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Thread: battery saver mode?

  1. Top Of Page | #21

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    battery saver mode?

    Quote Originally Posted by TH-64 View Post
    That's probably your grid heater cycling on and off when the engine is cold.

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    This is after it is running and I am driving. Does the grid heater run after the engine starts?


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    2015 RAM 3500 Longhorn CC SB SRW White Cummins Aisin with 5th wheel package
    ARE cap on order
    hunting for a chrome winch bumper
    need to add clearance lights
    Want Rigid Adapt driving lights

  2. Top Of Page | #22
    Basic Member eh_edred's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    So I got answers. It is the grid heaters. They say there are 2; one for air intake and the other for the rad. Also heaters for fuel and def as needed. The voltage drops are all normal functioning operation due to the draw of these heaters. Do not waste your time with this one too much. Definitely do not replace your batteries without a proper load test. The majority of these trucks must not do this, as my dealer had no clue what was going on.

    I will I’ll post more info as I learn it. My next questions are; what functions does the truck omit during battery saver mode, and does it omit any if the truck is operating at 14V, but will remain in battery saver mode due to the voltage drop at power up?

    its still not comforting to have the idle up activated so early in cold weather. I’m a thermal expansion nut case. I really like that it waites 30-60 seconds most of the time in cold weather. I suppose it’s still only 1100 rpm @ -25 Celsius or more. My good friend at parts counter says to make sure you run 5W40 in the cold or risk making this happen worse.

    These answers came directly from Cummins according to the dealership I deal with.

    P.S. cold weather is a witch!


  3. Top Of Page | #23

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    Quote Originally Posted by eh_edred View Post
    So I got answers. It is the grid heaters. They say there are 2; one for air intake and the other for the rad. Also heaters for fuel and def as needed. The voltage drops are all normal functioning operation due to the draw of these heaters. Do not waste your time with this one too much. Definitely do not replace your batteries without a proper load test. The majority of these trucks must not do this, as my dealer had no clue what was going on.

    I will I’ll post more info as I learn it. My next questions are; what functions does the truck omit during battery saver mode, and does it omit any if the truck is operating at 14V, but will remain in battery saver mode due to the voltage drop at power up?

    its still not comforting to have the idle up activated so early in cold weather. I’m a thermal expansion nut case. I really like that it waites 30-60 seconds most of the time in cold weather. I suppose it’s still only 1100 rpm @ -25 Celsius or more. My good friend at parts counter says to make sure you run 5W40 in the cold or risk making this happen worse.

    These answers came directly from Cummins according to the dealership I deal with.

    P.S. cold weather is a witch!
    What’s a rad?

    What is battery saver mode?



    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

    2015 RAM 3500 Longhorn CC SB SRW White Cummins Aisin with 5th wheel package
    ARE cap on order
    hunting for a chrome winch bumper
    need to add clearance lights
    Want Rigid Adapt driving lights

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  5. Top Of Page | #24
    Basic Member eh_edred's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    The rad is the radiator. Battery saver mode is a precautionary function. It will omit certain things until your charging system has caught up to the draws. You should not be having power fluctuations once you start driving. Max 5 minutes I would say. If you are still fluctuating after your engine is warm I would think you need one or both alternators replaced.

    I had had a new on installed on my truck under warranty, which was absolutely pointless. They were just throwing parts at it. They had no Idea what was happening. Lmao.


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  7. Top Of Page | #25
    TexNeck's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynx0849 View Post
    This is after it is running and I am driving. Does the grid heater run after the engine starts?


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    The grid heater will cycle until temp is 160*F - Its not cold here relatively speaking in TX - I run 5w40 and if it cooler than 40*F I use my cruise control to kick up idle RPM. Truck is warm wihin about 5 minutes. Sounds great with the EB on as well (which helps warm it faster)

    2013 Ram 2500
    John 3:16 - Philippians 4:13

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  9. Top Of Page | #26

    Re: battery saver mode?

    I have a 2015 with 84k miles. I've had the truck for 3 winters now. I've not seen this message before this year. In September of 2018, I replaced both batteries with AGM replacements (local Fleet Farm store). So for me, I began seeing the message a few months after the battery replacement. I usually have 12v + on the truck when I start it, as I back out of my garage, voltage will jump to 14v+. Batteries are good and have been tested. Only happens when it's fairly cold. Everyone I've talked to states this is normal. My truck has been like this since the day I got it. It's just this winter that I see the Battery Saver Mode message. I like it about as much as I like people telling me I'm stupid for deleting my truck.

    It drives me crazy, but I'm doing my best to ignore it. It doesn't seem to cause any issue other than pissing me off.

    Andre '15 6.7L, MC, Silver, 4" BDS 4-Link, Fox 2.0s

  10. Top Of Page | #27
    TexNeck's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    Quote Originally Posted by SavageNFS View Post
    I have a 2015 with 84k miles. I've had the truck for 3 winters now. I've not seen this message before this year. In September of 2018, I replaced both batteries with AGM replacements (local Fleet Farm store). So for me, I began seeing the message a few months after the battery replacement. I usually have 12v + on the truck when I start it, as I back out of my garage, voltage will jump to 14v+. Batteries are good and have been tested. Only happens when it's fairly cold. Everyone I've talked to states this is normal. My truck has been like this since the day I got it. It's just this winter that I see the Battery Saver Mode message. I like it about as much as I like people telling me I'm stupid for deleting my truck.



    It drives me crazy, but I'm doing my best to ignore it. It doesn't seem to cause any issue other than pissing me off.
    Same goes for me....I will be having DRD remove grid heater code once I have some other upgrades done. These trucks will start in the cold no problem. They will be a little grumpy when cold but the heater is really more an emissions deal than anything

    2013 Ram 2500
    John 3:16 - Philippians 4:13

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  11. Top Of Page | #28
    Basic Member eh_edred's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    I’m going to experiment with plugging in block heater this week. In southern Ontario this week it will hit near -30 Celsius overnight. I’m interested to see if voltage and idle up act normal if engine is somewhat warmed.

    I previoisly owned an eco diesel (mistake!). They have absolutely no cold weather protection added to the engine start up in cold weather (has air intake heater for sure, but no idle control). I would use block heater to control the idle rpm at start up. Without block heather it would be near 2000rpm at the turn of the key like a 4 banger without ample oil coverage. This is likely why these engines were blowing bearings (videos online, guy in Saskatchewan).

    My my theory is that this may help the Cummins as well, control the voltage upon start up because the heaters should not have to work so hard and thus control the rpm of the engine.

    I realize that the traditional use for block heater is to assist with extreme cold cranking.
    My truck is having no issue with Turing over.

    I should have more answers from ram this week as to what is omitted in battery saver mode and if the code can be reprogrammed to activate at a lower voltage than already programmed. As they state; this is normal operation, so reprogram peoples trucks so they don’t see this dumb message.


  12. Top Of Page | #29
    Basic Member eh_edred's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    So the block heater experiment was as expected. The engine idle up worked normally which was the biggest advantage. However, the heat generated from the block heater was not enough to satisfy the grid heaters. So that means even with plugging truck in overnight I still get battery saver mode alarm.

    The current temperature is about zero Celsius average at the moment. We will see how she starts today.

    Im also still waiting for answers from my dealership about this and whether system can be reprogrammed.


  13. Top Of Page | #30
    Basic Member eh_edred's Avatar

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    Re: battery saver mode?

    So after several months, several trips to two dealerships I still don’t have a solution and I feel the issue is presenting itself in different ways now.

    I’m interested to know if anyone has paid attention to how their idle up features work during cold starts, warm starts, etc. I’m fairly certain that the idle up should be activating anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds after the key has been turned. About 2 minutes maximum I would say.

    In the winter time, when battery saver mode first presented itself, at times my idle up would activate nearly immediately after turning the key. I feel this is fairly detrimental to the engine in cold weather (-10 Celsius or colder). Dealerships both say this is normal operation for the electrical system of the truck to combat the power draw from the grid heaters. I feel that the electrical issues it’s presenting through battery saver mode are also affecting my engine idle up. One dealership replaced my IBS sensor, which is mounted directly on your positive battery post, which seem to rectify the battery saver mode issue up to about 80%. I would still see the battery saver mode message periodically, usually coinciding with a rough cold start (Engine labors while cranking over)

    Now that the weather is warming up my idle up is not activating at all at times. The truck did not behave this way brand new and I only have 25,000 km on it. I don’t understand how things could’ve changed that much in one year. My beef with it not idling up is I feel it’s detrimental to the engine as well As the exhaust system. I believe it is there to increase your combustion chamber temperature as well as keep the temperature of your exhaust At an appropriate temperature to burn off residual diesel. The dealership basically says that I’m being over analytical and let the truck be the truck.

    I am no expert, I am just a tool maker. But I feel I have a little bit of understanding of how things should work and operate. As a curse of my trade, yes I can be over analytical. But this is also my investment and I want it to last.

    If anyone out there can relate to this, or if you think I’m completely crazy and wrong, or if you know the proper way to treat this thing when starting it, or things to add two reasons why these systems are in place Please reply.


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