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Old 04-14-2020, 02:47 PM   #1
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Midweek storage plugged in?

Hi. This is my first post to the forum. I have a lot to learn and thought this would be a good venue to start.

We are weekend warriors and I wonder if it's worth storing our pop-up travel trailer plugged into shore power (garage outlet) mid-week. Benefits are the battery will likely not freeze/die, clocks and elec settings aren't lost and I can easily turn on lights, heat pump, etc. if I need to go in there midweek to work on something, and easily get the fridge cooled on Thursday night before we head out for the weekend the next day. Is this good/bad for long-term battery health? Does this consume a lot of power? I haven't really noticed it on my energy bill but there are too many other variables in our general consumption for me to isolate it at this point. My assumption is that it wouldn't be much but please correct me if I am wrong. What do you all do in this case?


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Old 04-14-2020, 03:21 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum and RVing from South Jersey. I don't see any reason not to if you can. I have solar to keep my batterys up but no way to plug it in.
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Old 04-14-2020, 03:35 PM   #3
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It’s really what ever makes you more comfortable, a deep cycle battery is designed to be drained and recharged unlike a standard automotive battery which repeated draining and charging can ruin one of those. If you can afford a solar charger I’d put one on it just for simplicity, but I wouldn’t make the kids go a week without eating just to save up enough money to buy one.
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Old 04-14-2020, 03:48 PM   #4
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I have had mine plugged into shore power and haven't noticed any major difference on the electric bill, And makes it easier for when we are getting it ready to go camping.
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Old 04-14-2020, 04:53 PM   #5
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Just make certain that you check the battery occasionally to make certain that all the cells are topped off.

It shouldn't use a lot of electricity just to keep the batteries charged. Your heat pump and lights will probably use more electricity.
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Old 04-14-2020, 08:00 PM   #6
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We leave ours plugged in and the fridge going from about early April to early November every year. Easiest for us with young kids trying to make things as smooth as possible to leave all condiments in their and can keep lots of frozen hot dogs, bacon, etc.

Some people prefer not to leave it plugged in to try and preserve life of the fridge or other items. The hassle we save on having to take everything in and out every time we use it with our kids is well worth it if I have to replace the fridge sooner than others. We do use ours almost every weekend though. Just my opinion.
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Old 04-14-2020, 08:19 PM   #7
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Keep it plugged in, why not, keeps the batteries at peak and lights if you go in there occasionally. I'd personally turn off and empty the fridge unless you want to use it to expand home cold items. Make sure the heat/air is off.
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Old 04-14-2020, 08:25 PM   #8
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Some people prefer not to leave it plugged in to try and preserve life of the fridge or other items.
Letting things just sit instead of running them can often be worse for them, there’s a give and take to that in both directions of course, but as a general rule letting things just sit can lead to their own set of bigger problems.
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Old 04-14-2020, 10:32 PM   #9
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Thanks all for the replies. I will leave it plugged in then at least for the camping season. My hope is to get solar soon but need to keep the kids fed first.

One of the reasons I am curious is that I lost a battery while the rig was sitting waiting for some service on it. I never knew really cold temps could kill batteries like that. We are in Montana so definitely an ongoing consideration
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Old 04-14-2020, 10:38 PM   #10
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One of the reasons I am curious is that I lost a battery while the rig was sitting waiting for some service on it.
If you're going to leave it unplugged, disconnecting the negative cable will keep it from discharging. Without electricity, in Montana, in the winter, you probably should take it off the rig and store it in the garage.
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Old 04-14-2020, 10:43 PM   #11
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Thanks! I learned that lesson the hard way. After losing one, I brought the replacement into the garage and put a battery charger/maintainer on it every so often.
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Old 04-14-2020, 11:01 PM   #12
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Thanks all for the replies. I will leave it plugged in then at least for the camping season. My hope is to get solar soon but need to keep the kids fed first.

One of the reasons I am curious is that I lost a battery while the rig was sitting waiting for some service on it. I never knew really cold temps could kill batteries like that. We are in Montana so definitely an ongoing consideration
While Michigan winters are not quite as brutal as Montana, they are pretty close. I just assumed there was no way a battery could ever make it through a winter. Then I installed a disocnnect switch right on the top of the battery box. The last two winters, I have dropped my camper off for storage in late October (inside a barn, but no heat). I picked up in April and the battery had plenty enough juice to move the electric tongue jack up and down to get hooked up. Removing it for the winter is probably still a good idea, but I recommend a disconnect switch for any time you park between trips to keep the little things from draining the battery. I got something similar to this.
https://www.alliedelec.com/product/c...E&gclsrc=aw.ds
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Old 04-14-2020, 11:14 PM   #13
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Everyones mileage various, but when I lived in Phoenix normal acid type batteries wouldn’t survive 1 year in the heat, the gel cell batteries I could get 3+ years out of so I swore by those things. When I moved from there to a complete opposite climate where we get down to zero I found gel cell batteries didn’t last at all for me in the cold.

Just for clarity that wasn’t a scientific conclusion I came to, it was just my perceived observation, none the less I no longer try using the expensive gel batteries in a cold climate.
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Old 04-14-2020, 11:19 PM   #14
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If you're going to leave it unplugged, disconnecting the negative cable will keep it from discharging. Without electricity, in Montana, in the winter, you probably should take it off the rig and store it in the garage.
I have no proof nor do I know the theory behind the reasoning, may just be urban legend, but I’ve always been told make sure you don’t just sit your battery directly on the concrete floor or it can ruin them over time, so I just never do it and instead sit them on a piece of scrap wood.
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Old 04-15-2020, 01:04 AM   #15
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I have no proof nor do I know the theory behind the reasoning, may just be urban legend, but I’ve always been told make sure you don’t just sit your battery directly on the concrete floor or it can ruin them over time, so I just never do it and instead sit them on a piece of scrap wood.
That's what I've heard also. Don't store directly on a concrete floor.
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Old 04-15-2020, 08:23 AM   #16
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This no batteries on concrete is old urban legend and does not hold up to fact today. Possibly way back when led-acid batteries were made of hard rubber there -might- have been a grain of truth.
Today's plastic case batteries don't care if you sit them on wood or concrete.
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Old 04-15-2020, 08:47 AM   #17
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Lots of bad assumptions in this thread.

As Dan mentioned... setting a battery on concrete is an old wives tale.
Having it set on concrete is no different than it sitting on a metal plate on/in your camper.
Battery cases have evolved so... having the battery setting on ANYTHING is no problem whatsoever.

The other misinformation is having to bring a battery inside in the winter.

A PROPERLY CHARGED battery can survive temperatures as low as -40ºF without freezing and will only lose about 20% of its charge in 4-5 months.

If you bring your battery up to full charge and then disconnect it so there are NO parasitic drains there's no need to remove. The battery can sit right where it is over the non-camping months and will still be 80% charged when you hook it back up.

Now... if you don't fully charge it and don't disconnect the parasitic drains... all bets are off.
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Old 04-15-2020, 08:48 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by KyDan View Post
This no batteries on concrete is old urban legend and does not hold up to fact today. Possibly way back when led-acid batteries were made of hard rubber there -might- have been a grain of truth.
Today's plastic case batteries don't care if you sit them on wood or concrete.
X2

Discharged batteries are more likely to freeze and that will damage them for certain. Most people neglect to clean off the greasy looking mung on the top of the battery that normally occurs with baking soda,water and old toothbrush. Flush with water and top off cells . That stuff will discharge your battery to nothing if you don't attend to it
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Old 04-15-2020, 01:24 PM   #19
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Lots of bad assumptions in this thread.

As Dan mentioned... setting a battery on concrete is an old wives tale.
Having it set on concrete is no different than it sitting on a metal plate on/in your camper.
Battery cases have evolved so... having the battery setting on ANYTHING is no problem whatsoever.

The other misinformation is having to bring a battery inside in the winter.

A PROPERLY CHARGED battery can survive temperatures as low as -40ºF without freezing and will only lose about 20% of its charge in 4-5 months.

If you bring your battery up to full charge and then disconnect it so there are NO parasitic drains there's no need to remove. The battery can sit right where it is over the non-camping months and will still be 80% charged when you hook it back up.

Now... if you don't fully charge it and don't disconnect the parasitic drains... all bets are off.
My batteries sit disconnected outside for 7 months through the winter (sub zero temps) . They lose 10-12% charge over the winter. No need to bring them in at sub zero temps as long as they are fully charged then disconnected.
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Old 04-15-2020, 01:59 PM   #20
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Two winters in Alaska, Elmendorf AFB, and never took the battery off of our popup. Had plenty of power both springs to open up, hook up etc. This was 73 and 74. Camped one time for a week with hookups, rest of time boondocking. Would plug up at home and relied on TV to charge it the rest of the time.
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