Battery charge during storage

[wurlitzer28]

This will be my first year storing my Georgetown RV for the winter. At the storage facility they do offer electric hookups so I could put a Battery Tender on both battery systems. Is this advisable or even feasible?

Or should I just rely on the "shore power" providing all the charging for 5-6 months?

Still not sure of the proper setting for the switch by the door steps for linking the batteries together.

The Battery Tender did a good job with my motorcycle and tractor batteries vs a conventional charger.

[OswegoLion]

I've stored mine for a couple months in Florida and have charged it. It charges when we go to campgrounds.

[ScottBrownstein]

As long as your converter is fully operational, and drops to 13.2 or so after 4 or 5 day, you should be fine with just hooking up to shore power.

[Mdaniels4]

This may be unconventional, but on all our campers, as long as it was fully charged, I left them right where they were installed, during our off season from November to April. Never once had a battery go dead, and that's over 12 years in 4 units. No tender. No nothing.

Last year we put this unit in in November. It had sat on the lot from May to November, and we weren't going to be using it. So I had no idea how much charge it had. I did take that one off and put it on the tender at home. But this year when we close up it will sit where it is all winter. There's no draw from it off shore power so I don't see any reason to worry about it much.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[Mdaniels4]

Btw. A battery tender slow trickle automatic float is the way to go if you're going to he using some sort of maintainer. The battery tender junior is a great little unit I use on my sports car and motorcycles for all winter storage.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Forest River Forums mobile app

[CarolinaBlue]

Is a Battery Tender needed or can you just plug into shore power. We have a Forester 2401W and I have kept it plugged in when not traveling. I am not sure if the battery isolator should be in the "on" or "off" position when plugged into shore power and charging the house batteries. Could someone advise? I keep the MH starter bartery plugged in and use a Battery Tender as well.

[jimmoore13]

If you have a full, three-stage charger in your converter, you should be able to leave the RV plugged in. My paranoid side questions the wisdom of this mostly because an electronics failure in the converter could go undetected for months. Unless there's another reason to keep power in your RV...for, say, a dehumidifier, etc...I'd be more comfortable with other options.

Another option is a battery disconnect switch on the negative terminal of your battery(ies). The batteries will hold charge for quite a long time if they are disconnected from all parasitic loads (e.g. the propane detector). If you visit your stored RV once in a while, you can use a multimeter to check the status of the battery(ies) and respond accordingly.

A high-quality "Battery Tender" is also a good way to go, but their (and other brands') more basic float chargers are not recommended. Be sure you have a multi-stage Battery Tender, or you risk overcharging. Again, walking away from a running $50 battery charger for months triggers my paranoid side. I'm a 22-year veteran of commercial broadcast TV, and I just don't trust electronics hardware that much. I've had to repair/replace far too many "set-it-and-forget-it" devices to trust anything. A large power spike (say from a nearby lightning strike) can fry lots of gear...unless it's not plugged in.

My PUP has a basic, single-stage 35 AMP converter, and I store it in my driveway under a cover. So I just bring the battery inside. I put it on a float charger overnight about 3 times per winter. I store it on a board mostly to protect my floor (not necessary for the battery - but good to keep the floor clean). I stash it deep in a corner, so the board also protects the battery case as I position it while reaching over other stuff.

Before I put it back in service, I top off the cells with distilled water and hit it with the Battery Tender charger overnight, then it's ready to go when the rest of my camper is. The converter takes care of the rest while I chill the fridge for 24 hours.

In an ideal world, electronics don't fail, so my opinions are just that. In season, parked in the driveway between trips, you could rely on your 3-stage converter to properly maintain the battery, but I'd still verify that the converter is functioning properly if trips are infrequent. Battery disconnects would be good in this situation, too. If you plug in the day before a trip to cool the fridge and prep the RV, reconnecting the battery(ies) takes only a few moments, and you'll have peace of mind between times.

[wurlitzer28]

Jim, thanks for your reply. I am an Electronics Engineer and like you don't trust electronics. Some of the systems I see are quite dangerous or at best detrimental.

The question on a Battery Tender is due to my experience with my motorcycle and lawn tractor where taking the batteries out and bringing them indoors, and occasionally charging them did not make for great longevity.

I have been quite happy with leaving the batteries in the vehicles while using the Battery Tender.

I have also lost a battery by leaving it in the vehicle over the winter without a tender or charger. Froze and cracked.

I don't know enough about the RV converters [first year with this RV] to know how well they maintain a charge over 6 months of bone chilling cold. Western NY down in the Ski country.

[TexasBob]

I use a small "maintenance" solar cell mounted on top of my LP Bottle cover. It maintains my battery very well. I should also say that I have a disconnect switch on my battery that totally isolate by battery. The solar cell WILL NOT charge the battery, just maintain it.

[ProfChuck]

We store our trailer in our barn (specially built for the trailer) and during the winter, I just leave it plugged into the surge protector on my barn's 30 amp. connector (we have a 30 amp connection on the trailer). However, I have often also cut the main breaker to the convertor and disconnected the battery using the disconnect switch (which does seem to cut everything) and then connected a charger/float maintainer to the just battery. Since the barn is at the house, it is easy to check frequently all year. I share Jim's concerns about the electronics since I, too, am a veteran of commercial TV (30 years at WXYZ-TV Chan-7 ABC - NATAS Gold Circle member) and have witnessed some very interesting problems with electronics, like the time we burned up 2 $45,000 cameras because a stagehand's battery pack caught fire while charging. It happens, and more than we want (like now some of the phones and pads exploding) and I had my Mac laptop battery blow out the back of the case). So far, it hasn't happened with the new trailer, but, I did have a failure with the cooling fan in the convertor of our previous trailer. It overheated and almost caused a fire, but the main circuit board was above the convertor and it shut everything down in time. This is why I try to cut the main breaker on the trailer and go with the small charger on a disconnected battery - but not removed from the trailer.

[LilHorse&buggy]

I was wondering if you hooked up a small solar panel, would you need a charge controller. By small, I mean like something to charge a cell phone, maybe a 10 watt or 5 watt panel, since you would only need a trickle charge for maintaining.

[UT_Grandpa]

Where we live it gets below freezing from October to April so I have done a couple of things. Since we have two 12V batteries in parallel, if left alone, they will eventually run each other down due to the cells not being matched in both batteries. I put a trickle charger from Harbor Freight that was about 12.8 Volts (measure them because they can be from 12-15 Volts).

I put the charger on a timer and turned it on for 4 hours/day. Worked for me. I have a Battery Tender but didn't want it outside in the snow. That is why I use a cheap charger.

The second method was to pull the batteries and bring them into the garage. I hit them with the Battery Tender about once a month.

I change my batteries at the 5 year mark while it is easy to do and not have a problem in the sticks.

[ProfChuck]

Originally Posted by LilHorse&buggy

I was wondering if you hooked up a small solar panel, would you need a charge controller. By small, I mean like something to charge a cell phone, maybe a 10 watt or 5 watt panel, since you would only need a trickle charge for maintaining.

Although I haven't used the solar panels to charge batteries, I think I would still install a charge controller on them - just in case.

[camaraderie]

Wurlitzer...a 100% charged battery will not freeze till 90 below zero. At room temp it loses charge at 10% per month or so. At winter temps...MUCH less.
Bottom line...if you disconnect your negative cable...the batteries can go several months till they hit 60% charge...(maybe the whole winter)... which is 12.3 volts at rest. At this point you are only good to 20 below and you can turn on your converter to put a good bulk charge in (14.4-14.5V) and stir up the acid/water solution to reduce stratification and resultant sulfation.

If you leave the battery hooked up...then the parasitic loads will get you even if your coach disconnect is off because some things are direct wired and are always "live". In this case...i would still leave the coach unplugged and then plug it in every couple of weeks... again...so as to get a bulk charge in and not merely maintenance voltage.

Also...check voltage on your engine battery when you are plugged in and your coach batteries are in float mode at 13.2V.
If the engine battery also shows 13.2 volts then your converter is also charging your engine battery. If not...suggest you get a trik-l-start which lets you spill over your charging from the coach batteries to the start battery. About 40 bucks.

[DavidBo]

Originally Posted by LilHorse&buggy

I was wondering if you hooked up a small solar panel, would you need a charge controller. By small, I mean like something to charge a cell phone, maybe a 10 watt or 5 watt panel, since you would only need a trickle charge for maintaining.

I ordered this from Northern Tool. I turn the battery disconnect off and attach the clips directly to the battery posts. The panel itself fits between the tongue jack and the propane tank cover at an effective angle and gets plenty of sun. I have left it like this for months with no problems, and the battery always had a good charge. Just be sure to keep the water topped off. Fortunately it's designed to be used outside.

http://http://www.northerntool.com/s...0268_200660268

[boondocking]

I equalize them in October, turn off the solar, activate the disconnect switch and leave them until April when I give them a full charge again and reactivate the solar.
They sit outside in the battery box through the winter and lose 10% of their charge. They are 7 years old now and still going strong.

[babock]

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Bottom line...if you disconnect your negative cable...the batteries can go several months till they hit 60% charge...(maybe the whole winter)... which is 12.3 volts at rest.

If you let your batteries discharge to 60% over the winter, you are going to get sulfatiion which will reduce the capacity of the battery. They should be kept at 100% charge at all time.

Best to leave on a 3 state charger or float charger through storage.

[youroo]

Originally Posted by wurlitzer28

This will be my first year storing my Georgetown RV for the winter. At the storage facility they do offer electric hookups so I could put a Battery Tender on both battery systems. Is this advisable or even feasible?

Or should I just rely on the "shore power" providing all the charging for 5-6 months?

Still not sure of the proper setting for the switch by the door steps for linking the batteries together.

The Battery Tender did a good job with my motorcycle and tractor batteries vs a conventional charger.

In your case and with your knowledge and past practice with the Battery Tenders I would recommend using 2 Battery tenders,1 on each System! Youroo!!

[pdqparalegal1]

Originally Posted by Mdaniels4

Btw. A battery tender slow trickle automatic float is the way to go if you're going to he using some sort of maintainer. The battery tender junior is a great little unit I use on my sports car and motorcycles for all winter storage.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Forest River Forums mobile app

I ttied one on my mh. System had two 12v hooked in paraell Tender lasted one day. Called Mfg. was told it is not compatible with a multiple battery set up. Would only work if seperated and put a tender on each bsttery. No need to reply with different results. Just my experience. Maby yours will be different. BTW. THEY replaced it at no cost even thoughit was my mistake.

[bubbles]

Originally Posted by wurlitzer28

Jim, thanks for your reply. I am an Electronics Engineer and like you don't trust electronics. Some of the systems I see are quite dangerous or at best detrimental.

The question on a Battery Tender is due to my experience with my motorcycle and lawn tractor where taking the batteries out and bringing them indoors, and occasionally charging them did not make for great longevity.

I have been quite happy with leaving the batteries in the vehicles while using the Battery Tender.

I have also lost a battery by leaving it in the vehicle over the winter without a tender or charger. Froze and cracked.

I don't know enough about the RV converters [first year with this RV] to know how well they maintain a charge over 6 months of bone chilling cold. Western NY down in the Ski country.

Just plug your Georgetown into shore power, do not disconnect the batteries and all the batteries in the unit (coach and chassis) will be maintained with a float charge of approximately 13.1 volts. I do pull the LP detector 5amp fuse, no need for that to be powered while in storage.