Aux switches unavailable

[running_man]

Curious if anyone else has experienced the 'Aux switches not available due to low battery' warning when starting your Jeep. For the last several weeks when I start it up after sitting in the parking lot at work all day, the warning pops up. It has never shown up when I start it in the morning after sitting in the garage all night, only when I leave to go home. I'm wondering if it's temperature related, as the high temps here in SA have been above 100 virtually every day this July.....my main battery is not even a year old and I don't have the small aux battery. Anyone else seen something like this?

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[jludave]

Anyone else seen something like this?

Yes, common issue caused by a dying battery. Have your battery load tested.

 

[running_man]

Yes, common issue caused by a dying battery. Have your battery load tested.

Was afraid that might be it.....hoping perhaps it was a temperature related issue seeing how my battery is just now 9 months old....will have it tested this weekend

 

[speedymart]

Was afraid that might be it.....hoping perhaps it was a temperature related issue seeing how my battery is just now 9 months old....will have it tested this weekend

Unless you've been letting it sit for an extended period of time then yeah, it's the battery. FWIW it's excessive heat that kills batteries, not the cold. You just don't notice the damage until it gets cold outside.

 

[running_man]

Unless you've been letting it sit for an extended period of time then yeah, it's the battery. FWIW it's excessive heat that kills batteries, not the cold. You just don't notice the damage until it gets cold outside.

I drive it to and from work (35 miles round trip) 3 or 4 times a week and on weekends. Sad that it's a 60 month battery and showing signs of weakness after only 9 months but my '03 hooptie with a 6 year old battery starts every time.....guess all that technology comes at a price! lol....

 

[speedymart]

I drive it to and from work (35 miles round trip) 3 or 4 times a week and on weekends. Sad that it's a 60 month battery and showing signs of weakness after only 9 months but my '03 hooptie with a 6 year old battery starts every time.....guess all that technology comes at a price! lol....

Well under warranty at least. MOPAR batteries especially are complete made-in-china trash that barely last 2 years.

 

[Ratbert]

Make sure you have the aux tested too. They live together and die together.

 

[running_man]

Make sure you have the aux tested too. They live together and die together.

Luckily I don't have the small aux battery, just the big one under the Jeep

 

[Slate]

I have a 4xe and the same thing happened to me, I hadn't even had the Jeep for a year. Factory batteries are garbage. I ended up doing the Genesis dual thing, partly because I have a winch, lights, arb compressor, and getting a fridge ?, but that might be overkill for most. I would try to get one of the Odyssey or equal batteries.

There are a few posts on here on some of the best batteries to get.

 

[running_man]

I have a 4xe and the same thing happened to me, I hadn't even had the Jeep for a year. Factory batteries are garbage. I ended up doing the Genesis dual thing, partly because I have a winch, lights, arb compressor, and getting a fridge ?, but that might be overkill for most. I would try to get one of the Odyssey or equal batteries.

There are a few posts on here on some of the best batteries to get.

I bought a 60 month battery from Batteries Plus, because none of the auto parts stores near me had an OEM spec battery at the time....it's labeled 'Duracell', but not sure who actually makes it. I may breakdown and look at an Optima even though this one is still well within warranty. The battery this one replaced wasn't even the original Mopar, the PO or dealership where I bought it used had replaced it already....

 

[Ratbert]

I have a 4xe and the same thing happened to me, I hadn't even had the Jeep for a year. Factory batteries are garbage. I ended up doing the Genesis dual thing, partly because I have a winch, lights, arb compressor, and getting a fridge ?, but that might be overkill for most. I would try to get one of the Odyssey or equal batteries.

There are a few posts on here on some of the best batteries to get.

It seems really strange that your 4xe has a massive 17kWh battery pack, but you're having to augment the old-school 12v battery. Hopefully that changed in the 24s where they added that optional external inverter.

 

[Slate]

For real. All the posts about "YoUr Hv bAtTeRy WiLl ChArGe It" are simply wrong as this absolutely didn't happen for me. What is wild is that I was on 100% HV power when it went into turtle mode and the dash lit up like Christmas. I did read elsewhere that it went into turtle mode knowing that the 12v battery is bad/dead and knew it wouldn't be able to start up the engine - why the HV battery didn't top off the 12V? Who knows.

I think once the 12V gets drawn down enough there isn't anything the HV can do. I did finally limp home going like 10MPH and had 17% of the HV left. It wouldn't even go up my driveway.

At any rate, I probably did go overkill with the dual battery setup but hey, it's only money!

@running_man - I would do a few searches here. I can tell you that batteries in general and Optima batteries are simply not what they use to be in years past.

I have a 2012 Ford F150 still on the original battery. I had an Optima Yellow top in my '97 TJ that lasted for about 10 years, but batteries today are a lot different and the quality just isn't there like it used to be.

I also have a battery backup for my sump pump that went out, so I ended up buying almost $900 in freaking batteries this last month.

Seems like the entire industry has consolidated and that there are only really a small handful of companies even making batteries. Seriously, check out this forum and see what feedback you get. I wouldn't buy an Optima expecting it to be like it used to be just 8-10 years ago.

 

[running_man]

For real. All the posts about "YoUr Hv bAtTeRy WiLl ChArGe It" are simply wrong as this absolutely didn't happen for me. What is wild is that I was on 100% HV power when it went into turtle mode and the dash lit up like Christmas. I did read elsewhere that it went into turtle mode knowing that the 12v battery is bad/dead and knew it wouldn't be able to start up the engine - why the HV battery didn't top off the 12V? Who knows.

I think once the 12V gets drawn down enough there isn't anything the HV can do. I did finally limp home going like 10MPH and had 17% of the HV left. It wouldn't even go up my driveway.

At any rate, I probably did go overkill with the dual battery setup but hey, it's only money!

@running_man - I would do a few searches here. I can tell you that batteries in general and Optima batteries are simply not what they use to be in years past.

I have a 2012 Ford F150 still on the original battery. I had an Optima Yellow top in my '97 TJ that lasted for about 10 years, but batteries today are a lot different and the quality just isn't there like it used to be.

I also have a battery backup for my sump pump that went out, so I ended up buying almost $900 in freaking batteries this last month.

Seems like the entire industry has consolidated and that there are only really a small handful of companies even making batteries. Seriously, check out this forum and see what feedback you get. I wouldn't buy an Optima expecting it to be like it used to be just 8-10 years ago.

Appreciate the heads up on Optima.....until I bought the one for my Jeep last year, it had been almost 6 years since I've had to buy a battery.....once I have it load tested and verify it's fading, I'll for sure be doing some research for what to go to next. Oddly enough, yesterday I didn't get the 'Aux not available' when I went to start it after work....probably a fluke, but all the more reason to get it tested...

 

[Slate]

This was me trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

I would go out every day and stick my multimeter on the battery to see what Voltage I was getting and going nuts about it. I did get a 10amp battery charger and stuck that on there (instead of my 2amp trickle), but I think in my case once I drained the original battery down, it never did seem right. I would charge it back up, drive around, and then it would show 11V on the dash monitor, etc. VERY frustrating.

Now that I have the Genesis, I am not worried about it draining, parasitic, or otherwise. I keep it plugged into the wall (4xe) as much as I can. I did get that voltage monitor as part of the Genesis system and that dang thing is showing me like 14 volts, so my Jeep electric system is obviously keeping those topped off.

Who knows? It's weird for sure! For a while, I surely thought I had some kind of DC-DC issue, or something crazy, but once I put in a high-quality battery (in my case batteries), everything has been 100% normal.

(FYI, I work from home, so I don't drive it every day.)

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