Forum Discussion

mholman's avatar
mholman
Explorer
Jan 05, 2016

Batterys too cold to charge???

This summer I bought a new to me 5th wheel. it has a Xantrex prosine 2.0 charger/invert installed. I have always been particular on battery maintenance.
When I parked the trailer for the winter the battery's were fully charged and I left the charger OFF, I turned charger on when the battery voltage dropped to 12.4 volts. The charger said battery's too cold. Temperature has been in the 20s here. I have never had a temp sensor on battery's before and never had any trouble with battery's freezing. Has the charger just out smarted me.
Any thoughts?
  • coolmom42's avatar
    coolmom42
    Explorer II
    Jan 06, 2016
    So if the Prosine won't charge at that temp, for safety reasons..... is it a good idea to trick it into charging by warming the sensor? Or to use another charger?
  • ksg5000's avatar
    ksg5000
    Explorer
    Jan 05, 2016
    Another example of I am glad I never threw out my old/cheap/reliable battery charger - comes in handy when my expensive charger says that it can't charge for whatever reason.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Jan 05, 2016
    MrWizard wrote:
    IF his voltage is 12.4
    the are not dead or frozen

    he could unplug the temp probe from the Xantrex
    or connect a battery charger
    +1
  • MrWizard's avatar
    MrWizard
    Moderator
    Jan 05, 2016
    IF his voltage is 12.4
    the are not dead or frozen

    he could unplug the temp probe from the Xantrex
    or connect a battery charger
  • Trackrig's avatar
    Trackrig
    Explorer II
    Jan 05, 2016
    If the battery cables weren't disconnected, or if there isn't a "real" disconnect switch installed, then they could have gone dead from all of the phantom loads and frozen. My MH will do that, I always pull the main cables even in non-freezing storage temps.

    Bill
  • trailerbikecamp's avatar
    trailerbikecamp
    Explorer
    Jan 05, 2016
    Up here in Canada batteries don't typically freeze until much colder. Usually they work pretty good until down around -5 or -10F. After that they lose quite a bit of their cranking power.

    Have you tried removing and bringing it somewhere warm for a few hours? Whatever you do, DON'T try to charge a frozen battery. You can tell if its frozen because the sides usually bulge out as the acid inside freezes. Once a battery has been frozen, they are usually just paper weights.

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