Periodically charge the 12V battery in a Hybrid that short trips a lot?

[Hermann]

Twice in 9 months of ownership I have charged my 12V battery in the Maverick Hybrid. I use a float charger with a max of 3 amp output. It will charge at around 2 amps continuously for many hours even overnight the first time. It did go into float the first time, this time I unhooked it after about 8 hours, it had still not gone into float mode.. If this 54 amp/hour battery charges this long, how poor of a job is the Hybrid battery doing of charging it. Thought of this as I short trip a lot. Not going to say it makes a difference, although the rate of sulfation is probably being reduced. I have noticed the infotainment screen seems to behave better after these charging session.

 

[Jetronic]

Check what the alternator charge voltage is doing. I bet the system is purposely keeping the battery about 80% charged

 

[2010Civic]

How do you know it's charging at 2 amps the whole time? Chargers will taper off the current as the battery gets near full. Or maybe the battery is just low. A fully charged 12v battery should be 12.5-12.6V.

 

[Hermann]

How do you know it's charging at 2 amps the whole time? Chargers will taper off the current as the battery gets near full. Or maybe the battery is just low. A fully charged 12v battery should be 12.5-12.6V.

It starts on the meter at 3A for 30-45 seconds then tapers down to 2A on the meter and pretty much stays there. The charger get slightly warm telling me it is working . The first time I charged the battery several months ago, it required overnight charging for the charger to go into float mode. In float mode it would charge for 20 to 30 seconds every 3 minutes or so, forever apparently. Strange things these hybrids but an interesting strange. This hybrid does not have an alternator, apparently it is charged by way of the High Voltage Battery IIRC.

 

[Hermann]

Check what the alternator charge voltage is doing. I bet the system is purposely keeping the battery about 80% charged

Thanks. I will quiz the experts at MTC and see if it has been discussed. I do know the Hybrid High Voltage battery is operating between 30-70% charge for longevity.

 

[CR94]

... This hybrid does not have an alternator, apparently it is charged by way of the High Voltage Battery IIRC.

No hybrid has an alternator---or at least not the type used by Ford and Toyota.

 

[Opelman]

We have a Fusion hybrid at work that kills 12v batteries regularly. Short tripper now then sits a week. When I was driving it daily I managed a few 50 mpg tanks.

 

[DuckRyder]

Some of the Escape crowd are replacing it with a somewhat larger battery.

It basically only powers the car until it is started and for keep alive and memory if i understand correctly. At least the escape goes into deep sleep after a while... i've left it for long periods and it was fine...