Dead Gladiator

[dcmdon]

Has anyone seen a photo of what this battery looks like?

Its construction?
Its size?
Specs?? Watt-hours? etc??

Sponsored

 

[Hootbro]

Has anyone seen a photo of what this battery looks like?

Its construction?
Its size?
Specs?? Watt-hours? etc??

It is a Group Size 400, "AUX14" battery 200 CCA AGM.

 

[dcmdon]

It is a Group Size 400, "AUX14" battery 200 CCA AGM.

Thanks.

So its a $110 battery that you replace every 5 years pro-actively. That's what I will do.

One question is if the system will give a warning as the battery gets weaker. Clearly the OP's battery just failed catastrphically. But if it fails gradually will you get a "replace aux batt" message?

 

[Hootbro]

Thanks.

So its a $110 battery that you replace every 5 years pro-actively. That's what I will do.

One question is if the system will give a warning as the battery gets weaker. Clearly the OP's battery just failed catastrphically. But if it fails gradually will you get a "replace aux batt" message?

I think if the aux starts flaking, you will probably get a start/stop disable indication and/or a “SERVICE STOP/START SYSTEM” message.

Regardless, if you decide to change one battery, it is good practice to change both at the same time as a failing one will bring down the other one over time.

 

[dcmdon]

it is good practice to change both at the same time as a failing one will bring down the other one over time.

I think you are right. But this tself is an idiotic problem. . You could use some simple diode logic to prevent a bad main battery from bringing down the aux. And vice versa.

 

[Hootbro]

I think you are right. But this tself is an idiotic problem. . You could use some simple diode logic to prevent a bad main battery from bringing down the aux. And vice versa.

On the surface I agree with you but I think they had their technical reasons since they made the alternator charge path go through a fuse distribution panel first before going to the batteries. with the aux battery relayed controlled when it use.

Below is a diagram from the JL forums with the same setup. It is a mess.

 

[sdk131]

....and all of this complicated dual battery mess ...to save what...a few ounces of gas here and there when it shuts off at stoplights....so incredibly stupid.

 

[ShrimpHappens]

....and all of this complicated dual battery mess ...to save what...a few ounces of gas here and there when it shuts off at stoplights....so incredibly stupid.

Agreed.

I'm not about to harp on "THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO," because with crash standards it's a very good thing they're not made like they were 40 years ago, but simplicity used to be a forte of Wranglers. It's one thing for my UConnect to freak out every now and then, but if things like transmission shifting, lockers, sway bars, and apparently freaking engine starting are all gonna be electronically controlled, that stuff needs to be dead reliable.

 

[dcmdon]

On the surface I agree with you but I think they had their technical reasons since they made the alternator charge path go through a fuse distribution panel first before going to the batteries. with the aux battery relayed controlled when it use.

Below is a diagram from the JL forums with the same setup. It is a mess.

I was active in the experimental aircraft community for a decade. In the early 2000s, when certified aircraft were still using vaccuum pumps there were builders whose day jobs were working for companies like Lockheed and Boeing who provided the architecture for systems that could pretty much survive any kind of outage.

Depending on how much instrument flying you did you could opt for dual battery single alternator or dual battery dual alternator.

The guiding philosophy was that the failure of any 1 or 2 of these items, even if they failed in an open or shorted condition should not be enough to bring down the main bus of the aircraft.

I am sorry, I don't have the exact details, but it wasn't a big deal. Some diodes, some circuit breakers and you were done.

The pioneer of this was a guy named Bob Nuckols and his company the Aeroelectric connection was at the forefront of it all. He ran seminars to educate builders on how to create the electrical systems he had designed.

Its not rocket surgery. Here's an article Bob wrote in 1995 on battery isolation.

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/bat_iso2.pdf

 

[dcmdon]

Is the whole purpose of the aux battery to prevent voltage sag to the cars electronics when the starter is engaged, drawing down the voltage on the main battery?

What is PDC in your diagram above??

 

[Hootbro]

..............
What is PDC in your diagram above??

Power Distribution Center (Fuse Box)

 

[jeepers29]

I think if the aux starts flaking, you will probably get a start/stop disable indication and/or a “SERVICE STOP/START SYSTEM” message.

Regardless, if you decide to change one battery, it is good practice to change both at the same time as a failing one will bring down the other one over time.

This happened to a friends JLUR. One day the start stop quit working, the next day both batteries were toast. Dealer told them $900 to replace both of them and that only mopar batteries would work LOL

 

[dcmdon]

how hard is the aux batt to get at?

 

[aprez27]

All right class, today I learned that I will be buying a taser and deleting the ESS. The root of all of my problems was a dead auxiliary battery.!? Even though the main battery was perfectly fine the dead lawnmower battery below it disabled my truck and left me stranded. Off to buy a taser to remove the ESS function….

Same shit happened to my old JLUR, stranded me twice so I can understand the frustration. I think the taser was my first purchase and I disabled that ESS and never looked back. Turned out it was a bad fuse block that caused it, they replaced it and it seemed to work. But I never turned that crap back on again anyway.

 

[ospreyfe55]

This got me curious so I just went and unplugged the aux battery to see how my gladiator would respond. Sure enough the dash lights up like a Christmas tree and I can’t get it out of the driveway. This feels like a pretty garbage design especially for a vehicle I’d thought was fairly rugged. Guess I’ll add a lawnmower battery to the trail bag. Also @OP, I disabled ESS with the taser and it does not fix this issue. Still throws a fit and refuses to move.

Quick edit: jumper cables from the small battery leads to the main battery seems to fix the issue.

Would you happen to have a link to the small jumper cables? And where to hook them up?

Sponsored