2013 Chevy Equinox Battery Dying.

[darbyjudy]

I have a 2016 Equinox and I was having the same problem. A friend got me straight. He told me that when I put the key in accessory position and pulled the fuse I should not get the ding ding ding. Well I was getting it. I had a switch that disconnected the fuse and instead of disconnecting it I was turning it on. So mow I make sure I don't get the ding and that solved the problem

[NXR]

First, you do NOT need "an auxiliary battery charger". A simple connection to the motorhome's DC power is fine. The motorhome's alternator will keep the system around 13.5 to 14 volts and that is all you need.

That's all I have on a 2020 Equinox. 14 AWG wire from the 6-pin connector directly to the battery bus bar with a 20 amp inline fuse at the bus bar. The ground wire also is 14 AWG from the 6-pin connector to the shock tower ground lug near the battery.

Why 14 AWG and not 12 AWG? It's what the RVi Towed Battery Charger I originally installed used.

GM used to specifically recommend the RVi charger, which I actually installed on my 2020 Equinox. But the RVi charger's design did not allow it to work with the standard AGM battery so my Equinox battery had 8 amps coming out and barely 3 amps going back in. RVi eventually made a note on their Towed Battery Charger product page that it could not be used with AGM batteries. I ended sending the product back and just jumpering the wiring and it worked.

You have a wiring problem somewhere, either insufficient gauge (size) or something else.

As one person suggested, a self-resetting circuit breaker, as Etrailer likes to sell, can be tripping, resetting, and tripping continuously. Heck, the video I watched from Etrailer had them grounding the ground wire near the taillights rather than up front which would keep the ground wire short. WTH?

I know my Equinox can take up to 40 amps in charge current for a minute or so when the battery is low. If you have a 15 amp self-resetting breaker on your charge line AND wiring to support 40 amps, yes, that self-resetting breaker is going to keep tripping, cooling down and resetting, and tripping again. Not good.

I know my Ford F53 has a 30 amp fuse on the charge line going to the 7-pin so no way is it ever going to deliver 40 amps.

Ray

[Windward]

Lots of good suggestions and things to check out in the wiring. I do have a clamp on amp meter so I'll spend some time checking it out. My 2013 per the updated GM service bulletin keeps the electronic steering energized while towing which must be a big drain on the battery. FMCA forum has a good thread on the Equinox and battery charging https://community.fmca.com/topic/117...-2017-terrain/

There is discussion of the RVi towed battery charger but again there is ground issues that were the root of the problem. Need to spend time with the volt meter!

[Skip Y]

Having the same problem now with my 2015 Equinox. Here's the difference - originally pulled the Discrete Logic (dcl) Fuse and towed for 3-4 days without a problem. However had an occasional death wobble. went to 'Death Wobble Fix' where I left dcl fuse in and pull ABS fuse and the battery went dead overnight!. Replaced dcs fuse for rest of trip and battery recharged (p.s., it was a brand new battery)! Looks like I'll be pulling both the ABS and the dcl fuse from now on

[lllkrob]

For those of you towing a 4cyl Equinox with a keyed ignition there is a simple work around for this problem. Take a couple of moderately long bungee cords and hook one end under the front edge of the driver's seat frame and loop the cords around the bottom of the steering wheel two or three times and back down to the seat frame with the remaining ends. Now start the car, put the trans in neutral, release the parking brake, and turn the ignition to the OFF position, DO NOT REMOVE THE KEY. the steering will stay unlocked as long as the key is not removed from the ignition. The Discreet Logic (#32) fuse will need to be removed or bypassed to allow the ignition to be turned off while in neutral. The bungee cords will keep a centering force on the steering to eliminate the wobble and the ignition being off removes battery drain. If you need 12v for a brake box, the power port in the rear cargo compartment is always hot. So you will have to make a extended cord to reach the front. If your battery is in good condition it will power your brake box for a full days towing.

[Windward]

NXR
I spent some time with multimeter today and have found issues to fix. I checked voltages as you nicely outlined. There was no voltage drop on the positive or negative sides through pigtail with no load. I did find the factory pigtail from Roadmaster had loose wires at the small 6 wire car end. Cut off and redid plug. I tested again and saw a voltage drop when a 10 amp load is placed on power wire. All looks good up to coach plug where voltage drop is still present without car connected. I have fuses in the right rear bay for trailer wiring but those are fed from somewhere up the line in the chassis. I'll spend some time tracking for a while but will probably just install a new 12 ga wire directly to the chassis battery that is 3' away. I suspect another one of the crappy modular plugs Country Coach used extensively throughout the chassis is the culprit.

As for the car and amperage readings...... when configured for towing with fuse 16 removed, everything off including even brake unit, it has 5 amps draw off the battery. Without an outside power supply it is no wonder it drains the battery. Not sure what the electric assist steering takes as you pull it down the road? I pulled fuse 32 which kills the accessories/logic and amperage draw drops to under 0.5 amps. Not wanting to incur the death wobble I'll stick with figuring my power supply problem out.

I've got some more work to chase down loose power wire on coach chassis so more to come.

[NXR]

There was no voltage drop on the positive or negative sides through pigtail with no load.

A load is what causes the voltage drop because the wiring and connections act as resistors. You cannot have a voltage drop without a load. That's why the car needs hooked up and configured for towing.

I did find the factory pigtail from Roadmaster had loose wires at the small 6 wire car end. Cut off and redid plug.

Good, future problem fixed.

I tested again and saw a voltage drop when a 10 amp load is placed on power wire.

Getting close! How much was the voltage drop on the charging line and on the ground line?

All looks good up to coach plug where voltage drop is still present without car connected.

Something is being missed. A voltage drop cannot happen without a load. Presuming you're using a modern digital meter and not a 1920's moving coil meter, something is drawing current to cause that voltage drop. It could be corrosion inside a connector that is bleeding power to ground but something has to be pulling current.

I have fuses in the right rear bay for trailer wiring but those are fed from somewhere up the line in the chassis. I'll spend some time tracking for a while but will probably just install a new 12 ga wire directly to the chassis battery that is 3' away.

On the off chance you really did mean "directly", you must have a fuse as close to the power source (the battery) as feasible. You need to protect against a short to ground that would be fed by the unfused battery. That would be...bad.

As for the car and amperage readings...... when configured for towing with fuse 16 removed, everything off including even brake unit, it has 5 amps draw off the battery. Without an outside power supply it is no wonder it drains the battery.

Yes, indeedy.

Not sure what the electric assist steering takes as you pull it down the road? I pulled fuse 32 which kills the accessories/logic and amperage draw drops to under 0.5 amps. Not wanting to incur the death wobble I'll stick with figuring my power supply problem out.

My guess is the electric steering is just part of that 5 amps but it's all wired to the same fuse. I know that just opening the car door on my 2020 starts an 8-amp draw from the battery as the stuff inside boots up.

That is a good plan to fix it correctly.

I've got some more work to chase down loose power wire on coach chassis so more to come.

Thanks for the detailed feedback so far. I'm sure it will help someone in the future fighting a similar problem.

Ray

[Windward]

Originally Posted by NXR

A load is what causes the voltage drop because the wiring and connections act as resistors. You cannot have a voltage drop without a load. That's why the car needs hooked up and configured for towing.



Good, future problem fixed.



Getting close! How much was the voltage drop on the charging line and on the ground line?

I cut the chassis power wire that was originally designed to operate the converter box for the trailer lights and connected to the chassis battery buss used to operate other high load accessories. I did not attempt to trace the original wires route and connections to the chassis fuse box under the drivers seat. Yes, I put a 30 amp fuse right at the point of connection. I used 12 ga wire for both positive and negative circuits all the way to the coach plug.

With the car in tow configuration (5 amp load) and connected to the coach via Roadmasters pigtail (14ga power and ground conductors), there is 1.5 volt drop (coach:car) at the connection to the car battery. I think this is within reasonable range considering all the connections (plugs, fuses) in the system that really were designed to operate low amperage lights, not power a constant 5 amp load.

I measured 5 amps on the power supply coming from the coach (while it was running) which is consistent with the car battery load when not connected to the coach. Further when I checked the amps coming out of the car battery; it was less than 0.3 amps, so it is now being powered off coach.

Something is being missed. A voltage drop cannot happen without a load. Presuming you're using a modern digital meter and not a 1920's moving coil meter, something is drawing current to cause that voltage drop. It could be corrosion inside a connector that is bleeding power to ground but something has to be pulling current.

I did not have a voltage drop until I put a load on it. That is what threw me initially when looking for why I was not maintaining a charge. Once it hit me to load the circuit, it was clear I had a problem. I have a Fluke multimeter very handy for this troubleshooting.


On the off chance you really did mean "directly", you must have a fuse as close to the power source (the battery) as feasible. You need to protect against a short to ground that would be fed by the unfused battery. That would be...bad.

Yes it would and yes I did put a fuse right at the point of connection.



Yes, indeedy.



My guess is the electric steering is just part of that 5 amps but it's all wired to the same fuse. I know that just opening the car door on my 2020 starts an 8-amp draw from the battery as the stuff inside boots up.

That is a good plan to fix it correctly.



Thanks for the detailed feedback so far. I'm sure it will help someone in the future fighting a similar problem.

Ray

I think I'm ok now with my fix of loose connections, 12 ga wire and solid connections to direct power/ground sources. With 5 amps of load it does not take much break down the connections along the path back to the power source.

Other Equinox toads with battery drain issues need to do the same troubleshooting of the power supply circuit from the connections in the car to the power supply of the coach to ensure there are no weak links in that system.

[NXR]

With everything set up for the car to be towed, as if you were ready to pull out, and with the motorhome engine at least at idle, what is the voltage across the Equinox battery terminals?

If you're 12.8 VDC or higher you'll be fine.

The closer to 12.8 VDC you are the more other things, such as the car's auto headlights coming on at night, will deplete the battery charge.

Ray

[Damion]

Had the charge problem for my first year 2015 Equinox.
Tried diode to much power loss!
Tried no diode and still can't get enough power through 7 wire cord!
This is total over kill but it has not failed me in the last 20,000 miles.
Took a cheep set of jumper cables, #6 wire cut the ends off and add a plug on the car end. Added a continuous duty solenoid and a circuit breaker on back of MH so it disconnects when MH is shut off!
"In picture on the left is the cord end that goes to Toad!

[avfordguy]

Just a tip to add all the good info that has been posted, just so everyone understands EPAS ( electronic power assisted sterring) is to hook a clamp on ammeter to either positive or negative battery cables, key on, engine off, turn the steering wheel 1/2 turn and hold it, you will see a lot more than just 5 to 10 amps, just a FYI. Everytime the steering wheel moves the EPAS motor is activated

[MO Fred]

After searching sites for suitable charger for my Equinox I found this on the RVi Toad Battery Charger.... NOTE: Towed Battery Charger Plus is compatible with all 12 volt batteries including trailers. 2019-present Chevy Equinox must pull rear windshield wiper fuse.... Seriously??? How is amperage leaking through the rear windshield wiper??

[NXR]

Originally Posted by MO Fred

After searching sites for suitable charger for my Equinox I found this on the RVi Toad Battery Charger.... NOTE: Towed Battery Charger Plus is compatible with all 12 volt batteries including trailers. 2019-present Chevy Equinox must pull rear windshield wiper fuse.... Seriously??? How is amperage leaking through the rear windshield wiper??

Interesting. Someone with the same issue had posted a while ago that an RVi tech said they had done some testing and found there were several amps of current "leaking" through that rear windshield wiper but then nothing further was said.

My reaction was this: 12 volts * 5 amps (as a guess) is 60 watts of power. Something should be getting toasty warm if that's happening but I could not feel it. My WAG was that there was something else wired to that fuse, whichever one it is, but I never investigated further.

OK, I just remembered I bought a PDF which is supposed to be the service manual for my 2020. A quick search through its 12,000+ pages found this:

Rear Wiper System
On vehicles equipped with a Rear Wiper, the rear wiper system consists of the rear wiper relay and the rear wiper motor. The BCM determines of the Rear Wipe/Wash System Mode of Operation (Intermittent, ON, OFF) by monitoring the output of the Rear Wipe/Wash Switch. The rear wiper switch provides a request to the BCM. The BCM activates the output and applies Battery to the coil of the relay, the relay energizes, allowing Battery voltage from the fuse to be applied through the switched contacts of the Rear Wiper Motor Relay to the Rear Wiper Motor.

The rear wiper motor then operates continuously at low speed, uses a reference ground signal from the BCM for the Rear Wiper/Washer Switch output signal it receives. The Rear Wiper/Washer signal received by the BCM is the result of 3 resistors in the Rear Wiper Switch configured as a resistor ladder network. This signal is connected to a BCM Analog to Digital Input which also provides a switched Battery pull-up for the circuit.

Depending on the function selected (Intermittent, ON, OFF, Wash), the Rear Wiper Control Switch connects a different set of resistors into the circuit resulting in different voltages appearing on the BCM A/D input. By monitoring this voltage, the BCM determines how to control the Rear Wiper Motor Relay and the Rear Washer Relay.

The BCM does not control the parking of the Rear Wiper Motor, it is self parking. When the BCM deactivates its output, the contacts of the Rear Wiper Motor Relay switch back to ground . The Rear Wiper's internal park switch and circuitry will sustain motor operation until the wiper arm has returned to its Park position.

and

The rear wiper motor is controlled by the body control module (BCM) via a printed circuit board (PCB) relay. The BCM will respond by commanding the specific rear wiper function based on an input from the rear wiper switch, which is part of the windshield wiper/washer switch.

The rear wiper switch uses a resistor ladder to determine low speed, intermittent, and rear washer operation. A constant B+ and ground are supplied to the rear wiper motor. When the rear wiper switch is placed in the low speed, intermittent, or rear washer position, the voltage is pulled down through a different resistor in the resistor ladder, reducing the voltage seen at the BCM.

The BCM monitors the liftgate ajar signal circuit, and the BCM will disable the function of the rear wiper motor if the liftgate of lift glass is ajar or open.

Not much help though. Since there are no real wiring diagrams in the PDF I have, I'd be leery of pulling that fuse myself.

Why? My guess is pulling the fuse disables at least part of the Body Control Module (BCM). While pulling the rear wiper fuse may alleviate the symptom of high current draw from the battery, that power was being used for something. Is that "something" needed to assure the car can be safely flat towed? Probably only Chevy can answer that and without definitive guidance I'm not willing to take the chance.

It could simply be something as easy as the sentence I bold-faced, the self-parking part. If so, then unplugging the rear wiper motor directly should produce the same current reduction effect.

My 14 AWG charge line and ground line do a good job of keeping the 2020 Equinox battery charged up. The longest time we've towed between engine starts is about five hours and the car started right up. When I had the original RVi Towed Battery Charger installed and it was barely supplying 3 amps, the car's lights noticeably dimmed and the engine cranked noticeably slower after just two hours.

Well, someone with a clamp-on ammeter can figure this out if they're really bored. If you do, please report your finding back to the group.

And yes, the good old days of a simple switch wired to the battery and wired to the motor directly sure were nice.

Ray

[MO Fred]

Well, I just finished today installing the LSL Toad Charge System. It’s supposed to provide 10 Amps continuous. It also has indicator LED lights to let you know it’s operating properly. I will take the advice above and not pull the rear wiper fuse. Next trip is in a few weeks. Hopefully all goes well.