Etorque or battery issue

[RamIam99]

Got a 2020 Ram 1500 Limited with about 95K miles. Etorque went out and replaced with dealer adding the vin for the Etorque to the commuter 3 weeks ago. Been having voltage problems at the engine start battery less than 12 volts. Recharge the battery and it operators for 1-3 days with no problems then the battery seems to drain. Checked parasitic drain with a ammeter off the negative and get .01mA, not bad. Test the battery for start, crank, and charging, all good. Don't understand why the battery voltage while driving shows around 14 volts then all of a sudden its low. Truck never sits more than over night. Drove back from 650 mile trip, no problems. Took the battery back to Walmart and they tested as good also. Seems to have an intermittent problems keeping the engine battery charged. Anyone have similar issues or recommendations? Seems like if its running the Etorque should keep the voltage on the display around 14 volts but when the battery is low it is displaying 12 volts inside and not increasing when driving the truck.

 

[John Kloehr]

Maybe a loose ground or power lead at a power distribution (fuse) box. A good wiggle of both ends of the main power and ground cables might find the problem pretty quick.

The lowest voltage I ever expect to see on the dash is 13.2V. This would be with a good battery at near full charge after several hours of continuous highway driving.

Otherwise anything up to 14.7V on startup is in the good range. I rarely see below 14.1V at any point as most of my drives are 10 to 30 minutes long.

Remaining thoughts are these trucks having smart charging/state of charge sensing. Check that little two-wire connector on the battery shunt (negative battery terminal). Vehicle voltage may also drop (still in the above ranges) sooner than expected and rise again later if the smart charger senses too fast a charge rate (battery running hot). It also takes a day or so for the state of charge level to stabilize and reset after any battery disconnect. Still should stay in the reasonable range for running voltage.