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How long should battery last without use or charging before dead?

chris4prez

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How long should battery last without use or charging before dead?

I’ve seen various battery threads but nothing addressing the following. With everything going on I’ve been neglecting to drive or tender the Jeep battery and went out today to see it’s fully dead and could not start nor unlock doors with fob. It’s probably sat unused for 3-4 weeks and prior to that maybe a few short trips around 10-15min across a couple of weeks. (During those trips no dash warnings for low battery)

What do you believe is an acceptable time a battery should hold charge before being dead.

I do have some aftermarket accessories and will do a check to ensure parasitic drain is not adding to this. Most are going to aux switches or tapped to wires that are only hot when on to ensure power is fully killed.

Rockslide engineering steps
CB into Aux switch
Ham direct to battery (Never left on)
Radar detector tapped into mirror (tapped to a wire only on with Jeep)
Warn winch to aux switch via solenoid
Trigger plus to aux switch
Trigger plus switches leds tapped into mirror (tapped to a wire only in with Jeep)
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Rhinebeck01

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Suggest you read you manual. In the 2019 and 2020 manual (not the 2018) it clearly states that I believe it is 17 days or such, sitting unused and you may have an issue. That's for a stock JL without any additional add ons that would cause additional parasitic 12V draw.

You will get guys and gals here saying they leave their JL in the garage un-started for 3 weeks and more and when they go to start the JL, it starts right up... they say no reason the JL can't sit, sit, sit for weeks and weeks at a time without being driven.

Oh, then there are also, the one's that say, geeez.............. I start it up every few days and let it run for a few minutes so that charges up the 2 batteries... (LOL) Well they are walking a tight rope so to speak.....

They laugh/argue the point, when someone suggests that a JL sitting for anymore then say 10-14 days, in the garage unused, should probably be hooked up to a battery tender.. hooked up so your JL does not fall victim to depleted batteries.

Anyway, you are the poster child so to speak that backs up the idea that hooking up a battery tender to your JL if it is going to sit, sit, sit there unused/not driven for weeks is a positive thing to do.

Suggest you buy a Battery Tender and a quick disconnect cable and use it. You can set things up so you can charge both Main and Aux batteries without even opening the hood of the JL.


Either that or drive drive drive / use that JL.. Drive long enough in that the alternator can charge up the two batteries. No, 15 min. -30 min run/drive, is not enough.

By the way, doubtful it is your add ons that are the cause.. Also, issues like UConnect rebooting over and over can deplete batteries... there are other reasons also..

? -- Are you running a Tazer JL on that JL. IF so, be sure you do not have the Nav in Motion feature, enabled.
 
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chris4prez

chris4prez

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No tazer and I agree I’m totally the poster child for what not to do. My laziness got the best of me. I’ll have to go back through the manual I missed that part in there.

I have no garage so trickle charger is not ideal for me unless I get one I can mount under the hood and put a connection in say the rear of front bumper to allow easy connection. I do have an odyssey 20A charger im going to throw them on in the morning.

Long term I’d like to move to a genesis dual setup and mount one of these:

https://www.victronenergy.com/chargers/blue-smart-ip67-charger-waterproof

And then use this in the bumper:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TJJQP1S/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_i_shYjFbG56A7K8

that would allow me to monitor remotely and easily connect up via extension cord without cracking hood open and give me no excuses to connect up and not be lazy
 

Rhinebeck01

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No tazer and I agree I’m totally the poster child for what not to do. My laziness got the best of me. I’ll have to go back through the manual I missed that part in there.

I have no garage so trickle charger is not ideal for me unless I get one I can mount under the hood and put a connection in say the rear of front bumper to allow easy connection. I do have an odyssey 20A charger im going to throw them on in the morning.

Long term I’d like to move to a genesis dual setup and mount one of these:

https://www.victronenergy.com/chargers/blue-smart-ip67-charger-waterproof

And then use this in the bumper:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TJJQP1S/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_i_shYjFbG56A7K8

that would allow me to monitor remotely and easily connect up via extension cord without cracking hood open and give me no excuses to connect up and not be lazy
@chris4prez

You would say to yourself ............ all my other Wrangler's, cars, sat for weeks and weeks without the battery running down... becoming depleted..

Unfortunately, the JL is not one of those vehicles.

I have had probably 30 new vehicles in my life, and my JL is the first one that I have had to hook up to a battery tender so as not to have the worries or end result of depleted batteries.

Yes, always plugged my many Harley's and other bikes to battery tenders, but never had a car / truck that I felt it necessary to do so..
 
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chris4prez

chris4prez

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@chris4prez

You would say to yourself ............ all my other Wrangler's, cars, sat for weeks and weeks without the battery running down... becoming depleted..

Unfortunately, the JL is not one of those vehicles.

I have had probably 30 new vehicles in my life, and my JL is the first one that I have had to hook up to a battery tender so as not to have the worries or end result of depleted batteries.

Yes, always plugged my many Harley's and other bikes to battery tenders, but never had a car / truck that I felt it necessary to do so..
I traveled for a job for over a decade and was used to leaving vehicles in lots for a month or so with no issue and have had many other vehicles primarily European so this was just a new experience to me which it appears I should have known better. I found the details in the manual under storage. Attached for others edification.

452CB181-E21A-4988-8A29-01A907DB9874.jpeg
 

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SpeedKills

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You can also try a 2.5 Watt solar charger to see if it maintains a charge. You can put it on the dash and plug into a continuously-hot power outlet. 2.5 watts is too low to overcharge the battery.
 
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chris4prez

chris4prez

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@Rhinebeck01 - stupid question during initial charging should I be hearing a rapid clicking noise coming from around the fuse box area. (I think). It stopped after a few minutes.
 

Rhinebeck01

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@Rhinebeck01 - stupid question during initial charging should I be hearing a rapid clicking noise coming from around the fuse box area. (I think). It stopped after a few minutes.
@chris4prez

There is no such thing as a "stupid question" ...

I have been using a Battery Tender with my JL for almost 2 years now. No, I have never heard any clicking at any time, when using the tender.

Perhaps since your battery(s) was depleted ..... was reason you heard and I never have.

Hook your battery tender up to the Pos and Neg on the Main battery. Doing this will see both Main and Aux get charged. You may find that it takes a few hours before your tender says JL is charged.
 
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chris4prez

chris4prez

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@chris4prez

There is no such thing as a "stupid question" ...

I have been using a Battery Tender with my JL for almost 2 years now. No, I have never heard any clicking at any time, when using the tender.

Perhaps since your battery(s) was depleted ..... was reason you heard and I never have.

Hook your battery tender up to the Pos and Neg on the Main battery. Doing this will see both Main and Aux get charged. You may find that it takes a few hours before your tender says JL is charged.
I figured power must have been so low that something on the Jeep that was not an add on was trying to draw power when I first hooked up. After about 5-10min my charger lit up on the 0-20% threshold and it went away (obviously it’s no where near 20% yet) Always learning with the Jeep.

I also noticed my rockslide steps tried to disengage too but we’re struggling I’m assuming they were trying to grab enough power to idle it’s controller. I hit the kill switch for those and gave it some time until I heard the door locks starting to work and now those are working as expected and clicking is fully gone. Now to just wait for it to top off and never let this happen again.
 

Rhinebeck01

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I figured power must have been so low that something on the Jeep that was not an add on was trying to draw power when I first hooked up. After about 5-10min my charger lit up on the 0-20% threshold and it went away (obviously it’s no where near 20% yet) Always learning with the Jeep.

I also noticed my rockslide steps tried to disengage too but we’re struggling I’m assuming they were trying to grab enough power to idle it’s controller. I hit the kill switch for those and gave it some time until I heard the door locks starting to work and now those are working as expected and clicking is fully gone. Now to just wait for it to top off and never let this happen again.
@chris4prez

As mentioned, I have a quick disconnect on my JL... OK, to share all with you.... I have two quick disconnects hooked up to the JL's Main battery terminals.... one quick disconnect drops down into the passenger wheel well, where the end resides... The other quick disconnect has an LCD voltage indicator hooked onto it. That LCD voltage indicator is velcroed to the top of the Main battery.

With this LCD voltage indicator, I can anytime I want, open the hood and by reading the LCD voltage indicator get a quick read on voltage status. This comes in handy when I'm wanting to know if battery voltage has dropped while sitting there lets say.

YOU, might consider doing this with your JL., especially since the JL is out in a parking lot and it is a chore to run a cable to it and hook up the battery tender. With an LCD voltage indicator you could say once a week take a reading and based on that do the Battery Tender, dance..

LCD voltage indicator:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJ5KE9A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quick disconnect:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NCOKZQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Jeep Wrangler JL How long should battery last without use or charging before dead? 61OXwAwVjTL._AC_SL1500_
 

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Jebiruph

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I figured power must have been so low that something on the Jeep that was not an add on was trying to draw power when I first hooked up. After about 5-10min my charger lit up on the 0-20% threshold and it went away (obviously it’s no where near 20% yet) Always learning with the Jeep.

I also noticed my rockslide steps tried to disengage too but we’re struggling I’m assuming they were trying to grab enough power to idle it’s controller. I hit the kill switch for those and gave it some time until I heard the door locks starting to work and now those are working as expected and clicking is fully gone. Now to just wait for it to top off and never let this happen again.
When the voltage is high enough, the electronics power up, but the initial current draw lowers the voltage below the power on threshold and they shut down. After they shut down, the voltage goes back up and the cycle repeats until there is enough power in the system to keep the electronics powered up.
 

johnbyron

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I left my 2019 Wrangler sit for 33 days and, after reading this thread, I was almost sure it was not going to start, also considering that I have a winch (with remote control) attached directly to the battery. To my surprise, the car started without any issues and, after 1.5 hours of driving with no AC and lights off, it had enough juice for the ESS system to engage.
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