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3.6L ESS Dual Battery Consolidated Information

Kyanche

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Hey the kit alone is $529 + batteries at $286 x2 + taxes etc.
Oh shot! I knew it was too good to be true! I didn't read the thing and thought $529 included the batteries lol.

Edit: You can get group 25 AGMs for $200-ish though. I also wonder if a system where you use something else for the 12v accessories makes more sense?
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WhatExit?

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I would get the Genesis kit in a nano second if it weren't for my lifetime warranty, don't want to give the dealer a reason to deny future warranty work on all things electrical.
I understand your concern but with that approach you're likely not going to be modifying anything on your Jeep. You have rights and protection under the law. I know dealerships can be dicks but still, they have to show how your dual battery kit caused an electrical issue (not at all likely to happen).
 

4xFUN

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Oh shot! I knew it was too good to be true! I didn't read the thing and thought $529 included the batteries lol.

Edit: You can get group 25 AGMs for $200-ish though. I also wonder if a system where you use something else for the 12v accessories makes more sense?

I am seriously looking at the Genesis dual battery conversion...The Odyssey batteries they recommend, while very good, weigh in at 50 pounds each. Optima also makes great batteries and they have some in that size class that weigh about 31 pounds each. This will be an expensive 'fix' for peace-of-mind but I also keep telling myself that if you really want a winch on a JL, a conventional dual battery system should be factored in as part of the cost...
 

Bob Burd

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A note about battery testing:

A few months ago I had to call AAA to get a jump while on a roadtrip. I had the XM radio and inside lights on for about 3hrs before I slept in the back that night, so didn't think much of it. I was away from home this past month and when I came back the jeep wouldn't start again. Got a battery load tester which showed the system ok after I had a battery charger on it overnight. So I next started looking for suspicious current flows. This lead me to disconnect the negative terminals and find that I was drawing amps (not mAs) between the two batteries. So I did the load test on the batteries separately and found that the aux battery was fine but the main battery was bad. Lesson: load test them separately because the good one can mask a bad battery.

I decided to replace both batteries even though the aux one tested OK, figuring it could go anytime too and why not have them both in sync. This video was very helpful in figuring out how to get to the aux battery under the fuse box. It's for installing a dual-battery replacement (not a bad idea, but pricey), so not all of the procedures were necessary. For example, there's no reason to mess with the air filter and components. I also found a couple of shortcuts - it wasn't necessary to remove any of the connections on the inboard side of the fuse box. I just lifted it up at 90 degrees and propped it out of the way. It also wasn't necessary to remove any of the ground connections to the chassis - I was able to slide out the aux battery cover under these wires.
 
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FiveBoro

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A note about battery testing:

A few months ago I had to call AAA to get a jump while on a roadtrip. I had the XM radio and inside lights on for about 3hrs before I slept in the back that night, so didn't think much of it. I was away from home this past month and when I came back the jeep wouldn't start again. Got a battery load tester which showed the system ok after I had a battery charger on it overnight. So I next started looking for suspicious current flows. This lead me to disconnect the negative terminals and find that I was drawing amps (not mAs) between the two batteries. So I did the load test on the batteries separately and found that the aux battery was fine but the main battery was bad. Lesson: load test them separately because the good one can mask a bad battery.

I decided to replace both batteries even though the aux one tested OK, figuring it could go anytime too and why not have them both in sync. This video was very helpful in figuring out how to get to the aux battery under the fuse box. It's for installing a dual-battery replacement (not a bad idea, but pricey), so not all of the procedures were necessary. For example, there's no reason to mess with the air filter and components. I also found a couple of shortcuts - it wasn't necessary to remove any of the connections on the inboard side of the fuse box. I just lifted it up at 90 degrees and propped it out of the way. It also wasn't necessary to remove any of the ground connections to the chassis - I was able to slide out the aux battery cover under these wires.




Can the aux battery be removed from under the fender well? Does anyone have access to the factory shop guide?
 

Bob Burd

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Can the aux battery be removed from under the fender well? Does anyone have access to the factory shop guide?
You cannot. The aux battery sits in a protective plastic well and can only be removed from above - after removing the main battery and moving the fuse box.
 

GrumpyBadger

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I am an engineer, and all I can say is the FCA engineer(s) who approved the design for auxillary battery location should be fired.
Yeah... I am an engineer too (mostly safety / failure & reliability analyses, and sometimes contributing design input, etc.), and can only conclude that the people that perpetrated this confusticated abortion were actually competitor agents who intentionally and maliciously F'd up FCA's coolest rig. How did this mess ever get out of a conceptual design review (!!!???), let alone 30%, 60%, and 90% and be approved for production? Firing them (and their entire management chain who approved) may be too light a consequence for the horrors with which they have tortured our rigs.

Thank you HUGE, @Jebiruph for your patience and dedication to helping your JL siblings. Should we ever meet, unlimited drinks of your choice are on me. (really... I mean that)

Already made a file of PDFs and pictures to carry in my phone and computer against the eventuality that I need to jump my poor baby that has this lurking built-in nightmare.

And as soon as I put a couple thou klicks on it to hopefully shake down any new-build issues under warranty, I am swapping to some incarnation / variation of the Genesis dual platform.

Cheers, all... and happy trails! :beer::beer::beer::flag:
 

wrangster

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I would just like to go back to a single battery if possible.
 

Rhinebeck01

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If you use a fused jumper (40 amp) between N1 and N2 and along with that, you disconnect the Aux. battery negative cable, you can run with just the JL's Main battery. You will experience no issues doing so with the 2018 Rubi with 3.6. You won't even know the Aux is not in the picture so to speak.

I have been running as above for a bit over a year now and have chalked up 22,000 miles with the configuration.

I trickle charge the Aux battery every two weeks, just to maintain it so to speak.

By the way, ESS still works when you run as mentioned. I do however, use a SmartStopStart unit to deal with ESS.
 

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Jeeperob

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Hey all, forgive me if this was pasted somewhere in the 7 pages. Thanks for all this info, it is awesome and really explains what I "have" to purchase in 2021 since I have ordered the V6 auto.

Reading all this kinda has me concerned that there's so much more going on here. The Pentastar V6 seems to be a very solid engine and it's what I've wanted from the start and if it was a 2020 model I wouldn't have even ordered the eTorque option as I don't see it as that great a savings to me.

Anyway, now that I must get it with the V6 and there's no way to get the V6/auto for 2021 without the eTorque, is this system more of a headache than it's worth? I see so many threads about this AUX battery so I don't know what to conclude. Has this made the solid V6 engine much more unreliable or the opposite? As reading this thread sounds like we have the option of a kinda "backup" battery scenario...


Rob
 
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Jebiruph

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Hey all, forgive me if this was pasted somewhere in the 7 pages. Thanks for all this info, it is awesome and really explains what I "have" to purchase in 2021 since I have ordered the V6 auto.

Reading all this kinda has me concerned that there's so much more going on here. The Pentastar V6 seems to be a very solid engine and it's what I've wanted from the start and if it was a 2020 model I wouldn't have even ordered the eTorque option as I don't see it as that great a savings to me.

Anyway, now that I must get it with the V6 and there's no way to get the V6/auto for 2021 without the eTorque, is this system more of a headache than it's worth? I see so many threads about this AUX battery so I don't know what to conclude. Has this made the solid V6 engine much more unreliable or the opposite? As reading this thread sounds like we have the option of a kinda "backup" battery scenario...


Rob
This thread does not apply to the eTorqe system, only the ESS system. The eTorque system is a 48v hybrid system. ESS is the 12v main and aux battery system.
 

Jeeperob

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This thread does not apply to the eTorqe system, only the ESS system. The eTorque system is a 48v hybrid system. ESS is the 12v main and aux battery system.
....whoa, wait, are you saying that eTorque then has 3 batteries? Now I'm confused. lol
 

Mojito!

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Well it has happened again. Both batteries needed to be replaced again (under warranty). First at 12 months and now at 21 months 20,000 miles.
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