Newbie Battery Question

[CaptainJohn]

I live in Georgia on the coast. We plan on camping once a month in the winter months. I've read in this forum about removing the battery and putting a tender on it. Is this necessary to keep it charged based on the above info? We get some temps in the 30's but not for prolonged periods.

I just don't want to go hook up the TT and have a dead battery.

Thanks so much!

[MNtraveler]

What kind of unit so you have? Is keeping the unit plugged in an option? If so, what converter does it have? Is it 3 or 4 stage so it will go down to a float charge when the battery is full up?


Land of 10,000 Lakes
2016 Forester MBS 2401R

[RamblerGuy]

Others will have different opinions, but I believe that if you use yours once per month, you won't have any problem with your batteries without keeping it plugged in. They won't self discharge very much in a month. Of course, you must have no drain from your trailer. Turn off the battery disconnect if it has one, or remove the negative battery terminal. There are some parasitic drains that you may not be aware of. This varies from RV to RV.

Unless you have a 4 stage convertor that is designed to maintain your batteries during long periods of non-use, I'd recommend that you don't keep it plugged in. The basic convertors like the one on our Sunseeker don't do a good job of it, and can overcharge the batteries. If you can plug it in, just do it a few hours once per week. If it makes you feel better, put a battery tender on it, but I don't think it's needed.

If you can plug it in the day before you go on a trip, your batteries should be fully charged when you leave. You'll want to do that anyway to cool the refrigerator.

I live in upstate South Carolina and our Sunseeker has been in storage up to four months over winter with no battery problems. Of course, where you live there is no chance of the batteries freezing, even if they were low on charge

[CharlieS3]

You can add a battery tender as a permanent mount with ring connections. Just leave your battery in place and plug in the battery tender when you need.