Hi Scotty. First off, love your informative no BS videos. I have a question regarding my truck's charging system. I have a 2017 nissan titan and on the negative battery terminal there is a plug that powers the smart charing system. What it does is it runs the alternator on and off according to their algorithm, and hence charges the battery when it does. There is a video on YouTube telling folks with this truck to just unplug it and have the alternator run whenever the engine is on. My question is would it hurt the battery this way? I've gone thru 3 batteries now in the 7 years I've owned the truck and have 118k miles. I just unplugged iy and saw the voltage needle go up in my truck. Can you let me know what you think?
My question is would it hurt the battery this way?
yes. let it do it's thing.
There is a video on YouTube telling folks with this truck to just unplug it
don't believe everything you see on the internet
I've gone thru 3 batteries now in the 7 years I've owned the truck
get the alternator load tested
Doesn't all cars have the alternator run continuous for decades?
all modern cars now have some form of power moding. It actually prolongs battery life.
I just think this may be the reason why my batteries have died prematurely.
If it's working properly, it shouldn't
Maybe you have a parasitic power drain.
If you unplug it you will undoubtedly make it malfunction and make things worse.
Thank you for your clarifications mountainmanjoe
Thank you for your replies. Doesn't all cars have the alternator run continuous for decades? I just think this may be the reason why my batteries have died prematurely. BTW, I did have my alternator checked each time i replaced my battery.
well no. Cars have always had either external voltage regulators, internal voltage regulators, or PCM controlled alternators to control the alternator output
.
I live in FL. It's hot here. It's hard on batteries. Cold areas are also hard on batteries
.
In weather extreme areas, if you buy a box store battery you can expect around 2 years
.
You can buy a better battery, but they cost 3X as much and last maybe 5 years
.
It all evens out in the end but I wouldn't mess with the manufactures design to try to get longer life from a battery
.
In fact, smart charging is designed to prolong battery life
.
But in your case you have a recall so make sure that isn't the cause of your battery issues
.
.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2019/RCLRPT-19V495-1243.PDF
nice find!
Thank you jack62