OEM Battery...

[W5MQS]

I have a 2018 JLUR that I ordered in April 2018 and received in May 2018. There is a tad over 32,000 miles on it so far. Lately, I'm noticing a message that states "LOW BATTERY; AUX SWITCHES NOT AVAILABLE" but then it goes away after starting within about 15 or 20 seconds and then the accessories connected to the switches work fine. I'm sure the issue is the main battery but my question is for anyone who has already changed out their OEM battery -- if you have replaced your OEM battery, how long was it before you had to change it out??? I would expect an OEM battery to last at least 3 years minimum and mine has just passed that point. I'm sure it would last longer if I put it on a trickle-charger but I haven't. My Jeep is not my daily driver and it generally sits in my garage until the weekend. The OEM battery on my F-150 lasted almost 6 years and went thru some hellish extreme conditions...Alaska winters and then Texas summers without any assistance or regular maintenance. Honestly, I was hoping it would last a bit longer but it is what it is. Lastly...does anyone have any recommendations for what battery to replace it with???

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[Als@Ohio]

Need more info. Engine? If it's a 3.6 there's a good chance you have two batteries. Main & aux. Aux batteries don't seem to hold up well, just sitting/parked.

 

[W5MQS]

Yes...it's the 3.6L. That's the only motor that was offered in 2018. I believe that the auxiliary battery is used to mainly power the ESS system and it seems to be working just fine but that could be because the motor is running or has been charging the system. I rarely use the ESS and have a nice habit of turning it off as soon as the Jeep is started.

 

[mwilk012]

AGM batteries seem especially vulnerable to parasitic draw. They just don’t recover well from getting low.

something like 60%+ of vehicle batteries fail within 4 years.

 

[mwilk012]

Those batteries are almost all made by the same company, Johnson Controls.

and again, regardless of your history, the majority of batteries fail within 4 years.

 

[Als@Ohio]

If you know your Jeep going to sit for periods of time you might want to do this... https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...arger-mount-inlet-install-lots-of-pics.44466/

 

[WranglerMan]

Just replace both batteries…

 

[DFW Rubi]

I have the same year JL and mine started doing the same things as you described a couple months ago. I think it had to do to the fact that I wasn't driving it as much as I would normally since my office converted me to work from home. I was lucky that I was still under warranty as they swapped out the battery for free and everything is back to normal including the blind spot monitors and back up sensors.

 

[WranglerMan]

It’s a known issue with the JL if it’s parked a lot and when driven it’s only short trips the batteries go fast so it’s best to once you replace with your choice of battery that you put your Jeep on a charger/maintainer to keep the batteries at peak.

 

[Gregj]

Those batteries are almost all made by the same company, Johnson Controls.

and again, regardless of your history, the majority of batteries fail within 4 years.

Made for Johnson Controls,,,,,,,,,,,, in Mexico!
Gregj

 

[garyji]

What Will said. Replace them both ASAP. You've gotten your time out of the OEM's.

G.

 

[txj2go]

I have a lot of experience with flooded acid batteries. In the hot south, driving the car every day, with the battery under the hood where it gets the most heat exposure, my batteries typically last 34-37 months. This has been my experience consistently for 30 years. Change one of these factors such as take the battery out of the engine compartment like a WK2 Grand Cherokee and you can get longer life.

My 2018 JLU is the first vehicle I've owned with AGM battery. That style battery is advertised to last up to twice as long as a flooded acid battery. I've heard of JL OEM batteries failing in under 3 years. I have not had any problem with my JLU but this year I was going to be taking trips to very remote places so I replaced my main battery, and disconnected the tiny battery. I found that there are 3 manufacturers, and Johnson Controls makes most car batteries these days. The other 2 companies (can't remember their names) generally have very reliable batteries. I ended up buying a battery through Batteries Plus, made by one of these companies other than Johnson Controls. I think this gives me the best chance of having a reliable system. I know that batteries can fail at any age, and YMMV, but maybe buying the best brand I can buy will help my odds.

My daily routine is such that my Jeep doesn't get driven much, but I try to drive it a couple of times a week. Maybe I need to get a battery minder, but for anyone considering this you should get a quality model that is specific to the type of battery that you have.

 

[NewJLU2019]

Are you saying you can disconnect the small Aux battery ? I turn the ESS off when before I pull out anywhere.

 

[txj2go]

Are you saying you can disconnect the small Aux battery ? I turn the ESS off when before I pull out anywhere.

Yes you can. There are massive threads here about batteries and such, I spent a long time reading. When I replaced my main battery I left the little battery disconnected. If you have a 2018 without flash updates this won't work. If you use the ESS you will have problems. Otherwise you can do without the small battery. My ESS hasn't worked as long as I've owned it so I don't have any problems there, and the firmware of my 2018 has been updated.

 

[WranglerMan]

The Full River 750 AGM’s I use for my dual full size battery system use platting from Odyssey I was told and with higher quality AGM’s like Odyssey, Full River, Northstar and maybe a few others but my research found that Optima have lost of lot of their quality and pricing is not less.

The higher quality makers use thinner plating which allows them to use more plating closer together and a more concentrated recipe of electrolyte fluid and a better quality vented case that keeps electrolyte fluid loss to a minimum but all batteries regardless of maker start to degrade from day #1 it’s just the better quality ones seem to handle the higher parasitic draws and deeper cycling and recover quicker and easier than the cheaper ones but this comes at a higher cost.

I am on my ordinal dual batteries and they are about 8 months and a recent load test indicated they are at 98% and give no indication of any issues but we all know batteries are effected by so much so time will tell.

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