07-13 Chevy NNBS battery upgrade, H6 to H8.

[Frits]

I couldn't find any info online about upgrading the battery so, this is what I came up with.

With the NNBS(07-13?) trucks no matter what gas engine you have, 4.3 to 6.2 your battery choices are either a 615CCA or 730CCA H6(group 48). My truck came with a one year old 615CCA battery that wouldn't start the truck at -33F, unacceptable. While it's still warm out I wanted to fix this. I went down the rabbit hole of bigger batteries, AGM, dual batteries etc. I found that even though AGM's claim to have more CCA than FLA I did not find that to be true when I looked at the numbers, also some charging systems may not be compatible with AGM batteries, and they're expensive.
I found that the Dodge 1500 uses a H7 battery, and I found a guy online that upgraded his dodge's H7 to H8. The H8 isn't more expensive than a H7 or H6. So now H8 is what I'm aiming for, and yes I looked at H9 but it's really not a thing.

I knew it was gonna be a tight fit. The H8 is three inches longer than the H6 but the other dimensions are identical. Major modifications that need to be done are remove the battery tray and remove the raised portion of the stamping that limited the battery's length. I used a cut-off wheel and a hammer.

 

I bought the Batteries Plus battery because I believe it's made by East Penn. Napa has what looks to be the same battery. I didn't go with the NAPA battery because I couldn't figure out their warranty PDF. Batteries plus put it right there in the description, 3 years. The battery cost me $122 after the typical batteries plus discount and core.

 

First picture shows the modified tray. It's modified both top and bottom.
Second picture shows how much extra room is on the tray now.
Third picture self explanatory.
Fourth picture shows the problem I ran into. The negative battery cable wants to run between the battery and the firewall which moves the whole battery over almost a half inch.
Fifth picture shows how tight it is for space. I'm going to put a new end on my negative battery cable and route the cable over the top of the battery so I can slide the battery away from the coolant overflow tank.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Frits

[Frits]

[Frits]

[Formulabruce]

2 batteries?  -33 degrees.. gas truck ...

 RPO K05 is where I would be spending my money, not bigger batteries.

 In the cold, electricity flows Much better and with little resistance in wire.

Cold can affect the rotational resistance of almost anything though.

 The closer the plates are inside a battery, the more they put in, and the better chance you have of a shorted cell.

 More CCA does NOT always mean a better battery, if it calcifies or shorts quickly.

Typically your deep cycle batteries are bigger, but have more room between the plates.

Bigger battery without a huge amount of CCA is the ticket.

Warming the batteries is also the ticket.

Of course a K05 would probably fix it all ..

[MORSNO]

This is posted in the wrong forum, this is the 2500/3500HD forum, not the 1500 grocery getter forum.  We have a different system

[Frits]

I have a 2500HD gas. Not a 1500.

 

If there is a difference between 1500 battery setup and gas HD battery setup please advise.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Frits

[casey.mikl]

What I did in my 2011 2500hd gasser, is installed a second battery in the factory location behind the driver headlight. Factory tie down and got 2 gauge welding cable, 2 strands in red and black. Ran them from the factory battery to the second battery and connected them with ring terminals. Ran the cable up and along the firewall and zip tied it all up. Same type of system as a diesel truck. The positive is going to the positive battery terminal of the main battery and the negative is going to the factory negative on the engine block. All my accessories are wired to the second battery. Has been in this configuration for more than a year with no issues.


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[Frits]

On 9/6/2019 at 8:48 AM, casey.mikl said:

What I did in my 2011 2500hd gasser, is installed a second battery in the factory location behind the driver headlight. Factory tie down and got 2 gauge welding cable, 2 strands in red and black. Ran them from the factory battery to the second battery and connected them with ring terminals. Ran the cable up and along the firewall and zip tied it all up. Same type of system as a diesel truck. The positive is going to the positive battery terminal of the main battery and the negative is going to the factory negative on the engine block. All my accessories are wired to the second battery. Has been in this configuration for more than a year with no issues.


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With it being diesel truck style dual battery setup that means there is no isolation between the batteries? and both batteries the same?

 

If I add a second battery I'll isolate them and run the trailer wiring to the auxiliary battery. Not sure if I'll get around to it, it's probably not needed. But I could use my old H6 battery since it's still healthy(just undersized IMO).

Edited September 9, 2019 by Frits

[casey.mikl]

No there is no isolation. The batteries are very similar. Stats are the same on both.


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[Frits]

Finally got the ground terminal changed and everything fits a little better now. Wires where 2guage and 10-12? gauge. I used a hydraulic crimper I bought off amazon, I wasn’t comfortable using my hammer crimper for this critical job.

Getting that marine style terminal on and tightened up was kind of a pain would have been easier if I put it on when the battery was outside the vehicle.



Also some may notice I changed the Batteries Plus battery for a Napa battery. You can read about that here if you like.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Frits

[casey.mikl]

This is the crimper that I use for large lugs. Put it in a vise and hit it with an impact. Easy and does a great job. Then I heat the lugs with a torch and fill the inside of the lug with solder. Then heat shrink over the connection.


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[Frits]

On 9/13/2019 at 2:28 PM, casey.mikl said:

This is the crimper that I use for large lugs. Put it in a vise and hit it with an impact. Easy and does a great job. Then I heat the lugs with a torch and fill the inside of the lug with solder. Then heat shrink over the connection.


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That looks better than the hammer crimper I have, the way it’s got three points to smash into the terminal. The one I have just kinda smashes everything into a V shape.

Edited September 16, 2019 by Frits