as S Keith reported on his first retort.. other people's feelings are irrelevant, however, I believe he was a lil" butt hurt by my first response.. but these are all opinions,,

the FACTS are, I asked if you could use the Jump Button to trickle charge a Ford Escape Hybrid.. he responded with "No. The jumpstarter doesn't get it anywhere near 100%. After even a few uses, it doesn't do anything. It's voltage based, and it just stops trying after a certain voltage"

this is categorically false. He was wrong, and that's fine. I have been wrong my life. You live you learn. My goal was to fix my issue and perhaps inform other Escape Hybrid owners with the Jump Button option to get a charge beyond the nominal voltage just to get the system working and well beyond (without needing to drive lots of miles). That is all. Didn't need his opinion of me "giving up".

I don't mind antagonizing bullies.. especially when they are wrong and "butt hurt". He will get over it. No need to protect his ego. He's a big boy.

This case is closed..

 

OK, now you are simply misstating facts. You did NOT ask "if you could use the Jump start button to trickle charge a Ford Escape." What you ACTUALLY asked was "can I try to do a deep cycle charge to the hybrid battery by doing the "jump start" process several times?" Read the title you selected for your thread. S Keith's answer to you was 100% correct.

Next you state "No need to protect his ego. He's a big boy.." Perhaps you forgot during your little temper tantrum that you invited input..."everyone who has read this post PLEASE chime in and show your support for this man's unwavering commitment to help!!" I responded at YOUR invitation.

S Keith is a big boy and he can take care of himself. The last thing this board needs, however, is some thin skinned, knowledge base challenged newbie to aggravate him to the point he is no longer willing to help people. He would be missed. You? Not so much.

 

Reopening the case..

possible this is getting tied up in semantics. If you think a deep cycle charge is different than a trickle charge over several hours or possibly days, then we agree to disagree.

I actually DON'T entirely disagree with S Keith's assessment of being able to get a 100 percent charge from repeating the "jump process" a zillion times. Never was it in the engineers at Ford's minds that using this button would be needed for this. As you probably know, Ford used Toyota battery tech for these vehicles. And I am sure the S Keith is very knowledgable about how the Toyota system works. Ford opted for a tradition 12v battery not a specialty one as the Prius, and also built in this Jump function.. unlike the Prius. They discontinued it for reasons unknown.. perhaps cost related, and that they knew the 100k mile warranty on the OEM battery would run out and the customer would be faced with the horrible option of buying a new 10k dollar battery, selling their vehicle or hoping for the best. Thankfully these forums provide work arounds.

My intention on this thread was to be informed and to inform Ford Escape Hybrid owners with the Jump Start function, that there is a work around.. that is all. I have owned this vehicle for for over a decade and know MANY of its faults and work arounds.. dare I say more than someone who has NOT owned one, regardless of how knowledgable they are. I ain't arguing this.. I am simply stating "you CAN get a well above nominal charge on a FHE (05-08) by using the button.. several times over a few hours..

that's it!!

enjoy your Sunday

 

Because I have an intolerance for misinformation, I will make another post for any future readers.

To clarify, I have personally repaired dozens of these batteries, and I personally own a 2005.

The claims of 100% SoC via jump button are categorically false. Please do not pursue multiple jump starts with this goal. Multiple jump starts may be useful in adding usable charge to the battery, but it will not achieve anything near peak charge. Keeping a charger on the 12V is a very good idea as the jump starter can pull about 25A from the 12V at peak power.

First, the OP likely has never taken any actual measurements and is making statements based on a lack of hard evidence and flawed perceptions.

With regards to the operation of the jump starter, they have not likely had to service a battery in a deep state of discharge with dormant cells. Please refer to:

https://electricvehicleforums.com/fo...ry-jump-31056/

"Note: 05-08 MAY require this treatment if their batteries are severely discharged. It's possible for the NiMH chemistry to go dormant. This causes HV voltage to spike when the jump starter begins charging. If you note that the jump button goes solid and then turns to slow flash after 30-60 seconds, then there's been a jump fault. If the jump button goes from solid to fast flashing, then it's completed normally, and you may attempt start. there is also an associated jump starter fault code, "

I have personally observed this MANY times, and I was forced to apply the external jump start because the jump start pushes battery voltage to well north of 300V but then it immediately falls back to under 300 if loaded, and/or the jump starter issues a fault code, B1016.

I took some measurements at the 12V to determine voltage and current supplied to the jump starter, and I did it over several jumps. 12V was disconnected between each jump.

1st jump:
0:15: 12.46V/25A
1:15: 12.22V/24A
2:25: 12.22/21A
3:03: 12.32/14A
Unfortunately, it's extremely hot, and my phone terminated the video, so I took a series of pictures as able. The following was the last reading before the jump starter terminated, and that corresponds to around 8 minutes:
8:00: 12.44/6A

Of note is the nature of the readings... decreasing power, i.e., as time goes on, power output is reduced. The first reading indicated about 312W of power. The last reading indicates about 75W of power.

2nd charge (10:mm:ss reported times taken from photo time stamp):
18:50: 12.29V/17A
20:19: 12.44V/6A
21:47: 12.45V/6A
22:45 12.46V/5A
26:18 12.48V/4.5A

The charge terminated before the next picture. Again of note is the decreasing power. The first reading was 209W and the last was 56W

Okay, so now the argument becomes, well the current was low because the 12V was low. Nope. Added 2X chargers capable of supplying a total of 12-14A depending on battery voltage and allowed the battery to charge several minutes before further jumps.

30:48: 12.47/9.6A
31:17: 12.57/5.7A
34:49: 13.13/5.1A
35:19: 13.16/4.6A
36:08: 13.20/4.5A
37:12: 13.20/4.2A
37:48: 13.23/3.8A
38:01: 13.23/3.8A

120W start, 50W finish

No amount of jump starting would push the battery above 339.2V according to Forscan and sits at 28.8% SoC.

339.2V/250cells = 1.356V/cell - there is no way to get a NiMH cell fully charged at this voltage - period.

The only thing that can explain the reason for the jump starter outputting less and less power as it's used is because the jump starter is meeting some criterion that tapers current. The most logical explanation is it's approaching peak output voltage - just like all other chargers.

Let's assume that I'm wrong, and power isn't being throttled due to HV battery voltage.

Let's use the 50W power and compute the number of button presses to get to 100%:

50W/339V*85% = 125mA maximum input into the battery.

125mA for 8 minutes = 125*8/60 = 16mAh/jump start button press.

5500mAh/16 = 344 jump button presses. This does not factor in the notably decreased efficiency when NiMH approaches full charge or the fact that the jump button has a cool down period that doesn't allow for an immediate press.

344 jump button presses would take pressing the jump button every 8 minutes for 45.8 hours. Doubt the OP has done this.