HELP!!!! With battery problems

[Mdmorrissey]

I am at my wits end with my 2019 JLU Rubicon battery and hoping that somebody here can give me some answers. The background story: I live in a condo complex in S. Florida and am here only part time (I can be gone for a few months at a time). The parking garage does not have any electrical outlets, so when I am gone, I am not able to use a battery tender. What I have done (from advice that I found on the internet, as well as asking my dealership) is to remove the positive and negative terminals from the main battery of the Jeep. Included with the negative terminal, I remove the secondary cable from the negative terminal (which I believe goes to the secondary battery). I am attaching a photo of the disconnected cables to explain what it is I am doing.

The problem is that the secondary battery continues to drain(?) while I am gone, so that when I come back, it is dead or dying. I was just gone for about 2 months after having had the battery replaced, and guess what - it is dead!!! I have had that secondary battery replaced 3 or 4 times now (I lost count) since having bought the Jeep in 2019. Since it is buried under the main battery, I have to take it to the dealership to have it replaced, which is both time consuming and expensive.

Can anyone give me suggestions on what might be going on and/or how to manage this problem while I am gone. Again, buying a battery tender is not an option and I am sick and tired of having to replace the back up battery. If I can't figure something out, I am afraid that I am going to have to sell the Jeep and get something more simple, which I don't want to do.

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[Rhinebeck01]

I am at my wits end with my 2019 JLU Rubicon battery and hoping that somebody here can give me some answers. The background story: I live in a condo complex in S. Florida and am here only part time (I can be gone for a few months at a time). The parking garage does not have any electrical outlets, so when I am gone, I am not able to use a battery tender. What I have done (from advice that I found on the internet, as well as asking my dealership) is to remove the positive and negative terminals from the main battery of the Jeep. Included with the negative terminal, I remove the secondary cable from the negative terminal (which I believe goes to the secondary battery). I am attaching a photo of the disconnected cables to explain what it is I am doing.

The problem is that the secondary battery continues to drain(?) while I am gone, so that when I come back, it is dead or dying. I was just gone for about 2 months after having had the battery replaced, and guess what - it is dead!!! I have had that secondary battery replaced 3 or 4 times now (I lost count) since having bought the Jeep in 2019. Since it is buried under the main battery, I have to take it to the dealership to have it replaced, which is both time consuming and expensive.

Can anyone give me suggestions on what might be going on and/or how to manage this problem while I am gone. Again, buying a battery tender is not an option and I am sick and tired of having to replace the back up battery. If I can't figure something out, I am afraid that I am going to have to sell the Jeep and get something more simple, which I don't want to do.

With no way to use a battery tender/maintainer and away for 2-3 months at a time... Well, I would be running with just the Main... then when I were to leave for 2-3 months, I'd just bring the Main into the condo and hook up a battery tender to it and leave it hooked up while I was gone. When I got home then just take Main and hook up ..

 

[Reinen]

With no way to use a battery tender/maintainer and away for 2-3 months at a time... Well, I would be running with just the Main... then when I were to leave for 2-3 months, I'd just bring the Main into the condo and hook up a battery tender to it and leave it hooked up while I was gone. When I got home then just take Main and hook up ..

Agreed. One of the few situations where I'd recommend deleting the Aux. Just a single battery to pull and hook to a charger.

@Mdmorrissey Another possibility. Do you have the option to park in the sun? Roof level maybe? Or in a space that gets partial or reflected sun from a window? If so, get a Cascadia 4x4 hood solar panel and park in or near the sun when you're away. It does not require direct sun to work as a low watt trickle charger. That will counteract your battery issues.

 

[Mdmorrissey]

Thanks for the input! At first when this happened and I came back to a dead auxillary battery, I figured that I could drive without it. At some point the main battery went dead after that. When I asked at the dealership whether driving with a dead aux battery could drain the main, they said that it was a possibility. So is there a way to delete the aux without drawing power away from the main?

I can't park in direct sunlight, but there is a window nearby. Probably not enough to get a charge through solar though.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

Have you disconnected your main and then put a volt meter on your aux positive terminal and the other to the frame to see if there is still a connection somewhere?

 

[GtX]

Just delete the aux battery. That thing is the source of many problems.

 

[Jebiruph]

I wonder with all your messing around with the battery cables if you didn't short out the N3 fuse. This would prevent the aux battery from charging. It looks like you are disconnecting enough cables to disconnect both batteries, but you really only have to disconnect the thicker of the 2 ground cables from the negative battery terminal. That will disconnect both batteries from the body ground.

 

[Upnarms]

X2 on Delete the aux. I think it's a easy as pulling a fuse now and removing it's negative cable. You can find the threads on this forum.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Thanks for the input! At first when this happened and I came back to a dead auxillary battery, I figured that I could drive without it. At some point the main battery went dead after that. When I asked at the dealership whether driving with a dead aux battery could drain the main, they said that it was a possibility. So is there a way to delete the aux without drawing power away from the main?

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/jumperless-aux-battery-bypass.95945/

 

[aldo98229]

Having the dealership replace the batteries is the definition of banging your head against the wall: they are swapping one pair of Mopar garbage batteries with another pair of Mopar garbage.

The way to break out of this cycle is by replacing those garbage batteries with ones of better quality.

You don’t have to buy anything fancy, either. The direct-replacement store-brand batteries from Auto Zone and O’Reilly’s are 100 times better than the garbage Mopar sells.

Good luck.

 

[NWJeepr]

^ That needs a citation. There's a small handful of companies which produce all 12v car batteries for the US market and Mopar is just a label that gets slapped on one of their batteries. You may be buying the exact same battery with the same service life by going to Autozone or O'Reallys, but with a different label slapped on it.

For JK's the majority came from East Penn, if I recall. I have yet to look to see where the majority of our batteries in the JL's come from. Anyone know?

 

[jaymz]

^ That needs a citation. There's a small handful of companies which produce all 12v car batteries for the US market and Mopar is just a label that gets slapped on one of their batteries. You may be buying the exact same battery with the same service life by going to Autozone or O'Reallys, but with a different label slapped on it.

For JK's the majority came from East Penn, if I recall. I have yet to look to see where the majority of our batteries in the JL's come from. Anyone know?

The OEM main battery on my '18 Rubicon was an East Penn . Both the NAPA and the O'Reilly's replacement batteries the I looked at were also manufactured by East Penn.

I don't recall the OEM manufacturer of the aux. battery.

 

[aldo98229]

The OEM main battery on my '18 Rubicon was an East Penn . Both the NAPA and the O'Reilly's replacement batteries the I looked at were also manufactured by East Penn.

I don't recall the OEM manufacturer of the aux. battery.

They might be made by the same manufacturer, but the quality of the OE batteries is clearly inferior. There’s plenty of evidence of that now.

 

[speedymart]

If you have the negative disconnected fully like you show in the picture then both batteries are completely isolated and have no way to drain. If it's still draining then your battery is bad.

Make sure the IBS isn't falling and touching the negative terminal either. Personally I just remove both nuts and leads from the IBS while leaving it connected and stuff the leads up towards the engine cover

 

[Upnarms]

Does anyone have a picture showing which negative cable to tape off? Im not at my vehicle to look, but I didn't know if it's the negative cable down at the aux battery or is the negative cable accessible from above?

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