Battery Cover

[HummerJim]

Does the black quilted, blanket-like covering over and around the engine battery serve any purpose other than to look nice? I'm thinking of putting in an Optima Red Top Battery and the one they recommend for the Hummer H2 is too tall to close the top of the battery bag.

[SummitUp]

It serves no purpose at all that I can see... wait! It's quilted! Maybe it keeps the battery warm at night!

Throw it in the trash and get that Optima installed ASAP. The OEM GM battery is a POS battery anyway...

[zmanH2]

Originally Posted by HummerJim

Does the black quilted, blanket-like covering over and around the engine battery serve any purpose other than to look nice? I'm thinking of putting in an Optima Red Top Battery and the one they recommend for the Hummer H2 is too tall to close the top of the battery bag.

Yes it does serve a purpose. It protects the battery from extreme heat and cold which may degrade your battery faster.

"One of the big mistakes that the do-it-yourself and professional mechanics will make is when they replace the battery they will discard this insulated cover.
This will also shorten the car battery life span. The manufacture put this insulated battery cover on for a reason so you don’t want to forget to reinstall it " - auto-facts.org

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by zmanH2

Yes it does serve a purpose. It protects the battery from extreme heat and cold which may degrade your battery faster.

Right... and considering how often the OEM GM battery experiences premature failure, the battery cover does a great job doesn't it?

Look, the reality is that this forum and every other Hummer forum I'm a member of has literally dozens of threads devoted to how often the OEM battery fails prematurely. That's really what's relevant here isn't it? The battery in my '05 H2 failed after 2 years of service. Like many other forum members, I installed an Optima battery and never have had a problem since. I've been using Optima batteries for years in all my vehicles, and never have had one fail. In fact I have a pickup truck with a snow plow which has an Optima Red Top in it for 8 years now, and it still starts up just fine even on a cold winter morning here in the Rocky Mountains even with the temps below zero.

HummerJim, your H2 deserves a better battery than the OEM GM battery. And especially if you do any offroading, you don't want to be stranded because your vehicle wont start. The Optima battery is basically impervious to extreme heat and cold, so install one in your Hummer and have some peace of mind.

[HummerJim]

I have to agree that Optima makes a fantastic battery. I had one in my last vehicle and I've had one in my bass boat for seven years under the worst of conditions with lots of sitting around and storeage in the winter. It also takes a lot of pounding well in the boat, so I would think it is great for offroad! We all know Murphy's law of batteries is that they fail when you are miles from anywhere and offroad. Wonder what Rod Hall uses in his H2SUT?

[SummitUp]

Originally Posted by HummerJim

We all know Murphy's law of batteries is that they fail when you are miles from anywhere and offroad.

And then there's SummitUp's postulate which states: "Murphy was an Optimist" (or should I say "Optima-ist")!