Genesis Lite

[Gee-pah]

@Genesis Offroad @Jebiruph @WranglerMan

Perhaps this exists.
Perhaps this shouldn't exist.

The stock 3.6L JL's use of dissimilar battery types in its ESS/Aux electrical system is a flawed less than optimal design. Hooking up batteries in parallel to an alternator this way is not ideal, and battery science proves this. Perhaps where we can debate is whether its
limitations are severe enough to truly effect the 3.6L JL's quality, but from a battery purists standpoint, the above is debate-less science.

Enter the Genesis system. It's replacement identical dual battery system not only addresses this but provides many additional levels of functionality for monitoring, preserving, and switching among power sources: finding a market in owners that span the spectrum of, on the one end, simply wishing to devest themselves of the factory battery/electrical design, to at the other end, gear heads with multiple power drawing appliances on their JLs, that demand the power and configurability of the Genesis system.

Has/can a middle of the road system be created with Genesis batteries/hardware, and a device that (I make this up as I go, there are variations) simply, between each cold crank, switches which of the two Genesis batteries plays the role of the main battery for that crank, and which plays the role of the ESS battery for that crank---switching roles the next cold crank?

Thanks.

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[WranglerMan]

@Gee-pah

The Genesis system was designed to be a simple drop in system for most, I will openly admit that I was not comfortable pulling the PDC to remove the ESS battery and main battery tray so I chose to have my favorite Offroad shop @TTEChris of Tank Customs here in Houston do the work and had a few other things done.

Anyway I won’t point out what I consider short comings of the system and to be honest I only think there are a few, one is fairly easy to address and the other no so easy but since the batteries are connected as one 99.9 % of the time the second issue may have minimal impact overall.

I will likely rotate my batteries yearly or am considering it at this time so the aux get used more but like I said they are connected almost all the time.

I think the biggest confusion is the Genesis system was never meant to be a better design for the ESS system it was designed for those that have more power needs ( lights, winches, compressors, fridges, etc..) and be able to use those items without fear of pulling power from your crank battery and also provide some type of backup boost if and when needed providing you have not pulled to much power from the aux as it’s not a unlimited magical pot of power that has no bottom.

So with all my rambling one has to decide what needs they have to have and I will openly admit that if you don’t plan on adding a bunch of power hungry accessories there are more cost effective ways to manage the FCA design and even provide one with some confidence of a backup boost if needed using Jerrys design and some investment of parts readily available for very little $$$ but I will also say and it may be a placebo effect my JL seems to electrically run better with not hiccups with uconnect along with starting more robustly and lastly having the boost if needed and I have actually used it twice so far and glad I had it.

I still will more than likely still purchase a portable jump pack just to have and I may never need it but better to not need and have than need and not have just have to decide on what is the best for my needs.

Now off to put my batteries on a conditional charge ….and hopefully you all are Doug the same regardless of what design you are using.

 

[Gee-pah]

@Gee-pah

The Genesis system was designed to be a simple drop in system for most, I will openly admit that I was not comfortable pulling the PDC to remove the ESS battery and main battery tray so I chose to have my favorite Offroad shop @TTEChris of Tank Customs here in Houston do the work and had a few other things done.

To your credit Will, I disagree about the simple drop in system.

I won't go so far to say that the installation is difficult, but it's time consuming and detailed, if not also, in fairness to Genesis, extremely well documented by them, in writing and video form.

No shame in having someone do the install for you.

I think the biggest confusion is the Genesis system was never meant to be a better design for the ESS system it was designed for those that have more power needs ( lights, winches, compressors, fridges, etc..) and be able to use those items without fear of pulling power from your crank battery and also provide some type of backup boost if and when needed providing you have not pulled to much power from the aux as it’s not a unlimited magical pot of power that has no bottom.

Agreed. Which is why I propose merely use of the Genesis battery tray, compatible group type batteries, and a switch of some sorts to allow me to change which battery is the main and which is the ESS one periodically.

I would not need any of the hardware Genesis provides above the battery--which is not to say that such stuff isn't awesome in serving the needs you describe in the above paragraph-they just aren't mine needs which are to equalize both batteries (in size) within the 3.6L.

 

[WranglerMan]

To your credit Will, I disagree about the simple drop in system.

I won't go so far to say that the installation is difficult, but it's time consuming and detailed, if not also, in fairness to Genesis, extremely well documented by them, in writing and video form.

No shame in having someone do the install for you.



Agreed. Which is why I propose merely use of the Genesis battery tray, compatible group type batteries, and a switch of some sorts to allow me to change which battery is the main and which is the ESS one periodically.

I would not need any of the hardware Genesis provides above the battery--which is not to say that such stuff isn't awesome in serving the needs you describe in the above paragraph-they just aren't mine needs which are to equalize both batteries (in size) within the 3.6L.

The thing is to swap trays it requires the removal of the PDC so even if one were to not purchase the top hardware off the system and want to swap trays after you take everything out to access the ESS battery and tray and then put the new tray in to accommodate the full size batteries you have pretty much done the full install of the system as the top hardware is a all in one complete pre-assembly and again Shane and his group wanted to make it as simple as they could to put in.

Not adding in the top cover with the Cole Hersee relay and solenoid along with the boost button and battery cables is a pretty good savings but then as you said you wanted a way to swap between which is the main and aux and that would require some battery cables, terminal connectors and then at least four or more battery disconnects or a disconnect bank if such an item exists and then have some way to hold the batteries down, I’m thinking this still would save some $$ and give you the option of picking which is crank and aux battery or you could just disconnect the top hardware and physically swap the batteries to different sides 1-2 times a year but this option does not give you the choice to do it by simply flipping some switches.

As I said don’t personally believe it was Genesis Offroads design to replace the ESS system because if you go the route I went you can use ESS but only for the (6) cycle limits before it disables itself because when JL the voltages the same it’s programmed logic thinks there is a problem with ESS and I don’t know why it goes into a fault and disables the ESS with an error message but can be reset with an ignition cycle for (6) more events.

For those looking for simplicity and to keep the cost down that don’t like ESS and don’t want to worry about the baby battery I would recommend just moving the positive ESS to the main crank and disconnecting the ESS negative and then install a SSS module and be done and you can just leave the ESS battery in its place to keep as a boost that you will have to periodically charge or remove it all together and carry a inexpensive jump pack.

 

[WranglerMan]

@Gee-pah i just did a quick search after thinking about it for a minimum and I may be wrong but something like this http://colehersee.com.au/product/dual-battery-switch/ times (2) along with the Genesis battery tray and some battery hold downs and some additional battery cabling would likely work.

One could run the +/- battery factory wiring into these switches and then have +/- cabling coming off positions #1 &#2 of the switches to the respective batteries then by simply setting both to the #1 or #2 position you could choose which battery you wanted to use.

I don’t think you could have it set to both and it’s not that it would hurt as the Genesis system does it once connected but then don’t connect until the main battery sees a certain voltage so having both connected at the same time with manual disconnects may tax the alternator to much but that’s a guess.

 

[Gee-pah]

@Gee-pah i just did a quick search after thinking about it for a minimum and I may be wrong but something like this http://colehersee.com.au/product/dual-battery-switch/ times (2) along with the Genesis battery tray and some battery hold downs and some additional battery cabling would likely work.

One could run the +/- battery factory wiring into these switches and then have +/- cabling coming off positions #1 &#2 of the switches to the respective batteries then by simply setting both to the #1 or #2 position you could choose which battery you wanted to use.

I don’t think you could have it set to both and it’s not that it would hurt as the Genesis system does it once connected but then don’t connect until the main battery sees a certain voltage so having both connected at the same time with manual disconnects may tax the alternator to much but that’s a guess.

Will, thanks.

As it regards the switch Jerry's linked many a switch I think I could use to manually do this.

The issue is if it's worth it for me--which is probably not the case. : - )

 

[WranglerMan]

Will, thanks.

As it regards the switch Jerry's linked many a switch I think I could use to manually do this.

The issue is if it's worth it for me--which is probably not the case. : - )

I genuinely believe that FCA could have simplified this design a lot by either not using an ESS system and that’s not likely due to government mandates for emissions and and fuel economy or locating two identical sized batteries in the engine bay as we all know two batteries of the same size will fit if positioned correctly and still use the existing hardware.

If the Genesis system or similar was not available I personally would have chosen to remove the ESS battery when it went bad and not put another one in and moved the positive ESS cable to the main crank battery and disconnected the ESS negative from both ends and just kept using either a Tazer or SSS module and never looked back.

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