Cold weather and batteries. Pull them inside?

[Jimbee]

Hey All,

Just curious how many of you bring your battery(s) in during the cold weather months vs leaving them on the camper. Last few years I've left them on the camper and plugged into the house. Hasn't seemed to affect them in the least when I'm dry camping. Am I just lucky or is keeping them hooked up and plugged in the right thing to do?

Thanks

[Veebyes]

How cold is cold? Why leave it connected when the unit is not being used. Close the propane valves & disconnect the battery leaving the unit completely dead.

Why trust a maintainer?

All batterys self discharge.The trick is knowing what type of battery bank you have & what expected no load discharge is going to be. Most have the cheap wet cell batterys. They will discharge an average of 10% per month. Simple maintenance regime would be to reconnect them once a month, let the converter/charger top them up, then disconnect them for another month or so.

More expensive battery types, such as the AGM, only lose 5% charge per month & can be allowed to discharge more & still come back. Mine sits for 6 months disconnected & unattended. Got 9 years out of my last one.

[Dave_H_M]

Holy Mooley, I just counted up on my fingers the number of batts in the barn to include the fifth wheel. I am a small timer and only have 6 out there.

I got some maintainers out there that I rotate around, but don't make a big deal of it. I have to admit that I was not very attentive to the 5th wheel batt and I had to replace it at the 8 year mark. I even have a 30 amp outlet adjacent to the fifth wheel but do not keep it plugged in. I installed a remote operated on/off switch to totally disconnect the batt from the fiver. Plug the tender in once in a while and let her rip.

[cummins2014]

stro1965 wrote:
I tried it last year. Left the battery installed and the camper plugged in all winter. Had to buy a new battery in the spring. I assume it froze up? Local RV dealer said that keeping them plugged in over the cold Nebraska winter will not provide a sufficient trickle charge. It's now pulled and inside the heated garage where it had always been every other winter.

I guess I have been lucky, mine have never been out of the fifth wheel in 9 years, plugged in 24/7 when not in use . Gets pretty cold here in Utah, they have had plenty of opportunity to freeze .

I guess mine has sufficient trickle charge during the winter, I was under the impression thats how they are supposed to be.

[ChuckSteed]

It amazes me someone always wants to quote someone else..any battery WILL discharge even disconnected..


Charge or don’t charge.. take out or leave in...

[stro1965]

I tried it last year. Left the battery installed and the camper plugged in all winter. Had to buy a new battery in the spring. I assume it froze up? Local RV dealer said that keeping them plugged in over the cold Nebraska winter will not provide a sufficient trickle charge. It's now pulled and inside the heated garage where it had always been every other winter.

[larry_barnhart]

On a bush job in Alaska the battery for the case back hoe was getting slow and the winter was coming so a new battery was sent. I decided since I was the operator I build a wood box to hold the new battery and kept in the porch of the house our crew was using. Was a good idea as after the tractor was started it was ok for that day. Different that the post was wanting but !!

chevman

[Cummins12V98]

I have the same "LONG" brand battery that came on my DR walk behind power in 1999. Never disconnected and left it in my shop where temps are down to the low teens every winter. Never have charged as it simply starts the 15hp engine every time.

When ordering parts I asked if they sold that battery any longer. The answer was no as they never seemed to go bad.

I know some will call BS, that's fine.

In my Boat and vehicles I simply disconnect the negative and leave the batteries in place.

[jkwilson]

ChuckSteed wrote:
A fully charged RV battery disconnected and removed from RV will STILL discharge over a period of time. Placing the battery on a maintainer will overall provide a longer lasting battery.

It's very temperature dependent. Though it depends on the exact alloys used in the plates, battery age and treatment during its life, a battery with no load stored at 32F will still be above 90% state of charge after 75 days and would still be out of the range where significant sulfation occurs for 200 days.

At 20F it will still be above 90% state of charge after 150 days and would still be out of the range where significant sulfation occurs for 400 days.

Contrast that with 80F where you are in the sulfation range after just 40 days.

The service life reduction you'd see from those charge levels is probably less than what you'd see from the mild abuse of a constant voltage charger over the winter.

I like to split the difference and top them off a couple of times during the winter. A key advantage to that strategy is that I can see if one is dropping between charges or taking a long time to recharge, which is a good early warning that I need a new battery.

[cummins2014]

ChuckSteed wrote:
A fully charged RV battery disconnected and removed from RV will STILL discharge over a period of time. Placing the battery on a maintainer will overall provide a longer lasting battery.

As said in my previous post, thats what I do, and I don't know how one could argue with the results. As said to the OP ,why mess with them, just continue with what he is doing .

[cummins2014]

theoldwizard1 wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
if you disconnect them there is no need to recharge them. If you want to--plug in for 24 hours once per month.

CORRECT ! Actually better than leaving them on a "maintainer" continuously.

Could you explain better.

I have two 12 volts in my fifth wheel , Kirklands from Costco. They are just shy of 9 years old, they have never been out of the fifth wheel . I maintain the water level, and they have been plugged in 24/7. They still are in very good shape.

To the OP, I would continue to do what you are doing. No sense even messing with them other then checking the water level in them . Same here on the dry camping, spent a week hunting this fall with them.

[ChuckSteed]

A fully charged RV battery disconnected and removed from RV will STILL discharge over a period of time. Placing the battery on a maintainer will overall provide a longer lasting battery.

[pianotuna]

IlBill,

Unless the battery tender has a temperature probe, it may as well not be used. For example, charging voltage at -40 is 17.2 volts.

[fj12ryder]

ILBill wrote:
I take mine to a my unheated garage and put a Battery Tender jr.on them.
Do the same with my boat, motorcycle, and sports car.
Seems to work well for me!

Bill

That's what I do, except it's a heated garage and a Battery Tender, not the Jr. Been working fine for many years.

[ILBill]

I take mine to a my unheated garage and put a Battery Tender jr.on them.
Do the same with my boat, motorcycle, and sports car.
Seems to work well for me!

Bill