Aux Battery Lesson Learned

[DrBob]

So it’s time to replace the batteries- getting the “Aux switches unavailable” message at start-up. Peeled back the fender liner, easily removed the three 10 mm bolts, dropped the unusually light battery tray and behold! There’s no aux battery! No wires dangling, just a nice empty cavity great for hiding valuables. It was at this moment I realized I have eTorque with the 48v battery. I should have know, since I’ve bumped my head on it several times doing other projects. I will happily submit my name for the Jeep dumb-ass competition. So for those of you getting ready to replace batteries, verify your particular set-up and avoid the effort, broken plastic fender liner retainers, and the expense of a cute little $150 AGM battery!

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[GATORB8]

Wow, didn't realize that was still there, I'll have to check on ours.

Was there a clear wire path? I fucking hate how my wiring setup looks with everything jammed in by the battery and it's be nice to relocate some items down there.

 

[DrBob]

Wow, didn't realize that was still there, I'll have to check on ours.

Was there a clear wire path? I fucking hate how my wiring setup looks with everything jammed in by the battery and it's be nice to relocate some items down there.

I didn’t explore too thoroughly, but there’s at least gotta be passage for the battery connections. I was thinking the same thing- great place to tidy up wires. Pretty clear shot up to the main battery from the box. Removing that fender liner really exposes the firewall nicely if you need to run wires to the cab.

 

[Maverick909]

this is the problem with so many different sub models of the same make of vehicle. I wouldn't beat your self up over it. LOL easy mistake to happen. I am currently swapping out to the genesis dual battery kit this weekend as my factory batteries are not coming up on 4 years and 10 months old. I am trying to get ahead of the problem. :D best of luck

 

[LKG]

Your "hiding valuables" comment reminded me of the old "Put your weed in it" SNL skit.

 

[KHR Racing]

This has happened more than a few times on this website……. People realizing that they did not have an auxiliary battery because they didn’t know that they have a e torque and that was the reason why…… including my post about nine months ago…..lol!!!!!!

 

[WK2JT]

So why are you getting the “Aux switches unavailable” message? Is it just because your main battery was weak?

 

[garyji]

This ^^^^^

G.

 

[henryb]

this is the problem with so many different sub models of the same make of vehicle. I wouldn't beat your self up over it. LOL easy mistake to happen. I am currently swapping out to the genesis dual battery kit this weekend as my factory batteries are not coming up on 4 years and 10 months old. I am trying to get ahead of the problem. :D best of luck

i sprayed my tray with blk rubber flex spray.as seen on tv i also cut a round hole for the oil dip stick with a hole saw so it doesnt rattle and painted a yellow circle around my cut hole so it was easy to locate ,and i also placed two large rubber grommets under the tray so it doesnt rattle . took me a long time to locate source of rattles. i bought a o ring set from amozon cut one of the larger o rings in half painted it yellow then used clear caulk to secure in place. dont forget about puting rubber bushing under the tray you can loosen up some of the bolts and pull up on tray and slip them under to keep it from rattling . it just about drove me crazy till i found it

 

[Deleted User 38384]

this is the problem with so many different sub models of the same make of vehicle. I wouldn't beat your self up over it. LOL easy mistake to happen. I am currently swapping out to the genesis dual battery kit this weekend as my factory batteries are not coming up on 4 years and 10 months old. I am trying to get ahead of the problem. :D best of luck

So it’s time to replace the batteries- getting the “Aux switches unavailable” message at start-up. Peeled back the fender liner, easily removed the three 10 mm bolts, dropped the unusually light battery tray and behold! There’s no aux battery! No wires dangling, just a nice empty cavity great for hiding valuables. It was at this moment I realized I have eTorque with the 48v battery. I should have know, since I’ve bumped my head on it several times doing other projects. I will happily submit my name for the Jeep dumb-ass competition. So for those of you getting ready to replace batteries, verify your particular set-up and avoid the effort, broken plastic fender liner retainers, and the expense of a cute little $150 AGM battery!

On another forum, I had read that these batteries come with an 8-year/80,000 miles warranty from the factory.

Here's a link to a similar topic on this form though:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/e-torque-and-48v-battery-warranty-question.17413/

 

[Yawnie'sPapa]

So why are you getting the “Aux switches unavailable” message? Is it just because your main battery was weak?

You'll get that when the system voltage drops to 11.8 or lower. Since the batteries are in parallel - if one is down, they are both down. It's like two jugs of water connected at the bottoms by a hose. Take water from one, it runs from the other until they are equalized. So just because you see that message doesn't means it's the aux battery - it means system voltage, the voltage of the pair, is down. They are always connected so one can't be at 11.5 and the other at 12.6. it's not possible. Could be both are fine and it's a parasitic draw and it's sat around long enough to drop that far, or could be either one is weak drawing the other down.

If you look in the BCM settings, at least with my JTs, the setting for the aux switch voltage threshold is 11.8 volts, which is down around 25% state of charge, pretty low.

 

[DrBob]

So why are you getting the “Aux switches unavailable” message? Is it just because your main battery was weak?

Apparently. Replaced the main battery yesterday and no messages this morning.

 

[Maverick909]

On another forum, I had read that these batteries come with an 8-year/80,000 miles warranty from the factory.

Here's a link to a similar topic on this form though:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/e-torque-and-48v-battery-warranty-question.17413/

Thanks for the information. Myself I have the 3.6L with ESS I actually just installed the dual battery kit from Genesis lastnight all is well so far lol

 

[henryb]

On another forum, I had read that these batteries come with an 8-year/80,000 miles warranty from the factory.

Here's a link to a similar topic on this form though:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/e-torque-and-48v-battery-warranty-question.17413/

if you have to replace the 48v battery ,any idea what it cost .and is it hard to do?

 

[Maverick909]

i sprayed my tray with blk rubber flex spray.as seen on tv i also cut a round hole for the oil dip stick with a hole saw so it doesnt rattle and painted a yellow circle around my cut hole so it was easy to locate ,and i also placed two large rubber grommets under the tray so it doesnt rattle . took me a long time to locate source of rattles

Love to see what you did with the dip stick in a picture if possible. The only thing I didn’t like about the kit was the dipstick was stuffed against the side pretty hard

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