drained battery, and now my 200 is unresponsive, no matter what (1 Viewer)

[chris777]

I left my 200 in the sun with my Dometic running for a day or two TOO long, drained the battery. Now, I can't slow charge it, and I can't jump start it. It is completely dead and unresponsive. I don't know what to do. Please help.

I have owned an FJ60 since new for 35 years. I am very experienced at draining a battery and slow charging and jump starting it. Today, I realized I left my 200 in the driveway too long with the Dometic running. I pushed the start button, some dash lights came on, and I heard a rapid clicking. Oh no. I drained the battery. I got out to get my slow charger and volt meter. When I came back the headlights were rapidly flashing, as well as the tail lights. My smart dash board was telling me to bring the key fob closer. I did, and turned off the flashing headlights.

The battery read 5.6 today with my voltmeter. The second, or tandem battery read at 12.5. they are connected with a Blue Sea ML-ACR Automatic Charging Relay. The batteries are both AGM X2Power batteries, about a year old. I made all the connections myself with 0 gauge and 1 gauge battery cable and Slee battery tray and Slee battery cable connectors.

The set up has worked great the past year. But today, after the dead battery, I did notice that my tandem battery was in the off position. Hence the full charge on IT. Putting it in the ON position was no help, like It SHOULD have. My slow charger has been connected for 7 hours and no help from it. I have a very good jump charge box that has jump started my FJ60 more than once. It is at 100 percent. It failed to get my 200 to start.

My 200 is dead. Nothing comes on. And it doesn't respond to any of the above. It makes me wonder if the security systems mobilizer has disabled it.

I SURE AM GLAD I AM FINDING THIS OUT NOW! I take my Cruisers to very very remote places in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. What if this happened out there in the Maze District? I am very disappointed in my 200, my backup systems, and especially disappointed in my self.

Would someone please educate me as to what it is I am doing wrong?

 

[brasskey]

I left my 200 in the sun with my Dometic running for a day or two TOO long, drained the battery. Now, I can't slow charge it, and I can't jump start it. It is completely dead and unresponsive. I don't know what to do. Please help.

I have owned an FJ60 since new for 35 years. I am very experienced at draining a battery and slow charging and jump starting it. Today, I realized I left my 200 in the driveway too long with the Dometic running. I pushed the start button, some dash lights came on, and I heard a rapid clicking. Oh no. I drained the battery. I got out to get my slow charger and volt meter. When I came back the headlights were rapidly flashing, as well as the tail lights. My smart dash board was telling me to bring the key fob closer. I did, and turned off the flashing headlights.

The battery read 5.6 today with my voltmeter. The second, or tandem battery read at 12.5. they are connected with a Blue Sea ML-ACR Automatic Charging Relay. The batteries are both AGM X2Power batteries, about a year old. I made all the connections myself with 0 gauge and 1 gauge battery cable and Slee battery tray and Slee battery cable connectors.

The set up has worked great the past year. But today, after the dead battery, I did notice that my tandem battery was in the off position. Hence the full charge on IT. Putting it in the ON position was no help, like It SHOULD have. My slow charger has been connected for 7 hours and no help from it. I have a very good jump charge box that has jump started my FJ60 more than once. It is at 100 percent. It failed to get my 200 to start.

My 200 is dead. Nothing comes on. And it doesn't respond to any of the above. It makes me wonder if the security systems mobilizer has disabled it.

I SURE AM GLAD I AM FINDING THIS OUT NOW! I take my Cruisers to very very remote places in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. What if this happened out there in the Maze District? I am very disappointed in my 200, my backup systems, and especially disappointed in my self.

Would someone please educate me as to what it is I am doing wrong?

View attachment 2754105

Just a thought. Do you have the newer Slee billet aluminum terminals or the older Slee military terminals with aluminum extensions? If the older ones, check for corrosion between the aluminum extension and the military post (see below).

LC randomly goes dead (no power to car) even with full main battery, also power window issue

I have a 2016 and I can't figure out what's causing some electrical issues. A few months ago, I had my first experience with no main battery power. I went to unlock with remote and LC wasn't responding. Thought it was remote, so I unlocked car with key and no lights came on and car wouldn't...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[ATwoZ]

How many miles on your 16? Wondering if it could be starter?

 

[Markuson]

Just a thought. Do you have the newer Slee billet aluminum terminals or the older Slee military terminals with aluminum extensions? If the older ones, check for corrosion between the aluminum extension and the military post (see below).

LC randomly goes dead (no power to car) even with full main battery, also power window issue

I have a 2016 and I can't figure out what's causing some electrical issues. A few months ago, I had my first experience with no main battery power. I went to unlock with remote and LC wasn't responding. Thought it was remote, so I unlocked car with key and no lights came on and car wouldn't...

forum.ih8mud.com

This.** (about terminal extension above)

**With the older slee terminal extender, clean the surface between the sandwiched layers of metal after removing its little bolts…not just the terminals on the battery. A fouled terminal extension could alsi prevent jump starting if current still has to go through the fouled extender.

But first… Are you getting zero power to ANYTHING (interior lights, dash, etc) when jumping? If so, its not your starter. This would also point to the terminal extender being fouled. I’d wager if you jump, bypassi g the extender, you’ll at least get dash power, lights, etc.

You could also bypass the extender and jump start by connecting the positive to the extender itself…just to see if it turns over. I’ll bet it will.

No jumper handy? Pull the dead main (clean any extender surfaces)…& swap in the aux battery in its place. Try starting.

**If any of this doesn’t make sense or you’re unsure… STOP. Don’t do it. Consider towing it to a dealer.

 

[chris777]

thanks for all your replies.
1. My 200 is a 2018 and has 35,000 miles
2. yes, the vehicle was totally dead. No lights on the dash at all. Battery was at 5.30 volts. Second battery at 12.5 connected by battery switch. turning switch on was no help.
3. I DID have problem with the connection corroding on the Slee Battery extenders shortly after installing them a year ago. Chris Slee said to make my own bypass cables and install them. I did.
4. When I tried to jump it with my jump box. I attached it to those aluminum Slee battery extensions. I actually attached it to the place that must be bypassed by the cable bypasses I made.
5. when I attached the jump box to the accessory posts, immediately, the cruiser beeped, the headlights came on, and my wife started it right up.

Look at photos to get a thorough understanding of what I just wrote.

In the future....
1. I know where to jump start the battery
2. I need to make sure my Blue Sea battery switch is left in the on position
3. I need to be mindful about leaving my Dometic freezer running all the time, especially in the sun, for multiple days without starting it up or putting my solar panel on it.

note: the brown coloration is just the dielectric grease that applied liberally on installation. It has turned brown.

Lingering question:

1. why wasn't I able to start the vehicle AFTER I switched on the Blue Sea Charging Relay? the second battery was at 12.5. why?
2. My 4 amp Battery Tender trickle charger was attached to the auxiliary posts for 15 hours and the battery never read higher than 5.3. Its fuse is not blown.

 

[linuxgod]

2. My 4 amp Battery Tender trickle charger was attached to the auxiliary posts for 15 hours and the battery never read higher than 5.3. Its fuse is not blown.

I can't speak to anything else in this thread, but if your main battery is at 5.3V it's dead dead dead. Even if you manage to charge it fully, it's not going to hold a charge. Once you get below ~11.5V the plates start to sulfate. I once drained a 100Ah marine battery on my camping trailer to 10.8V and upon recharge it had maybe 30A of life in it, but whenever I put a few Amp of load on it (like turning on the interior lights or running the water pump for a few seconds) the voltage would drop by ~0.6V (from 12.6V or 12.7V down to about 12.0 or 12.1V). Normally it's ~0.1V impact.

Side question: are you sure it's really pushing 4A into that battery? TBH I don't think there's any charge you'll apply to bring it back but I've heard sometimes if you drop the battery onto concrete it'll break some of the sulfation off the plates and then if you do an equalize charge (15V) for a few hours you might be able to recover some of the capacity. In any case you'd be much better off letting your alternator apply a ~30A charge to it than trying to trickle charge it back to life.

 

[kcjaz]

4. When I tried to jump it with my jump box. I attached it to those aluminum Slee battery extensions. I actually attached it to the place that must be bypassed by the cable bypasses I made.
5. when I attached the jump box to the accessory posts, immediately, the cruiser beeped, the headlights came on, and my wife started it right up.

Very interesting, though frustrating if happening to you, thread. I which I had some useful knowledge to share. I am perplexed by the same question you have but I really don't understand why the jump pack worked when connected to the accessory terminal but not the main terminal. Is your starter connected to your accessory terminal. If so, I guess that and some kind of corrosion on the main terminal is the reason? Or maybe some of the ignition electronics get power off the accessory terminal?

Watching this to learn...

 

[indycole]

Once you get the acute issue sorted out, I'd suggest searching within some of the other dual battery threads for setups that work well with the 2016+. Essentially, it's impossible to keep a single AGM happy with just the Blue Sea ACR (or solenoid based solutions) let alone two. The stock charging system will never get an AGM to 100% without assistance from solar or a battery charger. Most likely, both your batteries have been undercharged for quite some time... factor in the added resistance from the battery terminals and the recent refrigerator probably killed the battery like @linuxgod said. There's some chance that you can bring it back to life with a decent conditioning system (Optima makes a good one) but it'll never be the same.

Here are some primary battery setups that work well for the 2016+ (prior models can get away with an AGM plus a diode-based hack that pumps more voltage into the battery... this doesn't work on the 2016+ models).

• Primary FLA in stock size 27F up to Group 31
• Primary AGM + battery maintainer nightly/weekly/maybe monthly
• Primary AGM + solar

If a second battery is important to you then consider the following options:

• A secondary FLA either matched with the primary with no additional componentry or any other FLA isolated by a Blue Sea ACR or smart-ish solenoid at a minimum
• Any AGM or Lithium combined to the main charging system via a DCDC charger with proper charging profiles
• Any AGM or Lithium with a solar charger (can also combine with the option above)

 

[Markuson]

thanks for all your replies.
1. My 200 is a 2018 and has 35,000 miles
2. yes, the vehicle was totally dead. No lights on the dash at all. Battery was at 5.30 volts. Second battery at 12.5 connected by battery switch. turning switch on was no help.
3. I DID have problem with the connection corroding on the Slee Battery extenders shortly after installing them a year ago. Chris Slee said to make my own bypass cables and install them. I did.
4. When I tried to jump it with my jump box. I attached it to those aluminum Slee battery extensions. I actually attached it to the place that must be bypassed by the cable bypasses I made.
5. when I attached the jump box to the accessory posts, immediately, the cruiser beeped, the headlights came on, and my wife started it right up.

Look at photos to get a thorough understanding of what I just wrote.

In the future....
1. I know where to jump start the battery
2. I need to make sure my Blue Sea battery switch is left in the on position
3. I need to be mindful about leaving my Dometic freezer running all the time, especially in the sun, for multiple days without starting it up or putting my solar panel on it.

note: the brown coloration is just the dielectric grease that applied liberally on installation. It has turned brown.

Lingering question:

1. why wasn't I able to start the vehicle AFTER I switched on the Blue Sea Charging Relay? the second battery was at 12.5. why?
2. My 4 amp Battery Tender trickle charger was attached to the auxiliary posts for 15 hours and the battery never read higher than 5.3. Its fuse is not blown.

View attachment 2754240

View attachment 2754241

View attachment 2754242

What Cole said.

You probably don’t have bypass cables as Cole does, but Cole’s bypass cable photo helps show where you might connect a jump start cable (+) if you try again. So you’d be getting current to basically the spot where Cole’s extra cable bridges to (past the slee extender).

Also suspect your main battery is basically toast at the voltage you mentioned.

 

[Markuson]

If you determine that the slee extenders are too fiddly (and prone to fouling)… Slee now makes these now (although this is an earlier prototype). They eliminate the stacked metal and are super solid. The final version just tweaks the tightening bolt and a could other minor changes…

 

[TeCKis300]

The hive mind steps up again and provides brilliant troubleshooting guidance. Gotta love this forum.

2. My 4 amp Battery Tender trickle charger was attached to the auxiliary posts for 15 hours and the battery never read higher than 5.3. Its fuse is not blown.

There's a possibility here that the battery failed with an internal short. Definitely everything that @indycole said as those are the primary contributors, but one of the potential effects of sulfation is internal shorts between cells. Hence the low voltage reading.

As for next steps, you may be able to warranty the batt. But until the architectural and compatibility issue of the battery type is resolved, it'll happen again in time.