The Sigma
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2023
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 53
- Reaction score
- 80
- Location
- Southeast MA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Gladiator Rubicon
- Thread starter
- #1
Eleven days ago I opened a thread regarding the ESS and a video Scotty Kilmer released. It was quickly apparent that Scotty is a polarizing individual to say the least. At any rate, that post was the tail end of me searching for answers to something I saw - the story behind that post was the voltage spikes I was noticing in my Gladiator. It consistently went as high as 14.9v. Pure happenstance that I was flipping though my menus one day and saw it. I mean what person drives around with the battery voltage screen display on their console?
I'm sharing my observations on my own Gladiator. The thought behind it is that the normal operating range fluctuates between 12.3-ish to 14.5-ish. If it stays below the 12.3 range when not being called to use, the aux (or main) battery is on it's way out; if it stays above the 14.5 range the alternator is having to work extra hard to bring up the charge to maintain things.
The route I chose to go with was to disconnect the aux negative cable and pull fuse 42. My observation? Voltage immediately dropped and hovered in the 14.2-ish range. What does that tell me? The aux battery was likely dying or dead and causing extra stress on the main. At the moment, my main seems to be ok.
The take away? Had I not watched my voltage for a number of days, I would have never of known the stress my electrical system was under. Everything was working normally. I'm suspecting the stories we've all come across about where someone goes out and their normal functioning Gladiator was suddenly dead one day is likely something that did present plenty of warning signs and could have been prevented had it been observed in time.
I'm sharing my observations on my own Gladiator. The thought behind it is that the normal operating range fluctuates between 12.3-ish to 14.5-ish. If it stays below the 12.3 range when not being called to use, the aux (or main) battery is on it's way out; if it stays above the 14.5 range the alternator is having to work extra hard to bring up the charge to maintain things.
The route I chose to go with was to disconnect the aux negative cable and pull fuse 42. My observation? Voltage immediately dropped and hovered in the 14.2-ish range. What does that tell me? The aux battery was likely dying or dead and causing extra stress on the main. At the moment, my main seems to be ok.
The take away? Had I not watched my voltage for a number of days, I would have never of known the stress my electrical system was under. Everything was working normally. I'm suspecting the stories we've all come across about where someone goes out and their normal functioning Gladiator was suddenly dead one day is likely something that did present plenty of warning signs and could have been prevented had it been observed in time.
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