2nd battery in 1997 k1500

Good Evening,

I was wondering if anyone has ever installed a second battery in there pickup. I live in MN, and it gets rather cold in the wintertime.

I have a decent sidepost battery to use and I see a place under the hood for a second battery, just no cables or hold down. Wondering what the best way to do this would be?

I know the Neg cable could just go to ground, positive cable, where should I hook this one? Starter? Are there any factory points where these cables can be hooked?

Another quesiton, anyone know the factory part numbers for another set of cables, the battery hold down grommit, and hold down bolt?

Thanks!

Good Evening,

I was wondering if anyone has ever installed a second battery in there pickup. I live in MN, and it gets rather cold in the wintertime.

I have a decent sidepost battery to use and I see a place under the hood for a second battery, just no cables or hold down. Wondering what the best way to do this would be?

I know the Neg cable could just go to ground, positive cable, where should I hook this one? Starter? Are there any factory points where these cables can be hooked?

Another quesiton, anyone know the factory part numbers for another set of cables, the battery hold down grommit, and hold down bolt?

Thanks!

you can buy battery connectors with a short length of wire..then using a large crimp tool and solder then heat shink the wire required to complete the installation..solder and heat shrink all connections..this way no losses...the black negetives should connect to the same ground point...the wire going to the second battery will need be fused about 200amps..at the source battery,,,.now that fuse/holder will be a bit expensive..

the other item would be the coolant block heater, with the small trickle charger for battery...these will keep the engine warm instant heat and the battery will always be ready to accept a charge..[COLD BATTERIES DON'T CHARGE]...NOW YOUR READY FOR ANTARTICA..

wire/connectors/heat shrink insulation/crimp tool can be had at the electrical supply store.

maybe you can start a small business doing this ..?

Thanks for the info. I guess it isn't going to be as easy as I thought. I thought maybe GM made a specific set of battery cables that would be a quick bolt in.

A 200 amp fuse huh? Thats quite a large fuse. Where would I get something like that?

I have a 97 that I did it on this summer. I'll shoot some pics & post them. I'm not too far away from you - Monticello

Cool! That would be amazing! What all parts did you get and how much did it end up costing?

Thanks!

Cool! That would be amazing! What all parts did you get and how much did it end up costing?

Thanks!

when running wires you must have them fused...also extra coverings on wires to prevent shorting out chaffing of insulation..the wires are going from one side to the other of vehicle , that is a long distance...

fuses like this 200amp can be had at auto parts/audio stores/internet.
low voltage high current application..

Good Evening,

I was wondering if anyone has ever installed a second battery in there pickup. I live in MN, and it gets rather cold in the wintertime.

I have a decent sidepost battery to use and I see a place under the hood for a second battery, just no cables or hold down. Wondering what the best way to do this would be?

I know the Neg cable could just go to ground, positive cable, where should I hook this one? Starter? Are there any factory points where these cables can be hooked?

Another quesiton, anyone know the factory part numbers for another set of cables, the battery hold down grommit, and hold down bolt?

Thanks!

It may sound like a good idea but there is more disadvantages than advantages to it.
More expense and more problems with dual battery set up.
A good high amp battery and good tune up should be all that is needed.
In real a real cold climate a good block heater is the way to go.

Hmmm' good to know. What can I get to fill the void of the empty battery tray on the drverside?

Hmmm' good to know. What can I get to fill the void of the empty battery tray on the drverside?

Make it a Little tool box.
Good place for jumper cables and pliers and screwdrive and emg road service stuff exc.

1) If you do add a second battery, the two batteries should be identical model, size, age, everything.

2) Dual-battery installations should alway use a battery isolator like is used on RV's and Boats with dual batteries (aka. diode block or diode bridge). Without this, one bad battery will kill the other battery.

3) I just install a spare battery, but don't connect to anything. Hook up the charger overnight every couple weeks. If I need it to get started, just use jumper cables to give myself a jump! Or swap it with the dead battery.

[quote=herkyhawki.

2) Dual-battery installations should alway use a battery isolator like is used on RV's and Boats with dual batteries (aka. diode block or diode bridge). Without this, one bad battery will kill the other battery.

quote]

I don't agree with this diode install...

with the diode and this is to be a very large diode able to handle 200amps, you will need a shunting switch or a relay to short out the diode so that you can charge or enable the battery to supply power when the main battery is weak...diode allows current flow only in one direction...on a boat you have a switch, no diodes.the switch would be both,battery 1 , and battery 2...

when operating the engine on boat it would be in both when boat is off you would select battery 1 or 2...that way your on board fish scanner radio etc will only drain one battery not both..no diodes though..

the diesels have 2 batteries and the postive cable runs atop of fan shrould and the cables connect at other battery postivt termal the ground run down to the block

the diesels have 2 batteries and the postive cable runs atop of fan shrould and the cables connect at other battery postivt termal the ground run down to the block

You cannot hook two 12v batteries in series on a 12v system, that would create a 24v system and pretty much destroy every electrical component on the thing. You have to run them in parallel so it remains a 12v system but you get twice the available amperage. You definitely do not want to short a dual battery system in any configuration.

If you hook postive to postive and neg to neg it is not 24 volt that they are in parallel .
If you hook postive to neg then you have one postive and one neg that when you get 24 voltthis is in series.

If you hook postive to postive and neg to neg it is not 24 volt that they are in parallel .
If you hook postive to neg then you have one postive and one neg that when you get 24 voltthis is in series.

his post was weird ...where did he get the "series" connection.. ?

I had alot of series parallel systems in the army with tanks and heavy machinery because needed the 24 volts and more amperage also. I am ase master cert.heavy truck and auto tec . A senior master with Ford and was diesel tec for 21 years

I had alot of series parallel systems in the army with tanks and heavy machinery because needed the 24 volts and more amperage also. I am ase master cert.heavy truck and auto tec . A senior master with Ford and was diesel tec for 21 years

thats where I had also seen the 24volt DC system in the seabees..
with 24volts you can use smaller guage wire ,,,,


with the larger machinery you need the higher volts to get the high power required to the large electical devices...