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Aux battery is still charging

obrianmcc

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Here's my ESS journey ... System worked without issue for the first 18 months before the "Battery Charging" message appeared. I removed both batteries and found that the AUX was bad. I replaced the AUX and at the same time upgraded to an Odyssey 48-720. 4 months passed and the "Battery Charging" message reappeared. I removed both batteries once again assuming it was the AUX, but actually discovered the problem this time was with the Odyssey. (Props to Odyssey on warranting the bad battery in a expedient manner) I suppose I could have or should have tested the Odyssey first, but in my defense the AUX still needed to be tested and we all have to love how Jeep buried this damn thing in the bowels of the engine compartment.

Now with almost 4 yrs of ESS disdain in both the JL and JT forums I question the need of the AUX for MY use and have concluded that for me it is more of a liability. I have recently chosen to delete the AUX battery completely and rewired based on how the Genesis system is wired by disconnecting the ground and running the AUX positive to the primary battery. This accomplished the same as the N1 to N2 jumper, but I wanted the AUX gone. The vehicle and systems have been working just fine ever since. The ESS system does have a 6 cycle limit and then the ESS light will activate, but it resets at vehicle restart. I might still purchase an ESS eliminator plug. (I don't need a Tazer) I am now more confident that I will be able to jump start using a jump pack that is always in the vehicle. Yes, a problem could still exist deeper in the system, but I feel this removes the possibility of the AUX itself making the system inoperable, not to again mention the issue of access.

If I find down the road that I need more amp/hr capacity I will look at installing a Genesis dual battery system.
I'm now about a month into running without the AUX ... everything works fine and my ESS works normally. As mentioned it will throw an ESS error after six cycles, but I really could care less as it resets with a start up and with my commuting a rarely see six ESS events. I have noticed that prior to when the system was stuck on "charging" the voltage reading was stuck on 14.0-14.1 ... immediately after removing the AUX it jumped to 14.3-14.6, now it seems to have settled between 12.9-13.2.
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ShadowsPapa

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immediately after removing the AUX it jumped to 14.3-14.6, now it seems to have settled between 12.9-13.2.
Have you measured the battery voltage with a good meter?
That's a voltage I'd expect if the battery was at 12.7 or better.
If it's lower, the running or charging voltage needs to be higher to keep the battery full.
But with running voltages like that it sounds like the battery is staying at near 100%. AGM otherwise won't charge on such low voltage, even standard wet lead/acid batteries won't.
 

Waynesoffroad

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I always turn ESS off but left it on the other day and noticed it wasn't stopping. I was happy my negative thoughts on the system disabled it but scrolling through the menu, it says aux battery is still charging. It says that all the time and ESS does not work. I added a bumper and winch over Christmas and I don't know how long it's been like this. It looks like from searching that the aux battery has issues taking a dump. Will they cover it with a winch? I have only used it once and that's when I rolled the line up on the drum. The engine was running when I did it. I have 18k on the truck so far
That's what mine did. Once the dealer installed new batteries mine burned down!

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JeepCares

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That's what mine did. Once the dealer installed new batteries mine burned down!

Jeep Gladiator Aux battery is still charging IMG_1220
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BlueCT

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I hope this doesnā€™t come across as negative, my intention is not that. I personally hate start stop systems. My Gladiator is a launch edition but I bought it about 7 months after the dealer got it. They were dumb and just let it sit (because they were trying to get over sticker). They let it sit so long all 4 tires had to be replaced because the tire themselves were out of balance and the ESS didnā€™t work. When I took the truck in to get the tires replaced (that took several trips and some harsh language) they noticed the ESS error message and tried to fix it. It worked for a week and stopped working again. THANK GOD! I thought I was going to need to spend a few hundred dollars on a taser. I feel like Karma came my way because I had to deal with the tire BS so God did me a favor and disabled ESS for me.

For all of you who ESS isnā€™t working ask your self a question, is this a good thing or a bad thing. Mine hasnā€™t worked for 2 1/2 years. I went 3 North Jersey winters. I donā€™t have to deal with this tree hugging hippy BS system that p!sses me off every time it activates. When you hate something and it goes away, count your blessings and be happy. If at some point my car wonā€™t start I will jump it. If it wonā€™t jump I will get it towed to the dealer. If they donā€™t fix it to my satisfaction I sell them the thing and get a new one. Life is too short to look a gift horse in the mouth. I might make a bumper sticker that says my ESS doesnā€™t work and Iā€™m damn proud of it.


This forum is such a great reference tool. Thanks to all those that support it through posts and other efforts.

-Chris
 

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ShadowsPapa

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I hope this doesnā€™t come across as negative, my intention is not that. I personally hate start stop systems. My Gladiator is a launch edition but I bought it about 7 months after the dealer got it. They were dumb and just let it sit (because they were trying to get over sticker). They let it sit so long all 4 tires had to be replaced because the tire themselves were out of balance and the ESS didnā€™t work. When I took the truck in to get the tires replaced (that took several trips and some harsh language) they noticed the ESS error message and tried to fix it. It worked for a week and stopped working again. THANK GOD! I thought I was going to need to spend a few hundred dollars on a taser. I feel like Karma came my way because I had to deal with the tire BS so God did me a favor and disabled ESS for me.

For all of you who ESS isnā€™t working ask your self a question, is this a good thing or a bad thing. Mine hasnā€™t worked for 2 1/2 years. I went 3 North Jersey winters. I donā€™t have to deal with this tree hugging hippy BS system that p!sses me off every time it activates. When you hate something and it goes away, count your blessings and be happy. If at some point my car wonā€™t start I will jump it. If it wonā€™t jump I will get it towed to the dealer. If they donā€™t fix it to my satisfaction I sell them the thing and get a new one. Life is too short to look a gift horse in the mouth. I might make a bumper sticker that says my ESS doesnā€™t work and Iā€™m damn proud of it.


This forum is such a great reference tool. Thanks to all those that support it through posts and other efforts.

-Chris
Actually it is negative, but whatever................ what many don't realize is that sometimes the ESS doesn't work and should be taken as a warning there's something else very wrong that could leave you stranded.
For example, driving along and come to a stop and ESS fails to shut engine down and says - Stop/start not ready. But let off the brake - start/stop ready. Drive along and it says ready, light turns red, hit the brakes - stop/start not ready. Let off the brake, stop/start ready.
Get home and hook up some diagnostics tools and find - multiple cylinder misfires........... hmmmmm.

It's not all about batteries. There's a chart that covers more than a page as far as what it looks for when deciding to shut down or not.

So I see ESS as a diagnostic aid. If all is well and the batteries are fine - but it fails, especially in weird ways - could be engine, or other troubles, major or minor.

And for the haters - there's a bloody damned button there LOL - or ways under 100 bucks to kill it - I think even a sponsor here sells something far far cheaper than a tazer.! Don't need a damn tazer.
And the button is free. Start truck, press button, it becomes a habit.

But really, what's this got to do with aux battery still charging........
 

OngsterA

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Actually it is negative, but whatever................ what many don't realize is that sometimes the ESS doesn't work and should be taken as a warning there's something else very wrong that could leave you stranded.
For example, driving along and come to a stop and ESS fails to shut engine down and says - Stop/start not ready. But let off the brake - start/stop ready. Drive along and it says ready, light turns red, hit the brakes - stop/start not ready. Let off the brake, stop/start ready.
Get home and hook up some diagnostics tools and find - multiple cylinder misfires........... hmmmmm.

It's not all about batteries. There's a chart that covers more than a page as far as what it looks for when deciding to shut down or not.

So I see ESS as a diagnostic aid. If all is well and the batteries are fine - but it fails, especially in weird ways - could be engine, or other troubles, major or minor.

And for the haters - there's a bloody damned button there LOL - or ways under 100 bucks to kill it - I think even a sponsor here sells something far far cheaper than a tazer.! Don't need a damn tazer.
And the button is free. Start truck, press button, it becomes a habit.

But really, what's this got to do with aux battery still charging........
A diagnostic tool it is, good to know the many variables that affects it. Mine since we're in hot spring and summer here has not come on for a few weeks now. Something about "not ready... cooling heating" since I do have the A/C on almost all the time.
 

BlueCT

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I guess you are right, Iā€™m pretty negative on ESS! I guess my point was I wasnā€™t hating on people donā€™t hate it like me. I just thought it funny that so many people donā€™t want to use it but others are spending so much effort trying to get it to work.
But think about what you are saying, you might have cylinders misfiring but somehow ESS is going to be how \ why you figured that out. Iā€™m not saying you are wrong but if that is the value of ESS didnā€™t Jeep get a lot wrong with it?
 

Mr._Bill

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I guess you are right, Iā€™m pretty negative on ESS! I guess my point was I wasnā€™t hating on people donā€™t hate it like me. I just thought it funny that so many people donā€™t want to use it but others are spending so much effort trying to get it to work.
But think about what you are saying, you might have cylinders misfiring but somehow ESS is going to be how \ why you figured that out. Iā€™m not saying you are wrong but if that is the value of ESS didnā€™t Jeep get a lot wrong with it?
ESS is a mandatory system, and the manufacturer cannot provide a way to disable it, or turn it off for more than one ignition cycle.

Jeeps implementation of ESS is actually pretty good. It monitors all the vehicle systems and will only engage if everything is working properly. It can be a problem indicator if the ESS system is not engaging for other than the typical obvious reasons (seat belts, batteries, climate control, outside temperature, etc.).
 

Sazabi19

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Ya, pretty much if ESS isn't working then the aux battery prob has a problem and needs to be replaced. If not then you're raining your main battery. If you do that then you're going to be in trouble eventually. Maybe you're able to charge it enough for now, but at what point is that battery degraded to where it's not sufficient. On the JL forum there are several threads about people being left on the side of the road because of this. Just a thought.
 

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ShadowsPapa

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I guess you are right, Iā€™m pretty negative on ESS! I guess my point was I wasnā€™t hating on people donā€™t hate it like me. I just thought it funny that so many people donā€™t want to use it but others are spending so much effort trying to get it to work.
But think about what you are saying, you might have cylinders misfiring but somehow ESS is going to be how \ why you figured that out. Iā€™m not saying you are wrong but if that is the value of ESS didnā€™t Jeep get a lot wrong with it?
LOL - I'm a pro, I know what I'm saying. Been troubleshooting since I was in my early teens (even won contests) I diagnose and fix things. Wired differently, I lean more on perceptual reasoning than most do. Pattern recognition and puzzle solving and math are my high points according to doc.
Anyway, back to ESS and using it as a tool -
I use ESS as a tool as I know what it takes for it to function. I know if all else is well (batteries up, etc.) and it's not working, my truck has a problem.
I want ESS to work because it absolutely does save us fuel - but more than that, if it's not working I know the truck has an issue that needs attention.

These are systems and all parts are intertwined - if one part isn't working, there's a problem.
Hard to explain to those who haven't grown up with that natural trouble shooting thing, or without the field experience - I get called in when others can't figure something out.

ESS won't work if a whole list of things isn't within certain boundaries. IF there's a misfire active - ESS won't work. The CEL didn't tell me there was a misfire and my truck wasn't jumping or missing, it sure seemed totally normal save for that light. Using ESS as a tool since I was on the road, I knew whether the PCM saw a problem - or, after I restarted it and the CEL was still on and ESS worked, I knew it wasn't still an issue.

After performing tests, tracking a few things, I was correct in the truck having a misfire issue and ESS works fine until or unless the CEL flashes even if the truck is running smoothly. Misfires are still recorded.
 

Lives The Dream

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Ya, pretty much if ESS isn't working then the aux battery prob has a problem and needs to be replaced. If not then you're raining your main battery. If you do that then you're going to be in trouble eventually. Maybe you're able to charge it enough for now, but at what point is that battery degraded to where it's not sufficient. On the JL forum there are several threads about people being left on the side of the road because of this. Just a thought.
I thought the same, my ESS stopped working, took it to dealer, they diagnose the auxiliary as fine and the main as dead, change the main and its been fine. Question is can everything run off the auxiliary?
 

ShadowsPapa

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I thought the same, my ESS stopped working, took it to dealer, they diagnose the auxiliary as fine and the main as dead, change the main and its been fine. Question is can everything run off the auxiliary?
When the truck is running nothing runs off the battery.
The crank battery is to turn it over to start it, the aux battery supports the electronics and inside electric (HVAC fan, radio, etc.) when it's off in auto/stop mode.

I doubt the crank battery was "dead", just failed the load testing.
 

336mike

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Looks like this issue has hit me now. 2020 Sport S 36,770 miles. The battery was going so I decided to proactively change both the main and aux. Jeep in mind no issues with any functionality to this point. After the change truck started fine but sat at 12.7V. Drove fine over 2 days then yesterday the ESS stopped working. I always keep it off but even so would like it to be operable. Realized after reading posts here that I needed to do the IBS reset. Did that this morning and went for a drive everything was fine. No ESS light and not the voltage driving was showing 14.2V. Stop at the store, come back out and restart and the light is back on and voltage reading 12.7V while running. Highest it will go while actually driving is 13.8 and thatā€™s just for a few seconds at a time. Pic below is with engine running.

Next steps - Iā€™ll throw out on the trickle charge over night and see if that solves it. Then maybe order anew IBS sensor?? Anyone replace there and solve this?

UPDATE: Last pic - Drove to get gas and when I turned out on the lights gone but the voltage still not what it used to read.

Jeep Gladiator Aux battery is still charging 05080527-5173-4606-9A95-114BC712E3D8


Jeep Gladiator Aux battery is still charging FD67F1ED-BA9A-4E87-8FF9-6D0BBCCBA721


E10A53DA-C661-4BE8-90AF-A90E81DD1A87.jpeg
 
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ShadowsPapa

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Normal operation, depending on how long it's been sitting, is to go into the high 13s, low to mid 14s for a while and then slowly go down to 13.0 to the upper 12s - such as 12.8 for example.
When the batteries are full and things are even, while you drive you'll see 12.8-13.0. It can go lower than 12.8, like to 12.7 for example.
When the batteries are fully charged and in good shape, if you see 12.8-13.0 while driving and then let off, or come to a hill, coast to a stop, hit the brakes going down a hill - basically when there's no torque demand from the engine, then the voltage will climb back up to 14-ish
Then if you get to the bottom of hill or hit the gas again, but a demand on the engine, the voltage will drop back down.
All of this of course depends on the electrical demands - lights, AC, trailer connected and so on.
The idea is it starts out high to top off the batteries after a start, then slowly ramps down.
While driving it only cranks out enough to keep things even there's no need for high voltage so to save energy and fuel, the PCM cuts power to the alternator's rotor.

If the batteries were correctly installed (meaning 100% fully charged using a good AGM charger) then the IBS was reset, all should be good.
Never put partially charged batteries in, charge them then install. Reset the IBS so it can learn from new fully charged batteries
Always charge through the IBS - never directly to the negative battery post below the IBS.
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