Aux. Battery: When did yours die (or how old is it now if it hasn't)?

[@californiajeeping]

Love the in depth explanations. You can argue theory and how its supposed to operate all you want. It is a poor design adding complexity to a very simple system. There are countless people having issues with the failing little agm battery.

I will standby what has worked in practical application. Improved reliability by removing the harley sized motorcycle battery that fails and going to one large battery and disabling ess is a huge improvement. More consistent and higher flooat or charging voltage to all systems and the battery. No more dropping to 12.4 during ESS and it kicking the motor back on.

The only issue I have is with the smart alternator itself. If you run an air compressor in park even with the rpm at like 2000 rpm it shuts the smart alternator off in park and wont charge well. If you do it in neutral or have someone sit in the truck in D but stopped it charges perfectly and will hold up to the load.

So one way around it is to put the tcase in N and trans in drive but that is semi-sketchy.

It sucks when your airing up a paddleboard or tires and it lets the battery get down to 12.4v and wont charge.

Again the oem overcomplicating something very simple in the name of imaginary economy.

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[Aberk]

What if I am already on my 3rd?

2020 (bought in 8/2019). first time was replaced under warranty. second time, the truck is out of warranty, I pulled the battery out and it wasn't 3 years old so the dealer swapped it for me.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The only issue I have is with the smart alternator itself. If you run an air compressor in park even with the rpm at like 2000 rpm it shuts the smart alternator off in park and wont charge well. If you do it in neutral or have someone sit in the truck in D but stopped it charges perfectly and will hold up to the load.

Then you've got something else going on because many of us have run loads on our vehicles when sitting in park and not have lack of charging. Why would it shut the alternator off? It doesn't do that when sitting idling and operating a snow plow when in park hooking up, purging air out of lines and that sort of thing. Doesn't shut down when running a winch.
I've never seen mine shut off when sitting.

 

[redriderjf87]

10/21 build - so far so good, but will be taking it out at some point after I finish moving this fall

 

[Joe in Montana]

Just curious what the typical expected lifespan of an aux battery is. There are lots of variables that this simple poll can't address - such as climate vehicle is in, average miles driven daily, whether or not the auto stop-start is typically used or turned off, etc. ... but this should give us a very rough idea of what to expect generally.

Please do not respond if you have removed or bypassed your aux. battery and disabled auto stop-start.

 

[Joe in Montana]

Just curious what the typical expected lifespan of an aux battery is. There are lots of variables that this simple poll can't address - such as climate vehicle is in, average miles driven daily, whether or not the auto stop-start is typically used or turned off, etc. ... but this should give us a very rough idea of what to expect generally.

Please do not respond if you have removed or bypassed your aux. battery and disabled auto stop-start.

My ESS Stopped working after about 3 months after purchase (2020 Gladiator). I wanted Jeep to fix anything wrong during warranty even though I disabled ESS each time I started the Jeep. Here is the very long story short: The ESS battery will discharge everyday you drive locally until it is discharged. Jeep said I needed to take a drive of 2 to 300 miles per week to keep it charged. (I laughed). Took it in 4 times for ESS not working. Always a discharged battery. I ended up just letting stay that way. No removal, no bypass, no tricky this or that. All works fine and I bet I could charge up the little battery if I wanted to access it to do that and ESS would function again. Or I could take a 250 mile drive somewhere for some reason just to have it charged up again.

 

[70deuce]

Mine died one week prior to the 24 month mark. Warranty replaced.

 

[@californiajeeping]

Then you've got something else going on because many of us have run loads on our vehicles when sitting in park and not have lack of charging. Why would it shut the alternator off? It doesn't do that when sitting idling and operating a snow plow when in park hooking up, purging air out of lines and that sort of thing. Doesn't shut down when running a winch.
I've never seen mine shut off when sitting.

It is weird. It was solely running on battery power while in park. Soon as it was shifted in D it worked normally. I think its possible my air compressor was drawing too much power even with the engine at 2000rpm.

 

[Osteodoc08]

2020 Mojave bought new Nov 20, 2020 and has roughly 22k miles. Knock on wood, still good

 

[The Kracka]

Curious if anyone knows if this is the aux battery in our JT's?

https://batteryguy.com/power-sonic-...vYBIK17U_CMm8WpSGweYHb3ivpgrO1jxoCccQQAvD_BwE

 

[Mr._Bill]

Curious if anyone knows if this is the aux battery in our JT's?

https://batteryguy.com/power-sonic-...vYBIK17U_CMm8WpSGweYHb3ivpgrO1jxoCccQQAvD_BwE

Correct Specs, wrong terminals. You need one like this.
https://www.autobarn.net/deka-aux14-battery.html

 

[SMITTY NY]

OEM batteries since June '19. No issues whats so ever.

Pretty much the same for me on the OEM batteries since May ‘19, 69k on the clock

 

[it_trailblzr]

Mine will give me error lights on a whim. It has done it since day one, and I read most threads on this, so just kind of rolled with it.

 

[High Alextude]

Question - if you always turn auto start stop off, will the aux still drain the main battery? I don’t understand deleting the aux if you can just press a button. Unless, the aux battery is causing other issues that will affect the main. I don’t want to run into issues on the side of the road with the battery even if I turn ESS off. I know this is a broken record, but if someone could explain, that would be appreciated.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

if you always turn auto start stop off, will the aux still drain the main battery?

No difference. And you have just as good a chance of the MAIN battery going bad first and causing you big issues.
This bit about "the aux goes bad and will drain the main battery" is internet lore.
You can pull in for a beer run, go back out to your Jeep and have it dead due to the MAIN battery going south.
So you properly jump start and be on your way.
Look at the numbers of people who never had any problems - or had batteries go normally and they jump start and go on their way. The risk is really badly overblown because people want explanations and fast fixes - even if it's wrong, as long as it sounds good.

>> if you always turn auto start stop off, will the aux still drain the main battery? <<
Only a few fear mongers will say yes - otherwise, who's saying it will or always does?
I'll say it again - please explain the 12v batteries going bad in the Jeep 4xe - what's draining and ruining those batteries?
The aux battery?
Can't be - there is no aux battery.

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