Power leak

[Komrade]

I left the sPod disconnected overnight. The van was a lot happier starting this morning. The voltage drop seems to have been minimal.

I put the key into aux and measured voltage on the 7-pin trailer connection, which based on information shared and linked earlier in the thread is supposed to be connected to "house" (aux) battery.

Voltage was higher than main battery (12.9V, while under the hood battery was 12.1V or so). I think this should rule out a potential jumper issue (which my understanding would only be an issue if somebody added a battery and did not remove the jumper.. or somebody at factory forgot). Looks like the 'house' battery is charging appropriately, and is not connected to the main system when van is off, so relay mentioned earlier must be working correctly.

Found this somebody on Jeep forums having similar issue:
Spod continual power draw.

and can reproduce, although my draw is 12mA

If I pull the the 2A fuse that is described in the thread as one protecting the voltage controller, sPOD still works, but draw goes away.

I'll be calling sPOD soon.

[VtSoundman]

I was just going to mention that posting on the Jeep forums..and that is not just isolated to that single forum. There have been various reports floating up about sPods drawing current 24x7 ...
and I have diagnosed one as well. That board should be fully potted and using high temp components...for those prices, it is a little sily that it doesn't have a higher IP rating.

[Scalf77]

It might be nice if they actually produced a specification sheet also. At least I couldn't find one, ( I didn't really try hard though, but I shouldn't have to).
They have to have some continuous current draw, for a minimum the low voltage cut off circuit.

-greg

[Komrade]

I did leave sPOD connected overnight w/ fuse pulled
12.4V (eve) to 12.2V (morn) drop.
Not sure how normal it is.. but seems consistent with previous night when sPOD was disconnected completely.
I did call sPOD yesterday. They requested a picture of circuit board. Haven't heard back yet.
I agree. I found very little documentation on what it should draw (spec sheet), and it's not in their FAQ. The forum link above claimed it should draw nothing, and I tend to agree.

[86Scotty]

I think you've found your problem but created another one in the process. I'm betting this issue has killed your batteries. I bet if you had fresh, hot batteries the drop overnight without the Spod/fuse or whatever would be nil.

[Komrade]

If the starting battery is shot, the aux battery should be OK.
It would make it an easier decision to invest in a large bank for house battery (thread referenced above had der1 member put two AGM batteries sideways for 200amphour bank) + solar (and move aux battery to starting as the two are identical)

P.S.
Found another thread on another jeep forum that talks about "high pitch sound"

https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f96/...82/index3.html

Hi, I just finished installing my Spod and it works but when I turn everything off, including the engine, I keep hearing this low pitch whining noise form the Spod. It sounds like a capacitor. It only goes away when I disconnect the 2A fuse to Spod. I'm not sure if this a problem or is it just normal. Any ideas? Thanks

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by Komrade

I did leave sPOD connected overnight w/ fuse pulled
12.4V (eve) to 12.2V (morn) drop. Not sure how normal it is.

12.4V at the start is really low and ending at 12.2 is considered just about dead. 12.4 is about 50% of a full charge, while 12.2 is as low as 40% of a full charge. If you can't obtain something like 12.6v to 12.8v (resting voltage) after a full charge, and sustain something close to that voltage overnight with the battery disconnected, you most certainly need new batteries.

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/...tate_of_charge

[carringb]

Originally Posted by Komrade

Voltage was higher than main battery (12.9V, while under the hood battery was 12.1V or so). I think this should rule out a potential jumper issue (which my understanding would only be an issue if somebody added a battery and did not remove the jumper..

I agree. You wouldn't see higher voltage if the jumper were still installed.

BTW - you should see trailer battery charge voltage with key-off as well, having the aux battery option. (It is key-only operation without the aux battery).

With all that... it looks like you Aux battery is in great shape, but your starting battery is weak. It should read ~12.5 if it were in good shape. It's probably been damaged by being discharged too deep.

[Komrade]

Got a call from Cindy from sPOD. She seemed a little reluctant to ack there was a problem, but after hearing the unit was making a sound, agreed to issue an RMA and return it for testing.

She mentioned this is an older board and that they don't use the 'white relay' anymore. To me that was an indirect confirmation of known issue of this part.

She mentioned I should have disconnected + instead of - (or maybe both?). That seemed counter-intuitive to me, because a loose negative wire can't create a short by touching body/ground, but a loose positive can. I didn't quiz her on that further.

Irrelevant to above, but also learned that all uJoint ordered sPODs come with green lense switches.

edit: got a call back by JR regarding RMA, and a service charge will apply to fix as "likely out of warranty" (it is) and "warranty is not transferable since you bought it used". if it is $45 or so as they mention, no biggie. Hopefully I get a higher quality part.

[Komrade]

Picture of my board in case anybody will want to compare