I had no problems with the install, two things I can think of to watch for. 1) You have to disassemble the PDC, this can be intimidating to some but it's not really bad at all, follow the instructions and watch their videos and you'll be fine, just take your time and be gentle with with the connectors so you don't mess up any pins. Once you've done it you'll see it's not as bad as people think. 2) You will have to push the dipstick tube over a little bit so it doesn't ride on the side of the battery tray, mine only took thumb pressure, you just don't want to get crazy and end up with a pinch in the tube. It took me ~ 4 hours to complete the install of the entire kit/batts.
Connected to my aux batt I have: 1) CB (hardwired/fused so I don't lose my settings) 2) A switch unit (I have an sPOD, I bought it before I found out about some shady things they did here that made some people angry a while back, anyway it's installed and it works well so I plan to keep it) 3) Winch, with a Warn solenoid power disconnect that is triggered from my sPOD (this switch is setup to only run with engine running although I have done some short pulls without engine running before I set it up this way, and could quickly bypass if I needed to winch without engine in an emergency) 4) KC Lightbar (night runs when it's 120 out during the day FTW, run through the sPOD) 5) LED rear bumper/ backup lights (The JL backup lights suck and I backed into a wall in a mine I was turning around in, it's also great for seeing old ladies behind you at night when backing out of a parking spot, and they love it, trust me, also run through sPOD) 6) I have an 100 amp service (100 amp marine breakerat batt side) running to bus bars in the rear cargo tub which then feeds an aux fuse panel on an AAL remote panel. Powered by the rear power 100 amp service/ aux fuse panel I have: 1) ARB dual compressor (AAL rear tub mount) 2) Fridge power 3) LED tailgate table light 4) AUX cigarette lighter style power plug (usually used with a USB adapter in it to recharge phones, tablets, handheld GMRS radios and various other small batts, powered dildos and what not). I have extra fuse slots in the rear aux panel and switches on the sPOD and future plans include; ARB locker solenoids, rock lights, and maybe some extra rack mounted and interior LED lighting for camp lighting purposes (you wouldn't believe how much of California camp fires are banned from). Me and the wife have camped off grid for 3 days running a 43q fridge and various lights/ charging devices without starting the Jeep up and not ran the aux battery out of juice, but I will caveat that by saying I have an 80W hood mounted solar panel that is always recharging my batts (in sunlight of course). I think you could go a week without the solar (based on our use) and probably almost indefinitely with the solar before draining the aux batt. Since the system automatically disconnects the batts at 12.5 volts and all of my accessories are isolated to my aux battery my cranking batt has always remained good, I haven't needed the boost button yet.
This brings me around to the reason I went with this set up:
1) I went through 2 of those stupid little Barbie car batts when my Jeep was still stock, fuck those cheap ass batts. And this was before the software update that lets you start with a dead "ESS" batt, before that if that batt went dead you were stuck, and my understanding is that the 2018's can't get the update, if the "ESS" batt is dead so is your Jeep (the main power relay for the ignition system is wired to the "ESS" batt). 2) We like camping (well, my wife loves camping...I can take it or leave it) and I knew we were going to have high power demand on these camping trips. 3) Power anxiety, we travel to some pretty remote locations out here, sometimes alone (anyone in the "never wheel alone!" camp, please I don't wanna hear it, I'm a grown ass man and have been doing this my whole life, I like to wheel with friends but they aren't always available when I want need to go) and I don't want to risk a dead cranking battery leaving me having to walk out of Death Valley in the middle of summer. JL's can't be push or bump started, if your batts are dead you are screwed, not to mention this is my first offroad vehicle with an auto tranny, so even if you could push start a manual JL (which you can't) I'd be screwed there. Sure there are a million other things that can go wrong, but this is one of those factors that is somewhat within my control.
So I've decided a dual batt setup is right for me, why Genesis? As others have pointed out you can easily do a little research and make your own isolated dual batt system, and certainly at a cheaper cost, in fact I've done it on several previous offroad vehicles. What it came down to me was simple form factor and convenience. I wanted to keep both batts under the hood, space is at a premium in the JL, and you really have to see how my wife packs (cmon, I know i'm not the only one). The Genesis checks this box for me, and also reduced the number of wiring runs I have to make through or under the Jeep. It is one convenient package that fits well, looks decent (i'm anal about keeping my engine bay decluttered, I've had some vehicles that had shit strewn everywhere and I always hated working on them), and most importantly does what it's supposed to. I don't have a shop good enough to fabricate something as nice as what they sell. Time is also a factor, I have done some pretty labor intensive things on my Jeep, like wiring up that rear service, but I work like a dog and time is at a premium for me and lets face it every hour we spend working on our Jeeps is an hour that we aren't offroading in our free time. A nicely built plug and play solution works for me, maybe not everyone. Jeeping is also my hobby, and I have play money, who doesn't like to spend money to have nice things for their hobby sometimes? Perspective, i've got a ton of expensive guns that don't get shot nearly as much as my dual batt system is used. The cost of the batts are a wash, if you are doing any kind of dual batt setup you are going to have to buy batts, that being said I think the actual Genesis system (tray, wiring, and controller) isn't that bad for aftermarket Jeep parts, but my price range tolerance may be different than others. These are the reasons I went with the Genesis system, and I don't regret it.
A couple of things to consider: 1) The JL's charging system isn't designed to properly maintain two group 25 batts, It'll do fine if you are doing long trips, but daily driving and short commuting is going to have your batts slowly discharging. If you have a Rubicon or tow package you have a higher output alternator but will still most likely need to do some extra battery maintenance if you don't run it regularly long enough to top the batts all the way off. My solar panel helps my setup alot, but once a month I top off my batteries using a 20A smart charger to make sure they are at peak charge, which should help a bit with battery life. 2) If you use ESS, after a certain number of restarts the dual batt system will confuse the computer and it will disable the ESS system and give you a "ESS not ready" indication, I think the number is 6, I have my ESS disabled forever so i'm not exactly sure. If you don't use ESS, no big deal, disregard. If you do you use ESS and want to keep that functionality there are some workarounds and reasons that I can speak (somewhat) too.
