battery light comes onHello

[Klaus756]

hello all. I have a 2013 RAM 1500 tradesman with the 5.7 L V8 and automatic. Recently an interior light was left on and the battery went dead. I charged the battery and noticed it had no trouble starting but the battery light for low voltage was on. I charged the battery again, showing 12.8 volts on a multimeter. The light still didn't go off. I replaced the battery with a new one. The light still stayed on. I charged this battery but the light still stayed on. I replaced this battery with another new battery (interstate) but the light is still on. It shows Battery saver mode. If I drive it will the light finally go out? I bought this truck 3 years ago but only drove it about 3000 miles. currently it has 92,000 miles on it.

 

[Ron Boggio]

The truck relies on software. Software relies on learned or retained "data tables" which can corrupt from a low battery or believe it or not disconnecting the battery. A corrupted data table has the potential to generate a host of electrical issues that are difficult to troubleshoot. (Think ghost in the machine) The best way to clear this is a “battery cable reset”. The battery cable reset procedure will drain all capacitors ensuring no residual charge is present which would maintain the computers "learned tables" i.e. the ghost. On start up the computer starts with a clean slate sort of speak. Its similar to resetting the BIOS in a personal computer.

The procedure is straight forward:

• Remove the key from the ignition (yes take it out)
• Remove the negative battery cable
• Remove the positive battery cable
• Tie the positive and negative battery terminals together (do not let them contact the battery)
• Put the key in the ignition
• Turn the key to the on position
• Wait about 15 minutes (have a cup of coffee)
• Remove the key from the ignition (yes take it out)
• Connect the positive terminal to the battery
• Connect the negative terminal to the battery
• Verify if the condition still exists

If the condition persist you will need to have a scanner to check for codes. There is a module that controls lights, time out, etc. It may be damaged.