Waiting for the hatchet to fall ...............

[Raven65]

I agree with this...HOWEVER...i can speak from experience that if you are off grid and the auxiliary battery fails, dragging down the main battery, the jump pack doesn't have enough oomph.

This happened to me a few months ago while camping remotely (so I had no cell/internet to figure out how to bypass the auxiliary battery) and my big NOCO pack couldn't get the job done. I also witnessed a neighbor have the same problem. The AAA driver only had a jump pack and no proper jumper cables and couldn't get this lady's JLU started. I had to help the AAA guy by jumping the Wrangler with cables.

I'll still carry my jump pack (have one in all three of my Jeeps) but I will be much more vigilant to the warning signs:

"Aux Switches Temporarily Unavailable Battery Charging"​

"ESS Not Available Service Required"​

If you see either of these messages at start up, you need to be looking at the batteries, esp. the auxiliary battery

Thanks for that reply… it’s hard to argue with actual first hand experience. I guess those jump packs are great for jumping ONE dead battery, but not quite enough to jump TWO of them at once. I may have to invest in a higher capacity one (the highest I can find) to give me a better chance of avoiding a call to roadside assistance if (WHEN) mine dies. I also have a long commute (though not through the boonies), so I’d like to be as prepared as possible so I don’t get stranded an hour away from home. I think you’re right… paying close attention to the warning signs (and I’d add watching the voltmeter) and ACTING on them is key.

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[HooliganActual]

Thanks for that reply… it’s hard to argue with actual first hand experience. I guess those jump packs are great for jumping ONE dead battery, but not quite enough to jump TWO of them at once. I may have to invest in a higher capacity one (the highest I can find) to give me a better chance of avoiding a call to roadside assistance if (WHEN) mine dies. I also have a long commute (though not through the boonies), so I’d like to be as prepared as possible so I don’t get stranded an hour away from home. I think you’re right… paying close attention to the warning signs (and I’d add watching the voltmeter) and ACTING on them is key.

Cheers mate. As one of my favorite sayings goes, "Good decisions come from experience; Experience comes from bad decisions."

I learned a lesson that I will never forget and, if I'm being honest, I didn't even know there was an auxiliary battery until all of this happened. I got extremely lucky in this particular instance as I had been out in the back country for a week and my wife was driving out to spend a few days with me. So we hopped in her Wrangler and drove to the nearest AutoZone for a new starter battery (they didn't have the auxiliary and I wound up having to get that one a few days later at a dealership).

Now, a diatribe for the thread at large:
Personally, I don't care for the ESS but I understand why it is there and that it (or something like it) will likely be on all new vehicles from here on. I'm not one to sit around and bellyache about it as that will change absolutely nothing in the world; I just "bypassed" it with my Tazer Mini and have moved on.

What I do think is a poor decision by Jeep and their engineers, is the fact that they have "hidden" this second battery and the average person out there won't realize that they have the second battery. They will be shocked and surprised when they are stranded...like my neighbor was. Heck the AAA driver that was trying to jump her Wrangler didn't even know about the auxiliary battery. The average car owner is not like most of the folks on these forums, they likely know that their car has a battery and that they need a good battery to start the car (in frigid climates I'd bet they even know they need a battery that has high cold cranking amps). But this sneaky little battery is going to leave people stranded a lot IMHO. The least Jeep could have done is have some dash warnings (text or idiot lights) specifically related to the auxiliary battery. Yeah, I can dive into the auxiliary gauge readouts and see battery voltage, but maybe there should have been gauges giving readouts for the two batteries individually.

I don't know what the right answer is here, but I think its a bit disingenuous of Jeep to "sneak" a second battery into the mix and not give any real indication of the state of that battery vs the starter battery. Just my $0.02 USD

 

[sharpsicle]

Wow, what a crazy thread to walk into this morning. It's clear most of the people here are not familiar with how electronics work, or how the engine is designed to accommodate ESS events, but are forming scathing opinions anyway. "I don't know how it works but it's wrong" isn't helping anyone. Could Jeep do better on this among other things? Yes. Does that make it a massive issue like this thread paints it to be? Absolutely not.

This is like the automotive version of hypochondriasis. You're making yourself worry about an "inevitable" major issue by building the issue into more than it is. Battery replacement is and always will be common, not only on ESS vehicles but all vehicles. Again, I agree Jeep could've made the aux battery more accessible, but the way it is now isn't a major issue either.

No, ESS isn't the greatest thing in the world, but it's also not killing your truck. Just like anything else on your vehicle, pay attention to it and keep up with maintenance and troubleshooting and you'll be fine. Don't ignore signs of an issue, but also don't create an issue in your head where there isn't one.

 

[BAT]

Cheers mate. As one of my favorite sayings goes, "Good decisions come from experience; Experience comes from bad decisions."

I learned a lesson that I will never forget and, if I'm being honest, I didn't even know there was an auxiliary battery until all of this happened. I got extremely lucky in this particular instance as I had been out in the back country for a week and my wife was driving out to spend a few days with me. So we hopped in her Wrangler and drove to the nearest AutoZone for a new starter battery (they didn't have the auxiliary and I wound up having to get that one a few days later at a dealership).

Now, a diatribe for the thread at large:
Personally, I don't care for the ESS but I understand why it is there and that it (or something like it) will likely be on all new vehicles from here on. I'm not one to sit around and bellyache about it as that will change absolutely nothing in the world; I just "bypassed" it with my Tazer Mini and have moved on.

What I do think is a poor decision by Jeep and their engineers, is the fact that they have "hidden" this second battery and the average person out there won't realize that they have the second battery. They will be shocked and surprised when they are stranded...like my neighbor was. Heck the AAA driver that was trying to jump her Wrangler didn't even know about the auxiliary battery. The average car owner is not like most of the folks on these forums, they likely know that their car has a battery and that they need a good battery to start the car (in frigid climates I'd bet they even know they need a battery that has high cold cranking amps). But this sneaky little battery is going to leave people stranded a lot IMHO. The least Jeep could have done is have some dash warnings (text or idiot lights) specifically related to the auxiliary battery. Yeah, I can dive into the auxiliary gauge readouts and see battery voltage, but maybe there should have been gauges giving readouts for the two batteries individually.

I don't know what the right answer is here, but I think its a bit disingenuous of Jeep to "sneak" a second battery into the mix and not give any real indication of the state of that battery vs the starter battery. Just my $0.02 USD

When mine went jumping it was not working. Nothing we threw at it would work to get it cranked up. I had to put it on a charger and left it till the next day to get enough juice to get it cranked up. In my case I knew there was an Aux batter just didn't know when it went it would take my whole truck down with it. Also its in a location that I could not just pull it and go buy another one without dismantling a lot of stuff which I was not in a position to do.

 

[HooliganActual]

When mine went jumping it was not working. Nothing we threw at it would work to get it cranked up. I had to put it on a charger and left it till the next day to get enough juice to get it cranked up. In my case I knew there was an Aux batter just didn't know when it went it would take my whole truck down with it. Also its in a location that I could not just pull it and go buy another one without dismantling a lot of stuff which I was not in a position to do.

Yeah, this is where I think the design is lacking. As an engineer, I cannot see why they set it up the way that they did. Supposedly, the auxiliary battery is there to run lights, radio, etc. when the ESS shuts off the engine at an idle condition, thus protecting the main battery to ensure it can start the engine back up. But what they have created is a slave battery that cannibalizes the main battery. Within this computer controlled electronic system, there should be a rung or line of code that says "IF auxiliary battery voltage drops below a certain voltage THEN open the circuit between the main and aux batteries, disable ESS and throw a warning light to replace auxiliary battery". Instead, the system just allows the parasitic drain of the main battery until both are dead. To compound that problem, it seems the only warnings it throws are not "intuitive" to a problem with the battery. It just seems like the system could operate more succinctly and truly protect the main battery from over discharge.

 

[MyronM]

I recently experienced the failure of my aux battery at a most inopportune time. The dash icon above the fuel readout indicated the failure of the stop/start system. My destination was Mustang Island State Park in Port Aransas, TX. A couple yards from the Gulf of Mexico. I woke up in the morning to find a dead battery and unable to start the truck. I called road side assistance for help. It took them a while to find me but were able to share enough electrons to start the engine. A CDJR dealership was about a half hour away in Corpus Christi. I drove the truck to the dealership and spoke to a very helpful service advisor. Battery failure was not uncommon. a dealership porter brought me back to the beach.
Next day, I was notified that the aux battery was replaced under warranty. Dealership sent a porter to the park and brought us back to our truck at the dealership. Very good service experience from Lithia CDJR.

 

[Raven65]

This happened to me a few months ago while camping remotely (so I had no cell/internet to figure out how to bypass the auxiliary battery) and my big NOCO pack couldn't get the job done.

What size NOCO pack do you have? Just curious because Amazon has some good Cyber Monday deals on these today and I’m thinking of upgrading from my current generic Chinese 1200A unit.

 

[Kevin_D]

What size NOCO pack do you have? Just curious because Amazon has some good Cyber Monday deals on these today and I’m thinking of upgrading from my current generic Chinese 1200A unit.

It’s not just the peak current rating, but the capacity of the pack you need to watch. Yours may be rated at 1200A, but if it only delivers that for 5 seconds, it isn’t much of a pack.
I’ve seen many of the packs rated less than 20,000mAh (20Ah,) which isn’t a whole lot when you start pulling hundreds of amps.

Kevin

 

[Lunentucker]

It's been mentioned several times. A failed AUX battery drains the main and sucks away any temporary power added by a jumper pack.
It's a shit design that was shoehorned into an existing system to get around EPA thresholds.
If you're gonna try to jump the vehicle you'll be best served by removing the AUX battery ground cable and fuse F42 first. Otherwise it's a crapshoot at best.

 

[HooliganActual]

What size NOCO pack do you have? Just curious because Amazon has some good Cyber Monday deals on these today and I’m thinking of upgrading from my current generic Chinese 1200A unit.

I have the NOCO GB40 in all 3 of my Jeeps. I can't tell you it's the best jump pack or the "right" jump pack. What I can tell you is that I have jumped at least 30 vehicles with this pack and the only one that I've never been successful at is my Gladiator with dead main and auxiliary batteries...

 

[Rusty PW]

I agree with this...HOWEVER...i can speak from experience that if you are off grid and the auxiliary battery fails, dragging down the main battery, the jump pack doesn't have enough oomph.

This happened to me a few months ago while camping remotely (so I had no cell/internet to figure out how to bypass the auxiliary battery) and my big NOCO pack couldn't get the job done. I also witnessed a neighbor have the same problem. The AAA driver only had a jump pack and no proper jumper cables and couldn't get this lady's JLU started. I had to help the AAA guy by jumping the Wrangler with cables.

I'll still carry my jump pack (have one in all three of my Jeeps) but I will be much more vigilant to the warning signs:

"Aux Switches Temporarily Unavailable Battery Charging"​

"ESS Not Available Service Required"​

If you see either of these messages at start up, you need to be looking at the batteries, esp. the auxiliary battery

With the weather turning colder. I got this starting about 2 weeks ago.
"Aux Switches Temporarily Unavailable Battery Charging"
"Stop/Start Unavailable Battery Charging"
So yea......one of the batteries is starting to give up the ghost.

 

[Kevin_D]

With the weather turning colder. I got this starting about 2 weeks ago.
"Aux Switches Temporarily Unavailable Battery Charging"
"Stop/Start Unavailable Battery Charging"
So yea......one of the batteries is starting to give up the ghost.

They might just need a thorough charge.
I got the, “Start/Stop Unavailable…,” in April, and put a 2A trickle charger on both batteries for 48 hours, and haven’t had a problem since.

Kevin

 

[jebiruph]

I have the NOCO GB40 in all 3 of my Jeeps. I can't tell you it's the best jump pack or the "right" jump pack. What I can tell you is that I have jumped at least 30 vehicles with this pack and the only one that I've never been successful at is my Gladiator with dead main and auxiliary batteries...

Here's my explanaition of why the JL/JT can be hard to jumpstart. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...ain-battery-vs-n1-terminal.87726/post-1827726

 

[Rusty PW]

They might just need a thorough charge.
I got the, “Start/Stop Unavailable…,” in April, and put a 2A trickle charger on both batteries for 48 hours, and haven’t had a problem since.

Kevin

Even after a 2 hr trip. You figure it would be charged and the message would be gone.

 

[HooliganActual]

Here's my explanaition of why the JL/JT can be hard to jumpstart. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...ain-battery-vs-n1-terminal.87726/post-1827726

Nice explanation. I totally get it. Hopefully, I won’t have to try this out but….?

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