those of you that have been R.V.ing for awhile. living in a
northern state where temps get in the teens and below zero for
weeks at a time. How do you take care of the batteries?
Not sure if I should just leave them in the 5th wheel and plug it
into the house and let the invertor keep them charged. Does that
just make your invertor work to hard in cold temps. Or should I take them out of the R.V. and store them in the garage and charge them
in the spring when we get ready to use them again. I have asked around in our town. I get a bunch of different replies. Just thought
I would put this question out here and try to see what people in other areas do with their batteries. Any help would be great.
Does your RV have a battery disconnect switch? If so, charge up the batteries til they are at 100% state of charge, then turn off the switch.
big sky 123 wrote: those of you that have been R.V.ing for awhile. living in a
northern state where temps get in the teens and below zero for
weeks at a time. How do you take care of the batteries?
Not sure if I should just leave them in the 5th wheel and plug it
into the house and let the invertor keep them charged. Does that
just make your invertor work to hard in cold temps. Or should I take them out of the R.V. and store them in the garage and charge them
in the spring when we get ready to use them again. I have asked around in our town. I get a bunch of different replies. Just thought
I would put this question out here and try to see what people in other areas do with their batteries. Any help would be great.
Regards, Don
Kustom Koach Class C 28'5" 256 watts solar, 875 amp hours in two battery banks 12 volt batteries 2500 watt inverter.
You take them out and put them in a garage or some area out of the elements. You can either get something like a 'battery minder' that stays plugged in and constantly keeps a charge on the battery, or you can simply use a standard battery charger and go out once a month, hook it up, and charge the batteries. Of course, you need to remind yourself of that in some way. Your batteries will keep perfectly fine if charged every 4 weeks.
Pup: 2007 Jayco 1206 w/slide-out + shower
surge brakes, 54w solar panel
TV: 2005 Nissan Xterra 4X4, manual trans
25 years tent camping, 4000+ miles of hiking, lots of biking
If you leave the trailer plugged in all winter, the constant charge from the CONverter (NOT the INverter) may cause evaporation of the battery electrolyte. If the water gets too low, the battery will be ruined. Unless you want to be going out there in below zero weather adding distilled water to the batteries, leaving it plugged in might not be a good idea.
I simply make sure the batteries are fully charged, and the fluid level is well above the plates (add water, if necessary, BEFORE charging, so the electrolyte is well mixed), then disconnect them and leave them in place. So far, it has worked for me.
I fully charged battery will not freeze until it gets far below temperatures that you're apt to see. When fully charged you can isolate by some means, the batteries from the RV. You COULD install a disconnect switch or you could simply disconnect the negative lead from the RV for storage. It is also OK to remove the batteries (after they're fully charged) and store them in a warmer location for the winter. Some will install a battery maintainer and that's OK also but not necessary as long as OTHER things are done properly. With no drain on your batteries there is no reason for them to go flat over the winter (that's the reason for isolating them). Lots of different strategy will work just fine but the one that WILL NOT work is to leave batteries connected with no source of recharge attached.
Good luck / Skip
2004 F-250 SCREW Long Bed 20,000 towing miles (MANY REPAIRS)
OR 2004 F-150 HD 85,000 towing miles (No repairs) 2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
We have enough YOUTH...how about a fountain of SMART
Charge the battery fully, leave it in place and disconnect the negative cable from the battery. The cold slows down self discharge. I stored the MH and toad in Anchorage, eight batteries, -30 degrees was the coldest temps. Seven months in storage and all batteries were at 90% charge.
Get a Digital Multimeter and Learn How to Use It
2000 Sea Breeze F53 V10 - CR-V Toad
Dawson Creek - Start of Alaska Highway
Don't Forget - USS Liberty, June 08, 1967
I take them out and put them in a garage and place them on a charger and charge them once a month from Oct - April have been doing that for last 20 years with them.
2008 Pilgrim Lite 21LRB
2004 Chevy Silverado Extended Cab 4x4 5.3 Tow Pkg 3.73
Yamaha EF2400IS
RET ARMY , DW Donna , Summer (Furkid recently passed). Class A, 2000 Gulf Stream, 4 SAMS 6VOLTS, DIRECTV, YAMAHA 2400 GEN , TOW 97 Wrangler/Honda CR V. Garmin GPS 7200 . "Living Our Dream". NASCAR FAN:14,18,20,11 LOVE CO & NM
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, DW Donna 
. Class A, 2000 Gulf Stream, 4 SAMS 6VOLTS, DIRECTV, YAMAHA 2400 GEN 
. "Living Our Dream". NASCAR FAN:14,18,20,11 LOVE CO & NM 
