F8 Battery, oh the Battery!

Both my 812 and F8 live for the main on Ctek MXS-5.0 chargers.

I tend not to leave them 100% connected on continual charge, as I would rather they cycle up and down, simulating normal use, rather than cooking them.

F8 failed to start after 10-days disconnected from its last drive, which surprised me and if I'm honest, disappointed.

I'm fully up to speed on v8 parasitic drain, so should have known better, but all the same, a brand new battery, in a brand new car, coming off 100% charge state.

 

I had issues with my old 458 if left in the garage for about 10 days or so. With that in mind i always keep my 488 on the Ferrari Ctek trickle charger as they have huge parasitic draw. I'm now considering buying a 812SF and really interested in how it compares to the V8s in terms of parasitic draw. I find it helps when a V8 Ferrari has been left for 10 days is to switch it on first as the ecu wakes up and resets , then turn it off then attempt to crank the car.

 

Sorry to say, but this is normal. Ask your dealer to replace the battery with a decent one. They usually replace with an Interstate battery at no cost to you. And, they recommend that you keep it on the charger as often as possible. Of course, Ferrari/dealer should have already replaced the battery before handing over the keys.

 

My 812 is over a year old, same scenario this morning and it fired straight up.

I did want to take the F8 though!!

 

I finally grew tired of the Ferrari, Interstate and Bosch Batteries in the 458. My Indy put in a BMW battery the other day. I’ll try to get more details and report back how it holds up.

I think the parasitic draw and FL summer heat really do a number on these things. Charger or no charger.

 

Doubt BMW makes their own batteries. Question is who is the supplier.

 

Why is this only a problem for Ferrari? Every other car I have ever owned could go 3 weeks or more with no problem and start right up. What is so different about a Ferrari?

 

10 days?!? That's awesome. I rarely get more than 3 or 4.

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My accountant asked the same question

 

How do you go 10 days without driving the F8? I’m struggling to go 2 days. It’s too awesome

 

Lockdown habits. Bad weather. Vacation.

Guess I can consider this a pilot for a hybrid, as it seems to need plugging in just as much

 

Funny thing, my F8 is now throwing up tire pressure issues and parking sensor issues upon startup. Then it go’s away usually after a few miles or so. I’m starting to wonder if it’s battery related. My car is only 5 months old. Just ridiculous.

 

Its rare for me to read owners manuals, but out of curiosity I have read the Ferrari ones and when I look at the section about the tender, they usually say you should put the car on the tender after something like 68 hours (interesting it is not an even 3 days). Why is this? I suspect its just how their electronics are setup. With the new hybrid models, I bet the charger must be connected frequently as well and that will keep you topped off. If possible, I recommend just plugging in after you drive unless you know you are going to drive sometime in the next 2 days. The older models came with a really weak CTek 800 tender (only 0.8A). The newer ones are better and I think they have a different tender supplier now. I have been using CTek 7002 model with my cars for 13 years now (since 2008). I don’t think its necessary but I recommend it because this model seems better resistant to brownouts and surges and at the time they didnt have the 4.3 model that has all the charging modes. I can tell you the 7002 rescued the nearly drained OEM battery on my then 599- I left it on the factory tender for several weeks and didn’t bother to go look at it during the winter, when I did, I found the tender dead and the car almost inoperable. I was able to get to the battery and after some research I connected the 7002 direct to it and left it for a day. Car fired right up and I got another 8 years on that battery.


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It’s remarkable to me that as time passes Ferrari can’t or won’t solve the battery issue. It’s obviously not a priority. I’ve had battery problems with v8s and v12s.

Not sure about all the parasitic draw issues but at least one is that the rear lights stay on faintly when car is completely shutoff. I’ve also had problems when the alarm is turned on even when on charger so that might also be a drain.

My dealer replaces the OEM battery for interstate prior to delivery . That does help a great deal because the OEM is really bad but the root cause seems to be parasitic draw.


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This thread is like arguing over which deck chair on the Titanic is safest

Get yourself a Braille i48CS battery and it will make a night and day difference.

Ferrari definitely needs to work on cutting power consumption when their ECU's are "off".

Ray

 

poor you.... haha ❤️

 

It’s not unusual if your temperatures are still cool to get pressure sensor warnings. Especially in the mornings. I get them often in our 911. Not so much in the F8

 

Mate i would have thought that you would taken note of all the comments on how stuffed up is the parasitic drain on these cars

I hope at least you bought a starter ?

Lastly i guess it didn't start at your home. Think about it if it was at the Servo Station or out for dinner ?

If you haven't already done so get a starter.

 

Based on the 3rd brake light LED's being on, Ferrari electrical system must want to be always on.

 

When I read about situations like this I just laugh at how many will order the SF90 and the coming out LB . What a laugh !!!!!

 

I noticed on my 488 I was watching the voltage charging system and only really charges when at idle or in traffic open road usually does not charge probably why the battery is a bit low I just leave mine on charge and sometimes after 2 weeks or so fires right up

 

I really did, but my mistake was thinking battery age and condition was a factor, when it’s clearly not.

Has gotten me thinking about the Start/Stop function....... what a ridiculous idea on cars with this issue.

 

Gotcha , except I’m also getting the rear parking sensors fail as well. Something is not right. The tire pressure shows all four at 27-28 lbs which should be fine.

 

. Oh boy, more things to look forward to with the F8. I’d blame it in the FL heat, but not in this case.

Why don’t they just make the Braille a $4,000 option?

 

My understanding is that a few of auto makers do offer their own Lithium batteries, including Ferrari, but that the quality of most of them is below that of Braille.

But yes, I agree with you that they should offer the i48CS - or the lighter weight i48CX - as an option.

Ray