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2007 Battery Tray

Yep....wonder how GM knew to do that?  ;) All ya need is another battery and an install kit. An Optima yellow top fits real nice.  >:D
 
I bought mine from summitracing.com Part # 40102 or 40103
 
I'd like to add a second battery to my '07, and have 2 questions:

1) What's the difference between the Painlesss Kit above and a battery isolater (ie, Warn's unit).

2) What bracket do I need for the 2nd tray to hold the battery down (and if I got the painless kit, does it come w/ it)?

Thanks!
 
1.  The Painless Kit is a battery isolater that comes with all the wiring, switches and lights to indicate it's on. Very complete kit. I am not familar with the Warn unit.

2. You need a battery holddown the can be bought at any auto parts store.

Also the battery cable is not included with the kits, I made my own there is a painless kit PN 40101 
 
Just some more info, for anyone that's interested:

I was looking into the Warn unit, and found out that it's actually made by a company called SurePower. Surepower makes 2 different items that are similar:

Battery Separator / Interconnect - http://www.surepower.com/separator.html
This sounds very similar to the Painless kit mentioned above. It allows 2 batteries to be connected and charged in sequence (Primary, then Aux). The secondary battery can be used to run accessories, and the seperator cuts over and charges the Aux battery once it detects the Primary is fully charged. I'm not sure if the Painless kit can be wired to work this way, but SurePower Seperator seems to be able to use a voltage signal from the starter (or a manual switch), combined with detecting a lower charge on the Primary battery, to automatically cut-in the Aux battery for a starting assist (I only saw a manual switch option on the Painless kit for this).

Battery Isolator - http://www.surepower.com/isolator.html
It appears that this item also allows both batteries to charge simultaneously, while keeping them, and anything connected to them, isolated into 2 completely seperate circuits. It also says that it will not allow Battery #2 (Accessory Battery) to draw down Battery #1 (Primary / Starting), but no mention of the other way around, so I'm guessing the Accessory Battery can still act as an assist to the Primary if the Primary is low. This is also a completely automated unit - no switches, just the battery leads to hook up.

The Warn unit I mentioned above will NOT work with the '07+ Avalanche, as it is rated to 120Amp, but the 07+ uses a 160Amp alternator. I don't know about previous models, but there's a small electrical plug on the alternator, and if you pop it out and look at the pins on the alternator side, if there's more than 1 pin the Warn unit won't work. I've recieved some word that the 200Amp Isolator from SurePower (PN#2002, I believe) will be OK, but I also found the installation instructions here that may say differently (my '07 has the incompatible plug as indicated on p. 3 of the following PDF).
http://www.donrowe.com/battery_isolator/isolator_instructions.pdf

That led me to Smith Auto Electric, which had this page up:
http://www.smithae.com/surepower.html
"The difference in whether to use a battery isolator or battery separator will depend on whether your alternator has internal or external voltage sensing. Many of the newer alternators are internal sensing and so cannot be used with an isolator, because of the loss of approximately 1 volt across the diodes, In these cases you would use a battery separator."

Also note - I was told by my local dealer that the Painless kit would NOT work w/ an '07, though he also said that he's used Painless in the past and likes thier stuff. I'm not sure why, though...

So, my next step will be to call Smith AE and see what they recommend.

 
Found a few more items:
http://www.gmupfitter.com/publicat/2007_BB/63135_General_Instructions.pdf
On pg. 16:
"If an auxiliary battery is to be retro-fitted, the electrical schematic for option TP2 is recommended as a guide. This will result in the auxiliary battery being connected to the vehicle load and charging circuit when the ignition switch is ?on? (fuse block terminal ?Acc. Ign. Fused?). When the ignition switch is turned off, the interlocking relay is disengaged and the auxiliary battery is disconnected from the vehicle circuit."

It seems like there may be a method to wire the battery to make use of the existing system in the Avy, if I'm reading this right? It sounds like the Aux battery will charge and be part of the system as long as the ignition is on, but when it's off, any accessory that is left on won't draw power from it. The only thing is that quote is under a section referencing "Heavy Duty Pickups", so I'm not sure if the 1/2 ton Avy counts.

If it does, the electrical schamatics are here:
http://www.gmupfitter.com/publicat/2007_BB/2007_LD_FS_CK_Utility_Elec.pdf
p. D-19 seems to have the general wiring of the second battery. I think this is the "TP2" schematic referenced in the quote above.
p. B-19 seems to show that the Aux battery should be grounded to Zone 3, with the deatailed location shown on B-22

If someone is more familiar with reading wiring diagrams can please take a look and let me know if this is feasible, can you please post back? I'm particularly confused by the "wiring harness" portion on the positive side of the diagram on pg. D-19. Is it simply that the positive cables need to connect to the starter, fuse holder, and both battery positive terminals? Is this as simple as dropping a battery in the tray and running a couple of cables from the Starter (? - not alternator?) to the positive terminal and grounding it out in Zone 3?
 
does anyone know where to get the toolbox that goes inplace of a battery??  i know this was on some of the older tahoes..  Would be nice to use the second tray to store emergency tools and such...
 
:help:great information guys,i also have an 07 Av and been thinking of hooking up a secondary battery ,lets say if i didn't go with any of the products you mentioned,lets just hypothetically say if i just hooked up red to red and black to black from the primary and snake it along the firewall to the side of the fender to the secondary battery,what would happen?1st would that work??2nd would i over load the alternator(over working from charging 2 battery)2nd would it really work and charge the secondary battery??
 
danny_carbone said:
:help:great information guys,i also have an 07 Av and been thinking of hooking up a secondary battery ,lets say if i didn't go with any of the products you mentioned,lets just hypothetically say if i just hooked up red to red and black to black from the primary and snake it along the firewall to the side of the fender to the secondary battery,what would happen?1st would that work??2nd would i over load the alternator(over working from charging 2 battery)2nd would it really work and charge the secondary battery??
Click to expand...
It would work but it wouldn't serve as a backup battery.  Both batteries would charge together and both would drain together.  The isolator allows your alternator to keep the backup battery charged but does not allow your electrical system to drain it.  When/if you need the backup battery power,  you flip a switch and it is available.  I used the Hell Roaring solid state isolator http://www.hellroaring.com
 
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