Dead battery & Electrical problems on brand new 2022 Power Wagon

[Trevor Cory]

I bought my first Power Wagon last week fresh off the lot, truck ran amazing for the first two days of ownership.

But on the 3rd day I woke up to my truck having a dead battery. Took a volt meter to it and it had around 3v on the battery. Was able to jump it with a neighbors 2500 and it went straight to the dealer, who said the battery was just low. So they charged it and sent me on my way.

Next morning, same deal. Dead battery with less than 4v. Jumped it again and straight back to the dealer. They ended up taking it for the weekend to check it out. They called me today to say that the truck checked out okay after a overnight load test to check for any draws on the battery when the truck is off, and found none. They said everything has been good and working properly.

Service representative said that it was due to my iPhone charger being plugged in to the port in the center console. They said the ports are not designed for that. I called bs but they insisted. I’ve had 3 challenger and charger scat packs before this with the newest being a 2020 and no issues with the cable being plugged in, along with the 2020 1500 they loaned me. (No phone connected to the cable.)

I’m very skeptical to pick it up. Since I got the truck the Uconnect screen has been having a load of issues with freezing, restarting randomly, phone connection issues, and the hvac not working. I assumed it was due to the battery being so low that the features were not working properly.

My power wagon has the lv 2 equipment package, 12” Uconnect, towing package, and dual alternators. The weather has only been in the low 30s to high 20s when I had it, but that shouldn’t effect the battery.

Has anyone else had an issue like this or heard of anything similar? I’ve searched around and can’t find any people with a similar problem on a brand new truck. The truck has less than 400 miles on it, so something like this shouldn’t be happening. It is also my daily so it’s quite inconvenient and makes me not fully trust the truck.

 

[jadmt]

On my 2020 PW I had the alternator and battery both replaced under warranty at under 9000 miles and like 9 or 10 months. I call bs on the phone charger phone being plugged. I have two chargers plugged in all the time, one iphone and one android and I have gone over a week without starting my truck with no issues.

 

[Trevor Cory]

On my 2020 PW I had the alternator and battery both replaced under warranty at under 9000 miles and like 9 or 10 months. I call bs on the phone charger phone being plugged. I have two chargers plugged in all the time, one iphone and one android and I have gone over a week without starting my truck with no issues.

Did you have some odd electrical problems or battery dying with yours as well that warranted the battery/alternator replacement?

It seemed super odd that they assumed the issue was the phone charger. I’m no electrical engineer, but I can assume that a cord with nothing attached isn’t going to draw power. But they said “the port stays on when something is connected even if there’s no phone attached.”

 

[jadmt]

Did you have some odd electrical problems or battery dying with yours as well that warranted the battery/alternator replacement?

It seemed super odd that they assumed the issue was the phone charger. I’m no electrical engineer, but I can assume that a cord with nothing attached isn’t going to draw power. But they said “the port stays on when something is connected even if there’s no phone attached.”

I had zero problems leading up to it but battery died 2 days in a row. Just flat died. The first day I had actually pulled it out of my garage and was loading it up for camping. went to start it and dead as a door nail. jumped it and it started and drove it a couple hundred miles non stop. parked it and dead as a doornail again. jumped it and drove it to the dealership where they put it on the load tester overnight and the next day they said they needed to leave it overnight again as the results were showing something funky was going on and RAM would not warranty without the print out from the load tester. It ultimately sat with the load tester on it for 2 full days and 2 nights. I thought it was strange but apparently it is legit that it took that long. new battery and alternator and have not had any further issues and I have put about 10,000 miles on it since the replacements.

 

[Nick]

Complete BS ! A battery draw on an unplugged phone is minimal . Those batteries are not holding charge and should be replaced .

 

[H3LZSN1P3R]

Complete BS ! A battery draw on an unplugged phone is minimal . Those batteries are not holding charge and should be replaced .

Battery the PW and all the gassers just have one

 

[jadmt]

Complete BS ! A battery draw on an unplugged phone is minimal . Those batteries are not holding charge and should be replaced .

hell even with a phone plugged in the draw is minimal.

 

[Trevor Cory]

Update on the issue, picked the truck up Monday night and all was well until this morning when same deal, dead battery. I even left my phone charger unplugged just as the service tech said and still no luck, battery lasted 4 days before dying. And all the uconnect issues are back again so the screen is basically useless. Went by the dealer and they have no loaner vehicles so I'm stuck with the truck until Monday when the manager is back in so they can try and figure something out I guess. Well see what they do Monday to fix the issue.

 

[kevin588127]

Find a different dealer. That one has an incompetent service department.

 

[2500trash]

I bought my first Power Wagon last week fresh off the lot, truck ran amazing for the first two days of ownership.

But on the 3rd day I woke up to my truck having a dead battery. Took a volt meter to it and it had around 3v on the battery. Was able to jump it with a neighbors 2500 and it went straight to the dealer, who said the battery was just low. So they charged it and sent me on my way.

Next morning, same deal. Dead battery with less than 4v. Jumped it again and straight back to the dealer. They ended up taking it for the weekend to check it out. They called me today to say that the truck checked out okay after a overnight load test to check for any draws on the battery when the truck is off, and found none. They said everything has been good and working properly.

Service representative said that it was due to my iPhone charger being plugged in to the port in the center console. They said the ports are not designed for that. I called bs but they insisted. I’ve had 3 challenger and charger scat packs before this with the newest being a 2020 and no issues with the cable being plugged in, along with the 2020 1500 they loaned me. (No phone connected to the cable.)

I’m very skeptical to pick it up. Since I got the truck the Uconnect screen has been having a load of issues with freezing, restarting randomly, phone connection issues, and the hvac not working. I assumed it was due to the battery being so low that the features were not working properly.

My power wagon has the lv 2 equipment package, 12” Uconnect, towing package, and dual alternators. The weather has only been in the low 30s to high 20s when I had it, but that shouldn’t effect the battery.

Has anyone else had an issue like this or heard of anything similar? I’ve searched around and can’t find any people with a similar problem on a brand new truck. The truck has less than 400 miles on it, so something like this shouldn’t be happening. It is also my daily so it’s quite inconvenient and makes me not fully trust the truck.

I am sitting in Whitefish, Mt after driving my 2022 Ram 2500 Tradesman from Des Moines IA. Truck has 7000 miles and first month I had battery replaced by dealership after it would not start. Dealership said battery was no good. Here I sit with another battery problem? Wouldn’t start this morning. Had truck jumped and then I could not drive faster than 5 mph. Pulled it over, shut it down and restarted. Truck ran fine. Whitefish dealership ran a GRE? test and said battery was fine. I am leaving it at dealership overnight to see if something is draining battery, but I don’t think that is the problem. I think the solution is a Ford or Toyota.

 

[Trevor Cory]

Just an update, seems to be all fixed now. After one last bead battery at the end of March where the truck when complete haywire. Not a single electronic worker except the rpm gauge. No speedometer, odometer, electric steering, abs, it was all not working. After taking it to the dealer after that they ended up disabling the electronic tracker the dealer installed and they seemed to fix it, Think it was called ELO. Guess the dealership screwed up the install and that was the cause of it. It’s been great ever since and I’ve had zero battery or electrical issues with anything. So I’ve been a lot happier with the truck since, just sucked to waste all that time with 2 hour round trips to the dealer just for the issue to be their tracker install

 

[2500trash]

Just an update, seems to be all fixed now. After one last bead battery at the end of March where the truck when complete haywire. Not a single electronic worker except the rpm gauge. No speedometer, odometer, electric steering, abs, it was all not working. After taking it to the dealer after that they ended up disabling the electronic tracker the dealer installed and they seemed to fix it, Think it was called ELO. Guess the dealership screwed up the install and that was the cause of it. It’s been great ever since and I’ve had zero battery or electrical issues with anything. So I’ve been a lot happier with the truck since, just sucked to waste all that time with 2 hour round trips to the dealer just for the issue to be their tracker install

When I get the truck back to Des Moines I will have them check this as I am pretty sure they told me this had been installed due to some thefts on their lot. You may have saved my truck as my next attempt at a fix was to start with a 12lb sledgehammer.

 

[Trevor Cory]

Give it a shot and see. I had a draw test on mine and it came back with no draws which was odd. But since they disabled that tracking thing I’ve had absolutely no problem with anything. If I had to guess, maybe these newer trucks just don’t like the dealer messing with the electronics and adding stuff to em. If you have any success with it make sure to reply again, I’m curious to see if I wasn’t the only one with a bad install.

 

[Crusty old shellback]

When I ordered my truck, I told the dealer I didnt want any ad ons. They started to install one of the trackers and I told them no. The truck has a built in tracker from the factory, so I dont need a second one.
They said oh, ok, and didnt install it.
Glad you figured out the cause. I wouldnt have taken the truck unless they removed the tracker, not just disabled it.