Full Size Jeep Network

Hey all

Since I am not daily driving my Wagoneer now days, I have noticed that when I do hop in for a town run, the battery is run down and I get about 3 tries to start it before it just peters out. It's a new battery as of last year and alternator is new... (alternator went out, changed both) I pulled it out, charged it and tested with my voltmeter and it held the charge fine over the last week or so. Put it back in, check voltmeter before bed and again the end of the next day and it is losing power.

I have been toying with the idea of installing a Kill Switch since hunting down the problem would take me a lot longer then the hour to install a work around. I know, it's the lazy way out but man... tracking down something like that is just so dang time consuming and frustrating. I am more busy now that everyone else is sheltered at home than I was before...

Anyone know a good kill switch? I am thinking of a switch in the glovebox instead of the massive switch I have seen.

Thanks!

Well, if you put it in the glove box, it means you need to run battery cables into the glove box. The better solution is to put it under the hood next to the battery.

Something like this should do what you need. You make make a mounting bracket out of sheet metal or something and screw it to the fender: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum- ... gIQ6_D_BwE

On the other hand, you can start narrowing down the culprit by pulling a fuse and seeing if it stops.

You can use the ammeter setting on your multimeter to look for battery draining while sitting. Disconnect either battery cable and measure between the cable and battery. Be careful - the battery holds huge amperage and your multimeter is for measuring milliamps of current. If there's no drain and the battery goes flat, you likely have a bad battery. A faulty alternator can also drain the battery while sitting - you'll detect that with your multimeter. BTDT.

Rather than the kill switch, I suggest you buy a battery maintainer and leave that in place during the week. You can buy a device that can stay under the hood and have a waterproof plug that dangles out of the hood crack. Park and plug in, or unplug and go.