Trickle Charger

[CreepyJeepy]

Hey folks, I have a 2021 JTRD that I haven’t been driving a lot lately. The auto start stop system always says ‘battery charging’.

Where would I test the battery voltage of the ESS battery?

Where should I hook up a trickle charger if I’m not going to drive the jeep over the next month or so?

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[Mr._Bill]

Make sure you get a charger for AGM batteries. The batteries are paralleled together, so just connect the charger to the top nuts on the main battery. That will keep both of them charged.

 

[JTR178]

Hey folks, I have a 2021 JTRD that I haven’t been driving a lot lately. The auto start stop system always says ‘battery charging’.

Where would I test the battery voltage of the ESS battery?

Where should I hook up a trickle charger if I’m not going to drive the jeep over the next month or so?

Battery Tender makes an adapter that plugs into the OBD2 port. My bumper is about 2" from the garage wall so it's exponentially easier than squeezing in that space to open the hood to unplug from the ring terminal adapter that comes with it.

 

[Rainman519]

I've got a Battery Tender (AGM as Mr_Bill stated) that I hook-up to the battery terminals whenever I don't plan to drive the JT for 3 or more days. Keeps both batteries adequately charged and the ESS functioning properly (fingers crossed on that one).

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Awesome. Day 2 of the agm tender being hooked up to the terminals. ESS says ‘Battery charging still…. Weird

 

[just_another_guy]

Are you guys connecting directly to the battery terminals with the charger? You might be bypassing the IBS and making the PCM think the battery is low when it isn't.

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Are you guys connecting directly to the battery terminals with the charger? You might be bypassing the IBS and making the PCM think the battery is low when it isn't.

This is what I think is happening how would you solve this?

 

[Gvsukids]

This is what I think is happening how would you solve this?

Run the vehicle ?

 

[just_another_guy]

This is what I think is happening how would you solve this?

Hook the negative lead from the battery tender to the frame ground of the truck. The IBS sits right on top of the negative terminal of the main battery, so you want any current going in/out to pass through that.

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Quick Question!

After 4 days of trickle charger, and driving around systems seem normal, excluding some lower voltage according to the gauge when the ESS is engaged.

Pulling the Trickle Charger off I am seeing 12.97v on the batteries. (positive to the positive terminal, negative to frame)

After driving around and parking, it is at 12.28v (to me this feels a bit low for zero load on the battery, all systems off and parked)

ESS is functioning.

When I stop, and engine cuts, I see voltage drop to about 11.4 ~ 11.6
I assume it's measuring voltage at the ESS battery when the engine is stopped?

I feel like this voltage is indicative of a weak set of batteries. I don't want to get stranded, but I imagine the dealer will say this is fine.

Thoughts?

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