Battery Shut off and Storage Question.

Sam Spade wrote:

Nvr2loud wrote:
It keeps a trickle charge on the battery.

Since adopting this approach, I've kept the same battery useful for three seasons now!

We have long winters here, so the battery is out of the trailer for the entire winter and kept inside my basement.

I don't need or want to trickle charge an unused battery for 7 months.

A couple of points need to be made here:
An actual "trickle charger" is NOT GOOD to use unattended for more than 24 hours or so. If you really mean a low capacity tender type automatic charger than that's good; if you really have a trickle charger, you need to throw it away and get an automatic one.

If you have conventional wet cell batteries, you really DO need to have them on float charge or a manual shot of charge once a month.
Letting them sit for 7 months, the self-discharge will take them lower than they should be for longest life.

And lastly, if you have a way to charge the batteries while in the unit, there is no reason to remove them to protect them from the cold. They like the cold and won't freeze down to about -70F if fully charged.

It is an automatic trickle charger, designed to leave on batteries permanently. I get what you're saying, my primary charger 2amp / 15amp / 100amp with 6 or 12 volt switch does not trickle properly to maintain. When set on 2 amp, it charges continuously and can boil over the batteries if left for a long time. My tenders are all smart chargers (unlike the charger built into the TT)

Would need to run several hundred feet of extension cord to the trailer over the winter, or just remove the battery and put inside the house.

I have a bank of batteries in the basement all winter, all on battery tenders. Two boats, three ATV's, riding lawnmower, and TT batteries all come inside for the unused months.