Battery issues

[LJTim]

I recently installed an ARB twin compressor in the LJ for tire inflation (not used for lockers). I have noticed a weak ignition/start the few times I have driven it since the installation. Then this weekend I had serious issues. I did a little off-roading, and ended up in a pickle. I had to pull a winch line a pal to get me out of a slippery, muddy situation. When I started winching in, the winch started loosing power very early, and it wasn't on a lot of weight and/or binding that I would have expected the winch to loose power. After a few attempts of gassing the throttle while winching, my lights in the dash and stereo began to flicker/dim. Then the jeep actually quit running. It almost didn't have any power at all to turn over. It finally started, but ran rough for a few seconds. After some revving and letting it run for 20 or so seconds, it ran fine, but every time I would winch in, the same things would repeat. I finally got out of the mud, but it left me really worried.

I have had the winch installed/wired like this for 2-3 years without any issues. I have probably done 10 recoveries with the winch. I have even had the jeep stored with the battery still connected for 1-3 weeks at a time without starting it during projects/upgrades and it still started fine with no changes to the way the winch was wired. The only thing new is the compressor. I wonder if the compressor is drawing power from the battery even when not in use? I am wondering if my battery just hadn't fully charged when I went out this weekend had had my muddy ordeal? The battery gauge was reading normal (right around 14v) when it was running, but it seamed like the battery was quickly drained when using the winch.

One thing is for sure, I wired the compressor switch to a constant powered wire. The winch itself is wired directly to the battery. Should I move the compressor switch positive to a wire that is only powered when the jeep is on?

Any other thoughts?

 

[RockChucker]

Have you checked your terminals? I fought similar issues for a few months several years ago. The root cause ended up being dirty terminals on both the cable and battery. Cleaned them up and the alternator was able to effectively charge the battery. Seems dumb and simple, but that’s where I would start

 

[DAA]

Just guessing/throwing a dart, but...

I doubt it's the compressor. If it's switched on, the motors run and you know when they are running. I can't remember if the fans will continue until cooled with the power switched off to the compressor or not, but those little fans aren't going to cause any worries for a healthy battery. But when switched off, the motor won't run and it won't draw current.

My pure wild guess is your battery is croaking.

- DAA

 

[DAA]

Have you checked your terminals?

Better guess than starting with croaked battery .

Especially if you took them off for the compressor install. Might just need to wiggle and tighten.

- DAA

 

[LJTim]

Have you checked your terminals?

I thought I had checked the terminals, since I just installed the thing, but it is definitely possible that I forgot to tighten them. They are all clean, but loose is another question.

I doubt it's the compressor. If it's switched on, the motors run and you know when they are running. I can't remember if the fans will continue until cooled with the power switched off to the compressor or not, but those little fans aren't going to cause any worries for a healthy battery. But when switched off, the motor won't run and it won't draw current.

My pure wild guess is your battery is croaking.

I have had the same theory about not drawing power. There are no fans running when it is powered off, so I didn't think there would be an issue wiring it to constant power.

 

[DAA]

I've had mine wired straight to the battery since I got it. Which, was not long after that model became available - it's been a while. On a healthy battery though, even running it long enough to fill for 35's with the engine not running, 4.0 still cranks right over.

- DAA

 

[OldGeezer]

Check the compressor for parasitic draw, heck, check your whole system while your at it. If nothing then your battery is likely bad.
Probably just coincidence that it died when it did.

 

[LJTim]

Check the compressor for parasitic draw, heck, check your whole system while your at it. If nothing then your battery is likely bad.
Probably just coincidence that it died when it did.

What the heck is parasitic draw and how does one check for it?

 

[OldGeezer]

What the heck is parasitic draw and how does one check for it?

Unplug the positive wire from the compressor (or a fuse if it has one) and hook a test light (or volt meter) inline. One lead on your power wire, the other on the compressor wire (or in place of the fuse). If the test light lights something in the compressor is drawing power from the battery. If it doesn't light the compressor isn't sapping power from your battery.

 

[Agility Customs]

Unplug the positive wire from the compressor (or a fuse if it has one) and hook a test light (or volt meter) inline. One lead on your power wire, the other on the compressor wire (or in place of the fuse). If the test light lights something in the compressor is drawing power from the battery. If it doesn't light the compressor isn't sapping power from your battery.

alot of the times this method lights up the test light super dim (cause its such a small amount of power being drawn) so it helps to hook up the light and then turn off the lights in the garage.

 

[LJTim]

alot of the times this method lights up the test light super dim (cause its such a small amount of power being drawn) so it helps to hook up the light and then turn off the lights in the garage.

I don't own a test light. I figured I'd just use a multi-meter?

 

[Kiel]

With a meter I think it should read less then .005 amps if I remember correctly. I'm guessing battery connection or battery also. Once running the alternator should run the whole jeep

 

[LJTim]

I had the storage charger on it through Sunday and Monday. Monday night I tightened the terminal connections and drove it to oreilly to have the battery tested. They said it's bad. They did say the alternator is good though. Not happy about that, but at least we have possible answers. I hope that's all.

 

[Bart]

I had my ARB double pumper on the CJ for years and it never drained the battery, even for sitting months at a time. Bummer about the battery, but glad you found the culprit.

 

[LJTim]

I had my ARB double pumper on the CJ for years and it never drained the battery, even for sitting months at a time. Bummer about the battery, but glad you found the culprit.

Fingers crossed that is the only issue. It's a Napa Legend Premium AGM 750, which has been a solid battery, but I only got 4 years out of it. I'm not very happy about that.