Proper Procedures to remove Battery

DeadEyeDan0 said:

Need correct procedures to remove battery. The section in the owners manual is incorrect! The online videos are also incorrect for my setup. Removing the rail stop bolts do not allow further travel forward. The wire harness is totally different and the battery box is inverse compared to that in the manuals. The access cover is on the right hand side not the left. Anyone have these? Seems from digging around the internet that you must remove entire seat. I can see wires that need disconnect before you yank out the seat , several conectors the need some special method to unplug ect.

Thanks:|

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EXACTLY. Same here. First, the pics in manual of access cover look reversed because they are of the dual battery setup, which is rotated 90 degrees.


As Budsky noted, you can remove the 4 seat track bolts, and tilt the seat forward, if you're not doing too much under there. In my situation, I have resigned myself to completely (re)moving the seat, for battery work. This started with needing more time and clear access to route and connect cables for my house battery system. Then, I installed a battery box behind the seat that makes access to the starter battery from the rear impractical. So, I disconnect the keeper for the seatbelt warning wire, to get a lot of slack, then move the entire seat back, behind the parking brake and passenger seat. That makes clear space to service the battery from the driver door.

orton said:

By chance do you have a photo of the negative battery connection? Is there an existing empty stud on that terminal that you used?

That is where I want to connect the negative terminal of my 1000 watt vehicle powered inverter. Will use all 3 CCP terminals connected to a 4 post bus bar for the positive. Fourth post will go to fuse and disconnect switch and then to inverter positive post.

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Thanks All This whole battery thing is a long story. Here is a picture of the neg post as you asked but it is unadvisable to use it as per the bemm guidelines (but yes it will work ) it does have a free post kind of hidden under that wire loom beside it. I am running my inverter from a optima battery (not under the seat),I use the CCP to its positive(10 ga wire) to Charge the optima. Ground from the optima to the inverter is 0ga but ground from the optima to the Transit is 10a and run to the approved Ground point located almost directly between the seats.
To locate this hidden point (In my rig that has factory installed rubber flooring) there is a seem that is within about 1 inch of it just pick it up a little and look at the metal floor and find the Bolt they put into the threaded hole for this purpose. Ill upload a picture if someone needs it.
Ford did a strange thing with our ground system that requires us to only use the approved points not the neg post. There are ground current sensors that the computer monitors and via the body control module. Taking ground at the negative post my confuse the computer into thinking that another system is faulty due to the current not getting sensed. It also vary the alternator output to match load and heat conditions. Do try to use the approved point.
I also use a large capacitor connected to the inverter for surge current. Several items I run won't start without the capacitor in place. My freezer for instance runs off 1.2 amps 120 volt ac but requires 18 amps surge to start the compressor running. Thats about 190 amps at 11.5 volt for a fraction of a second just to start it running.

Thanks again.