2016 F150 Auto Start/Stop and scanner rebooting

[mavrickma]

Coming back to the issue...

Knowing the full situation, would you suggest a battery or DC-to-DC converter now? If you had your choice.

 

[mmckenna]

Depends on your budget.

If I was going full out for a vehicle to be used in the fire service, considering someones life might depend on it, and having an appropriate budget to support said needs, then yeah, battery.

As a volunteer with a real world budget, I'd either not worry about the scanner restarting, or use one of the previous mentioned low buck solutions.

So, how important is that scanner to your response plan? Is it just a comfort thing, or do you really need it? Could you load the channels into one of the existing LMR radios as an option?

If it was my truck and the LMR radios worked, I wouldn't worry about a scanner not working. It's frustrating, but is it really a mission critical piece of equipment?

 

[mavrickma]

To my response plan it means nothing. However, I can't believe its good for the radio to cycle on/off that many times that quickly. Also, there are times that upon reboot it will give a loud screeching sound which scares the living crap out of me, and prompt a fit from the wife when she's with me. So, yes, i'd like to fix it

I guess my question is: Cost aside, which is the *better* solution? Battery or converter? If battery, would this battery work? https://www.amazon.com/YTX7L-BS-Hig...s=12V+battery+gel&refinements=p_85:2470955011

Also, I have a 1 farad cap left over from a Sub install I was going to do but got a new truck instead. Thoughts on adding that in?

 

[mmckenna]

OK, rule #1, don't piss off the Wife aka: Minister of War and Finance.

I'd try the capacitor first, but I'm not experienced in doing that on a mobile install, so maybe someone else could chime in.

Probably one of the Chargeguard type devices with voltage stabilization or the 12 volt UPS/MDT units would be an option.

The motorcycle battery you listed is pretty inexpensive, which would lead me to doubt it's quality. The other issue with those types is they are wet acid, so spills are an issue. They also require a vent to the outside. Might not be a good choice inside the vehicle, might be OK under the hood. An AGM type might be a better choice if you need to mount it inside the vehicle.

 

[phask]

What about using one of those Li-ion jump start packs and using your normal power to keep it charged?

Might find a friend that has one you could try.

 

[ResQguy]

And I always leave my truck on if I'm using lights.

Just trying to understand this truck now. How exactly do you "leave a truck running" that shuts off when stopped? Is there an anti-idle defeat button to push or something?

 

[eorange]

So I have my 536HP installed in my new 2016 F150 that does the auto start/stop at stoplights and such.

Did you try disabling the auto engine shutoff/restart? I assume you can. So the question becomes: is it really worth it for you to keep this feature on?

 

[mavrickma]

Just trying to understand this truck now. How exactly do you "leave a truck running" that shuts off when stopped? Is there an anti-idle defeat button to push or something?

The Anti-Idle is only enabled in Drive. The issue is at stop lights. When sitting on detail, the truck is in Park and this is not an issue.

Did you try disabling the auto engine shutoff/restart? I assume you can. So the question becomes: is it really worth it for you to keep this feature on?

Yes, disabling the auto-shutoff obviously stops the issue because the engine doesn't turn off at stop lights. But the whole point of the feature is to save gas, which I'm all about, so this isn't an option for me.

 

[eorange]

I've been in BMWs with this feature, so I've experienced it firsthand. I wondered if the surge of gas required to re-start the engine every time you hit a red light or stop sign is less than the amount consumed during idling over time. But to each his own; you have your tradeoff in front of you. Good luck!

 

[mmckenna]

I've been in BMWs with this feature, so I've experienced it firsthand. I wondered if the surge of gas required to re-start the engine every time you hit a red light or stop sign is less than the amount consumed during idling over time. But to each his own; you have your tradeoff in front of you. Good luck!

It's worth it. My wife's car has it and my dad used to have a car that had it. Considering the amount of time those of us here in California spend sitting at red lights, it adds up pretty quick. Then there's the whole emissions thing....

 

[mavrickma]

It's worth it. My wife's car has it and my dad used to have a car that had it. Considering the amount of time those of us here in California spend sitting at red lights, it adds up pretty quick. Then there's the whole emissions thing....

Yup. Same here in Boston. I can spend 15 minutes just trying to get off the street my office is on...

 

[eorange]

I traveled quite a bit to both Boston and LA, and Cleveland traffic is nothing in comparison, so I can see that.



Have you tried disconnecting your CB and the other 2 devices? If it still happens, then at least you'd know it wasn't a current capacity problem.

 

[sfd119]

Coming back to the issue....

Coming back to the issue...

Knowing the full situation, would you suggest a battery or DC-to-DC converter now? If you had your choice.

DC-DC is what I would do. If everything else works as intended, then you just need to rectify the scanner losing power upon restarting.

Keep us in the loop on what you decide to get, because I would like to get something to fix this issue in my truck as well.

 

[mavrickma]

Did some more testing today.

I removed the zener diode, as well as the DC noise filter and left just the two capacitors and the diode to prevent backflow, power coming from my ignition triggered relay. I stuck the probes of my multimeter into the power connector for the scanner. Since the CB is on the same power line, I used that as my load.

- No load (CB turned off) - straight 14V, no fluctuation
- With load (CB turned on) sitting in Park, 12-12.2V
- With load driving, foot on gas - eventually leveled out to 13-13.2V
- With load driving, coasting - eventually leveled out to 13.5-13.6V
- With Load, stopped at a stop light, anti-idle engaged and engine off - drops down to 11.2V
- With Load, stopped at a stop light, anti-idle engaged and engine off, take foot of brake to restart engine - This was all over the place. Sometimes it would dip as low as 10.2 or 10.5V. Other times it would stay above 11.2/11.3V and immediately rise back up to 13V+

I'm going to find some time later this week to swap out the capacitors. For the 1 farad, would hooking it up to the positive and negative terminals of my fuse/junction block be OK even though that means the cap would power the other equipment as well?

I'm thinking I'm going to purchase the DC-DC converter. I found it on ebay for $28 shipped from NJ. If anybody knows of a similar unit on Amazon that has Prime shipping, that would be preferred and appreciated. I couldn't find the same model on Amazon.

 

[chief21]

Here's a link to one (of many) on Amazon. Use the search terms "DC" and "boost" to find more.

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Convert...002631&sr=8-36&keywords=dc-dc+boost+converter

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Somehow found this by accident and though might be of interest.

2015 Chevrolet Malibu Auxiliary Power Supply - Boron Extrication

 

[phask]

Good catch - I knew some stop/start systems used this, but too lazy to search

Somehow found this by accident and though might be of interest.

2015 Chevrolet Malibu Auxiliary Power Supply - Boron Extrication

 

[UPMan]

Using a multimeter to catch this kind of transient power event is difficult. You end up with some variation of an average reading (even an analog meter won't react fast enough to catch transients well). To really know what the voltage is doing, you'd need to use an oscilloscope. I'd suspect it is dropping well below 10V every time, based on the reported symptom. Don't know why the capacitor/diode combination isn't working (unless it just isn't a big enough capacitor...).

 

[mmckenna]

- No load (CB turned off) - straight 14V, no fluctuation
- With load (CB turned on) sitting in Park, 12-12.2V

A 1.8 to 2 volt drop just because the CB is turned on is indicating an issue. The issue is difficult to determine based on just that reading. It's either the battery is weak, but then I'd expect starting issues, or that there is either a bad connection or the wire is undersized.

Losing 2 volts over a 20 foot run of 18 gauge with just the load of a mobile CB radio, probably well less than 1 amp while not transmitting, suggests some power starvation.

While it may not fix the core issue, I'd increase the wire to a 14 gauge at minimum. Double check your crimp connections (if you are using them) I've found that just a touch of solder is helpful, no so much that it wicks down the wire too far, but just enough to make a good low resistance connection between the crimp lug and the wire.

 

[mmckenna]

Somehow found this by accident and though might be of interest.

2015 Chevrolet Malibu Auxiliary Power Supply - Boron Extrication

Yeah, that's what my dad had. Made it really easy to mount the RF deck in the trunk and the control head on the dash. Didn't have any issues with power in that car.