Keeping batteries charged during the winter

Moved to Tech Issues.

Wayne
Moderaror

Photomike wrote:
You do not seem to getting any response to your question so I will give it a shot.

Here's my question: Will this arrangement do as good a job of keeping my batteries charged as the BatteryMINDers did last year? I would especially appreciate responses from those who have experience with both the BatteryMINDer 2012 and the Progressive Dynamics PD4645. (The 2012 has temperature compensation and the PD4645 does not.)

Having one charger do both batteries will work as all you "need" to do is to top up the batteries so they are not drawn down by any phantom draws.

That being said a charger per battery will/ can do better as they will be monitoring the specific battery and if the charger has various charge modes it will do more for the battery to preserve it.

I run the house charger to keep the two house batteries charged, and then I added another charger permanently under the hood of the truck for the truck battery. The charger under the hood does an amazing job as it varies the charge rate and runs a desulfer mode as well and all the draws on that battery are looked after so the battery is always at 100%.

Great post!

Jim

Johnny G1 wrote:

Richandtd wrote:
My vote is for solar or take them out and bring them in the house to keep them warm.

X2

Ditto the solar, probably the best maintain for batteries if the controller is temperature compensated... If not... I would forget the ideal.. A tech forum issue..

If removed and stored you still need to have some sort of proper charger on them which is another whole bag of opinions and thoughts... More aligned to the tech forum in my opinion.

Move deep cycle batteries in house they still need some exercise... Stir that electrolyte and other things... I would recommend just leaving them in the camper and leaving shore power hooked up if possible.. Solar is great for maintenance too, probably the best solution.

Jim

You do not seem to getting any response to your question so I will give it a shot.

Here's my question: Will this arrangement do as good a job of keeping my batteries charged as the BatteryMINDers did last year? I would especially appreciate responses from those who have experience with both the BatteryMINDer 2012 and the Progressive Dynamics PD4645. (The 2012 has temperature compensation and the PD4645 does not.)

Having one charger do both batteries will work as all you "need" to do is to top up the batteries so they are not drawn down by any phantom draws.

That being said a charger per battery will/ can do better as they will be monitoring the specific battery and if the charger has various charge modes it will do more for the battery to preserve it.

I run the house charger to keep the two house batteries charged, and then I added another charger permanently under the hood of the truck for the truck battery. The charger under the hood does an amazing job as it varies the charge rate and runs a desulfer mode as well and all the draws on that battery are looked after so the battery is always at 100%.

Richandtd wrote:
My vote is for solar or take them out and bring them in the house to keep them warm.

X2

my 2 Renogy 100w panels are keeping my two 27 series AGM's charged even through the cover. I do not have AC hooked up.
I also have a cut off switch which is turned off so there is no load, but the solar cells and the bogart engineering controller show 100% charged. Plus the days get longer from here on out till summer :)

My vote is for solar or take them out and bring them in the house to keep them warm.

I had a plastic window sewed into my winter cover,over the solar panel. Keeps the batteries charged all winter.