Ford Ranger smart charge disable

[RR11NelNav]

I have a 2020 Ford Ranger. Any ideas on how to shut off the smart charge feature in the battery management system. I called three dealers and no answers. Running national Luna green box and would like to just run with standard alternator voltage.

 

[Shakes355]

To my knowledge it is not something that can be turned off. Smart charging had been around in different iterations since the early '00s. Nowadays it's integrated into load management strategies and is integral to the programming of multiple modules including the pcm, bcm, and infotainment.

That said, there is no reason to do away with it. The Green Box is loaded with similar programming (probably slightly more sophisticated) and takes into account how the alternator is functioning and the active loads on the system. From my understanding, it is designed to function seamlessly with modern systems. That's mostly why it exists.

 

[ProtonDecay]

If I understand your question correctly you want to signal your Ranger alternator to generate adequate power for your Green Box DC-DC charger even after the Ranger primary battery has reached a full state of charge and additional to the running electrical power requirements of the rest of your Ranger.

If so, please check page 7 of the Power-Pack-DC-Manual for the Green Box where it describes the Ignition Over-ride optional accessory. I don't own a GP unit and instead have fabbed my own aux bat system using a combination of Renogy, Victron and BattleBorn components (and a lot of sheet aluminum and pop-rivets). But the concepts are the same (except the GP unit is way better looking ;-) ).

You will need to wire this optional accessory wire from the Ignition Sense port of your GP unit to a switched circuit on your Ranger.

If your Ranger is like mine you should be able to find an unused switched circuit in the fuse panel (check #37).

This will signal the GP unit to only pull power from your primary electrical system when your Ranger is turned on (and, presumably running, else you will drain your primary battery up to the max GP rate of 25A). By corollary, connecting your GP unit without using this signal will essentially just use your primary battery to keep your aux battery nice and full - with possible undesired consequences.

Best of Luck :-)

 

[RR11NelNav]

If I understand your question correctly you want to signal your Ranger alternator to generate adequate power for your Green Box DC-DC charger even after the Ranger primary battery has reached a full state of charge and additional to the running electrical power requirements of the rest of your Ranger.

If so, please check page 7 of the Power-Pack-DC-Manual for the Green Box where it describes the Ignition Over-ride optional accessory. I don't own a GP unit and instead have fabbed my own aux bat system using a combination of Renogy, Victron and BattleBorn components (and a lot of sheet aluminum and pop-rivets). But the concepts are the same (except the GP unit is way better looking ;-) ).

You will need to wire this optional accessory wire from the Ignition Sense port of your GP unit to a switched circuit on your Ranger.

If your Ranger is like mine you should be able to find an unused switched circuit in the fuse panel (check #37).

This will signal the GP unit to only pull power from your primary electrical system when your Ranger is turned on (and, presumably running, else you will drain your primary battery up to the max GP rate of 25A). By corollary, connecting your GP unit without using this signal will essentially just use your primary battery to keep your aux battery nice and full - with possible undesired consequences.

Best of Luck :-)

Thank you! Very new and have the system installed but concerned won’t get enough charge even if my ignition sense port is plugged in. Trying to decide if there is a way to get alternator to work likes the ones of old or put in a 12 volt port to serve as ignition sense in the truck bed? I am getting very low alternator readings. Down to 4 amps when at idle so not sure even with ignition sense will fully charge as I am driving or just want to bring up battery while at idle at camp?

 

[RR11NelNav]

To my knowledge it is not something that can be turned off. Smart charging had been around in different iterations since the early '00s. Nowadays it's integrated into load management strategies and is integral to the programming of multiple modules including the pcm, bcm, and infotainment.

That said, there is no reason to do away with it. The Green Box is loaded with similar programming (probably slightly more sophisticated) and takes into account how the alternator is functioning and the active loads on the system. From my understanding, it is designed to function seamlessly with modern systems. That's mostly why it exists.

Thank you very new and trying to figure some stuff out.

 

[ProtonDecay]

Thank you! Very new and have the system installed but concerned won’t get enough charge even if my ignition sense port is plugged in. Trying to decide if there is a way to get alternator to work likes the ones of old or put in a 12 volt port to serve as ignition sense in the truck bed? I am getting very low alternator readings. Down to 4 amps when at idle so not sure even with ignition sense will fully charge as I am driving or just want to bring up battery while at idle at camp?

It could be that the alternator is not producing power because the primary battery (and, if connected, your auxiliary battery) is fully charged and there isn't much load on the system, which means the Smart Alternator is doing what it should. From the 2019 US Ranger service manual, "Generator amps at 80.6°F (27°C) 105 amps at 750 rpm (min) to 170 amps at 2,250 rpm (max) ". Check the Ignition Sensor lead to confirm you are getting positive voltage when the engine is running. If so, the next thing you might try is to deplete the aux bat a bit (burn off, say, 30Ah) and then take another measurement with everything hooked up and the engine running. Your GB unit monitor should then show a solid 25A of charge being applied.

 

[RR11NelNav]

Thank you! Very new and have the system installed but concerned won’t get enough charge even if my ignition sense port is plugged in. Trying to decide if there is a way to get alternator to work likes the ones of old or put in a 12 volt port to serve as ignition sense in the truck bed? I am getting very low alternator readings. Down to 4 amps when at idle so not sure even with ignition sense will fully charge as I am driving or just want to bring up battery while at idle at camp?

It could be that the alternator is not producing power because the primary battery (and, if connected, your auxiliary battery) is fully charged and there isn't much load on the system, which means the Smart Alternator is doing what it should. From the 2019 US Ranger service manual, "Generator amps at 80.6°F (27°C) 105 amps at 750 rpm (min) to 170 amps at 2,250 rpm (max) ". Check the Ignition Sensor lead to confirm you are getting positive voltage when the engine is running. If so, the next thing you might try is to deplete the aux bat a bit (burn off, say, 30Ah) and then take another measurement with everything hooked up and the engine running. Your GB unit monitor should then show a solid 25A of charge being applied.

Holy Moley- this forum was worth the price of admission already. I will give that a shot. Trying to get as much as possible right the first time. Thank you!