I do the same...12-24 hours before departure I fill the fridge with cold water and run it on shore power...then cut it over to 12v just before departure.
Interestingly enough the adapter puts out exactly 14v according to the fridge.
-Mac
I do the same...12-24 hours before departure I fill the fridge with cold water and run it on shore power...then cut it over to 12v just before departure.
Interestingly enough the adapter puts out exactly 14v according to the fridge.
-Mac
@macleanflood I think it was @Steel City 06 that delved into PCM changes for an AGM battery. IIRC, the PCM does regulate the charging voltage and it is programable. As you seem aware, AGM's like a touch more voltage than FLA batteries. Hopefully he sees the tag and can chime in.
I believe the biggest downside is needing to spend around 400 bucks to be able to program our PCM.
I believe the biggest downside is needing to spend around 400 bucks to be able to program our PCM.
Yes, he did. Here's the post:
Did you check your actual voltage at the battery or power port for the fridge ?
Our Setpower fridge is giving us low voltage readings as well . I am going to run voltage checks and see what I come up with . Even though the fridge says it's low the Jeep starts fine and the voltage reading on the fridge is lower than the gauge reading on the dash .
I'm thinking of going with this battery . I believe it will run our refrigerator overnight without any problems . It's $399.99 here .
Has anyone installed this one ?
Has anyone installed this one ?
I have the NorthStar version (my understanding is that the BatteriesPlus version is made by Northstar). I bought it during COVID, and the only place I could find one was eBay. It failed rather quickly, and they wouldn't honor the warranty because I bought it on eBay. I have a different size of the BatteriesPlus version in my 2001 Ford Expedition, and it failed quickly, too, but BatteriesPlus replaced it. Both vehicles are not daily drivers, and I now understand that AGM batteries are sensitive to sitting unused. I'm now using battery maintainers on them. Time will tell if I stick with AGM batteries or not. They seem to be quite maintenance-intense.
I don't have that exact one, mine is the one below. This was a last minute, leaving on a trip, jeep already loaded and the old optima battery I had died completely. That was probably 2-3 years ago. It's still going strong, hopefully stays that way.
https://www.batteriesplus.com/produ...6/unlimited-rubicon/l6-4.0l-gas/sli34=78agmdp
Also had the Northstar version, bought mine on Amazon. worked great for a couple years even revived it once from the brink of death but couldn't a second time and I usually put them on a maintainer when I can. Got no service with it.
Went with the Sams club AGM can't remember the brand and have had it for a year. Let the Jeep sit for 3-4 weeks since Moab and it was dead, unrevivable. Walked into Sams and said this battery doesn't work and the guy grabbed a new one and said here you go. Still haven't put it in yet but will be doing my best to keep it on a tender.
I have too many vehicles and they end up sitting for stretches but the motorcraft battery in my last F150 lasted more than 8 years and was in it when I traded it, rarely drove the truck in the summer.
They are slightly higher maintance that is readily solved with a battery tender. What they aren't is very forgiving if left to sit in a discharged state. If you do that, they will rarely recover and if you do manage to get them charged back up to a level where they will start the vehicle, don't trust it. I've found that even the slightest approach to the 10.5 voltage level after a deep discharge will revert them back to fancy boat anchors fairly quickly.
I've been running a CTEK on a constant 13.6V setting to maintain the replacement BatteriesPlus-branded Northstar in the Expedition since it was replaced. Hopefully, that solves it. As for the genuine Northstar in the LJ, I haven't replaced it, yet, since it's rarely driven. It, too, has a CTEK on 13.6V on it now, and it at least still starts the engine. I'll replace it once I get a bunch of my build list completed. Although, at my slow pace, I could be dead by then.
So the battery temperature sensor...can that be hacked?
Rather than spend $500 for HP tuners...can we approximate what the PCM is looking for at low temperatures... a certain value of resistance I assume...and force the PCM to use the default voltage in the low temperature range.
A plug in resistor that "fixed" AGM charging voltages would be a marketable product.
-Mac
Rather than spend $500 for HP tuners...can we approximate what the PCM is looking for at low temperatures... a certain value of resistance I assume...and force the PCM to use the default voltage in the low temperature range.
A plug in resistor that "fixed" AGM charging voltages would be a marketable product.
-Mac
That is out of the box thinking, but I don't think the temp sensor is there to control output voltage...well, not as finely as we would want to bump the charge a couple of tenths of a volt. I haven't verified in the service manual, but I'm assuming the temp sensor is primarily to make sure the battery isn't over heating and the charge rate is more digital (on and off) vs linear. in other words, if the battery is too hot, the PCM shuts down charging all together. It would be monitoring the charge profiles (bulk, float, mantain) internally, based on voltage state of the battery.
In Steel City 06's post that I referenced in Post 83 above, he posted this charging voltage vs. ambient temperature graph that is in HPTuners software:
He surmised that "Ambient Air Temperature" was actually the battery sensor temperature.
I like your thinking (!), but AGM batteries are also sensitive to temperature, so having some adjustment for battery temperature would still be desirable, I would think.
I believe the missing piece of this puzzle is the random nature that Mopar used to assign which rigs got the temp sensor and which did not in 05-06. I did a survey awhile back and there was no rhyme nor reason to it. Manual, build date, auto, Rubi, Sport, none of that mattered, at random, so had it, some didn't.
We came across it first doing a harness swap for a trans swap, one harness had it, one didn't.
And to circle around to Steel City's post he surmised that because his TJ didn't have a temperature sender the PCM defaults to the "hot" mode, less voltage...13.6v...all the time.
I also found another post on another forum:
https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/battery-temp-sensor.2232705/
Suggests normal ohms might be 9k to 11k.
-Mac
I also found another post on another forum:
https://www.jeepforum.com/threads/battery-temp-sensor.2232705/
Suggests normal ohms might be 9k to 11k.
-Mac
My LJR does not have a battery temp sensor and when I first got it I spent months trying to figure out why my charge rate was only 13.3-13.4 all the time. Needless to say it's never caused an issue for me.
Are you running an AGM battery and power hungry accessories like a fridge?
I don't have any issues per se other than I suspect my Optima is not getting a proper charge, reinforced by my fridge behavior.
-Mac
Battery at rest is 12.58.
Resistor is 14.14 k at 77 degrees.
Voltage running is 14.03v.
My original white 97 tub...I didn't move over the sensor...is 12.5 k. (No battery sitting on top of it )
I can source a potentiometer... anyone happen to know where I can source male and female connectors for the battery temp sensor?
-Mac
Resistor is 14.14 k at 77 degrees.
Voltage running is 14.03v.
My original white 97 tub...I didn't move over the sensor...is 12.5 k. (No battery sitting on top of it )
I can source a potentiometer... anyone happen to know where I can source male and female connectors for the battery temp sensor?
-Mac
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