Situation Wanted

[AndySpill]

This came up as a hypothetical with another dual AGM battery JL owner.

I park on my property and have access to shore power to trickle charge need be--so this isn't me.

Suppose you park in a commercial garage. You use mass transit most of the time. Forget about finding a place to plug in or even getting a solar based trickle charger like a Cascadia 4 x 4 product for your JL to trickle charge its batteries.

But you want to trickle charge.

So...those overlanders out there in know regarding battery gear, devise me a purchase of two of the same product, say some Jackery like gear. One sits charging via shore power in an apartment. The other sits inside a JL trickle charging its batteries. Maybe the one in the vehicle lasts a few days, while the one in the apartment takes mere hours to charge.

Point being that you can visit the vehicle with the charged one and swap it out for the one just recently used in the vehicle to keep the batteries topped off.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

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[jlandry287]

Your battery recharges when you drive. If you’re worried about it not starting, I’m pretty sure there’s low voltage protection where it won’t allow your battery to fully drain.

If you’re concerned about starting, I’d buy a portable jump starter and save money (Jackery is expensive)

 

[Atomic-Mouse]

just disconnect your battery if it’s going to sit for extended periods.

 

[JLeco2022]

imo the battery boxes are a huge waste of money, learn alittle about DC and make your own for 1/8th the price

 

[Dyolfknip74]

This came up as a hypothetical with another dual AGM battery JL owner.

I park on my property and have access to shore power to trickle charge need be--so this isn't me.

Suppose you park in a commercial garage. You use mass transit most of the time. Forget about finding a place to plug in or even getting a solar based trickle charger like a Cascadia 4 x 4 product for your JL to trickle charge its batteries.

But you want to trickle charge.

So...those overlanders out there in know regarding battery gear, devise me a purchase of two of the same product, say some Jackery like gear. One sits charging via shore power in an apartment. The other sits inside a JL trickle charging its batteries. Maybe the one in the vehicle lasts a few days, while the one in the apartment takes mere hours to charge.

Point being that you can visit the vehicle with the charged one and swap it out for the one just recently used in the vehicle to keep the batteries topped off.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Just get one of the small booster packs and keep it plugged in until you need it. No requirement to worry about trickle charge.

As an aside, I've had the Cascadia VSS for 3 years on my 21 OEM batteries. Never had an issue at all.

 

[AndySpill]

Thanks for your thoughts. FWIW I found this. Critique at will. I'll start: this setup falls over like a house of cards in cold weather, which LiFePO4's don't much like. And LiFePO4's not being replenished while also discharged via external source like solar or shore plug or alternator.

 

[Dusty Dude]

Slightly different thought came to mind. My Challenger has a “transport” fuse that disconnects all of the systems that draw power when it is sitting for extended periods of time. The fuse was to stop from having dead batteries while the vehicle was being delivered to the dealerships. This link was also used to do a full reset of the system.

I’m assuming our Jeeps have one of these transport fuses as well. Anyone have an idea if the Jeep has one and where it is located?

 

[AndySpill]

Slightly different thought came to mind. My Challenger has a “transport” fuse that disconnects all of the systems that draw power when it is sitting for extended periods of time. The fuse was to stop from having dead batteries while the vehicle was being delivered to the dealerships. This link was also used to do a full reset of the system.

I’m assuming our Jeeps have one of these transport fuses as well. Anyone have an idea if the Jeep has one and where it is located?

Thanks.

On a similar vein, it's not hard to put cut off switches on the two cables: body ground and Aux battery negative that lead to the negative terminal of the main battery to disconnect the batteries from the vehicle for longer duration storage.

This of course, while eliminating parasitic draw doesn't eliminate battery self discharge over time and the forces of cold weather, albeit self discharge a slower force than parasitic draw. I seek an external source of power though to reverse both.

 

[Zandcwhite]

If you can visit the vehicle every couple days to swap out booster packs for trickle charging, why not drive it around and let the alternator charge it? Even if you just drive it around the block a few times would be enough. Seems like we are overcomplicating things these days. If it's going to sit for a month or more you might have problems, but my gladiator sits for a week or more at a time regularly and I've never had a battery issue or trouble starting it. Yes these modern vehicles have some parasitic draw but it's very low in my experience. Driving it even just once every week or 2 is plenty in my experience.

 

[Dusty Dude]

Thanks.

On a similar vein, it's not hard to put cut off switches on the two cables: body ground and Aux battery negative that lead to the negative terminal of the main battery to disconnect the batteries from the vehicle for longer duration storage.

This of course, while eliminating parasitic draw doesn't eliminate battery self discharge over time and the forces of cold weather, albeit self discharge a slower force than parasitic draw. I seek an external source of power though to reverse both.

I had batteries that were sitting in Minnesota winters that didn’t self discharge for 4 to 6 months. I doubt that would be an issue. That being said, if there is a transport fuse, that would be a lot easier than adding cutoff switches. I would look into what the factory did first before I would start hacking into battery connections. Why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to?

 

[Nash_Dj]

... this setup falls over like a house of cards in cold weather, which LiFePO4's don't much like. And LiFePO4's not being replenished while also discharged via external source like solar or shore plug or alternator...

If I follow you correctly, then if using Jackery, Renogy, Ecoflow... or similar device as you originally asked for, they are also a Lithium, so if you are using those as a trickle charger and your vehicle is in a cold garage/cold weather, than it is the same issue, right?
If it is not a cold place, than all the above answers about not to worry about the discharge and just keep ready a small booster power bank is a better solution...
I have Cascade 4x4 on my hood and pretty happy with the trickle it gives me, but that power goes to my utility Renogy LiFePO 100Ah battery only (I believe), not to my chassis one (e-torque JLU, no AUX batt.). After letting my car resting for about month, in the garage and during the summer time, while traveling last year, I forgot to turn off my aux switch (the roof lights controlled by that AUX switch have their own switch and were turned off indeed, but just the little LED was lit on the switch), AND that was enough to kill my main battery...

 

[JLeco2022]

I have 2 LiFePO4's mounted in my rear on their own system, i charge them via solar when im out and wall mounted charger when im not. I havn't had any issues with them in the cold, however I sleep with the rear seat folded down so my cab doesn't really get super cold. I will let you know how they fair when I drive from anaheim to detroit next month and stay out there for 2 months.

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