Eliminating the auxiliary battery completely?

[kah.mun.rah]

Do you have a link to where i can find this info? I'm super interested, and (obviously) new to owning a Jeep. Thanks!

Here is some general information: https://www.chryslerfactoryplans.com/tools/articles.aspx?article=Wrangler_Etorque_Technology&type=1

If you do searches here on "eTorque" you can probably find a lot of threads and opinions about it.

My limited knowlege:

I had a 2018 3.6L before the eTorque was introduced. This engine had a starter and an alternator. To help with EPA regulations this Jeep (like all JLs I think) had an auto start/stop system. When you stop the Jeep the engine stops. When you let off the brake the engine uses the starter to re-start the engine. The re-start was loud and annoying. While the Jeep was stopped, running the electronics (radio, a/c, etc.) is too much for the regular battery so they added an aux. battery under the passenger fender to share the electrical demand. Some people have good luck with this aux battery and some don't. I had to replace mine 3 times in the 1st two years of owning the Jeep.

I now have a 2021 3.6L with the eTorque. This engine still has a starter but the alternator is replaced with a belt driven starter generator and 48V battery under the Jeep. When you 1st start the Jeep it uses the starter. When you stop at a traffic light the Jeep goes into the start/stop mode but instead of running on a small aux battery and using the starter to re-start the engine, it uses the generator and 48V battery to keep things going making an almost seamless re-start of the engine.

Pros of the eTorque:
- less wear on the starter
- no small aux battery to constantly replace
- smooth auto start/stop
- smoother shifting and acceleration

Cons of the eTorque:
- The 48V battery (and battery coolant lines) are on the underside of the Jeep. It is protected with a thin skid plate but is one more thing to be careful about when off-roading over large rocks.
- The long term reliability, maintenance and replacement cost of the 48V battery and generator are still unknown.
- not that you would want to add one, but Superchargers are not compatible with eTorque engines.

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[djherdez]

Here is some general information: https://www.chryslerfactoryplans.com/tools/articles.aspx?article=Wrangler_Etorque_Technology&type=1

If you do searches here on "eTorque" you can probably find a lot of threads and opinions about it.

My limited knowlege:

I had a 2018 3.6L before the eTorque was introduced. This engine had a starter and an alternator. To help with EPA regulations this Jeep (like all JLs I think) had an auto start/stop system. When you stop the Jeep the engine stops. When you let off the brake the engine uses the starter to re-start the engine. The re-start was loud and annoying. While the Jeep was stopped, running the electronics (radio, a/c, etc.) is too much for the regular battery so they added an aux. battery under the passenger fender to share the electrical demand. Some people have good luck with this aux battery and some don't. I had to replace mine 3 times in the 1st two years of owning the Jeep.

I now have a 2021 3.6L with the eTorque. This engine still has a starter but the alternator is replaced with a belt driven starter generator and 48V battery under the Jeep. When you 1st start the Jeep it uses the starter. When you stop at a traffic light the Jeep goes into the start/stop mode but instead of running on a small aux battery and using the starter to re-start the engine, it uses the generator and 48V battery to keep things going making an almost seamless re-start of the engine.

Pros of the eTorque:
- less wear on the starter
- no small aux battery to constantly replace
- smooth auto start/stop
- smoother shifting and acceleration

Cons of the eTorque:
- The 48V battery (and battery coolant lines) are on the underside of the Jeep. It is protected with a thin skid plate but is one more thing to be careful about when off-roading over large rocks.
- The long term reliability, maintenance and replacement cost of the 48V battery and generator are still unknown.

Awesome info, thanks!! I don’t plan to rock crawl with mine so I’m not too worried about damaging the battery.

 

[bud1lite]

Man i have a 22 model and have been studying all the aux battery fixes for when mine goes bad,then i see this,lol.I have the 3.6 etorque

 

[djherdez]

Man i have a 22 model and have been studying all the aux battery fixes for when mine goes bad,then i see this,lol.I have the 3.6 etorque

Hahaha I know. I am with you. And I couldn’t be more excited. Haha

 

[Chugiakguy]

Well, I definitely have that little abortion of an auxiliary battery in mine (2022 3.6 liter Willys Sport, manual transmission), and I also would like to eliminate the auxiliary battery eventually, and before too long. So I'll read with interest this and other threads on the subject.

PS: I have no intentions of ever using the stupid ESS system, especially as most of my driving miles are on the highway in the first place.

 

[Crowbar]

I removed the aux battery from my '19 3.6v6 back in April or May. Replaced the main battery with a bigger AGM H7 battery and haven't looked back. I've put at least 10K miles on the Jeep since including hard driving in the San Juan mountains last month. I run a Tazer and have ESS turned off permanently.

If you are going to do the removal, take off the whole fender to do it. Took 20 minutes start to finish to remove the fender, remove the battery, and replace the fender. Hardest part of the process is getting the Aux positive cable snaked back up into the engine bay to attach to the main battery.

Is it necessary to connect the aux positive cable back to the main battery? I don't use ESS anyways- disabled with Tazer. There is a video that says to just disconnect leads to aux battery and tape off.

 

[rdfact]

LiteBrite just did a video about bypassing the aux battery, their failed attempt to jump start their JL because they simply connected positive to positive and negative to negative. And, it wouldn't be a LB vid without pimping a product. They installed a "Antigravity" lithium-ion battery that is supposed to last 8-10 years. They aint cheap either: $660 to $950 for a Wrangler.
https://antigravitybatteries.com/?m...ine=20892&post_type=product&action=vpf-search

 

[shane h.]

Is it necessary to connect the aux positive cable back to the main battery? I don't use ESS anyways- disabled with Tazer. There is a video that says to just disconnect leads to aux battery and tape off.

I connected the AUX positive cable to the main battery so that anything that was powered by the AUX would be powered by the main. Not sure what would not get power if you just taped it off.

 

[Fudster]

I finally bit the bullet and deleted the AUX battery in my Sahara.

I realized that feeling "Relieved" it always died in the garage was not a way to live life.

The dealership was anything but helpful. Their approach was "we can just throw parts at it as long as you give us money and we will just send you on your way.", problem solved or not.

It is stuff like this that forces paying customers underground. I do not want to just replace parts until something works. More so when they want $900 for a TIPM and if the problem is still there, you have to purchase another one. No thanks.

I have tons of pics, but the down and dirty is fairly simple. The actual process involves some unwrapping, cutting, soldering, heatshrinking and rewrapping of the wires.

You can see the OEM design, and the Nuclear Option, where I just rewired the AUX leads to the CRK battery posts, using the extra lugs for winches, etc.

I can write it up, but it was a bit of a process! Not for the faint of heart, you will be cutting and soldering some large wires along the way!

FYI - The Start/Stop (ESS) system still functions exactly the same with AUX delete. With or without the Tazer in, the Jeep does not know the difference and it functions as intended.

Mark:

I'm curious if:

* You've overcomplicated how to do this bypass
* Failed to approach it a simpler and arguably better way, and
* Failed to appreciate the fact that "the Start/Stop (ESS) system still function[ing] exactly the same with AUX delete" is NOT a feature, but a bad thing.

I admit to not knowing the answer to any of these 3 issues but will offer some thoughts, not in judgement, but for educational purposes.

Your 2019 should be designed from the factory to IMHO, allow a much simpler process of taking the ESS/Aux battery out of the electrical schematic of the vehicle than that I think you've described, that can also involve its physical removal if you wish.

Two black cables from the factory connect to the negative terminal of the main battery. One such cable's other end is the body ground on the passenger's front quarter panel. Please leave that cable attached and untouched.

The other cable's distal end, as I think you know from your schematic, attaches to the negative terminal of the ESS/Aux battery. Simply remove that from the negative terminal of the main battery and tape up its free end.

Crank your 3.6L. Expect that crank to fail. Do it again. The second time your 3.6L should attempt a crank solely off the main battery. If successful, the vehicle will from this point on crank on the first try, solely from the main battery, running solely on it as well. It will remain this way until the next cold crank, if any, in which an energized ESS/Aux battery is reintroduced.

Additionally, your 3.6L should put an "ESS off" message in the dash. This is a good thing IMHO. Which segues me into my 3rd point. The fact that the ESS system continues to run (because your approach has tricked the 3.6L to reroute calls to the ESS/Aux battery into the main battery) is not a feature, it's IMHO a potential safety concern.

We don't want to run ESS events on a 3.6L with one battery. Those events could rob the main battery of cranking power while it energizes appliances during an ESS event with the engine off.

Normally such responsibility for keeping appliances on in ESS events is on the ESS/Aux battery only, sparring the main battery to effect the bulk of the cranking load. Main battery only ESS events risk not being able to crank once a foot is lifted from the brake.

I have no issue with approaches like yours that reroute calls from the ESS/Aux to the main. They take various forms, with or without the ESS/Aux battery still wired in, involving fused jumpering of N1 to N2, and/or pulling Fuse 42, but they should be done IMHO in concert with turning ESS off, either by button push at the time of cold crank, or the purchase of after market tech to effect same.

Some people think the ESS off light of simply pulling the cable I describe annoying. I call it a feature as the vehicle has turned ESS off for you when running one battery: no button push or tech required.

This technique is not for early model 2018s without TSB 18-092-19. These JLs won't crank if an energized ESS battery is not detected.

Yes, many vehicles run ESS on one battery. But the 3.6L wasn't designed for that.

To the extent that you know this stuff please appreciate that I have no desire to show you up. I just don't want people stranded when making left turns, with ESS engaged on one battery, and getting stuck in the left hand turn lane.

 

[Renee22]

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/posts/1782952/

I replaced the main battery & auxiliary battery. Now my screen isn’t working. It’s black. For the radio, map, AC etc. any advice?

 

[Roky]

I replaced the main battery & auxiliary battery. Now my screen isn’t working. It’s black. For the radio, map, AC etc. any advice?

Electrical is hard to diagnose for me on here…. But if you installed it, I would retrace your steps, and check for blown fuses…if you had it installed, I’d take it back…..

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Electrical is hard to diagnose for me on here…. But if you installed it, I would retrace your steps, and check for blown fuses…if you had it installed, I’d take it back…..

Last month, I had a local guy call me after I had dropped off his 2020 JL and parked it in his drive way after I had worked on it....

I had done a Main and Aux battery replacement for him and updated his 8.4 radio (he paid me parts and labor) .... then finished it up and dropped it off for him, as he was away for a couple of days..

Anyway, 2 days later he called me up and was distraught /concerned, because when he started up his JL and the screen was "black". He was concerned I may have somehow damaged his 8.4 radio when doing the radio update or the battery change out.

He asked if he could come over NOW and have me look at his JL. He drove the 20 miles over to my place. I got in his JL and saw the radio screen was black. My first troubleshooting step was to press the radio's on/off button. Daaaaah, it was in the off position.

The fellow had driven his 2020 JL for over 3 yrs and thousands of miles and did not know the radio had an on/off button.. Geeez, good thing he had me do his battery change out and radio update.. good thing ...

 

[Renee22]

Electrical is hard to diagnose for me on here…. But if you installed it, I would retrace your steps, and check for blown fuses…if you had it installed, I’d take it back…..

No blown fuses. It all happened when the main battery was installed by Triple AAA. The screen never came back on. I then had the auxiliary battery replaced the next day. It still hasn’t come back on. I guess I am headed to Jeep this week. What a pain!!!!

 

[Roky]

No blown fuses. It all happened when the main battery was installed by Triple AAA. The screen never came back on. I then had the auxiliary battery replaced the next day. It still hasn’t come back on. I guess I am headed to Jeep this week. What a pain!!!!

Yeah, sorry I can’t be more help….?

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Yeah, sorry I can’t be more help….?

I mentioned to her...... it can be difficult to diagnose without hands on...

I did tell @Renee22 to check fuse F97 in the PDC because if that fuse is not inserted firmly, is blown/ is not serviceable, then the radio will have no power and the screen will be black.

I encouraged her to use another yellow 10 amp fuse in the F97 slot and to press it in firmly.
I sent her a pic that shows location of F97 in the PDC.

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