Here's to keeping my batteries healthy through the winter. I have them in a heated garage, wired in parallel, and attached to a trickle charger. I'll keep an eye on the water level every couple weeks, and fill with distilled water as needed.I've learned much from these forums. Thanks, everyone!

I leave mine on the TT but hook it up to a multi stage marine battery charger/maintainer. works great.bumpy

You could have left them on the TT and added a Charge Wizard controller to your onboard power supply converter. It does more than a trickle charge it also stirs the batteries. Its about $25 and takes 5 minutes to install. I have had my TT plugged in for 11 years with 6volt flooded batteries. I do like your setup by why move them if you dont have to?

that will work but you did not learn that from me. :WWe have dogs and cats in the house but that is where I draw the line. I am a fan of battery maintainers, the batt is always up and i never have to add water. My "outside" batts do fine out there in the cold

I've never removed my batteries from any of my campers I've ever owned. I just plug in the camper (at home) and pretty much forget about it. I've checked the batteries enough to know if they are using water or not, and the on-board system keeps them charged all the time. If I feel a bit concerned, I can simply unplug from the outside plug on my garage and give everything a rest. But in this cold weather, I'd rather keep the camper plugged in 24x7. It keep power to all the electronics, the stereo, the television, the microwave, the power converter, everything. I feel better having that little bit of power going to all the systems, producing a little heat (although small).FYI, I've had 3 different TT's now and 1 Pop-up. Starcraft Venture pop-up, Dutchmen Sport, Keystone Springdale, and Keystone Outback. I have never added water to any of my batteries. And I replaced only 1 battery on my Keystone Springdale after 7 years. (you might not believe that, but it's true.)

OP did not mention if the RV was at home or not. Everybody just assumes. And we all know what assume means!

Keeping Batteries Charged in Winter | Good Sam Community

42 Replies

SkiSmuggs
Explorer
Dec 05, 2014
tenbear wrote:
I leave mine in the MH with a Battery Minder.

X2
Great minds....
NinerBikes
Explorer
Dec 05, 2014
I have to run some E-10 gas through my Honda EU1000I generator 1x a month for an hour anyways, to keep the jets from getting bungholed up with varnish from poopy E-10 gasoline. So the Honda gets warmed up and worked out, while the battery gets a shot of 14.8V from the Mega Watt. Has worked well so far.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 05, 2014
Hi mena,

Resistance heating is only really possible with shore power.

I'd be storing the RV during the yearly excursion down to -40 with no shore power. The solar I have now would never keep up to resistance heating.
mena661
Explorer
Dec 05, 2014
pianotuna wrote:
Hi mena,

Thanks. I guess I'll just have to wait for a different chemistry that is more cold tolerant.
Just put a heat blanket on them. With the weight per Amp-hour of LI, you can run more loads without much voltage drop.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 05, 2014
Hi mena,

Thanks. I guess I'll just have to wait for a different chemistry that is more cold tolerant.
mena661
Explorer
Dec 05, 2014
pianotuna wrote:
Hi reed,

I'm glad to hear of real life -20 F and LFP chemistries.

What is the reference to "the north slope"?
He probably means the Alaska North Slope. It's where the National Petroleum Reserve (US) is.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 05, 2014
Hi reed,

I'm glad to hear of real life -20 F and LFP chemistries.

What is the reference to "the north slope"?
reed_cundiff
Explorer
Dec 04, 2014
Left our rig at son's place at 8000' in northern NM for 3 months while we traveled in Guatemela and Honduras. Left the LFP batteries hooked up to the solar panels. It got to -20F or so. Commentators on other fora said this could be deadly to LFP since they felt that charging below freezing would damage the cells. Contacted the manufacturer and they said this was nonsense, LFP cells just do not charge/discharge as well at these temperatures. He made a comment that they have to be heated on the North Slope. We do not plan to RV on the North Slope in winter.
Reed (once an 11B4P) and Elaine
kampinguru
Explorer
Nov 28, 2014
I have 2 12V AGM batteries that I leave in my trailer all winter. I disconnect them from the trailer and make sure they are fully charged then just leave them for the winter. My trailer is on a seasonal site and I dont leave my trailer plugged in either. I also have two flooded batteries that are in my pickup truck that I also charge fully and disconnect from the truck. They sit over the winter and will start the truck when they are hooked back up in the spring. Been doing that since 2006 with the same batteries in the truck and trailer.
time2roll
Nomad
Nov 28, 2014
I would hardly call 10 amp rating a trickle charge but 10 amps is far better if the batteries are a bit low to begin with. I am not familiar with that charger but do check in a week that the voltage is appropriate. Some portables turn off when done charging. Cool battery will have lower self discharge so no reason to keep it at room temperature.