Low battery causing traction light?

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etuke

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Newfoundland
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2011
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So this happened to me a few times and I can't understand why.I have noticed from time to time the traction light will stay on after startup(car with the squiggly lines underneath bottom right in the dash)It usually happens if the truck hasn't been started in a few days,last time it happened it was a week left sitting and I used the remote start and the light stayed on.I ran the truck for a few minutes and shut it off to start it again and the light stayed on.Next start it was off.Then I sat in a parking lot for 20 mins with the radio on and when I went to start the truck seem like it was slower turning over and on stayed the light again,next start it was gone.I'm thinking my battery is getting bad but wondering if this could cause the light to stay on if it turned over with low voltage.I have noticed that the voltage will be 12.2v but when starting it drops to 8v,anybody have an answer to why this happenes?This is a 2011 laramie.
 

RamInfo

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Utah
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A fully charged modern AGM battery should show 12.6v at rest and shouldn’t drop anywhere near to 8v when starting. If the battery is over 3yrs old I’d suspect it’s toast. Under 3yrs old I’d first check all connectors and the alternator/voltage regulator output.

best,
DG
 
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etuke

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Just swapped it out and the battery in it was marked Chrysler group so its possible it was the original,truck is 11 years old.New battery at -9 celcious overnight and the truck turned over faster than the old battery when warmed up.
 

smoothee

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If that was the original battery then definitely got money's worth out of it. I've had the same thing happen as you, as well as other things (losing speedo, wipers coming on on their own, no heat, random other lights, etc.). A weak battery can cause all kinds of weird stuff to happen. I've got a 6-7 year old Interstate battery that I need to swap out soon before it leaves me stranded somewhere. And like said the cold doesn't help things.
 

wfscooter

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Wichita Falls
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2016
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Hemi 5.7
So this happened to me a few times and I can't understand why.I have noticed from time to time the traction light will stay on after startup(car with the squiggly lines underneath bottom right in the dash)It usually happens if the truck hasn't been started in a few days,last time it happened it was a week left sitting and I used the remote start and the light stayed on.I ran the truck for a few minutes and shut it off to start it again and the light stayed on.Next start it was off.Then I sat in a parking lot for 20 mins with the radio on and when I went to start the truck seem like it was slower turning over and on stayed the light again,next start it was gone.I'm thinking my battery is getting bad but wondering if this could cause the light to stay on if it turned over with low voltage.I have noticed that the voltage will be 12.2v but when starting it drops to 8v,anybody have an answer to why this happenes?This is a 2011 laramie.
Just had this happen in my 2019. Cold weather, and a dash cam plugged into the USB port, that apparently stays on for 3 hours after turning off the truck probably didn’t help the battery life.
 

Hscott

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Ohio
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2014
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I replaced my battery this week. I have 14 1500 and I had dash lights come on, and random dings. After replacing the battery(original battery, 8 years old), all the ghostly things stopped and truck started like a champ.
 
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