Jumperless Aux Battery Bypass

[kakwvu]

I left my '19 JL Rubicon parked for a couple of months, not on a tender (I know), and although it started up ok, have had some of the messages for ESS others have mentioned. Despite being on an Optima 1200 charger for a while charging both aux and main batteries, it never moved off of 75%.

So I decided to do the jumper F42 pull / remove aux negative cable trick, and buy a new sealed AGM H7 / Group 94R battery.

I installed a Batteries+ X2 Power Group 94R SLI94RAGMDP and got the F42 fuse pulled, and everything works great so far. I'm pretty happy I don't need to buy a new Aux battery, and really amped to have a sealed AGM in the Wrangler. I have had an X2 Power Group 31 sealed AGM in my Space Trailer (camping trailer) powering a Dometic cooler for about a year, and it has been really great keeping the cooler cold on 7 day+ trips. I use a Noco 10 charger mounted in the trailer to maintain it wherever I go.

I think I might replace the Group 31 in the trailer with another H7/Group 94R so that I can do swapping if needed in a tight spot.

Thanks to jebiruph and rhinebeck for all the info. Happy with my setup now, and don't feel the need to buy the Genisis dual battery kit, although it looks like a nice solution.

Cheers,
Ray

Correct me if I’m wrong, but H6 = non eTorque, H7 = eTorque, right? Or is the size difference insignificant for the tray? I’d been looking at the Odyssey ODP-AGM48 H6 to get soon. I’d previously had Northstar batteries that worked great, and Odyssey just rebranded them.

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[hilldweller11]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but H6 = non eTorque, H7 = eTorque, right? Or is the size difference insignificant for the tray? I’d been looking at the Odyssey ODP-AGM48 H6 to get soon. I’d previously had Northstar batteries that worked great, and Odyssey just rebranded them.

The H7 is slightly larger form factor, 37mm or about 1.5 inches I believe greater in length. It has larger reserve capacity and more than 10% greater CCA rating. The terminal positions are the same, but it is a slightly greater distance to the negative battery terminal. The negative cables reach the terminal with no modification though.

The H7 fit in the tray of my '19 2D Rubicon MT perfectly once I removed the spacer block in the bottom of the tray. You just lift it out of its slot, so nothing difficult about that.

The existing battery hold down also works. The fabric cover doesn't fit the H7 form factor so I didn't use it.

 

[Rhinebeck01]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but H6 = non eTorque, H7 = eTorque, right? Or is the size difference insignificant for the tray? I’d been looking at the Odyssey ODP-AGM48 H6 to get soon. I’d previously had Northstar batteries that worked great, and Odyssey just rebranded them.

@kakwvu

Buy an H7 and not an H6..

Read here:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/??-main-battery-replacement-choices-jl-jt.100534/

 

[kakwvu]

@kakwvu

Read here:
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/🪛🔧-main-battery-replacement-choices-jl-jt.100534/

Said eTorque, meant tow package ?

Thanks!

 

[Go Hogs!]

If you physically remove the aux battery, can you just tape up both positive and negative aux cables and pull the fuse?

 

[OldBlue]

If you physically remove the aux battery, can you just tape up both positive and negative aux cables and pull the fuse?

Yes, but you might also want to seriously consider using some sort of device (Tazer, Smart StartStop, etc) so that your ESS system stays inactive. That's how I have our JLUs set up.

 

[ConqSoft]

Skimmed through but didn't see anyone mention. When I pulled F42 it also crippled my Uconnect; it went into some other limited-use mode and also lost my backup camera. Started working again once I replaced the fuse.

Anyone else?

 

[OldBlue]

Hmm. I've done this on a '20, '21, and '22 and no issues on any of them. Not doubting you , but did you double check that you pulled the correct fuse? I've not heard of any problems with this mod.

 

[ConqSoft]

Hmm. I've done this on a '20, '21, and '22 and no issues on any of them. Not doubting you , but did you double check that you pulled the correct fuse? I've not heard of any problems with this mod.

Yeah, confirmed it was the right one based on the picture in the first post of this thread.

When it was out, I didn't get the Stop/Start warning, and when I put it back in I got the warning, so tending to think it's the correct one.

 

[OldBlue]

Well, sorry but I got nothin'. Maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[ConqSoft]

I'll give it another try later when I get through some meetings.

 

[ConqSoft]

Tried it again and now the Unconnect is fine with or without the fuse. But now getting the Start/Stop error even without the fuse. So strange things are afoot.

For now, having the AUX battery disconnected is solving the issue I had with it draining the main battery. So I can live with the warning until I take it to dealer next week to hopefully get batteries replaced under warranty.

 

[OldBlue]

If you take it in to the dealer, revert it back to stock. Rehook the battery and reinsert the fuse.

 

[ConqSoft]

If you take it in to the dealer, revert it back to stock. Rehook the battery and reinsert the fuse.

Yep that's the plan. Thanks

And I fully expect them to say something about my winch being related, which has been installed since almost day 1 of ownership (2.5 years ago), and has been used twice just for re-spooling, which I'm sure hasn't been draining the battery. But worth a shot. Definitely not worth completely uninstalling the winch.

 

[Wulfgott]

You did disconnect the negative battery cable for the AUX battery as well when you did this, yes?

If so, wondering if you had some errant fuse that wasn't seated properly maybe when you first did it.

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