty. Hmmm. Perhaps truck was phoning home trying to ask Ford engineer what was happening to its brain? You guys are lots smarter than me. Perhaps you can explain.
Some reference. The charge controller seemed to consistently supply 1-2 amps to battery @ 13.2-14.4 volts. The panel voltage was as high as 18.9 volts - sunny day. The truck battery measured 12.4 volts at the beginning of the test so the charge controller cranked for a bit. Not sure what the SOC chart for the Ford AGM is. I did select sealed lead acid ( agm ) as the battery in the Renology charge controller.
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