2 Week old Truck is Dead on Driveway - Running Boards Draining Battery?

[rlc2020]

FCA Canada contacted me and backed up the Dealership’s suggestion that if I don’t deploy the running boards I shouldn’t have an issue. They closed my case file so I can’t even discuss it with them. Wow. So if a part on your truck isn’t working don’t use it and it‘s considered fixed.

Not sure what to do next?

Same answer I just got regarding a separate issue. My advice. Deploy the boards every night, have a dead battery every morning. They will lemon law the truck after 3 or 4 separate trips to have it fixed. Problem solved.

 

[2019Ram64]

I also have oem installed power running boards. However I have never deployed them myself via the screen. Why would I do that when I can open a door and they go down for me. Anyways I have had a dead battery and stuck on cluster many times. I would say 9/10 times it has happened I was alone. No passenger side deployment. No manual deployment. Nothing. Just a vehicle that won’t go to sleep. As it should.
First off this occurrence of a dead battery does not only exist on trucks equipped with power running Boards. I have tried every possible method listed by all those who think they have figure out why it does what it does to no avail.
So far I’ve seen trucks have dead batteries with and without power steps. With and without 12” screen. And a small portion of them had physically bad batteries where a gr8 battery tester says replace battery in minutes instead of trying to charge it for hours before testing.

I will say this though. Due to speculation of the RFH hub which controls the ignition I swapped it out. I have not noticed an active cluster after shutdown since then


One other thing I can say is there has been numerous updates since original public release on the bcm and rfh hub. My original bcm was AC now it’s AG And they aren’t just software updates because if that were the case the updates would be available via witech which I can promise you they aren’t. So the current software may not be compatible with older hardware which is why it’s not just a Flash update.

as well as I have tested mytruck for a parasitic draw and found out the radio draws just over 2 amps. Thats pretty substantial. If you remove the radio fuse from the inside fuse box the draw goes from 2.2 amps to .040 After a few minutes
or something like that. Can’t recall exact numbers. So if I had any guess as to what module was keeping things awake I’d say it was the radio. I don’t know what module is on what node address or I’d do a can trace to try and see what modules are not stopping chatter.
However like I said above since the RFH hub replacement I haven’t walked out to a dead or low battery since.
The comment of don’t use the boards to prevent the drain is just dumb And not very smart.

 

[maroc]

I finally tracked down my dead battery to the running boards as well. It only happens in a very specific sequence.

1. Trucked parked and running
2. Passenger opens the door and running board deploys
3. Passenger closes the door and running board retracts
4. While board is retracting press the "Deploy" button from the control menu
5. Turn off truck

When I follow this sequence the back light on the dash never goes off. The dash screen may be blank or it may show the push brake to start message. Retracting the boards or putting the truck in drive fixes it. I suspect it will also happen with the drivers door and the truck probably doesn't have to be running for it to happen, the key I think is deploying the boards while one is retracting.

 

[pensfan]

Two reasons I would never buy a Limited, air suspension and power side steps.
However, if I owned a Limited I would either replace them with fixed boards or when they are deployed, pull the power to them so they stay deployed.

 

[maroc]

Two reasons I would never buy a Limited, air suspension and power side steps.
However, if I owned a Limited I would either replace them with fixed boards or when they are deployed, pull the power to them so they stay deployed.

I'm not a fan of the power side steps. They are too slow for me and annoying when you are opening the door and not actually getting in or out of the truck which is why I frequently use the "deploy" function that was killing my battery. If they had a mode that would deploy and stay deployed when you shfit into park and only retract when you shift into gear and start moving, they would not be too bad.

I would replace them with fixed boards but I'm sure that voids the warranty or some nonsense.

 

[MJP]

I'm not a fan of the power side steps. They are too slow for me and annoying when you are opening the door and not actually getting in or out of the truck which is why I frequently use the "deploy" function that was killing my battery. If they had a mode that would deploy and stay deployed when you shfit into park and only retract when you shift into gear and start moving, they would not be too bad.

I would replace them with fixed boards but I'm sure that voids the warranty or some nonsense.

I absolutely love mine. I know they aren’t for everyone. They are the perfect height to step into the truck unlike most fixed boards that are too high IMO. I also love the tucked away look instead of the fixed 2x4 look of standard boards. I get that the added power feature creates the problem of more stuff to break but to me it’s a trade off.