"Battery Saver Mode"

[C M McCormick]

Morning All,
Last couple times I have driven my truck I have gotten the battery save mode message around half way through my short trip (in town driving).

A little history, the truck was built 12-18.
It was 12 degrees F. out this morning.
Last time truck was driven was a week ago, in town.
Truck now has a little over 14,000 miles on it.
And has aftermarket heated seats this winter.

With the great deal I got when I bought the truck not having heated seats wasn't going to be a deal breaker..

Craig

 

[JR]

Unfortunately it is common when the temps drop, even with healthy batteries. A result of electronics that never fully go to sleep so to speak and pull a constant draw. The problem is exacerbated by the heavy draw of the grid heaters. My truck sits for a week or 3 at a time in the winter also, I bought a small NOCO tender to plug in for such occasions. Hard wired the pig tail end to the drivers side battery to make it easier to plug in.
Highly recommend doing this as the constant depletion of your batteries through the longer spells of inactivity will lead to an early demise.

 

[AH64ID]

I put my truck on a NoCo Genius 5 when I anticipate it sitting more than 2-3 days for this very reason. Mine is also hard wired to the drivers side battery. Make sure the neg cable goes on the truck side of the shunt (IBS)

Trucks with keyless enter-n-go seem to draw slightly more in an "off" state, but all the newer trucks use power when sitting.

 

[wyosteve]

I had the same problem last winter. In part at least, the darn radio which you can't turn off was going bad and drained the batteries if it sat for a bit.

 

[mwilson]

I don't have any of the NoCo chargers but I do have a bunch of the little Shumacher Home Depot specials that I use religiously...

Knock on Wood, my Zero Turn is on it's original battery at 6+ years old and is always plugged in when parked. One notable failure was when the wife flopped the seat down and drove it out of the garage with the charger still attached......but I digress.....

Use one on the truck for both batteries all winter, another one is always attached to the Kubota. Another one is keeping my pair of camper batteries charged for the winter.

Low dollar and pretty reliable...if unhooked before driving off that is...

#ad

 

[mwilson]

Also, it may take 12 to 24 hours for the charger to go into float mode (Green Light) after hooking up to the two truck batteries.

 

[ramshackle]

Doesn't the pass. side battery drain faster because it has to throw all those amps to the grid heater? I just replaced my two. Got 4 yrs. 8 mos. out of the AutoZone AGMs. Went with O'Reilly Superstarts AGM. 10% Vet discount. I live in the south.

 

[AH64ID]

Doesn't the pass. side battery drain faster because it has to throw all those amps to the grid heater? I just replaced my two. Got 4 yrs. 8 mos. out of the AutoZone AGMs. Went with O'Reilly Superstarts AGM. 10% Vet discount. I live in the south.

They operate as a single battery so they will charge and drain equally on a properly functioning system.

When the crossover cable fails then you start to see dissimilar charge and discharge rates.

 

[Newsa]

December 2017 went to visit my family in East Peoria. Several 20 minute drives between Peoria and East Peoria caused the batteries to deplete somewhat.

When we were headed back toward Miami, the truck went into battery saver mode and dinged at me once. It really alarmed my wife because it was 17 below out, we were 30 minutes down the road and had a 6 hour drove ahead of us. I told her not to worry, I would just wait until the battery saver mode went off before powering down the truck for a refueling. With several short runs, the grid heaters had been running, and it took a bit more juice to start the cold engine. We turned off the radio, turn down the cabin fan and turned off the mirror heaters. (Turned off what electronics we could).
After about 40 nineties it went out of battery saver mode and we had no troubles

 

[Turbo Terry]

I bought a noco genius 5. Love it works great. I hard wired it in to the passenger side and Velcro it down and a two prong plug only because it was the easiest side for me to plug it in while in the garage. Then I can take it out if I want to. I really believe in trickle charging battery’s it makes them last much lomger

 

[Turbo Terry]

And I have two alternators 440 amps Lucky me I guess The dealer order man talked me into them . Longer belt two alternators to go bad and more to repair etc I don’t really know

 

[AH64ID]

I think that’s a worthwhile option. Lower load on the alternators means they should last longer.

 

[gsbrockman]

I think that’s a worthwhile option. Lower load on the alternators means they should last longer.

The 220A on my 2014 RAM 3500 was performing well at 362k miles at trade in time. My current 2018 RAM 4500’s 180A alternator seems to be doing well also....at 418k as of tonight.

 

[AH64ID]

The 220A on my 2014 RAM 3500 was performing well at 362k miles at trade in time. My current 2018 RAM 4500’s 180A alternator seems to be doing well also....at 418k as of tonight.

Just think how long duals would last… better not get rid of that 18 until you find out the failure point

180A or 220A is so much better than the 136A that they used to come with. The grids were murder on that low of output.

 

[gsbrockman]

Just think how long duals would last… better not get rid of that 18 until you find out the failure point

Let’s see......

• 2014 RAM 3500
• 2018 RAM 4500
• 2022 RAM ????

Seems like, based on the above trends.....that ‘22 should be the next trade cycle.

Hell.....I’d be lucky to barely afford another Tradesman, let alone dual 220A’s.

 

[AH64ID]

• 2022 RAM ????

 

[Wiredawg]

I had to replace the batteries on my 5500 yesterday... had a cell go bad. Shortest lasting batteries I've had at 3 years 8 months, although truck sat on lot almost a year. Been doing a lot of short, multi-stop trips. Got two AGMs at Advance with my 10% military discount. I keep a battery minder on my MH, bought another one today to keep on the 5500. Have them for wife's 1500, LRE, tractor, zero turn, and Mule.

 

[JR]

Mule.

How do you get the Mule to stand still long enough to attach the alligator clips?

 

[NIsaacs]

The grids were murder on that low of output.

I had a goofy start yesterday. 16 degrees and no grids, started instantly. I contributed it to the fact my dump trailer was plugged in to the onboard charger.??

The rest of the start was the same, shutters closed, high idle and e-brake came on.

 

[Newsa]

Anyone know if battery saver mode shuts off grid heaters?