auxiliary battery for new gmc pickup
has anyone added a second battery to their new gmc pickup. my truck came with a second location for a battery but the manual details are not clear on what to do about wiring in the battery so that it...
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I added the second battery to my '02 Chevy truck. I ordered the battery tray, relay, and wiring from the Chevy dealer at the parts department. The charge wire runs from the starter motor terminal up to relay and than to the the aux. battery positive. It comes heat wrap insulation where it runs near the exhaust manifold.
The isolation relay mounts to the firewall. There was already a connector there to control it. It was just a matter of plugging it in.
When the truck was on the relay allowed both batteries to charge. When the truck was off they operated independently. I used the second battery to power an inverter for my tools.
I think using the factory GM components is far easier and nicer than starting from scratch on your own. Don't use a diode isolator. An automatic charge relay (ACR) from Blue Sea would be my choice if I hadn't used the factory relay and it's already existing control wire.
The isolation relay mounts to the firewall. There was already a connector there to control it. It was just a matter of plugging it in.
When the truck was on the relay allowed both batteries to charge. When the truck was off they operated independently. I used the second battery to power an inverter for my tools.
I think using the factory GM components is far easier and nicer than starting from scratch on your own. Don't use a diode isolator. An automatic charge relay (ACR) from Blue Sea would be my choice if I hadn't used the factory relay and it's already existing control wire.
