HD Pickup and Deep Cycle Battery

[BrentR]

Anybody out there have any experience adding an aftermarket deep cycle battery to the HD pickups? I installed the battery tray but my existing deep cycle battery won't fit. Any recommendations or suggestions are appreciated.

[TomEllis]

I have added a Optima Yellow Top Aux battery to my 2002 2500HD CC. I had to remove the brace that goes from the firewall to the side fender.

???

it fits fine now.

Tom

[lauriet1]

Brent - the Optima Yellow Top and the Odyssey PC925 are the only Deep Cycle Batteries that will fit in there - I struggled with this a couple of months ago and spent hours doing research.  

 

Calculate your amps per hour usage.  Based on those results, be sure to take a hard look at amperage/hour ratings. Surprisingly, I found that the Optima yellow top is only a 55ah battery, at anywhere from $140 - $190 in price, thats a big chunk of change to give up for "rugged construction".  Most other regular batteries of this size are around 105ah.  My camper's amp/hr usage is minimal so I opted to put a second regular battery in with an isolator.  The battery charges while running and is the only battery that the camper can use to run anything.  The 1st battery is blocked, so the camper cannot run off it, therefore my truck will always start.

 

Here's a link to the install on a chevy2500HD with pictures,  this guy helped me alot when I was putting in my 2nd battery.  vince's battery intall

 

Good Luck with your project!

[BrentR]

Lauriet - Thanks for the info. Good point about the AH ratings, my camper doesn't use a lot of juice either, so I could save some money using a regular starting battery.

I've seen Vince's page before. It was very helpful. I'm going to try to remove the connection from the starter battery to the terminal post at the fuse box (opposite end of the fuse than what Vince described). Then attach the aux battery at that post. That way I can still use the fuse/holder in the fuse box.

Thanks again for the info.