Hi All! New to this forum, so thank you in advance. I actually have a 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid but I think there's more info in this forum that is exactly applicable, so here I am. I'm in a quandary. All sorts of DTC's from low hybrid battery voltage, BUT it won't charge with the on-board 12V charger. It starts, button flashes, and then just stops after a few minutes. So I decided to add a grid charger to save my 12V from the wear and tear. I read the sticky in this forum for installing the charger, opened up the battery in situ, disconnected the gray and black connectors on the driver's side from the on-board charger but there is 0V at those pins, even with the orange plug engaged. Checked the round orange fuse and it is fine. Forscan indicates 275V and 0 BSOC. Last week it was at 53% BSOC after several rebalancing's, but then it sat for 5 days and now I have this problem. I read a thread about another 2008 owner with no voltage at those driver side gray and black connectors, the sticky referred to them as the vestigial connectors for 2009+, but there was never any resolution about why or how to see HV there. He had a fan problem and was able to charge and the thread ended. I have Codes P0685, P0A0A, P1A10, P0562. I tried chasing down P0685 and pulled every fuse from under the hood to test and inspect - all are fine. I also pulled the PCM Relay and Power Sustain Relay, both tested fine with 82 ohms and activated with 12V applied. Also tested the PCM diode, tested fine with almost no resistance one direction and OL the other. I think my 12V is probably ruined from frequent uses to recharge the HVTB but I thought I would try the grid charger first and then see how it goes. Any thoughts on the gray and black connectors? And I'm also wondering if now my 12V charger won't work anymore since it's connectors don't read HVTB voltage looking into the battery? The moderator thought in the previous thread I mentioned that maybe a fuse was blown in the battery itself, so would this prevent the 12V charger from jumping the HVTB from now on? Which would make the grid charger the only option. Also, before reading the sticky I ordered the Mean Well HLG-120H-C350A that people recommend on You-Tube videos, and I did like that it was a switching power supply, although its 430V it seems to work for them, is it ok? Thank you!

 

I'm hoping S Keith will jump in and respond! So I took the passenger side apart to prepare to install the charger on the bottom terminals of the relay. I think it's all good but I have another question regarding this before proceeding.

In-line diodes would preclude the option for a deep discharge through the same port followed by the charge cycle. I have read other hybrid forums that say 3-5 deep discharge/charge cycles should be done annually to recover the usable range of the battery. But I don't see that in this forum anywhere. Mine can only go 2 days without being driven or it won't start. So I was interested in reconditioning. I have another car so I have time to do a cycle a day for example. Please give me your thoughts. Thank you!

Also, can I use SAE connectors?