Should I leave the MH plug in all winter?

There is another option if you do not have a "smart" converter. You can plug in, disconnect the batteries and hook a battery charger/maintainer like a Battery Tender/Battery Minder/Noco Genius to them to keep them happy. I have a 10 amp Noco genius mounted in my battery bay even though I have a PD converter. I use it because if charging/maintaining off the converter and AC power fails, the batteries will be discharged from parasitic loads. Not so with the separate maintainer and battery switch off.

I keep the RV plugged all the time. Progressive Dynamics 9160 & Charge Wizard. Keeps batteries charged with the need to add water about 1 time a year.

Disregard, I just pulled up the owners manual and it states "The converter/inverter also operates as a battery charger when it is connected to a 120V power source. If the battery is below its full charge, the converter/inverter charger will begin operating at a rate that reflects the level of discharge. When the battery is again fully charged, the converter charger drops its charging level back to a maintenance level to keep the battery fully charged."

Not to sound stupid, but how do you know if you have a smart converter?

pugslyyy wrote:

dalmationlovers wrote:
I keep mine plugged in all year. That way I can run a heater in it and not have to put antifreeze in. I can also in a moment get it ready for a trip. I check my battery and charger weekly.

I do the same - no antifreeze but I do blow the lines out / drain the tanks / drain the HWH - more to just not have water standing in them than anything else though.

It's a hassle to get everything going again after you put antifreeze in, I'm much more likely to use it if I don't have to de-winterize.

X3

dalmationlovers wrote:
I keep mine plugged in all year. That way I can run a heater in it and not have to put antifreeze in. I can also in a moment get it ready for a trip. I check my battery and charger weekly.

I do the same - no antifreeze but I do blow the lines out / drain the tanks / drain the HWH - more to just not have water standing in them than anything else though.

It's a hassle to get everything going again after you put antifreeze in, I'm much more likely to use it if I don't have to de-winterize.

When I had a Magnatek 7345 (a single stage charger), the answer was no because it boiled the batteries dry.

Now that I have upgraded to a Progressive Dynamics 4655V (a 4 stage charger), the answer is yes because it trickle charges the house batteries.

I have also added a Trik-L-Start to trickle charge the chassis battery.

wkswenson wrote:
I leave the batteries in the 5er, have a Progressive Dynamics charger, and plug into a timer so that it runs for 3-4 hours each afternoon. Worked great last year, batteries continue to be in good shape.

This is actually not a good idea. The Progressive Dynamics is smart enough to care for your batteries, but when you plug it in, it runs at 14.4v for a while till it determines that your batteries don't need it. Leaving it on all the time, it will drop down to 13.2v to trickle charge, but doing 3 or 4 hours every afternoon means you are ALWAYS getting the 14.4v.

I've have kept every RV we have had for the past 40 years plugged it 24/7 365. If you don't have the smart charger all you have to do is keep and eye on the water level in the batteries.

I keep mine plugged in all the time. Check the batteries when I exercise the generator. Sometimes I will turn the aux battery switch off. I too, use a heater in the MH for the winter.

First reply is correct-- if you have a smart charger or inverter/charger AND it is properly programmed, leave it plugged in all the time.

If not, plan "B" could be to put your charger on a HD 20 amp timer and let it run a couple of hours a week.