Maxwell Engine Start Module

Ordered last Monday 11/18/13 and still on backorder. Must be a very popular item?

 

Thanks for the link, Dice and the update. Waiting till I need to replace batteries to do the ESM thing myself, and will probably replace the remaining batteries with serious deep cycle glass mat batteries. Hopefully, that would be a total system that might have a long ROI, but would last a heck of a long time. I don't use an APU, and definitely hate idling. Where I run, AC is not the primary issue. Heat in winter is. The Webasto takes care of that function. So between that and the other hotel loads, and the cold, batteries get a real work out. There is always the risk of a problem starting at the end of a break. Hoping that a total system rework like the one I described would take risk level of any problem down to the lowest possible number.

 

Takes about 1/2 hour to charge when first installed but is supposed to recharge in 5 minutes after a 3 second crank at 1800 amps according to Maxwell. Check out the website and download the user manual for all the specs. I haven't had to wait for a recharge yet but the weather hasn't been cold enough to require a lot of cranking. You can always move the starter cables over to a battery terminal and start that way if neccessary.

 

699.00 at Freightliner in Davenport. I'm guessing the price will continue to drop if they become a popular item.

 

Thanks for that gregbo! I go by Truck Country Freightliner there in Davenport several times a week. Looks like they have the best price so far!

 

That is a great price and I checked a lot places. The Freightliner dealer in Charlotte lost their mind wanting over $1,300 for it and even called the dealership in Saskatoon, SK where I was told somebody bought one for $799 ended up being $1,050.

The prices out there are all over the place and is higher where they don't know anything about or even heard of it.

 

What seems strange on the pricing, is that this is marketed thru Pana Pacific which is the direct source supplier for most dealership's 3 party items. Dash radios to something like we are discussing here. Would think the pricing would be fairly uniform. Apparently not.

 

I'm the guy that got one at Saskatoon for $799. It was the last one on special, I took it right off the shelf. It was their only one on display. So $1050 maybe the new price, I thought the regular price on the sign was $999.
I have Webasto cab and engine heaters. It was -29C last week at Camrose. The low voltage disconnect operated at about one hour into the engine heater cycle. The truck started up perfectly.
I have a 2013 WesternStar w/ DD15. I had to take the alternator wire off the starter and extend it to the remaining three batteries. The starter cable only had to move over to the start terminal on the Maxwell about two inches, so that was easy. Took me about two hours on a Sunday. The hardest part was just getting the one battery out of that skinny battery box and squeezing in the ESM.
The Maxwell has a CCA of 1800 amps. But it does not have much reserve capacity, so I don't think it would be of much use to use as an electric APU.
I think it will only crank for about five seconds. But like gregbo said, you could move the starter wire back onto the positive terminal to use the batteries like normal if you needed to wind it over for a longer period of time.

 

What I would like to find with the ESM is 3 group 31 non-starting lead acid batteries that are:

1) Cheap
2) Have more reserve capacity than other group 31s
3) Last a long time

That would be the target. Part of the problem with the ESM is you don't want to drain the batteries as much as the ESM would allow because that severely shortens their life anyways. You don't need the batteries to be starting batteries because that's the ESMs job. Batteries are compromised when they become "starting" batteries.

Not worried about the CCA rating of the ESM because cold batteries lose 50-70% of their CCA anyways.

 

Doing research Greg explained it well. There's actually 3 posts on the ESM. The third "extra" post should be the only thing going to the starter. From the batteries run a 4 ga wire that connects to the alternator and everything else you took off the positive for the starter.

The ESM isolates itself from the batteries and alternator automatically. It's a genius way of doing it, instead of having external isolation methods.

Positives:

1) Better cold cranking
2) Easy way to isolate hotel loads
3) Less wear on batteries
4) Ability to use deep cycle only batteries that have thicker plates and generally last longer
5) Weight savings
6) Electronics/inverters don't see voltage spikes/drops
7) If everything is 100% dead, it's much quicker to get the truck started
8) 4 year warranty

Negatives:

1) Only one start - you have to wait 5 minutes for it to recharge
2) You still need voltage at the batteries to run the ECM
3) May cause driver abuse of hotel batteries, they shouldn't be drained below 50%
4) You actually have less reserve capacity, 3 batteries instead of 4