Battery master disconnect?

Discussion in 'Trucks [ Eighteen Wheelers ]' started by Luwi67, Oct 30, 2020.

  1. Goodysnap

    Goodysnap Road Train Member

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    I think they would be refering to the internal battery in the ECM. This battery keeps the the memory of the settings in the ECM when it is not powered. I have only heard of this with a CAT ECM. It is real and the fix is to replace the ECM.

    I cannot say I have heard of long term strorage progressing this failure opposed to those in daily use.
     
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  3. SmallPackage

    SmallPackage Road Train Member

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    Thanks for the reply.
    That is the only truck that I do not have a disconnect switch added to it. It is also the only electronic engine I have. My mechanicals all sit without power any time they are parked. I use the big Cole-Hershee switches.

    It’s not inconvenient for me to keep doing what I’ve been doing with leaving only one connected. I was just wondering if anyone else that has had a “flash” has heard that said before.
    Most trucks don’t sit without batteries for long. But when I told the guys at Holt/Cat who overhauled and set it up that it was going to sit for awhile and I wanted to add a switch to leave batteries disconnected that is what they told me.
     
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  4. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    Just about every Cat machine that leaves the factory has a battery lockout from factory. Even in SIS you can look up a parts breakdown of it. I doubt you'll have any issues with it causing problems.
     
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  5. BoxCarKidd

    BoxCarKidd Road Train Member

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    I have installed disconnects in many pieces of equipment. Some were concerned about discharge and others about security. Some had to be hid and or have a key.
    Make sure they are heavy duty.
    I never had a problem with the ecm being disconnected. However the radio memory and the GPS on off road equipment can be aggravating. May want to run a fused wire from the battery for those type of things.
     
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  6. little cat 500

    little cat 500 Road Train Member

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    most ecms have there own power to batterys
     
  7. Luwi67

    Luwi67 Heavy Load Member

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    I was looking at some 250 amp continuous switches from Cole-Hersee and Flaming River.

    My batteries are wired as 2 banks of 2 so I have 2 long grounds and 2 long positives (batteries 1&3). Battery 2 is jumped to 1 and 4 to 3. I'm guessing I would need a 4 stud switch.

    A friend has a 05 379 and his batteries are wired 1 bank of 4 with 1 long positive on battery 1 and 1 long negative on battery 4. All 4 are wired parallel. Why the difference in wiring between 97 & 05 anyone know?
     
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  8. InTooDeep

    InTooDeep Donner party survivor

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    My truck I just sold I got a battery shut off switch from a marine dealer worked fine. New truck factory installed
     
  9. spsauerland

    spsauerland Road Train Member

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    I know guys with older Cat electronic motors than just keep trickle charger on them even when changing batteries so not to loose an ECM over internal battery failure. Just heard of a BXS loosing ECM last month. It was in a Sterling so figuring out customer parameters ended up being a guessing game because never had upload on SIMS.
     
  10. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    ECM too far gone to download PSR and ECM Config files?
     
  11. spsauerland

    spsauerland Road Train Member

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    Deader than a door nail. Kicker on that one is they used ether on it and broke a ring on cylinder 4. Truck only had 150,000 original miles.
     
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