Folks,We have an '08 Damon Tuscany 4072 DP. For the past several years, we owned a property where we've had the luxury of inside storage wherein we were able to keep the unit plugged into 110V for battery maintenance during extended periods of non use. We've since moved south (from northern WI)to a home in the Charlotte, NC area where not only is there no space to park the MH, but we are also stuck (at least for now) with a nearby secure outside storage...but without power.I'm not worried about the MH sitting without being plugged in during the 7 to 9 months of the year that we use it regularly. But I 'am' concerned about the winter months when it will sit idle for 3 to 4 months. Obviously, I'll put the batteries in 'storage mode' (the unit has a switch by the entry door to take residual loads off the batteries during storage), but I'm wondering what advice you guys might have to keep the batteries up during those winter months. Do I remove the chassis batteries and keep them on a maintainer? Do I remove all the batteries? (Yikes!). Do I invest in a solar charging system capable of 'float charging?' Or do I just make sure the batteries have a full charge before storage and hope for the best??Winter temps in the Charlotte area aren't very 'winter like' compared to northern WI, so I'm not nearly as concerned as I was when we lived up there. But I still need to find a good solution to keep our batteries maintained during storage. Thanks in advance for your help..Randy

The important thing is to not let the batteries freeze. In more northern areas, this means keeping a good charge on all batteries. I'm surprised that you don't already have solar, but that would be the ideal solution to keep chassis and house batteries up at all times. I don't think temps in your area would get low enough to freeze a battery.At the very least, bring the chassis batteries into a garage and throw a charge on them before putting them back into the coach in the spring. This will get your motor running and the engine alternator will put enough of a charge on the house batteries to start the genny.

We live in Michigan, and just disconnect the batteries with the mechanical disconnect switches in the battery bay, and then it's up to the Solar panel to keep them up. I do have to periodically clean the snow off of the solar panel.

Ran wrote: Do I invest in a solar charging system capable of 'float charging?' Or do I just make sure the batteries have a full charge before storage and hope for the best?? IF you have AGM batteries AND can be sure they really are fully charged going in then what you need to do is: NOTHING.If not:Solar is the best but you need two systems; one for the coach and one for the engine.Failing that, be sure they are fully charged going in and visit your unit about once a month to run the engine and the generator EACH for about 20 minutes or until thoroughly HOT, with the battery switch ON.If you run the A/C to load the gen, that will help remove excess moisture from the living space too.That should help get the moisture out of the engines and charge the batteries. Also move it about a foot to distribute the flat spot on the tires.

jplante4 wrote:I don't think temps in your area would get low enough to freeze a battery. I think that's true, since a fully charged battery doesn't freeze until about -70 F. :)

Vulcan Rider wrote:jplante4 wrote:I don't think temps in your area would get low enough to freeze a battery. I think that's true, since a fully charged battery doesn't freeze until about -70 F. :)However, I have had a discharged battery freeze on Cape Cod. Keeping them up is the key.

Winter Storage Question | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Sep 22, 2015
jplante4 wrote:
I don't think temps in your area would get low enough to freeze a battery.

I think that's true, since a fully charged battery doesn't freeze until about -70 F. :)
Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Sep 22, 2015
Ran wrote:
Do I invest in a solar charging system capable of 'float charging?' Or do I just make sure the batteries have a full charge before storage and hope for the best??

IF you have AGM batteries AND can be sure they really are fully charged going in then what you need to do is: NOTHING.

If not:

Solar is the best but you need two systems; one for the coach and one for the engine.

Failing that, be sure they are fully charged going in and visit your unit about once a month to run the engine and the generator EACH for about 20 minutes or until thoroughly HOT, with the battery switch ON.
If you run the A/C to load the gen, that will help remove excess moisture from the living space too.

That should help get the moisture out of the engines and charge the batteries. Also move it about a foot to distribute the flat spot on the tires.
sch911
Explorer
Sep 22, 2015
We live in Michigan, and just disconnect the batteries with the mechanical disconnect switches in the battery bay, and then it's up to the Solar panel to keep them up. I do have to periodically clean the snow off of the solar panel.
jplante4
Explorer II
Sep 22, 2015
The important thing is to not let the batteries freeze. In more northern areas, this means keeping a good charge on all batteries. I'm surprised that you don't already have solar, but that would be the ideal solution to keep chassis and house batteries up at all times. I don't think temps in your area would get low enough to freeze a battery.

At the very least, bring the chassis batteries into a garage and throw a charge on them before putting them back into the coach in the spring. This will get your motor running and the engine alternator will put enough of a charge on the house batteries to start the genny.

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Winter Storage Question

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