Mods if you feel this is a great idea and wish to make it a sticky then you may if not then I won't cry about it. I haven't heard or seen anyone on any of the boards about this mod so I'm gonna go ahead and claim it for the YT board. Let's call it the "battery breather mod." I work on Chevy vehicles and the new Colorado's have a battery box with it's own intake to cool the battery down. NOTE: I have NOT tried this mod yet so I don't know if it will work or not, I am hopelessy broke right now so I have not been able to try it myself. Here's the idea: I will TRY to get the measurements as far as space and dimensions of the Colorado/Canyon battery box to see if it will fit. If you luck up go to a scrapyard and buy one or buy it directly from the stealership.
1. Get a battery box and cover from the Colorado/Canyons
2. Buy some bracketry and bolts to "modify" and fit the box into the old battery space.
3. Disconnect the battery cables, and remove battery (no brainer there). Drop in and move the "intake" of the box towards the opening near the radiator (3rd Gen 4runners only that i know of). Modify the brackets if necessary to fit the box.
4. The Colorado/Canyon box has a funky on top for the terminals so you may have to wind up modifying that to fit yours or on the side for the side post if you have that.
5. Install battery and share with us on this board if it worked or not and even maybe do a more "professional" writeup than what I did.

The Idea here is to keep the battery cool because it loses it's amperages with more heat. NOTE: I am NOT responsible for any damages that occur if you try this mod (just trying to cover my butt) nor do I gaurantee any performance to your vehicle. I wanted to keep it a secret to myself to see if it really worked just to keep someone else from screwing up their truck, but like I said I am broke and can't do it right now so I am sharing my idea with you all. GOOD LUCK!!

 

no takers i guess huh?

 

not so secret anymore huh. can you snap a pic of the battery box?

 

At what point does battery amperage start to go down?

I was under the impression that amperage went down in cold temps.

 

Wouldn't an ALT cooler make more of a difference?

 

I have no idea what that is. I don't have a digi cam so I can't take pics of it but I will TRY to get the measurements today if I can get the time at work. As far as temperature effects on the battery, I think it's both ways but I do know that heat does affect the amperages on it.

 

Well, I am interested to see what you are talking about. New mods are always cool to consider.

 

ummm... NO, not the way I understand it anyway...

Battery Temp is directly proportional to the potential power it can produce. Increased Heat will allow the chemical reaction to occur more rapidly, and therefore the batter can produce more power. However, the overall battery life is inversely proportional to the battery temperature, and therefore the battery cooling system is to extend battery life and not necessarily for additional amperage.

Good reading material if you want to do this.


http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq11.htm

 

Ok sorry guys I was wrong, thanks for the correction bamachem.

 

Concur... that's why you store the D-cells in the fridge and why in the winter, if you're not quite getting a start from a cold batt, you can turn on the headlights for a bit, warming up the battery, then she starts no prob.
But you don't need amps out while driving so cooling the batt would extend it's life, I guess. So the mod is not without it's merits. Any benefit to off road action? Keeping the gunk/water off the batt?

 

no problem.

hey, it may still be a good idea since it might keep that $150 optima lasting a couple more years...

 

In modern vehicles underhood temperatures are getting higher all the time, and batteries can get cooked. The Colorado is already a known overheater in hot weather, so trying to get some cool air to the battery is quite probably necessary. Never been an issue for most folks, specially yota owners, so why bother?