easygoinmike
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Never tried yahoo! answers before, but here goes.......(BTW, I noticed Chevy Owner is a GM cert. mech. and provides seemingly good advice.)
I have an '05 Suburban LT Autoride 5.3L with just about every bell and whistle one could imagine for options. My situation is that I like to tailgate and there does not seem to be an accessory position which powers just the cab. (With the truck off) If I want to run the DVD for the kids, or the sound system, I'm told by the Chevy Dealer that all the modules for the engine management system are powered too. They said I'm doing real good if it will go 45min. on the stock battery. I've had that load tested and my battery guy says I'm in good shape. Now I've noticed that there are 2 fuse boxes for the vehicle. The one under the hood appears to be for chassis functions and the one by the driver side door hinge is for cab functions. My questions is this.....Is there a kit (factory/aftermarket??) that adds a second battery and isolates the two fuseboxes. This would be similiar to a set-up found in a larger boat in that one battery could be used for starting, engine management, and vital functions (ABS, exterior lamps, etc.) and the other battery could be used for cabin functions (interior lights, sound, dvd, 12V accessory outlets, etc.). When the alternator is charging (engine running) the isolator could switch both batteries to be in parallel for charging, when not charging, it isolates them. Of course a manual overide would be smart to allow for emergency situations. I think it would be no biggie to make one, and I've found an aftermarket 2nd battery tray, but my truck is still under the extended warranty and I don't want to void that part of it. I can't see that anything would work any different electrically assuming both batteries had some charge. This would be especially useful when we overnite in the truck 5-6 times per year. More than a few times I've had to jump the truck if the battery goes down enough for the run-down protection to kick in (or drop out?). If I can do this, I would spring for Optimas. One starting, and one deep cycle. Did I just blow everyones brain???? Hope at least someone understands the question and can point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance,
- Mike in South Jersey (yeah, there's a difference!)
I have an '05 Suburban LT Autoride 5.3L with just about every bell and whistle one could imagine for options. My situation is that I like to tailgate and there does not seem to be an accessory position which powers just the cab. (With the truck off) If I want to run the DVD for the kids, or the sound system, I'm told by the Chevy Dealer that all the modules for the engine management system are powered too. They said I'm doing real good if it will go 45min. on the stock battery. I've had that load tested and my battery guy says I'm in good shape. Now I've noticed that there are 2 fuse boxes for the vehicle. The one under the hood appears to be for chassis functions and the one by the driver side door hinge is for cab functions. My questions is this.....Is there a kit (factory/aftermarket??) that adds a second battery and isolates the two fuseboxes. This would be similiar to a set-up found in a larger boat in that one battery could be used for starting, engine management, and vital functions (ABS, exterior lamps, etc.) and the other battery could be used for cabin functions (interior lights, sound, dvd, 12V accessory outlets, etc.). When the alternator is charging (engine running) the isolator could switch both batteries to be in parallel for charging, when not charging, it isolates them. Of course a manual overide would be smart to allow for emergency situations. I think it would be no biggie to make one, and I've found an aftermarket 2nd battery tray, but my truck is still under the extended warranty and I don't want to void that part of it. I can't see that anything would work any different electrically assuming both batteries had some charge. This would be especially useful when we overnite in the truck 5-6 times per year. More than a few times I've had to jump the truck if the battery goes down enough for the run-down protection to kick in (or drop out?). If I can do this, I would spring for Optimas. One starting, and one deep cycle. Did I just blow everyones brain???? Hope at least someone understands the question and can point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance,
- Mike in South Jersey (yeah, there's a difference!)