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paynejr's avatar
paynejr
Explorer
Oct 23, 2018

Batteries, Engine and Generator during the winter months

We just upgraded to a Class C Motor-home. with my old travel trailer I use to take my battery inside and put it on a trickle charge. Now with the RV I have the Engine Battery and 2 6 volt for the main household loads. Should I be taking the batteries out and put them on a trickle charge or leave them in the Motor-home. And should I be running the engine and generator once a month or so ?
  • The answers depend somewhat on various things, like where you are and what sort of converter you have have in the motorhome and whether or not you have electric power (or installed solar) available where it's parked.

    Generally speaking, it's fine to leave the batteries in the RV over the winter, doubly so if you have power (or solar) available. If it's an old single stage converter, it would be a good idea to check what sort of voltage it puts out and if it's too high (above about 13.5V, say) only have it on sporadically and check the battery water level from time to time.

    If you don't have power but are in a cold (freezing) climate, charging the batteries and then disconnecting them entirely is perfectly okay; they won't self-discharge much at all over the winter unless they were practically dead already, and they won't freeze unless they are discharged or you live somewhere north of the Arctic circle.

    It's a good idea to run the generator every once and again, preferably on a not too cold day, to keep varnish junk from forming in and clogging the carburetor and to keep the rings and brushes clean and working well.

    It's not at all useful to run the main engine unless you have reason to drive somewhere; cold starts are relatively hard on the engine, and idling for any reasonable period of time will not bring the oil up to full operating temperature to drive off any moisture (but running it will encourage more moisture to collect in it and in the exhaust system). There's no carburetor to get gummed up, assuming you don't have a decades old motorhome.

    I would suggest putting an appropriate amount of fuel stabilizer in the tank and filling it completely before storage to minimize the gas getting old and getting water condensed into it.
  • If you leave them in the motor home and connect 120 volt power to the rig they should stay charged if you have a charger/converter in it. To keep the starting battery charged up google Trik-L-Start. It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes and mounts near the battery. It bleeds a little current from the house battery to the starting battery and keeps it good.