Battery Charging

When it is necessary to charge the vehicle battery it is important to properly connect the charger for the Electrical Energy Management system to measure the energy input to the system to keep an accurate state of charge. Connect the charger positive cable to the battery positive post, and place the charger negative cable to a vehicle ground. Do not connect the charger negative cable to the battery negative terminal. Connecting the charger directly to the battery negative post bypasses the vehicle sensors, preventing the battery monitoring sensor from detecting the charge current. As a result the battery state of charge does not reflect the charging. For a good connection point, follow the negative cable from the battery monitoring sensor to the vehicle body connection (typically on the shock tower sheet metal). The placement of the battery is such that the battery negative terminal is located under the sheet metal shroud making sheet metal ground the obvious choice for the charger.

If the battery is being charged due to a load shedding message, only properly charging the battery assists in clearing this message. If the charger was improperly installed, the Electrical Energy Management system calibrates the battery state of charge after about 8 hours.

NOTE: If the charger is incorrectly connected to the battery negative terminal, DO NOT reset the battery monitoring system using the diagnostic scan tool. This reset is reserved only for new battery installation. This reset will clear the learned battery data, the battery time in service, and will affect the aging algorithm parameters, which have been learned since the installation of the battery.