Cold Winter Battery Question???
We may be staying home (Wisconsin) this winter and wondering if I should remove the batteries from the RV and store in the basement of our house??? Would not want them to freeze. If I keep 120v po...
Forum Discussion
A charged lead/acid battery will not freeze due to the sulfuric acid electrolyte. If it's uncharged, the sulfur is present as lead sulfide on/in the plates, and the depleted electrolyte can freeze.
Having said that, leaving 120VAC on all winter is fine - IF you have a smart multistage converter with a float mode. A "dumb" single-stage converter can boil the water out of the batteries in a few weeks and ruin them. Even with a smart converter, it would be advisable to check the electrolyte level in the batteries every month or 6 weeks. Alternately, you could disconnect the batteries and use a Battery Tender or equivalent to keep them charged during the winter. Otherwise, remove them and store them in a warm place for the winter. You MIGHT get away with just turning off the battery disconnect switch with fully charged batteries, but only if you are absolutely sure that there are no parasitic loads wired around the battery disconnect switch.
Rusty
Having said that, leaving 120VAC on all winter is fine - IF you have a smart multistage converter with a float mode. A "dumb" single-stage converter can boil the water out of the batteries in a few weeks and ruin them. Even with a smart converter, it would be advisable to check the electrolyte level in the batteries every month or 6 weeks. Alternately, you could disconnect the batteries and use a Battery Tender or equivalent to keep them charged during the winter. Otherwise, remove them and store them in a warm place for the winter. You MIGHT get away with just turning off the battery disconnect switch with fully charged batteries, but only if you are absolutely sure that there are no parasitic loads wired around the battery disconnect switch.
Rusty
