Jump to content

2018 GMC Sierra Auxiliary Battery Install

Varqa

By Varqa
in Ask A GM Technician

 Share

Recommended Posts

Varqa New Member

Varqa

Posted
Posted

I have a 2018 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 6.2L engine.  I want to install ham radio gear.   

1. Auxiliary Battery Tray exists.  I will buy AGM battery and clamps.

2. I have West Mountain Radio ISOpwr (Auxiliary Battery Isolator) to connect between main battery, aux battery, and load.

3. What I need is an off-the shelf wiring harness (battery to battery) with install directions, or suggestions how to route the harness that I build

4. For the load, I plan to use approximately 10ft of #10AWG.

5. Can you suggest where I can find part numbers, and/or install directions for adding an aux battery in the engine compartment?

 

thanks for the help

 

  • Like 1
Jsdirt Senior Enthusiast

Jsdirt

Posted
Posted (edited)

Not sure if this is what you're looking for or not. I have not stood next to a 2018 anything, let alone looked under the hood, so take this link with a grain of salt.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-Cable-Wire-Harness-2014-2019-Chevrolet-Silverado-1500-GMC-Sierra-1500-/262172160838?_trksid=p2385738.m4383.l4275.c10

Edited by Jsdirt
Doug_Scott Senior Enthusiast

Doug_Scott

Posted
Posted

If you are going to be running 10 feet of cable for the load you may want to rethink the gauge of the wire.  You could also use a second run of the 10 gauge wire in parallel.

lonestardiver Enthusiast

lonestardiver

Posted
Posted

Run 6 or 8 gauge wire to the cab to a distribution block. That way you have additional power capabilities if needed. Be sure and fuse it adjacent to the battery.

Somewhere I saw a wiring diagram for adding an aux battery with an isolator.

One of the key things with the electrical systems these days is the current sensor on the ground cable of the primary battery used to tell the charging system how much extra power to produce.

aseibel Senior Enthusiast

aseibel

Posted
Posted

I used to follow this forum, there's 300 posts about adding a battery. If you expect a large power draw you should consider doing what the plow guys call "The Big 3". Which is upgrading the wiring for Engine ground, Battery ground, and power from alternator to battery. Maybe something in here will help you. I ran welding cables in parallel to add a second battery in my old truck, but no isolator so I'm not much help there.

 

https://www.plowsite.com/threads/dual-battery-install-instructions-for-a-chevy.56715/

 

https://www.hardworkingtrucks.com/gm-1500-dual-battery-install/

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Latest Articles

  • Posts

    • Aimatdeer
      Ac not keeping up

      By Aimatdeer · Posted

      Monday looks like a good day for the dealer to test an ac issue. Hopefully it all turns out good.
    • CamGTP
      Gas Prices

      By CamGTP · Posted

      Paid $2.72 for E85 today.
    • Atlas
      Gas Prices

      By Atlas · Posted

      Welcome back! No, it definitely doesn't pass the sniff test. Even "ceasefire" needs an alternative definition these days.    $5.29 at Kroger today
    • bluev8
      Intermittent no-code issues on 2022.5+ V8 trucks — what did the shop fail to capture?

      By bluev8 · Posted

      That makes sense, and I think you are describing the real product problem. Capturing data is the easy part. If the owner or technician has to manually dig through five minutes of millisecond-level logs, the product has already failed. The device would be at the ECM harness, not at the OBD port, so I agree that data retrieval and event marking need to be thought through carefully. The way I am thinking about the architecture is: The recorder itself should not depend on a phone, app, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or cloud connection to capture the event. It should always keep a local rolling buffer and lock the event locally. A button, phone app, or small cabin device would only act as an event marker. If the driver feels a stumble and presses the button 10–30 seconds later, the pre-buffer has to already contain the useful data. For data retrieval, the practical options would be a sealed service USB lead, Wi-Fi download, or a phone/cabin companion device. I would not expect the owner to remove the ECM-side module or work with raw files directly. The cloud or AI side would be for interpretation, not for capturing the event. The truck may have no connection when the issue happens, so the evidence has to be saved locally first. After that, cloud processing could help decode the data, compare it against baselines, and generate a readable report. For the first version, I would keep the automatic triggers conservative and objective: driver event marker bus-off error passive voltage drop / brownout device reset FIFO or queue overflow a normally periodic message disappearing side-to-side communication mismatch, if the topology supports that For “learning normal,” I agree with your point, but I would not want to overclaim it as automatic root-cause diagnosis at first. A realistic first step would be learned baseline comparison for that specific vehicle and operating condition. For example, a value would only be compared against similar conditions: RPM range load / MAP throttle position gear / vehicle speed coolant and oil temperature battery voltage AFM/DFM state, if decoded and validated Then the report could flag things like: this periodic message disappeared compared with its normal timing this value deviated from this vehicle’s normal range under similar conditions the same abnormal pattern repeated after the same type of event the anomaly occurred together with voltage, oil-pressure, misfire, or communication changes But I would still call that “abnormal pattern detected,” not “replace this part,” unless there is enough validated repair data behind it. So the intended product would not be “here is a huge log.” It would need to be an event package: what triggered the capture how much pre/post data was preserved what changed before and after the event whether the device itself reset, overflowed, or saw a bus error selected graphs around the event raw data only as supporting evidence From your perspective, what would make this kind of report useful instead of just another datalog? For example: What are the top 5 parameters or events you would want highlighted first? Would you trust a learned baseline for that specific vehicle, or would you prefer fixed thresholds? How much false-positive flagging would be acceptable before you stopped looking at the reports? What would a one-page report need to show for an independent shop to take it seriously? For misfire, AFM/DFM, oil pressure, or U-code complaints, what would you want the tool to flag automatically?
    • scotthvac.net
      2022-24 halogen - led grille swap

      By scotthvac.net · Posted

      2024 Silverado 2500 HD LTZ grille no camera Parts list   84603331 84913656 84913657 84913654 84913655 84911567 84911568 85646092 85646093 85797921 85797922   11570637  x10-15   grille/bumper bolts 11546500  x10      grille clips 11571006  x10      push/retainer clips 11546454  x6       nut retainers 11611609  x6       M5 bolts 11610700  x6       molding/trim retainers

  • GM-Trucks.com Clubs

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...