Screwed up, but all is good now...

[DublF]

Pulled my JT in my garage yesterday after a short trip, turned off the motor, and went in my house. Came out this morning only to find that I forgot to put the shifter into park, and of course my battery was drained. DOH!

Battery measured 5.6 volts.

My brother came over to jump start, so I hooked up the clamps to the positive and negative terminals (above the IBS). Waited a minute, tried to start, and all I got was 1 click. Waited a few minutes and tried again, same thing. Then I remembered a video I saw where someone put the positive cable on the N1 terminal for jump starting.

I did that and sure enough, it started right up. Went for a half hour drive and all is fine.

Is this the normal routine with the cables? Using the N1 terminal?

P.S. First time I ever had to use the orange neutral pull handle. It worked flawlessly.

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[Hootbro]

Is this the normal routine with the cables? Using the N1 terminal?

No it is not the normal routine. Owners manual actually gives a serious injury or death warning and advises against jumping off the Aux battery which the N1 cable goes directly to.

 

[DublF]

No it is not the normal routine. Owners manual actually gives a serious injury or death warning and advises against jumping off the Aux battery which the N1 cable goes directly to.

I won't show your post to my brother. It's probably best that he never sees that.

 

[Hootbro]

I won't show your post to my brother. It's probably best that he never sees that.

There is a thread on the JL side that references putting a jumper wire between the main battery + and N1 and then jump from the main battery. This eliminates the risk of jumping purely off the aux battery and N1 only.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/ess-jumpstarting-main-battery-vs-n1-terminal.87726/

Edit: This is another reason why I did my aux battery delete mod. That extra battery adds this layer of complication for what should be a simple jump start.

 

[DublF]

There is a thread on the JL side that references putting a jumper wire between the main battery + and N1 and then jump from the main battery. This eliminates the risk of jumping purely off the aux battery and N1 only.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/ess-jumpstarting-main-battery-vs-n1-terminal.87726/

Thanks, great info.

 

[Hootbro]

Thanks, great info.

No problem. Just keep an eye on your charging system and batteries for the next few days. Going down to 5 volts is pretty low and many times batteries do not fully recover from that. With these batteries wired in parallel, if one is weak, it will draw the other one down.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

"......waited a few minutes....."
Minutes or what felt like minutes?
Not enough time passed. With batteries being that dead, it would take a very very long time to get enough built up in the aux battery to make it want to start. Been down that road.

The jumper referred to ensures enough voltage to the N1 terminal to power electronics. But hooking up a jump pack or another vehicle isn't going to get you going "in a few minutes".
And if the other vehicle was simply idling, or not even running, you'd have to wait a while- more than just a few minutes. I'd say at least 10 or 15 - maybe even more.
You had 2 batteries at only about 10% if that. Even a good battery charger would take a while to build both up enough to start it.

This is a good example of how this bit about "you must jump N1" thing got started to begin with. And then of course the aux battery was blamed, sucking power and so on. People don't understand batteries or how power is stored and retrieved (so blame what is handy without real understanding)
People hook up cables and thing the thing should start right up, right? Wrong. They don't realize how much electrical energy it takes - a jump pack won't do it, it would crank a modern vehicle but not overcome 2 dead batteries. Even a donor vehicle jumping the dead one you have to rev it up and wait a while.

Worse - the common (but dumb) thought out there is "just jump it quickly, the alternator will charge it" idea. Alternators are to maintain, not charge. Take it home and put a real battery charger on it, 10 amps minimum.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

No problem. Just keep an eye on your charging system and batteries for the next few days. Going down to 5 volts is pretty low and many times batteries do not fully recover from that. With these batteries wired in parallel, if one is weak, it will draw the other one down.

And depending on build date, his batteries are in that 2 year old range where MOPAR supplied batteries typically start to fail anyway.

 

[Not2Late]

My aux battery died at a little over the 2-year mark and 25k miles. Not all at once. Kept throwing voltage codes and it took a couple of trips (and some advice from you all on this forum!) to finally get the dealer to recognize the battery was the problem. As soon as I get past the warranty period, I am going to explore the aux battery delete mod(s) I see out there. And go to a true dual battery setup or perhaps one very high-quality AGM type battery with good reserves.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My aux battery died at a little over the 2-year mark and 25k miles. Not all at once. Kept throwing voltage codes and it took a couple of trips (and some advice from you all on this forum!) to finally get the dealer to recognize the battery was the problem. As soon as I get past the warranty period, I am going to explore the aux battery delete mod(s) I see out there. And go to a true dual battery setup or perhaps one very high-quality AGM type battery with good reserves.

Go a high quality battery. The best AGM you can find.
However, that's not going to really solve the underlying issue - and that is that AGM batteries just seem to be lasting only about 3 years, even good ones, these days. Had that discussion at the local NAPA warehouse/store last weekend. I mentioned how long batteries HAD been lasting me until this one in my SX4 died at only 4 years. Another chimed in that he's not finding batteries lasting over 3 years. Interesting as that's what I've found on battery tech sites - typical is 3 years. Jeep supplied batteries are often even worse.
What's killing them? they are just bad.
But isn't it the aux battery doing it?
Then explain how Jeep 4xe owners are finding their 12v batteries lasting anywhere from 1 month to maybe 2 years, experiencing the exact same battery death Gladiator and Wrangler owners in general are seeing.
4xe has no ESS and no aux battery.
Jeep batteries simply don't last. It's made worse by how many Jeep owners drive (or don't drive) their vehicles. They sit for 2 or 3 days at a time and when driven, they are driven for only 10 to 30 minutes at a time. Not enough to keep the batteries up, so they slowly get lower and lower and lower in state of charge, and that kills them, never being kept at 90-100% SoC.
Batteries aren't good in Jeeps, but too often, owners aren't helping them, either, by infrequent and/or short drives.

 

[HappyGladiator]

Everyone discovered that the more batteries fail, the more money they make. Make them cheaper and charge more for them.

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