Quote:
Originally Posted by skipatroller
Not sure where you live but if it gets below freezing and stays there as it does up here in the North East I would recommend pulling them and taking it indoors and then put it on the charger. The freezing of a battery is as detrimental as letting it discharge too far.
Just for the record no matter where you are science 101 applies, the sun is not as intense in the winter months so it won't work that well.
On all my toys I remove the batteries, set them up on a table in my basement and then connect to trickle chargers that keep the batteries nicely topped of and not allowing them to go below 50% charge level.
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Here's a link that has some specifics on cold weather battery status based on tests by the US Army Corp of Engineers. According to the chart on page 6, a 50% discharged battery will freeze at temps below about -40C (which happens to equal -40F). Self discharge rates decrease to a negligible levels as the temps drop.
The document states "Batteries should be stored in a cold place, say, about -15C, although when charged to a specific gravity of 1.280 or greater, they can be stored at -1C indefinitely without deteriorating."
So, unless you are deep in Alaska or northern Canada or have other concerns, fully charge the battery and then fully disconnect it. It will be fine come spring. On an RV, the recommendation I see most, is that you should disconnect the negative lead first.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a239115.pdf
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