Traxide Help

[Alex M]

I've had my traxide dual battery installed for about 6 weeks. I took it on a week long road trip with my fridge hooked up the entire time with no issues.

Out of the blue this morning I turned the car on to move it out of my garage. I had it on for about 30 seconds before turning it off. 2 minutes later I went to restart it and it was completely dead. The LED light on the in cab traxide switch was still lit. I flipped it to the up position to try and jub the starter battery,but that did not work.

I didn't have time to do any thorough troubleshooting, like checking the battery with a volt meter, so I just jumped it with my microstart.

Any ideas on what the issue could be? I checked both batteries and everything seems to be tight.

Thanks for any input.

 

[perkj]

Sounds to me like your primary battery needs replacement. Check the volts while cranking/starting the car. If it drops below 11v the battery is toast

 

[Alex M]

That's correct. It was away from the light for normal operation and towards it when I tried to jump it. It didn't do anything, but the main battery jumped just fine with the microstart, which leads me to think there is something wrong with the setup and not just the battery.

 

[Alex M]

The battery is 5 months old, so I hope not, but yea I'll have to do a volt check. Again with the secondary battery failing to jump it, I think something else may be wrong.

 

[Alex M]

Thanks. Yea I will have to double check my connections. If only there was a way to verify that everything is functioning properly once it's setup, instead of waiting for things to go wrong at the most inopportune times.

 

[perkj]

How long in days was the car sitting before you started and ran it for 30 sec and then turned it off? Also which traxide do you have SB80 or USI160? If the 160 which mode was it in? You said the primary battery is 5 month old...what brand and group type is it? How old is the aux battery and what brand and group? When you let the car sit do you have it on a charger? Had you been opening and closing and/or unlocking and locking the doors a lot during the time the car was sitting right before this happened? Any chance your air suspension has a slow leak?

Where I'm going is that the lr3 always has a draw on the battery, more than most cars. Locking/unlocking as well as opening/closing the doors wakes the car up each time which adds even more draw. A slight suspension leak will cause the lr3 to constantly try to relevel keeping the eas ecu to wake more often. If the car was sitting for say a week the battery will be low. A quick start and stop on a low battery and not allowing it to charge is taxing on the battery. If you had the batteries joined all the time ie share mode then both will end up low.

 

[unseenone]

It sounds like he has the 160. I don't think it matters how old the battery is, particularly if it is an Interstate. I would suggest the voltage meter with the truck off, and again with it on. It could also be a bad alternator, starter, etc. While it's possible the Traxide has a problem, it would be the first one I have heard of if it did.

To eliminate questions, eliminate the Traxide while testing by disconnecting it from the primary battery while doing the tests.

 

[ColoDisco]

How I test a isolated battery setup, check charging voltage with a DVOM at the primary battery after starting. Turn off the vehicle. Connect the DVOM to the secondary battery and start again, if you have a delayed solenoid then wait for it to click on and check charging voltage. Secondary battery may have a lower charging voltage due to amp loss based on cable length but should still be close.

As for draw that is totally different. You need to safely hook up your DVOM in amp mode between the primary positive cable and primary battery positive terminal. Latch the hood latch on the passenger side ( that's where the alarm micro switch is located) then close up and lock the car with the remote. I believe the hazard switch light will stay illuminated until it goes to sleep. Your amp draw should drop down to sleep mode once this happens.

Does your horn go off when you arm your vehicle? If so there is a bad latch somewhere that the alarm module is not reading as closed. It should also be triggering a fault or possible be logged in the alarm trigger history.

One more thing. Check your battery grounds on the chassis. Make sure their clean and tight.

 

[unseenone]

Well stated. I'd note, my voltage loss is 0.01v or less typically. It is tricky sorting it out because there are loads on both batteries all the time.

 

[dsm02c]

FWIW, my usi 160 solenoid was labeled upside down and initially I had it connected wrong, the LED behaved funny due to this. Not sure if that's your issue, as even when connected wrong it should still allow it to charge but that is worth looking at. Tim is helpful when you get him on the phone... But my kit didn't come with any istructions and he has updated the wiring to the in cab module from the version you can find online...