High capacity battery? Will BMS simply ignore it?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

Andy B

Full Access Members
Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Posts
324
Reaction score
154
Location
Redding, CT
I am considering a larger (more capacity) battery when it's time to replace the battery in my 2023 Limited SPP. However, I am a little concerned due to the Battery Management System. Since the BMS thinks it "knows" the capacity of the battery will it ignore the extra capacity?

I know we need to reset the BMS with a new battery, but there does not seem to be a place to inform it of spec changes.

Thoughts?
 

DieselMonk

Full Access Members
Joined
Dec 29, 2024
Posts
592
Reaction score
339
Location
Atlantic Canada
First thing I did to my SPP when I got it. TUrfed the H6 battery and put in an H8. I did nothing programming wise or BMS reset like it was with the 2018 models to my 24 SPP.

Just swap ‘er out and good is. Just make sure the battery is fully charged before you swap them. That’s it. I think I did supply power to the cables during the battery swap, so it wasn’t loosing anything.
 

HILLY

Full Access Members
Joined
May 12, 2023
Posts
320
Reaction score
235
Location
Greenville, SC
I had done a little poking around on the F150 boards a while back to get a deeper insight to the Ford BMS system. First of all, the consensus with them with battery swaps of an increased capacity is to use FORScan to find and pick the closest battery size that matches. There's only a finite number of choices that can be made within the BMS system.

Another thing they do and I did too to an extent is change the SOC target %. I had noticed through various methods (lighter socket, OBD data, etc.) that the voltage of the charging system would vary quite a bit. As SOC quickly got to target, the voltage would drop off a lot (down in the low 12's at times). It would then only go up to a normal voltage amount if coasting or braking. I chalked this up as 'intelligent' or 'efficient' charging. Something I'm familiar with in my experience with BMW's (they ran into a lot of battery issues as a result 10-15 years ago. Now they charge at a constant 14.8v). This created a few electrical accessory issues for me (console fridge, stereo amplifier, etc.). I played with SOC targets until I finally settled at 100% and get better numbers now (avg. 14.4v). I have seen the F150 guys go so far as to target 110% as I'm sure this drives values up to 14.8-14.9v (this is OK). More voltage - within reason - is less amperage draw. A good thing.
 

DieselMonk

Full Access Members
Joined
Dec 29, 2024
Posts
592
Reaction score
339
Location
Atlantic Canada
Nothing to worry about changing in between Group H6, H7 and H8 batteries on a Ford as long as you stay with AGM. Some older ECUs have to be adjusted, the newer ones do not! My old F150 3L BabyStroke had an H8 fitted from factory.
 
Top