Deleted ESS Battery

[Ryan long]

@UncleArt

As for the bypassed, Aux battery as a back-up.... as long as you maintain the bypassed Aux, it is there as a backup should you need it....... My Aux is very healthy, as I maintain it...

Should you ever need to take your JL with deleted Aux battery to a dealership for say electrical work / issues possibly related to 12v..... you will see first hand how you pay more $ for diagnostics/troubleshooting by Tech and work in general by the Tech, then if the vehicle was stock 12v wise. You may also find the Tech is unable to come up with a remedy as he and also his WiTechll is lost lets say in what's wrong in regard to your JL's bastardized 12v system..

Anyway, as I mentioned I believe "most" JL owner's are better off just bypassing the Aux.. Enjoying their unbastardized, JL til they blow it off in a few years...

Again, as I said... it's personal preference in regard to what you do. To each his own....

Last comment by me in this thread..

Makes sense. How did you disconnect yours? Pull fuse 42 and disconnect the aux ground from main battery terminal? I have a 23 diesel with tazer mini with the ESS disabled since it was new and my aux battery is no good. I’m worried the aux battery is going to ruin my main battery. I didn’t know if disconnecting mine was the same as the gas motor?

Sponsored

 

[VKSheridan]

I deleted mine entirely. I’d rather debate how a faulty battery removed from the circuit is worse than leaving a shorted/dead one in there.

The upside of removal is I revived mine and use it to run my water and fuel transfer pumps rather than let it sit depleted in the tray taking heat and vibration damage.

The downside of removing it is it will confuse an idiot that doesn’t understand the system. Since I do all my own work, the only idiot under the hood is the same one that stupid ESS system stranded before I eliminated it.

 

[KCRazorback]

On a related question, I used to disable ESS with the button every time the engine turned off at the first stoplight (I hate this "feature"). For the last 3+ months ESS has not engaged once, but I do not have any alarms or error messages. Should I just count myself lucky or actually have it checked out (I have a stock 22 JLUR)?

 

[dgeist]

Here is my aux battery option I chose on
3. Run extended battery tender harness from main battery to 1.25 amp battery tender/MAINTAINER. Use Maintainer to keep both aux battery and main at fully charged levels. Easy to plug in when parked in my garage.

Do you or anyone have some advice/thoughts on my plan for the aux battery? Thanks in advance.

The challenge I have (and the reason why the batteries tend to kill each other and why mine were both replaced in the first week of ownership new off the dealer lot) is that unless the two batteries have nearly identical electrical characteristics, one eventually becomes parasitic, same is the case with a battery maintainer connected to both of them.

Here's what I'd considered doing:
- disconnect the positive lead to the ESS battery
- install a 12v (input and output) charger/maintainer and connect to the ESS and wire it to only run when the vehicle is on and operating normally.
- leave the ESS battery where it is for the "just in case" value but electrically disconnected from the primary.
- plumb everything to it's easy to make (and be) "stock" for warranty purposes in short order.

I mostly just don't want to disconnect the ESS battery and leave it there if it's NOT maintained. If it ever DOES get reconnected and it's been disconnected for 6-9-12 months, it'll almost assuredly be degraded and probably impact the overall health of the charging function as long as it stays connected.

 

[68Jeepster]

On a related question, I used to disable ESS with the button every time the engine turned off at the first stoplight (I hate this "feature"). For the last 3+ months ESS has not engaged once, but I do not have any alarms or error messages. Should I just count myself lucky or actually have it checked out (I have a stock 22 JLUR)?

Mine did the same and the first indication was an ESS warning message and then the electrical system lost its mind after I accidentally stalled the engine. Pressing the ignition button wouldn't shut it off and it wouldn't restart.

The dealership replaced both batteries under warranty.

I'm still learning my way around the Jeep's electrical system but I'd recommend isolating the ESS battery and attempt to recharge it. To do so disconnect the negative cable and then the positive cable from the main battery.

Doing so gives you a direct line to the ESS battery.
Assuming the battery is not stone dead, you're dealing with live wires, so be sure not to "cross the streams". It would be bad.

Then connect the those leads to a trickle charger and try to top off the ESS battery. That should give you somewhat of an indication of it's state and health.

Before you connect everything back up, top off the main battery while you are at it, taking care to insulate the battery cables.

Be sure to connect the positive cable back to the main first, then the negative.

 

[KCRazorback]

Mine did the same and the first indication was an ESS warning message and then the electrical system lost its mind after I accidentally stalled the engine. Pressing the ignition button wouldn't shut it off and it wouldn't restart.

The dealership replaced both batteries under warranty.

I'm still learning my way around the Jeep's electrical system but I'd recommend isolating the ESS battery and attempt to recharge it. To do so disconnect the negative cable and then the positive cable from the main battery.

Doing so gives you a direct line to the ESS battery.
Assuming the battery is not stone dead, you're dealing with live wires, so be sure not to "cross the streams". It would be bad.

Then connect the those leads to a trickle charger and try to top off the ESS battery. That should give you somewhat of an indication of it's state and health.

Before you connect everything back up, top off the main battery while you are at it, taking care to insulate the battery cables.

Be sure to connect the positive cable back to the main first, then the negative.

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like it could cause issues. I am still under warranty so I will take it to the dealer for replacement if needed. (I have so far not experienced the dealer horror stories I have read here).

 

[68Jeepster]

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like it could cause issues. I am still under warranty so I will take it to the dealer for replacement if needed. (I have so far not experienced the dealer horror stories I have read here).

I haven't either. They got me back on the road in a couple days and no problems since.

That's definitely a true statement about the ESS battery causing issues. It was a rude awakening for a guy whose last Jeep was about as basic as it gets from an electronics standpoint. I was used to the starter getting sluggish and the lights dimmer than usual while the engine was off.. Before the issue, the engine started fine. I guess the ESS battery shorted out or something to cause that cascading chain of events...

From what I've read over the past few months the battery setup seems to be the Achilles heel.

I've also read where a few owners bit the bullet and bought better quality batteries than the dealer will replace them with.

Keep us posted.

Sponsored