Battery Maintenance

[Bedlinedf250]

So this is my first winter with the camper. I'm wondering if anybody has advice on the best way to maintain their batteries through the winter. I parked my camper at it's winter camping ground in the middle of October, and I had it plugged in for the week of Thanksgiving. I take off the negative wire while it's parked and reconnected it while it was plugged in so it could charge. I don't like leaving it plugged in because some things continue to run. For this reason I bought a battery charger/maintainer. I pulled the batteries and brought them here to the shed to plug in whenever I'm in the shed every other week or so. I have 2 interstate deep cycle marine batteries which probably aren't the best but it's what came with the camper so no reason to upgrade til they go bad. And they are wired I parallel a single red wire connecting red to red, and another connecting and black to black with the wires from the camper on different batteries. Meaning positive from camper connected to battery A and negative from camper connected to battery B.
Now with all that said I'm looking for a solar charger to keep my batteries topped off while disconnected from camper preferably left with the camper. So I've seen that Battery Tender has a unit with alligator clips and 15 watts, I hate alligator clips. I wouldn't mind using the solar port on the side of camper if it can charge the batteries wired in parallel.
We camp almost every weekend during the warmer months on our property sometimes every other depending on other things going on but definitely stayed over 40 nights in our camper this year with the longest stay of 4 days. And we do "boondocking" no water or power. Well there is water in our tanks but only used for other liquids in the toilet no solids and washing hands, with the occasional rinsing off mud with the out door shower. We do have a generator that we run our last day of camping while we cook breakfast and load up so our batteries will recharge. The draw back is it's a construction type and is loud even with a 100' cord. I'd like to eliminate have to top off the batteries with this generator and just plug in a solar panel for the week. And something that can keep them good through the winter. Any suggestions preferably one that someone with a set up that has lasted or works good for them .

[CHICKDOE]

you're doing everything right for storage. you have three options: 1. fully charge them, disconnect them, and leave them in while in storage. they will keep just fine for a few months. 2. pull them out and put them in you shed. again if fully charged you could just leave them. or you could put the battery minder on them every once in a while. 3. fully charge them, disconnect them, and put the solar alligator clips on them to maintain them. you wouldn't have to keep it on all the time. put one clip on the negative of one battery and the other clip on the positive of the other battery (the posts where you pulled the cables off of) and it will maintain both.


as far as generator advice I will defer to others.

[paulbram]

Is it ok to just leave the batteries connected and keep the trailer connected to shore power all winter?

[Flybob]

Yes, but you need to check the water level every other other month.

[garbonz]

Originally Posted by paulbram

Is it ok to just leave the batteries connected and keep the trailer connected to shore power all winter?

Yes, sort of. Depending on the converter/charger you have and the float voltage it is set at. Some converters/charger are notorious for over charging when at rest and adversely affecting the batteries in storage unused over time. That is less true nowadays but still an issue to consider.

It is best charge the battery up to 100%, and just disconnect it. Recharging once a month of you can and then disconnecting is a good idea also.

My opinion, of course.

[Flybob]

Excellent job providing information. Makes answer much easier provide.

If your plan is to eventually add solar for boondocking, make all your solar decisions with that end goal in mind. 10-20W panels are not much good as a battery maintainer. Suggest you start with one 100W panel ( about $100) and a 30A controller. This will not only maintain battery but provide some battery charging capability when boondocking. As you need /can afford, you can add several more panels and have a system that will meet your needs. This system should be better than your open frame solution now as the few hours you run the generator while breaking camp is most likely not sufficient to fully charge the 2 parallel batteries.

Originally Posted by Bedlinedf250

So this is my first winter with the camper. I'm wondering if anybody has advice on the best way to maintain their batteries through the winter. I parked my camper at it's winter camping ground in the middle of October, and I had it plugged in for the week of Thanksgiving. I take off the negative wire while it's parked and reconnected it while it was plugged in so it could charge. I don't like leaving it plugged in because some things continue to run. For this reason I bought a battery charger/maintainer. I pulled the batteries and brought them here to the shed to plug in whenever I'm in the shed every other week or so. I have 2 interstate deep cycle marine batteries which probably aren't the best but it's what came with the camper so no reason to upgrade til they go bad. And they are wired I parallel a single red wire connecting red to red, and another connecting and black to black with the wires from the camper on different batteries. Meaning positive from camper connected to battery A and negative from camper connected to battery B.
Now with all that said I'm looking for a solar charger to keep my batteries topped off while disconnected from camper preferably left with the camper. So I've seen that Battery Tender has a unit with alligator clips and 15 watts, I hate alligator clips. I wouldn't mind using the solar port on the side of camper if it can charge the batteries wired in parallel.
We camp almost every weekend during the warmer months on our property sometimes every other depending on other things going on but definitely stayed over 40 nights in our camper this year with the longest stay of 4 days. And we do "boondocking" no water or power. Well there is water in our tanks but only used for other liquids in the toilet no solids and washing hands, with the occasional rinsing off mud with the out door shower. We do have a generator that we run our last day of camping while we cook breakfast and load up so our batteries will recharge. The draw back is it's a construction type and is loud even with a 100' cord. I'd like to eliminate have to top off the batteries with this generator and just plug in a solar panel for the week. And something that can keep them good through the winter. Any suggestions preferably one that someone with a set up that has lasted or works good for them .

[HangDiver]

There's a zillion different combinations of Solar kits for RVs and others with more experience than I will chime in.... I did add 200W of solar to the roof of my TT which continually keeps my panels topped off. When boondocking I run the furnace, lights, music at night and my two 12V batteries are charged up again by mid-day the next day. I bought this kit with an upgraded PWM Adventurer controller. https://www.amazon.com/Renogy-Monocr...gy+solar+panel
I also have a Honda 2000i that I hardly ever use after getting the solar put on.

Good Luck

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by paulbram

Is it ok to just leave the batteries connected and keep the trailer connected to shore power all winter?

With newer RVs with 3 or 4 stage converters, you should be fine, as long as you check water levels.

But many older RVs have single stage converters which could overcharge the batteries.

But since you don't list year/make/model of RV that you have, in your profile, can't say what type of converter you have.

[paulbram]

Originally Posted by bikendan

With newer RVs with 3 or 4 stage converters, you should be fine, as long as you check water levels.

But many older RVs have single stage converters which could overcharge the batteries.

But since you don't list year/make/model of RV that you have, in your profile, can't say what type of converter you have.

I just updated my profile. I have a 2017 26DBH.

When I bought it, the dealer told me there was no maintenance needed on my batteries. Do you think I still need to check water levels? I suspect they are sealed.

[johnbryanpeters]

I leave the R-Pod connected to shore power.

With a WFCO WF-8955PEC converter and a Bogart Engineering TM-2030RV-F TriMetric battery monitor, I don't check the electrolyte level during the winter.

I stick my head in the door occasionally and verify that battery voltage is sitting at 13.2. At the associated charge rate of around 10 ma, the batteries aren't going to be losing electrolyte.

[johnbryanpeters]

Originally Posted by paulbram

I just updated my profile. I have a 2017 26DBH.

When I bought it, the dealer told me there was no maintenance needed on my batteries. Do you think I still need to check water levels? I suspect they are sealed.

The first thing you need to do is determine what battery or batteries you have. After that we can go back to the electrolyte level discussion.

[paulbram]

Originally Posted by johnbryanpeters

The first thing you need to do is determine what battery or batteries you have. After that we can go back to the electrolyte level discussion.

Thanks. i just checked and it's an ACDelco ACDM24DC. They claim "maintenance free" and "no water required". Here is some additional info: Advantage Voyager II Deep Cycle RV And Marine Battery | ACDelco

Their page does state to not store below 30 degrees, and where I live in the pacific NW it can get down into the 20's but daytime temps are almost always above 32.

Do you think with my RV charger it is safe to leave plugged in?

[johnbryanpeters]

Originally Posted by paulbram

Thanks. i just checked and it's an ACDelco ACDM24DC. They claim "maintenance free" and "no water required". Here is some additional info: Advantage Voyager II Deep Cycle RV And Marine Battery | ACDelco

Their page does state to not store below 30 degrees, and where I live in the pacific NW it can get down into the 20's but daytime temps are almost always above 32.

Do you think with my RV charger it is safe to leave plugged in?

The short answer is yes, and it's OK below freezing if charged. It does help a lot to install a battery monitor.

[Bedlinedf250]

Thanks for all the info, it's greatly appreciated. So now that it's clear I'm doing everything right for my batteries upkeep as far as storage, I guess I won't change anything there.
I'm really considering getting solar panels for the camper while we are camping to keep them up rather than using the generator as much, and keep it as a last resort. In hangdivers post I've been looking at panels from that same company, Amazon had a 200w setup I'm guessing with a different controller for like $280. I'll try and post a link of it. Has anyone connected panels through the furion port, or would it be better to bypass it.

[Bedlinedf250]

[Bedlinedf250]

And using this to connect to furion port. Any thoughts??

[HangDiver]

I don't think you could go wrong with the kit you posted above (post number 15). There are ways to get more efficiecy out of a solar system than that but it would be at higher cost. That system is hard to beat for the price and it will keep your batteries charged (in sunlight) while boondocking.

[Bedlinedf250]

Please explain hang diver. Is it the controller, I noticed the like k you posted was with the wonderer controller. If the difference is roughly $50 that's not bad if it's worth it. Either way I can't buy it anytime soon since I have 3 young ones and the holidays used up any extra cash I had so it will have to wait. Honestly probably til March or so since I won't be using the camper until we get warmer weather.

[HangDiver]

Monocrystalline panels have been historically more efficient than polycrystalline panels. However, recent advancements in polycrystalline technology has narrowed that gap. If I were putting a new solar system on my camper today, I'm not sure what I would do - monocrystalline vs polycrystalline panels.

[Flybob]

That system looks OK. About $100 a panel and the bal for the controller.
Check out renogy.com. Most of all my recent additions have been from them.