A while back I went out to my Jeep and found it was dead as a doornail:
Having dealt with a random dead battery in the past I suspected bad battery cables. It's a known problem on Jeeps since the OEM lead terminals are cast around the main power and ground wires making them prone to pulling out. Coupled with an off-pavement vehicle that sees messy terrain it's not uncommon for corrosion to spread like wildfire down the wires.
Time for a new battery and some new cables:
Just what I was afraid of:
JUNK!
Keep in mind the Jeep was 10 years old with 140k miles on it when I got it in 2014. These pictures were taken about a year later with an additional 10k miles on it. Probably should have checked these sooner rather than later.
The new cables. Notice the lovely heat shrink and labels:
A full writeup with additional photos and information on the custom battery cable install can be found here.
Most recently I came to the conclusion it was time to upgrade from standard lead-acid batteries (wet) to an AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery in both the Jeep and the trailer. As such I scored a deal with Odyssey Batteries for three of their Group 34/78 1500 series batteries. Before going to them I did compare them to other popular Group 34/78 AGM batteries. I was most interested in power to weight, power to size, and power to cost ratios.
Out with the old; In with the new:
New battery with the previously installed new cables (2 years old at this point):
A full writeup with additional photos and information on the battery install can be found here.
Having dealt with a random dead battery in the past I suspected bad battery cables. It's a known problem on Jeeps since the OEM lead terminals are cast around the main power and ground wires making them prone to pulling out. Coupled with an off-pavement vehicle that sees messy terrain it's not uncommon for corrosion to spread like wildfire down the wires.
Time for a new battery and some new cables:
Just what I was afraid of:
JUNK!
Keep in mind the Jeep was 10 years old with 140k miles on it when I got it in 2014. These pictures were taken about a year later with an additional 10k miles on it. Probably should have checked these sooner rather than later.
The new cables. Notice the lovely heat shrink and labels:
A full writeup with additional photos and information on the custom battery cable install can be found here.
Most recently I came to the conclusion it was time to upgrade from standard lead-acid batteries (wet) to an AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery in both the Jeep and the trailer. As such I scored a deal with Odyssey Batteries for three of their Group 34/78 1500 series batteries. Before going to them I did compare them to other popular Group 34/78 AGM batteries. I was most interested in power to weight, power to size, and power to cost ratios.
Out with the old; In with the new:
New battery with the previously installed new cables (2 years old at this point):
A full writeup with additional photos and information on the battery install can be found here.
