ESS Reality Check

[TroyBoy]

Here's the thing though: these systems do add up across all the rigs with them and that have them enabled

I have to wonder how much ESS really saves us as a whole. I guess it is better than nothing but still it's no where near as bad as deleting the pollution control off of a diesel. Perhaps you should be driving a Prius? That would have much more impact.

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[WranglerMan]

What the poster you replied to described is normal operation.

I find that hard to believe, my JL has been parked for 48 hrs and before I cranked it up today I pulled a quick voltage check and resting voltage off the main was 12.56-12.58 and I cranked it up and headed out, as I was driving I went to screen #6 and it said ESS not ready due to engine temp being low so another mile or so doing about 40 and ESS said ready and EVIC displayed voltsge was 13.2 and the longer I drove the lower the voltage dropped until it settled out at 12.7 running down the highway and upon braking or just letting off the gas the voltage ramped up to over 14 and once stopped it dropped again to the 12.7 but I had ESS disabled

The above behavior is what I have been told numerous times by several different FCA techs but who knows with this voltage, duel battery ESS system what’s normal and what’s not, I figure if you JL starts and gives you no error messages and ESS works as designed then all is good but it should not take you driving 40 miles for it to work unless something is keeping it from engaging like heating, cooling, seatbelt etc...

 

[Biscuit]

I find that hard to believe...

RTM.

 

[Larsonba]

I got two messages when my system died.

"Battery Charging"

"Battery Protection Mode"

The two messages would alternate at times. It took them several weeks to get my system fixed. I detailed the saga in a thread on this forum somewhere.

What was the outcome. I’m having the same issue and they can’t find out why. I can’t find your thread.

 

[Sean L]

What was the outcome. I’m having the same issue and they can’t find out why. I can’t find your thread.

Click on his name, then you can click on "All threads by..." link

 

[WXman]

What was the outcome. I’m having the same issue and they can’t find out why. I can’t find your thread.

They replaced the IBS and auxiliary battery. No change. So then they had the Jeep for a couple of weeks not sure what to do with it, and they contacted Corporate to get assistance. Corporate engineer had them do a "relearn" procedure on the vehicle which required a mix of software programming and road driving, with 4 hour waits in between cycles.

Once I got it back it's worked flawlessly ever since regardless of weather.

 

[Larsonba]

They replaced the IBS and auxiliary battery. No change. So then they had the Jeep for a couple of weeks not sure what to do with it, and they contacted Corporate to get assistance. Corporate engineer had them do a "relearn" procedure on the vehicle which required a mix of software programming and road driving, with 4 hour waits in between cycles.

Once I got it back it's worked flawlessly ever since regardless of weather.

Thank you

 

[Larsonba]

I find that hard to believe, my JL has been parked for 48 hrs and before I cranked it up today I pulled a quick voltage check and resting voltage off the main was 12.56-12.58 and I cranked it up and headed out, as I was driving I went to screen #6 and it said ESS not ready due to engine temp being low so another mile or so doing about 40 and ESS said ready and EVIC displayed voltsge was 13.2 and the longer I drove the lower the voltage dropped until it settled out at 12.7 running down the highway and upon braking or just letting off the gas the voltage ramped up to over 14 and once stopped it dropped again to the 12.7 but I had ESS disabled

The above behavior is what I have been told numerous times by several different FCA techs but who knows with this voltage, duel battery ESS system what’s normal and what’s not, I figure if you JL starts and gives you no error messages and ESS works as designed then all is good but it should not take you driving 40 miles for it to work unless something is keeping it from engaging like heating, cooling, seatbelt etc...

I had the same issue whith the voltage dropping when I drove and when coasted would go above 14. I also have the protection mode constantly popping up. The dealer tried blaming me for lights hooked up to auxiliary switches. I unhooked the lights and the winch and the volts went to 14 while driving like normal. I then re hooked the lights up and drove and was normal. I then hooked up the winch however chose a different ground on the battery terminal. It seems to be fine now and I don’t have the voltage dropping anymore when driving. I don’t understand it but I guess I will be able to tell in a day or two if it solved the protection mode. It seems like the way it was hooked up it was drawing power when it shouldn’t be.

 

[mwilk012]

I had the same issue whith the voltage dropping when I drove and when coasted would go above 14. I also have the protection mode constantly popping up. The dealer tried blaming me for lights hooked up to auxiliary switches. I unhooked the lights and the winch and the volts went to 14 while driving like normal. I then re hooked the lights up and drove and was normal. I then hooked up the winch however chose a different ground on the battery terminal. It seems to be fine now and I don’t have the voltage dropping anymore when driving. I don’t understand it but I guess I will be able to tell in a day or two if it solved the protection mode. It seems like the way it was hooked up it was drawing power when it shouldn’t be.

It is very unlikely that your mods did anything unless you somehow managed to cause a high resistance short that slowly drained your battery.

 

[FirecrackerRedJLU]

They replaced the IBS and auxiliary battery. No change. So then they had the Jeep for a couple of weeks not sure what to do with it, and they contacted Corporate to get assistance. Corporate engineer had them do a "relearn" procedure on the vehicle which required a mix of software programming and road driving, with 4 hour waits in between cycles.

Once I got it back it's worked flawlessly ever since regardless of weather.

This procedure is so hard to have to explain to people most don’t believe it. Have to have that 4-8hr key off period with 3 drive cycles, it’s unreal

 

[FirecrackerRedJLU]

What I would love to know though, is what voltage sensor is used for the ESS input and where it is, since it’s obviously not the displayed one.

This diagram ?

 

[WranglerMan]

I had the same issue whith the voltage dropping when I drove and when coasted would go above 14. I also have the protection mode constantly popping up. The dealer tried blaming me for lights hooked up to auxiliary switches. I unhooked the lights and the winch and the volts went to 14 while driving like normal. I then re hooked the lights up and drove and was normal. I then hooked up the winch however chose a different ground on the battery terminal. It seems to be fine now and I don’t have the voltage dropping anymore when driving. I don’t understand it but I guess I will be able to tell in a day or two if it solved the protection mode. It seems like the way it was hooked up it was drawing power when it shouldn’t be.

Again voltage according to what I have be told by several FCA techs is it’s supposed to vary depending on the condition/ state of batteries, the closer to being at full charge the less voltsge will be displayed in the EVIC.

As the IBS monitors the batteries it dictates what the alternator is supposed to do and the reasoning behind this is better mileage by not having the alternator under a load all the time and to supposedly keep the battery healthier by no constantly throwing a full charge at it all the time.

If I put my batteries on a tender after about 14 hrs they are both at 12.6+ using a meter at the source checking them separately then for the first couple days the EVIC displayed voltage remains in the 12.6-13 range and does not ramp up much the after these few days the voltage swings from 12.8-14.4 depending on there state of charge so if it’s parked for several days upon starting it’s close to 14 if not slightly over but after a short period of driving it slowly drops and runs in the 13 range, if however I drive it a lot the voltsge displayed never seems to get above 13.2 and everytime I have pulled voltsge checked each battery is in the 12.55-12.65 range and I have a winch and off-road light bar wired in.

There is no harm in having it constantly showing 14 on the EVIC but again from what I was told that is not by design but as long as you are not getting any error messages and all works then no worries.

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