Insulating house batteries

Keep them charged. They do not need to be warm. If they are stored in a discharged state they won't survive the winter whether they're warm or cold.

I keep our motorhome plugged into shore power 90% of the time. After several days of temperatures in the 20s and below, I checked the coach and found frost on the outside of the batteries. Analog VOM showed about 11 volts. Still enough in the house batteries to fire up the generator. After running that for an hour (generator in front - batteries in back) no more frost on the batteries. I have a Progressive Dynamics 9260 Charger/Converter with intellicharge.

As long as your charger is working. This will keep batts from freezing.

Thanks for all the help.
Really don't them here, but might get caught some place I do.

Chuck

topflite51 wrote:
I personally wouldn't be worried about this in Florida. :b

Ditto -- but if you must.

I personally wouldn't be worried about this in Florida. :b

chucl66 wrote:
Effy. Thanks for the humor. Not lead for brains, more like DEAD BEATS.

chuck

I couldn't resist (despite it being deleted). Glad you took the humor as intended.

Cheers

There are heating pads available for batteries. They are often used in areas that are subject to extreme cold, as in -30 degrees F. or lower. AFAIK, there are two types; a pad that goes in the bottom of the tray, and a wrapper that goes around the battery like a coat.
As a battery gets "cold soaked", it loses capacity. These heaters will keep the battery warm enough to give full capacity.
It has been cold enough already around here that I am going to put a battery blanket on the Jeep. It may not be completely necessary, but it can't hurt!

Effy. Thanks for the humor. Not lead for brains, more like DEAD BEATS.

chuck

Effy wrote:
DO you not like your batteries? Why would you insult them, and what does one say to a battery to make it feel bad? "Lead for brains", "you've lost your spark", "get the lead out" ? Somethng like that. I've done a lot of things with batteries but never insulted them.

I have been known to on a cold morning.:B As long as the batteries are kept fully charged there should not be a problem. Here in the frozen north, many use a 110v battery blanket. Keep the connections clean and tight.