DIY How-to: Take the Aux Battery Offline

[ecidiego]

I left it in place, may take it out at some point but didn't see any immediate need. I can do it fast enough now, having had practice, but, meh?

I'd remove it. More payload! Haha

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[ShadowsPapa]

I'd remove it. More payload! Haha

My wife would instead suggest that I, myself, lose 20 pounds and that would make her and the truck happier.

Funny, im pissed my Aux battery always says charging and my ESS does not work...

Try removing the IBS, charging each battery independently with a quality AGM battery charger, and put it all back together. It helped my 2020. Things worked fine after that.

When the ESS stopped working in the 2021 Grand Cherokee my wife had - she told me she wanted it fixed.
No problem with her new Jeep - pull up to a stop sign and it stops moving, press the pedal and it starts moving again. Go over 25 miles and pull up to a stop and the engine shuts off, press the pedal and the Jeep starts moving then the engine starts up again.

 

[AEsco48]

My wife would instead suggest that I, myself, lose 20 pounds and that would make her and the truck happier.



Try removing the IBS, charging each battery independently with a quality AGM battery charger, and put it all back together. It helped my 2020. Things worked fine after that.

When the ESS stopped working in the 2021 Grand Cherokee my wife had - she told me she wanted it fixed.
No problem with her new Jeep - pull up to a stop sign and it stops moving, press the pedal and it starts moving again. Go over 25 miles and pull up to a stop and the engine shuts off, press the pedal and the Jeep starts moving then the engine starts up again.

Will give it a try tonight

 

[Imbuere]

Great content, much appreciated! Post like this make me prefer the JT forum to the JL forum. Such better stuff here.

 

[DaleG]

How long can we expect the auxiliary battery to last before it fails. I have the start/stop disabled using a tazer so I’m hoping the aux battery last longer.

My aux battery shit the bed last week. I run the Tazer and ESS disabled all the time. Almost 3 years to the exact date of purchase and 300 miles oit of warranty.

 

[danb]

Don’t want to jinx it , but my 2020 still has both working with 33k miles. Not garaged , but I do hit the button when I remember . occasional tows and more highway driving then bumper to bumper .

I don't know if Ram uses the same batteries. I had a 2018 Ram 2500 for 4 years. Never replaced the battery. It slept outside. However it had 68K miles when I traded it in for my JT.

 

[Fpolanco]

You just made my decision to install the Genesis dual battery set-up that much harder...thank you!!

Looks like the 94r is a very viable (and cheaper) option!!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My aux battery shit the bed last week. I run the Tazer and ESS disabled all the time. Almost 3 years to the exact date of purchase and 300 miles oit of warranty.

Disabling doesn't really matter - 3 years is about the life of these. For some reason, batteries aren't lasting like they used to. I have gotten 12 years out of factory installed batteries before.
12 years on the Motorcraft in my 95 F250, 6 out of the original battery in my 2011 Silverado, heck, the battery in my lawn tractor is well over 6 years old and it sits a lot (granted, with a tender on it now and then)
I've only once had a battery not last 5 years - and that was the 4 years I got out of the NAPA battery in my Eagle - but it sat a lot.
Then when I was in NAPA a month or so ago, customers were complaining that they couldn't get batteries to do more than 4 years.

 

[DNNDRTY]

I am surprised there is not class action or investigation going from NHTSA for this small aux battery setup. You are left stranded when the aux battery goes. Sometimes the Jeep will shut itself off and this dangerous in middle of highway or blind turn.

On top of that you can’t conventionally jumpstart this vehicle. If none of the workarounds get Jeep started, you have to wait for tow truck.

This is a dumb design and for what….meeting epa and gas regulations with an ESS?! Not surprised everyone is bypassing or going to dual battery setup

 

[RIPLER]

I have the original batteries in my 2020 JTR that I bought in May 2019. I started to get the S/S unavailable message a few weeks ago and it never went away so I decided to do this mod. I did it this past Sunday and everything was working fine until this morning. Today when I started the Jeep I got the auxiliary switches unavailable, this was the first time I got this message. I also got the S/S unavailable battery charging message. So now my question is why did I get both of these messages after doing the mod, when I only got the S/S unavailable message before. I know I'm probably on borrowed time with the age of the batteries, so I'm going to bite the bullet and replace both. Next question is which batteries to buy? Any opinions on the Duracell batteries available at Sam's Club?

 

[Lunentucker]

I have the original batteries in my 2020 JTR that I bought in May 2019. I started to get the S/S unavailable message a few weeks ago and it never went away so I decided to do this mod. I did it this past Sunday and everything was working fine until this morning. Today when I started the Jeep I got the auxiliary switches unavailable, this was the first time I got this message. I also got the S/S unavailable battery charging message. So now my question is why did I get both of these messages after doing the mod, when I only got the S/S unavailable message before. I know I'm probably on borrowed time with the age of the batteries, so I'm going to bite the bullet and replace both. Next question is which batteries to buy? Any opinions on the Duracell batteries available at Sam's Club?

What's your voltage? Your main is probably close to dead too.

 

[sharpsicle]

I am surprised there is not class action or investigation going from NHTSA for this small aux battery setup. You are left stranded when the aux battery goes. Sometimes the Jeep will shut itself off and this dangerous in middle of highway or blind turn.

Have yet to see this. Can you point me to where this system shut off a vehicle in-motion? Sounds more likely that, if it did happen, it was something else that occurred and it was just blamed on the ESS system because the convenient group think is to make that the enemy.

On top of that you can’t conventionally jumpstart this vehicle. If none of the workarounds get Jeep started, you have to wait for tow truck.

Sure you can. I've done it myself. What makes you think you can't? Let me guess, it happened once to someone and, right or wrong, that person blamed ESS?

These ESS/battery threads are easily worse than the oil threads now, with the amount of misinformation and poor understanding circulating in them.

 

[DNNDRTY]

Have yet to see this. Can you point me to where this system shut off a vehicle in-motion? Sounds more likely that, if it did happen, it was something else that occurred and it was just blamed on the ESS system because the group think is to make that the enemy.


Sure you can. I've done it myself. What makes you think you can't? Let me guess, it happened once to someone and, right or wrong, that person blamed ESS?

These ESS/battery threads are easily worse than the oil threads now, with the amount of misinformation and poor understanding circulating in them.

google/YouTube have many examples of dead on side of road. A dead aux battery will also kill your main battery. You also can blow your Z case fuse Array if you incorrectly try to jump vehicle.

 

[Lunentucker]

 

[sharpsicle]

I can show pictures of a Jeep being jump started. That's about as useful as a picture of one on a tow truck.

This is asinine. Remove your aux if you want. Nobody cares. Demand that NHTSA opens an investigation. They won't. Find echo chambers that parrot the same bad information over and over. Won't change the true problem: it's the crap factory batteries, not the ESS system, that are the problem.

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