Maxwell Engine Start Module

Hello All

My name is Jim Patnode and I am the Customer Service Manager for the “Engine Start Module” (ESM) at Maxwell Technologies. I certainly do appreciate all the comments on this forum and do agree the ESM may not be for everyone. I will tell you that I receive phone calls every day from Owner Operator looking for our ESM, because of its starting capabilities, durability and peace of mind their truck starts in the morning. Many of you cannot afford the high cost of jump starts or the additional weight of expensive systems. Keep in mind that the ESM is not a battery, warm weather or cold does not have an effect on Ultra Capacitors. Our ESM has the durability of Hundreds of Thousands of cycles which is why we have a “4 Year Warranty.” No battery warranty comes close! While the team here at Maxwell continues to find ways to reduce cost, we will not diminish the Quality of our ESM. I would encourage everyone to shop around for the best price for our ESM. Please visit www.maxwell.com/esm/, for “Where to Buy.”

Thank You

 

When I look at the custom made box (mounted to frame rail) that my Yamaha EF2000is portable (CARB compliant for those who care about such things) can run inside, nice and secure and out of the weather, the generator itself, a webasto bunk heater, a Xantrex inverter / charger that keeps my batteries at full charge when hooked to the generator or shore power, and a oil pan heater for the cold mornings (even a 15w40 flows better when it is at 150F than a 5w30 that is cold), that is taking care of the bulk of my needs. A much wider solution and not much more cost than the Maxwell unit, installed, all by itself (at least from what I have been quoted for pricing and factoring out the Webasto unit that came with the truck), and CONSIDERABLY cheaper, and lighter, than an APU unit. The generator (an inverter true sine wave model) can operate at low speed, very quietly, and still take care of batteries and oil pan heater at the same time. it will go for almost a full 10 hr break on 1 gallon of gas. Batteries last much longer because they don't get cycled as much as a typical setup. The entire box and generator weighs in at about 65 lb. The oil pan heater is about 5 lb. The Xantrex inverter / charger is around 20 lb. A small window AC unit can keep things cool if I need it (not that big of a deal for the areas I run up north). Around $150 and weighs in at about 50 lb. Total weight no more than 150 lb, no more than a fifth of the price of a full blown APU, yet just as deductable for taxes.

And I can take the generator out and use it for camping, power source for tools when I am out and about on my property, etc. Try that with an APU. True, the APU starts and runs all by itself, but it is one heck of lot easier, and cheaper to maintain and operate my generator. And I don't lose all the valuable under bunk space! And an authorized Yamaha generator dealer and repair facility is 11.5 miles from my house front door if I need it. How far is the APU repair place from your front door? And I don't have to drive the truck to take the generator there and can continue to operate while the unit is being repaired.

 

What nobody has addressed here so far is that deep cycle batteries take a different charging supply than what a traditional alternator puts out. Some have said AGM batteries will charge correctly from a standard alternator, but the high reported failure rate would seem to contradict that. Most chargers do show a different charge process for AGM. Unless you go to an external regulator that correctly charges deep cycle batteries ( bulk, absorbtion, float, etc) the life of the deep cycle batteries will be reduced. I am not sure what effect the stop/start tendencies might have on the proper charging of deep cycle batteries. It may depend on the charge controller.

I really like the concept of an ESM, but to properly implement it is more complex than both Maxwell and those who have installed have let on. If you simply need reliable starting, thats great--it will work well for that. If you want to go further and "reserve" your batteries for hotel loads, there is a lot more that needs to be done besides just adding an ESM. Using starting batteries to run hotel loads is just plain silly. And, as noted above, installing deep cycle batteries or the sort of hybrid AGM batteries presents plenty of challenges if you want the batteries to last. Good quality deep cycle batteries are expensive. Some of them will last up to 10-12 years if properly cared for.

 

Not sure what pricing others are seeing for the MESM, but I was at the Boss Shop at the Altoona, IA Flying hook pickup up a couple of fittings since I was changing out my AD-9 dryer, and they had the MESM on display and gave me a quote of $990, not including install. Just thought I would throw that out.

 

Just got mine and had it installed last week. And I love this thing.

Best pricing I am seeing right now, is on eBay and on Kevin Rutherford website.

 

My Maxwell ESM just died. Almost two years old.
The "push to test / reset button" must have gotten corroded, it cannot be pushed down. It's been like that for a year, but I was always able to wiggle it around until it made contact. More recently when it was damp outside, the button worked fine. But now it has drained down and cannot be reset.

 

Well they got a 4 year Warrenty right? Send it back for a new one.

 

I think it's a 5yr warranty

 

Update: they did come good for a new one. But I bought it at Kenworth in Saskatoon and had to wait three months for it to go through their dealer network to get approval for a replacement.
The new one seems to be just a little bit longer, I had to pry open the metal stops on the tray to get it to sit in the same spot as the old one.
Seems to spin the engine faster than the old one, but that could be just my having to use the regular batteries for the last three months.
Happy customer.

 

Glad to see they took care of you Uncleal13. I have been pricing them to compliment my system. I have a 2016 780 volvo. I have IdleSmart installed to monitor batteries, indoor and out door temp. New Xantrex pure sine wave inverter charger I ordered while at MATS is waiting for me to get home and install. My thinking is to install the ESM and swap out the stock 710cca batteries with a few AGM batteries. Should be able to drop the minimum voltage setting in the charging settings thus reducing the number of times the truck must start up daily while I am parked. Almost had it installed in Wytheville Va at the Boss/Flying J shop but when they claimed install would be the standard 22.00 of a normal battery I knew they were not familiar with the need to isolate the positive wires lol.