Does the AV have or offer a second battery, for emergency or running accessories during camping, etc. ?
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Back-up Battery
- Thread starter DCRANER
- Start date
Yes, but Wrangler Dual Battery Kit is recommended over the GM Aux Battery.
Aux Battery from GM?
goo929
Aux Battery from GM?
goo929
C
carrerarod
GUEST
I have ordered the kit from Wrangler. Will install in the next couple of weeks and hopefully post one of my popular step-by-step DIY thingies....
Kit requires 2 identical batteries and I have already replaced the OEM battery with an Optima yellow-top in preparation.
Kit requires 2 identical batteries and I have already replaced the OEM battery with an Optima yellow-top in preparation.
steelheadchaser
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The 2002 Avalanche was not available from the factory with a dual battery option. I had the factory dual battery option on my Sierra K2500, and would have prefered an aftermarket installation that would have enabled me to isolate either battery or use them together.
I installed the Wrangler dual battery kit the other night to power the new inverter. I purchased a Portawatz 1750 inverter and mounted it under the rear passenger seat, therefore I had to drill two holes through the firewall for the cables. The 3/4" hole is for the 1/0 gauge cable serving the inverter, and the 1/2" hole is for the Wrangler battery manager to be mounted on the dash. As usual, the toughest part of this project was pulling the trigger on the drill to start the first hole. I spent an unusual amount of time measuring, and plotting before I drilled the holes. Take note of the hole locations on the passenger side of the firewall. They really cannot be any higher, lower, left, or right, or you can really get into some trouble.
The cables will come out just above the arrow on the passenger side floorboard. The large power cable routes nicely down the side to the kickplate tray and goes all the way to the back seat. The power manager cable is zip-tied under the dash.
I used a 3/4" grommet and a 1/2" grommet to secure the cables in the firewall. These are available at most car audio accessory stores.
This is what the new tray looks like... the two screws on the side of the tray are mounts for the 200 amp battery relay.
And this is the final product...
I have ordered a second battery manager switch to see if I can custom cut it into one of the empty pod faceplates under the Onstar buttons. (the aluminum angle that the kit switch is mounted on looks like something from a 1950's farm truck). I'll post some photos if that task is successful.
I chose to go with the Optima Marine Deep Cycle battery (blue top) to power our toys and tools out in the wilderness.
Now to install that AC outlet in the bed of the truck...
helmet
The cables will come out just above the arrow on the passenger side floorboard. The large power cable routes nicely down the side to the kickplate tray and goes all the way to the back seat. The power manager cable is zip-tied under the dash.
I used a 3/4" grommet and a 1/2" grommet to secure the cables in the firewall. These are available at most car audio accessory stores.
This is what the new tray looks like... the two screws on the side of the tray are mounts for the 200 amp battery relay.
And this is the final product...
I have ordered a second battery manager switch to see if I can custom cut it into one of the empty pod faceplates under the Onstar buttons. (the aluminum angle that the kit switch is mounted on looks like something from a 1950's farm truck). I'll post some photos if that task is successful.
I chose to go with the Optima Marine Deep Cycle battery (blue top) to power our toys and tools out in the wilderness.
Now to install that AC outlet in the bed of the truck...
helmet
C
carrerarod
GUEST
Great post helmet!
I am getting ready to do this mod in the next couple of weeks. Quick question for you, why did you select the passenger side to go through the firewall? just because it was close to the isolator/relay? It seems to me that there are more options or at least easier to punch through on the driver side plus if you mount the battery manager switch on the drivers side.... just curious.
when i was working through this mod in my head, i had the same idea to mount the switch in one of the pods under the onstar. would love to see pix of how you make this happen!
I am getting ready to do this mod in the next couple of weeks. Quick question for you, why did you select the passenger side to go through the firewall? just because it was close to the isolator/relay? It seems to me that there are more options or at least easier to punch through on the driver side plus if you mount the battery manager switch on the drivers side.... just curious.
when i was working through this mod in my head, i had the same idea to mount the switch in one of the pods under the onstar. would love to see pix of how you make this happen!
dang helmet! you beat me to the finish line on this one! nice post, incredibly helpful.
as for the inverter, no good location for the inverter closer to the firewall I take it (remembering the advice to keep the cable run from inverter to the battery as short as possible, inverter to plug can be the longer one)?
as for the inverter, no good location for the inverter closer to the firewall I take it (remembering the advice to keep the cable run from inverter to the battery as short as possible, inverter to plug can be the longer one)?
carrerarod said:Quick question for you, why did you select the passenger side to go through the firewall? just because it was close to the isolator/relay? It seems to me that there are more options or at least easier to punch through on the driver side plus if you mount the battery manager switch on the drivers side.... just curious.
when i was working through this mod in my head, i had the same idea to mount the switch in one of the pods under the onstar. would love to see pix of how you make this happen!
carrerarod and jackalanche,
I chose to go through the passenger side of the firewall to limit the travel distance of cable from battery to inverter. The inverter handbook recommends locating the inverter less than four feet from the power source using #2 AWG cable. The Portawatz 1750 is so dang big, there is no place for it in the front of the cab. It might fit under the front passenger seat if you don?t have power seats. I stepped up the cable size to 1/0 (almost twice the diameter) but was still trying to be mindful of the cable length. After firing up the inverter, the voltmeter on its faceplate reads a full 14-14.5 volts, so I think the 1/0 cable did the job to prevent any loss. Rather than run both a positive and negative cable to the back, I used Jackalanche?s trick and grounded the neg. cable from the battery to the frame under the hood and grounded the neg. cable from the inverter to the metal rear seat structure. (there is not enough room in the kick plate tray to run 2 1/0 cables and the stuff is very expensive cable) By the way, if you haven?t ordered your kit from Wrangler yet, order the cable and end connectors from them. Their cable price is less than half the going rate at my local car audio stores, and I had one heck of a time even finding 1/0 connectors.
I chose to locate the inverter under the passenger backseat because there is room, and I can see the voltmeter readout over my shoulder. My only concern is the inverter heat with the midgate down. The seat back lays on top of the inverter when the midgate is down, and I know we will be using the inverter the most with it down. (camping, etc.) I am planning to max out the inverter for a few hours this weekend to see how hot it gets. I ran a small fan for a few hours the other night, and it didn?t even get warm, so it may not be much of an issue.
You could easily run the battery manager cable through on the driver side, I already had the passenger side pulled apart and the drill in hand. I?ll keep you posted on the pod switch mod. for the battery manager. I also have a remote control button that turns the inverter on/off, and I plan to install that into the other available pod faceplate. (If I don?t end up installing it in the truck bed.)
helmet
helmet said:
I finally dismantled the switch and installed it in an empty pod under the OnStar controls.
Both the light and the switch have threaded rods and nuts, so it was very easy to back the nuts off and take the thing apart. I pulled the wiring apart, drill two holes in the pod cover, inserted the light and switch and screwed the nuts back on the the threaded rods. I placed a very tiny drop of silicone over each nut and rod just to ensure they wouldn't vibrate off. (not shown, it's on the back of the housing)
Now it's definately time to wire the outlet in the bed!
helmet
C
carrerarod
GUEST
helmet said:
Super Job Helmet! Looks awesome! Did you have to extend the wiring to that location or did the kit come with a long enough whip to do it?
I love it! Great Location!
carrerarod said:
There is plenty of wire for that location... it would actually require more wire to extend it to the area under the dash, and there is more than enough wire supplied for that.
By the way... I ran the 1750 watt inverter from the additional battery all night Saturday night and it did just fine. We had a small fan, light, and brief use of an air pump from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. and still did not drain the reserve.
The inverter also did not get hot like I thought it would, so heat is really not an issue for us. I would still give yours a test run with your loads before folding the seat down on top of it.
It really changes the nature of the possibilities for comfort and camping.
helmet
G
got_change
GUEST
you guys have paved the way ,on the dual batt. mod i will use a boat, isolater to charge both batts without having my .... parasite ,options affect the stock battery .. imleearning from you guys how to do this the right way the first time,, thanks for sharing,,, and im still on the mod trail, not even near getting them all done!!!