- First Name
- Jim
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2019
- Threads
- 12
- Messages
- 3,465
- Reaction score
- 16,521
- Location
- Too damn close to Death Valley
- Vehicle(s)
- '19 JLU
- Banned
- #61
Nice write up Jay. Keep in mind that once you go to the Genesis system the Jeeps charging system can't maintain two full size batts unless you do ALOT of driving, even with the high amp alternator, especially if you go with the Odyssey monsters they recommend (I did). You probably already know all this, but some extra battery love will be needed. I use a solar panel on my hood which keeps my batts topped off at all times, like a never ending trickle charger (well, except at night I guess), and every 2-4 weeks I hook up a Odyssey charger which also runs a recondition cycle to maximize my battery life. I disabled ESS, though I do understand why they had to do it as you pointed out above.I'll admit up-front, I'm the odd-ball here.
While most people want to rip ESS the hell out of their rig altogether, trample on the Aux battery, wrap the entire feature around a stick of dynamite and create a crater somewhere on their local FCA dealership showroom floor, I on the other hand actually like it. But not for how it came about. Still, I sort of miss it when it misbehaves.
Don't get me wrong, I totally despise the entire design of the Aux battery, and the way it was implemented. However, being a former Powertrain Software Engineer (at Chrysler), I also comprehend a few things about it that some may not realize:
A. This feature would (never) have been implemented, if it wasn't for the VERY heavy hand of Uncle Sam.
B. The pretty extreme and aggressive policies of the EPA bureaucracy has mandated the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards such that nearly all internal combustion engine (ICE) power plants would (by intent) now fail. Not all but the vast majority, especially everything larger than four cylinders, would no longer be able to pass these stricter standards without some radical help.
C. Some of this help comes in the form of a system called electronic stop start (ESS) which shuts itself off at every opportunity it can do so, independent of anyone's opinion about it. It does this in order to accomplish a decrease in overall fuel consumption and a decrease in emitted pollutants, in order to even marginally comply with these so called deceptively named "carbon footprint" standards but I digress.
D. So don't blame FCA for the reason why it [ESS] is in your rig, blame the voters for electing the progressive politicians who made these overly strict standards mandatory.
E. The Aux battery sort of proves FCA's reluctance to go along with the program. It is nothing more than the lowest possible cost, 'bolt on' solution to satisfy these latest environmental (green / olive drab) policies.
F. However, failure to comply would mean one of two things:
1. The cost of your Jeep would be way higher still (if that's even imaginable), because the carbon tax liability would, (as always) be passed down to the consumer.
2. You would not have a Jeep to purchase at all. Maybe some 4xe variant that will probably leave you stranded in the middle of some forest with no way to plug in.
G. Be very thankful that FCA found some wiggle room (loophole perhaps) within the EPA rules to at least give the end user the ability to disable it (even temporarily). This system could very well have been engineered to be way more tamper resistant. Don't think for a minute there may not be new laws preventing any ESS disable (period) in the future. Unfortunately for all you ESS haters, we're clearly heading in that direction. The more ways you come up with in which to permanently defeat it will mean even more environmentalist pushback on the politicians to remove all of the EPA loopholes completely. Elections do indeed have consequences.
So I clearly hate how ESS came about (undemocratic or rather Democrat, nanny-state bureaucrats, depending on your political bent) toward forcing (by law) its implementation. On this issue call me anti-liberal for having the opinion of NOT allowing each driver to determine exactly how to configure their own Jeep.
Clearly, the vast majority of ESS hatred here could give a rats ass about the greater good idea. Otherwise they would totally love and embrace ESS for what it actually is. The kum-by-ahh of all possible vehicle features. It should make everybody feel good in helping Mother Nature?
It's unfortunately just another little erosion of personal freedom in the guise of protecting the planet. I just wish sometimes that people would vote the way that would truly make them happy. But alas, everything worthwhile is generally cloaked to appear as something different. Save the planet, save the whales, seals, polar-bears but don't you dare save my ability to live without ESS.
I however (independent of the politics) really admire the technology of pulling ESS off. The physics behind starting a modern ICE power plant is not trivial. Sure some will say given a proper amount of angular crankshaft momentum, the correct amount of fuel to air (stoichiometric) ratio and a properly timed ignition source (spark), and everything is automatic. Maybe with old carburators and analog spark advance, but that is now the folly of your grandfathers age. However, that generation of low sophistication created the absolute worst combustion chamber thus creating the absolute worst possible pollutants.
Engineering is the art of compromise. In this case simplicity is sacrificed for lower emissions, and fuel consumption. ESS is just another twist to this new complexity.
Starting the engine today requires the application of some pretty high level math algorithms with units in milliseconds of pulse width fuel injected and tenths of degrees of firing the ignition for each cylinder around its top-dead-center position. For ESS start, all within a single revolution of the crankshaft. Granted with a controlled stop (engine shutdown), the computer can place the crankshaft in the most optimal location to start everything back up efficiently. Still pretty damn impressive nonetheless.
Lastly, I too am seriously leaning towards the Genisys Dual Battery solution. Just about every time I come off the trail and air up using a portable compressor with the engine running, I too later experience the "ESS Not Ready - Battery Protection Mode" warning. So the Aux battery is likely way too small for just about any off-road operation.
I have also found that this condition will only clear, 'by itself' by turning the ignition off for a long period of time. Typically in the span of many hours, like overnight. I believe the intelligent battery sensor (IBS) builds up parasitic capacitance under extended high stress engine operation (low RPM) and requires time to bleed away when all charging has stopped (really counter-intuitive). Or it can immediately be cleared by a full reset of the engine controller itself, which likely also resets the IBS. Either procedure sucks. So I just deal without having ESS on the drive home.
Furthermore I do disable ESS on the trail, or anytime I'm in 4WD for safety reasons, otherwise I do really enjoy it. Playing with engaging it (via brake pedal pressure) in various red-light scenarios. I found it helps keeps me engaged and more alert to traffic flow when both approaching and anticipating leaving the intersection. It [ESS] makes it such that it's no longer mind numbingly painful just waiting and wasting time at red-lights.
This does likely make metruly an odd-ball. Especially since I really despise how this all came to be.
Admittedly software geeks tend to be odd by definition.
Jay
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