Replaced my battery with an H8. My observations:

[Bryan Simon]

As of this writing, some 3+ months after upgrading the battery, I can report that 100% of my previous issues have disappeared. Nothing else has changed (frequency of driving, length of trips, etc.) other than swapping batteries and removing the maintainer/charger. No more issues. I've even had three successful OTA updates. Joy.

My H8 has been in the truck about 30 days.
got a couple of updates.
Start/Stop has operated more in the last 30 days than it had in the last 3 yrs.
Dome lights are always working now.
Even tho the truck is accessory mode about 90 minutes every morning.

Not fully convinced yet, but have some optimism

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[wessermgm]

OP here with an update. I started this thread after upgrading my factory H7 size battery to a H8 on January 19. As previously documented, like so many other F-150 owners, I was experiencing a myriad of annoying little electrical issues, and concluded that the root cause was the battery. And like so many other owners, implemented a solution of regularly using a battery maintainer/charger. This solution successfully addressed the electrical issues. However, I eventually found the practice of having to constantly plug-in and unplug from a charger became annoying. The purpose of the battery replacement was to eliminate the constant practice of plugging in the truck to a battery maintainer/charger.

There are all kinds of electrical experts on this forum who can bury me in technical information, facts, and data. So to be clear, I offer this update as nothing more than anecdotal evidence.

As of this writing, some 3+ months after upgrading the battery, I can report that 100% of my previous issues have disappeared. Nothing else has changed (frequency of driving, length of trips, etc.) other than swapping batteries and removing the maintainer/charger. No more issues. I've even had three successful OTA updates. Joy.

I am sold. Ford's OEM batteries just suck. I have the even crappier H6. If I didn't have a order in on a 2024, the H8 would already been in.

 

[mc-mack]

I am in the same process here too, only has been 1 month for me. I replaced my H6 with an Energizer H8 AGM [from Costco]

Fit like a dream, I even got the battery insulating pad:

Went into Forscan and changed the battery type in the Body Control Module (not sure if this was necessary or not, have read that the Gen 14 trucks pick this up automatically, but I changed it and it has kept in Forscan since) :

Like gtotco and FirstFord said in earlier posts, it is so nice to have a fully functioning truck. We paid extra $$$$ for all the proximity lighting, auto unlock, remote start, Sync remote capability, etc. its finally nice to get that functionality back.

I too agree that the OEM battery I had was probably a piece of crap, even though "load tested" in-vehicle on the Rotunda machine 3x in the past year.

No more trailer module failures, pending updates failures, power running boards not working, "remote features disabled to preserve battery" messages, and no more random dash messages when getting into the truck. I finally noticed just after the time change that the interior dome lights had not worked regularly on dark winter mornings, I thought it was just a random thing. Now that its darker here in the mornings for the past few weeks, dome lights have worked every time when I head to work at 5:45am.

Ford really dropped the ball on this one with the higher electric demands of these trucks, they should have a high quality larger capacity H8 battery as standard equipment on these things. The real test is next fall/winter as it gets darker and colder here in Ontario, lets see if 2024/2025 is better than 2023/2024....

 

[Gord0]

I bought my 2021 used and it still had the original h6 from the factory. That was gone in the first week and an H8 in its place. I wasn't monitoring the soc pid on the h6 for the short time I had it in, but it was low enough to disable the auto start stop, and give me the shutdown warning after only a couple minutes of shutting down. I've seen the H8 soc vary from 67 up to 92, and zero issues in the last few weeks.

 

[Glenn59]

I am in the same process here too, only has been 1 month for me. I replaced my H6 with an Energizer H8 AGM [from Costco]

Fit like a dream, I even got the battery insulating pad:

Went into Forscan and changed the battery type in the Body Control Module (not sure if this was necessary or not, have read that the Gen 14 trucks pick this up automatically, but I changed it and it has kept in Forscan since) :

Like gtotco and FirstFord said in earlier posts, it is so nice to have a fully functioning truck. We paid extra $$$$ for all the proximity lighting, auto unlock, remote start, Sync remote capability, etc. its finally nice to get that functionality back.

I too agree that the OEM battery I had was probably a piece of crap, even though "load tested" in-vehicle on the Rotunda machine 3x in the past year.

No more trailer module failures, pending updates failures, power running boards not working, "remote features disabled to preserve battery" messages, and no more random dash messages when getting into the truck. I finally noticed just after the time change that the interior dome lights had not worked regularly on dark winter mornings, I thought it was just a random thing. Now that its darker here in the mornings for the past few weeks, dome lights have worked every time when I head to work at 5:45am.

Ford really dropped the ball on this one with the higher electric demands of these trucks, they should have a high quality larger capacity H8 battery as standard equipment on these things. The real test is next fall/winter as it gets darker and colder here in Ontario, lets see if 2024/2025 is better than 2023/2024....

Thanks for the update and info. I am going for a third battery on my dime, which will be an H8. I didn't know about the battery type change. Thank you for including that!

 

[Snakebitten]

Even tho the truck is accessory mode about 90 minutes every morning.

Not fully convinced yet, but have some optimism

How can any AGM hold up to that routine?
Curious though. Wazzup?

 

[air2mag]

The dealer just replaced my original H6. 16 months and 11k old. Unfortunately they installed another H6. I showed them the build sheet calling for an H7 on Lariat and above, but they said they had to go by the vin number. Whatever. At least my approach and interior lights are working again.

 

[kt06siggm]

H8 battery cover is supposively on national backorder... Anyone able to get one recently and from where?

 

[Bryan Simon]

How can any AGM hold up to that routine?
Curious though. Wazzup?

I get to work very early
I sit in the truck reading ( or at this moment writing).
Peaceful, quiet, pets not bugging me.
Been doing this for years, haven’t killed a battery in my Chevy yet.
And now I can let that one sit for a couple of months and it will still fire right off.

 

[Markv77]

A/S/S never worked after buying my new truck in February, and would get alerts about disabling stuff to preserve battery. Swapped out the H6 for a Die Hard H7 and things have been great. Old OEM battery would be at 50% after three days of driving 1.5 hrs each day. New battery SOC went up 15% while just idling in the driveway for 20 minutes.

 

[KingDavid]

I put the Interstate H8 from costco on my 21' coyote a few months ago. Night and day difference. I strongly suggest everyone except Powerboosts (it apparently won't fit) to upgrade to H8. I also have a battery tender installed on my truck that I plug in almost daily to keep it topped up. The h6 that was in there before was garbage. The truck in it's entirety runs so much better now.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Forgive me... It's not clear that the H8 battery was the fix. In my observation putting in a non-Ford battery would have fixed things. If you need the extra capacity there's nothing wrong with the H8...

 

[Hyins]

I am in the same process here too, only has been 1 month for me. I replaced my H6 with an Energizer H8 AGM [from Costco]

Fit like a dream, I even got the battery insulating pad:

Went into Forscan and changed the battery type in the Body Control Module (not sure if this was necessary or not, have read that the Gen 14 trucks pick this up automatically, but I changed it and it has kept in Forscan since) :

Like gtotco and FirstFord said in earlier posts, it is so nice to have a fully functioning truck. We paid extra $$$$ for all the proximity lighting, auto unlock, remote start, Sync remote capability, etc. its finally nice to get that functionality back.

I too agree that the OEM battery I had was probably a piece of crap, even though "load tested" in-vehicle on the Rotunda machine 3x in the past year.

No more trailer module failures, pending updates failures, power running boards not working, "remote features disabled to preserve battery" messages, and no more random dash messages when getting into the truck. I finally noticed just after the time change that the interior dome lights had not worked regularly on dark winter mornings, I thought it was just a random thing. Now that its darker here in the mornings for the past few weeks, dome lights have worked every time when I head to work at 5:45am.

Ford really dropped the ball on this one with the higher electric demands of these trucks, they should have a high quality larger capacity H8 battery as standard equipment on these things. The real test is next fall/winter as it gets darker and colder here in Ontario, lets see if 2024/2025 is better than 2023/2024....

+recommend additional settings

change TargetSOC to 120%: 726-08-02 xxxx xx07 80--
turn off the SRC (optional): 726-07-02 xxxx x0xx xx--

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/thr...ge-how-to-power-accessories.13862/post-452723

 

[Darklock]

Dealer replaced my H6 with another H6 last July, after having issues of low battery. I usually only drive 3-5 miles per day. For the past several months, I have been putting it on a battery tender while at the house. The A/S/S works, so the charge is good. The tender is a Battery Tender brand 3 amp automatic charger and maintainer. Supposed to work on AGM batteries. The last few times I left it off tender for a day, the truck would not start.
Could constantly having it on the tender have harmed the battery?

 

[Chili]

I don't understand the forscan needs. Is it to increase the charge percentage only? Wouldn't just putting in the larger battery give you more capacity like every other vehicle?

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