WranglerMan
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Will
- Joined
- May 8, 2018
- Threads
- 100
- Messages
- 3,384
- Reaction score
- 2,693
- Location
- Katy Texas
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 Wrangler JLU Sahara
- Occupation
- Gas Pipeliner
- Vehicle Showcase
- 1
The miles you drive are likely not near enough to keep the batteries especially the smaller aux charged properly, the factory batteries themselves I doubt are of good quality and when to add in the fact in your case it sits parked a lot causes sulration of the both due to their low state of charge shortens their life so itās best to first get a good properly sized charger and keep you Jeep on it.You are correct. You won't convince me. The system fails my basic use case. On average, I drive my jeep 4 times a week. 20 miles on days I drive it. I should not need to do anything to make the system work. It should just work.
As an example, I have an Audi Q5 that can sit for a week. ESS will work just fine.
Since FCA uses ESS to meet their MPG statements with the EPA, the system needs to "just work" for standard use cases. As you can see in the threads, it clearly does not. This seems fraudulent on the part of FCA to me.
i personally would bypass the aux battery and not use ESS by bypassing it by whatever means you choose, there are several that have successfully bypassed it with fused jumpers and even some have used jumpers with voltage indicators and then go on a diet of regular charging keeping the aux as a sort of spare that can be used as a jumpstart, there are also several that have removed and bypassed the aux by moving the positive ESS cable to the main crank battery and disconnected the ESS negative cable from the main with success then there are some like me that removed the ESS battery and went to a system that still uses two batteries but the batteries are easier to get to for upkeep, are sized properly and are identical so they can be maintained at the same rate plus I have the added benefit of the extra power from a full sized spare that gives me power to run aux equipment longer without the worry of being stranded.
What ever route you choose batteries still need to be maintained but there are a lot better options on batteries than what the factory installed and with some tweaking on the original design with better batteries your Jeep should serve you well.
But in the end there are several options you have to address the poor design that FCA has presented us and they vary from a simple $10 fused jumper to a Genesis or Redarc battery management system that cost more than what a lot would choose to pay but this is where you as an owner has to choose what suits your needs.
I personally went to a pricier better designed dual system after carrying a jumper for backup, i never had issues where I was stranded with the stock setup but I got to the point where I wanted the additional power to run not only additional aux equipment but also have the extra boost if my main battery failed.
The system I chose still requires upkeep on batteries so no magic beans but they are better quality batteries that are sized for my needs.
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